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China crowned champions in Wrestling World Cup Team competition

Source: CCTV.com

01-22-2008 13:34

Over in taiyuan Shanxi province, the women of China have wrestled their way to a victory over the United States in the women's freestyle Wrestling World Cup Team competition. China and the United States were tied at 2-all after four matches

China and the United States were tied at 2-all after four matches.
(sohu photo)

OCU rookie women’s wrestling team claims title at NWCA women’s national duals

Elizabeth Wiley USA Wrestling
01/19/2008

 There are not many college athletic teams that can call themselves national dual meet champions in their first season of competition.

Thanks to a victory over top-ranked University of the Cumberlands at the NWCA/Cliff Keen Women’s National Duals, the women’s wrestling team from Oklahoma City can say exactly that.

The Oklahoma City University women’s wrestling program started this fall, but with a few experienced wrestlers and an energetic and motivated coach the squad was ready to take the national scene by storm. The 22-18 victory over No. 1 Cumberlands also helped No. 2 Oklahoma City University (OCU) avenge a home dual meet loss to Cumberlands on November 10 and earn a share of the spotlight.

“We had lost to Cumberlands earlier in the season,” OCU Head Coach Archie Randall said. “We adjusted the line up, we studied film, and we adjusted some techniques where we needed to. Overall it worked well.”

The Star’s were led by junior Ashley Sword, who was named Outstanding Wrestler for the women's national duals. Sword finished the tournament with a 3-0 record at 67 kg with victories over Nena Garcia from Cumberlands (7-0, 5-1), Amberlee Ebert of Missouri Valley (2-0, 3-0), and Ashlee Evans-Smith of Menlo (4-0, 2-0).

“To be named Outstanding Wrestler and to show that I am one of the more experienced wrestlers was really exciting,” junior Ashley Sword said. “I told my practice partners and the coaches that they are the reason I was able to get this award. We joke that they got the assist on the Outstanding Wrestler award, because you are only as strong as your training partner.”

Five other women posted wins for OCU in the championship duals against Cumberlands. Freshman Nicole Woody defeated Melissa Girard at 44 kg (0-7, 2-1, 5-1), at 55 kg freshman Ashley Hudson upset No. 1 Sandy Do (4-0, 4-0), freshman Samantha Phillips came back to beat Beisja Macera at 59 kg (0-5, 2-1, 1-2), freshman Briana Conway battled Lauren Knight at 63 kg (2-0, 2-4, 1-1), and at 82 kg junior Lacey Novinska pinned Christen Paysse (2-3, 3:27).

To get to the finals the Stars beat No. 3 Missouri Valley (34-5) in the semifinals, and No. 5 Menlo College (34-4) in the first round of action.

Women’s wrestling is a relatively new addition to the wrestling world, having only been added to the Olympics in 2004. Women’s intercollegiate wrestling programs have been around since the mid 1990s, but the sport receives much less exposure than its male counterpart. Having the women’s and men’s dual championships together provided a great opportunity to showcase women’s wrestling.

“They were in front of that whole crowd,” said Coach Randall. “What an exciting deal for them. I hope the NWCA continues to allow us to wrestle there. It was great for women’s wrestling.”

Competing alongside the men, the women’s teams had a chance to wrestle in from of 8,000 fans at the womens’ national duals, providing an exciting opportunity for all the women taking part in the event.

“The team fed off the crowd and we really wanted to step up our game,” said Sword. “We wanted to show off not only women’s wrestling, but the program here at OCU and what we are all about.”

Coming into the women’s national duals, OCU Head Coach Archie Randall, who also coaches the men’s wrestling team, knew there was an opportunity for the Stars.

“We went into this weekend with the goal of winning,” said Coach Randall. “I think you should never go into an athletic competition with any other goal than winning it all.”

Before coming to OCU to coach the men and women’s wrestling programs, Randall earned the title of Oklahoma’s winningest high school coach and led El Reno to 11 consecutive team tournament championships and 12 dual state championships in a row. Randall compiled a 232-16 record in duals during his 13 year’s at El Reno. He also serves as USA Wrestling’s state chairperson in Oklahoma.

“I have always coached the same way, in high school, in the men’s program, and now in the women’s program,” said Coach Randall.

His 26 years of wrestling coaching experience has helped Randall quickly build a successful program at OCU, not only for the women but also for the men.

“We treat them just like the guy’s team,” said Coach Randall. “They have the same practice schedule, the same coaching, the same lifting schedule, and they are trained in the same techniques. We felt like they would flourish and they have. Look at the improvement they have shown in the past couple months, since the start of the year.”

Randall has looked to the experience of Sword to lead the Stars on and off the mat throughout the season.
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“We are a very, very young team,” said Coach Randall. “The majority of the team are freshmen. They actually call her Mama Sword. She is the oldest wrestler, 24 when most of the women are 19 or 20. She has been at the USOTC, and she has kind of grown up and made her mistakes as a young lady. She has helped eliminate some of the mistakes and really looks out for the other wrestlers. Her leadership has been instrumental in our formation as a team.”

A team leader for the OCU, Sword is no newcomer to sport of wrestling. She has competed and trained for years at the national and international level, including as a resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“Training at the Olympic Training Center was a great experience and I am so glad that I was able to spend that time there, but sometimes you need a change,” said Sword. “And this is definitely a positive change for me.”

Sword was the 2005 and 2007 University National Champion. Placing third at the 2005 world team trials qualified Sword for the U.S women’s team.

“The biggest way that my experience has helped me is dealing with adversity on trip,” said Sword. “When you travel, things go wrong and you are not always ready to wrestle, but you have to get yourself ready to go. I feel like I am able to keep calm more going into things and really stay focused.”

With the win at NWCA Women’s National Duals behind them, the OCU women’s wrestling team looks ahead to the remainder of the season.

“One of our major goals is to win the women’s college nationals,” said Sword. “We are hosting it in March and it is on our home turf. We want to show they we are not only the top dual team, but the top team overall.”
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When the Women’s College Wrestling Championships takes place at Oklahoma City University on March 15, OCU will be ready to prove once again that they can wrestle with any program in the country.

Hogan High senior Monica Gonzalez, top, practices lightly with fellow wrestler Samantha Hoover on Monday afternoon. Gonzalez has been battling to get and stay in wrestling condition this year, enduring surgery and other injuries to win the NorCal title at 154 pounds last weekend. (Mike Jory/Times-Herald)

Her father, Bobby Gonzalez Sr., was a two-time state qualifier at Gonzales High in the late 1970s, who would go on to wrestle at San Francisco State where he was one match away from being a Division II All-American. And her brother, Bobby Gonzalez Jr., made headlines in 2003 when he won a state title at Vallejo and was named the Times-Herald Male Athlete of the Year.

Just imagine the pressure Monica Gonzalez - who now wrestles at Hogan - has been under and how much more intense it gets as she tries to win her second state title at the California Invitational Tournament, which begins Feb. 1 in Hanford. Gonzalez has been dealing with this for a while and, by now, knows how to handle it.

"All that tradition in the family, there's pressure - pressure from the mom, pressure from the dad, pressure from the brother, pressure from Vallejo, pressure from us, pressure from the school, her peers," Hogan coach Ric Manibusan said. "But all you've got to do is sit down and talk to her, set up a plan, and she's ready to go. She's not going to take on the burden of everything. She just knows what she has to do and focuses."

Said Gonzalez: "I don't put his pressure on myself. I don't feel like I have to outdo (my brother). I don't feel like my parents put the pressure on me to outdo my brother. If I do have pressure it's pressure from myself, to improve and to get better."

Really, though, there isn't much reason for pressure. Gonzalez, who last won a state title as a sophomore with Vallejo, has a great relationship with her father. And it is that relationship that has molded her into one of the state's best girls wrestlers.

"A lot of it has to do with my dad," said Gonzalez, who won her third straight Northern California Regional title at 154 pounds over the weekend. "He pushes me really hard and helps me with all my technique. If I'm doing something wrong he'll correct me. ...

"We're really close actually. On the mat he's not my dad. He's more like a coach. He pushes me. And if I'm doing something wrong, he'll make me do it over and over until I get it right."

When Monica decided to wrestle back when she was in sixth grade, she did so with the mindset of being above average, beyond good. She wanted to be great, follow in the footsteps of her dad and brother.

That being the case, Bobby Gonzalez Sr. decided he wasn't going to go easy on his daughter just because she was a girl.

"She chose a man's sport," said Gonzalez Sr., an assistant coach at St. Pat's, "and I told her, 'If that's what you want, you give me your goals and I'll try to help you attain them.' She had some pretty lofty goals, so I've been hard on her."

Monica's goal this year is to go beyond being a state champion and win a national championship. As such, Gonzalez Sr. has been there to mentor his daughter.

"I tell her," Gonzalez Sr. said, " 'If you want to attain that lofty goal that you set for yourself you have to put that effort in. You got to do the work in the morning and at practice. Challenge yourself. Be the hardest worker in the room. If they tell you to do 50 pushups, do 60. If they tell you to do 20 firemen's carries, do 60. Be an overachiever.' "

Her dad's words seem to be something Gonzalez has always taken to heart, to the point that she has struggled through immense pain to achieve her goals. It was discovered last season that Gonzalez had a cyst in her right shoulder, which caused a tear to her labrum. Surgery was performed on May 30, 2007, and the recovery time forced Gonzalez to miss Freestyle Nationals in Fargo, N.D.

But she was ready to go when this season started in November, an example of just how tough she is. Another would be her aggressive style of wrestling, which she gets, of course, from the family.

"I'm a real offensive wrestler," said Gonzalez, who's considering wrestling in college. "I'm really aggressive, and I get that from my brother and my dad. I think that plays a big part. My brother used to mess around with me all the time when I was little. I don't know, I just think you should always be offensive. I don't think you should ever rely on being defensive."

Gonzalez hyper-extended her elbow over the weekend at the reg-ional tournament but said she will be ready to go in two weeks for state. No pain is going to stop her from competing, she said. Too much is at stake, after she took second at state last year while less than 100 percent.

"Even if I have to I'll wrestle through the pain," Gonzalez said. "I wrestled through my shoulder injury for months, so I'll wrestle through the pain in my elbow for one day if I have to. (State) means a lot to me, just because I should've won last year (if not for my shoulder). I'm trying to redeem myself. A lot of girls are after me, but I'm preparing myself."

A change in attitude

Posted By Bernie Puchalski

Posted 1 hour ago 1/22/08

Female wrestling has changed dramatically since Tonya Verbeek became hooked on the sport in 1994.

Then a Grade 11 student at Beamsville and District Secondary School, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist heard an announcement at school about girls wrestling and decided to give it a try.

“I got involved based on curiosity,” the 30-year-old Beamsville native said. “My parents were surprised, but they knew if they said anything I would have wanted to do it even more.”

A month into the sport, she tricked her way into attending a wrestling meet — Beamsville coach Dave Collie thought it was too early for her and the other girls to start competing — and she ended up winning.

“It was like, ‘This is a sport I can see myself doing,’ ” Verbeek said. “But at the same time, I didn’t know about the opportunities that would be involved.”

In her Grade 11 and 12 years, girls wrestling had festival status at the Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association meet and it became a full-fledged OFSAA sport when Verbeek was in Grade 13. Unfortunately that year, the teachers staged a work-to-rule campaign and she didn’t get a chance to win OFSAA gold.

Collie remembers well the early days of girls wrestling. It had its birth in Niagara through the efforts of Bill Smith.

“It was a bit of a battle to get the coaches to take some of the girls on,” Collie said. “It’s a contact sport and they were worried about the appropriateness of a male coach with a female.”

The first OFSAA girls wrestling festival had about 40 competitors, a far cry from today when OFSAA will boast 13 weight classes with 32 wrestlers in each event.

“It has taken off,” Collie said. “Five years ago, it was the fastest-growing girls sport in Ontario.”

Alana King started wrestling with Governor Simcoe in Grade 9 in 1998 before moving to Brampton with her family in the second semester of her Grade 11 year. She returned to the region to wrestle at Brock University. Since she has started wrestling, she has noticed a lot of changes in the sport.

“There’s so many competitions now and internationally, we’re performing so well,” the 23-year-old said. “And having Tonya win the silver medal in 2004 made it even stronger.

“Now the girls have someone they can look up to and they know they can make it to the next level.”

King, too, has become a role model for up-and-coming wrestlers like Alexis Kilroy, a 17-year-old, Grade 12 student at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School.

“Alana and Tonya are great role models and great women to live your life by,” the 2007 OFSAA champion said.

And Kilroy acknowledges it’s the efforts of Verbeek and King that have helped raised the profile and change the image of female wrestling.

“They respect it a little more and they’re not so shocked when you say you wrestle,” Kilroy said. “It’s a lot more popular in my high school and there’s not that shock factor.”

But that doesn’t mean female wrestling has gained total acceptance from everyone.

“I think it depends on who you ask,” King said. “Some of the guys, I’m pretty sure, don’t respect women’s wrestling at all. But some of them see we are working hard and we want the same recognition they do.”

Verbeek has noticed a significant shift in attitude. Government funding is equal between males and females and the degree of unity between men’s and women’s team has increased dramatically.

The next step in the evolution of female wrestling in Niagara is the introduction of the sport to younger athletes. That is being done through the efforts of the Junior Badgers Wrestling Club. (Call Collie 905-892-1309 or Brian Kilroy 905-984-8995 for more information,)

Collie’s 10-year-old daughter, Keagin, trains at the Brock club, along with her twin brother Koldin. The Collies are part of a group of 20 young athletes making up the club, of which six are female.

“I decided to try it because I heard about Tonya Verbeek and how she went to the Olympics and won a silver. I like it because you don’t have to rely on a whole team to do well,” Keagin Collie said.

Most of her classmates are uncertain about what she does.

“My friends at school think it’s like ultimate fighting or something,” she said with a laugh.

Keagin won a provincial championship in her age category in 2007 and her early introduction to the sport will pay dividends down the road.

“Wrestling is one of those sports where you need experience to excel,” Kilroy said. “The Junior Badgers will make a huge difference when you get to high school.”

And while the goal of Junior Badgers is to develop better wrestlers, the manner in which it is done is a soft-sell approach.

“We’re trying to make it a fun experience so they will want to do it and not burn them out at 10 years of age,” Collie said.

For Verbeek, the beauty of female wrestling is that it’s so inclusive.

“What I love about it is it attracts so many different people. In high school, you have girls participating who are bigger, ones who are so small, and everyone in between.”

And the benefits are immense.

“It’s really good for confidence, challenging yourself and knowing what it takes to commit to something,” Verbeek said.

UPDATED: Six U.S. wrestlers win golds at Guelph Open in Canada

Wrestling is for the ladies too

You may notice in the Enterprise-Record and Mercury-Register that we use the term “prep wrestling” whenever we write about the sport, not “boys wrestling.” The reason why may surprise you, though.

Wrestling is actually a co-ed sport recognized by the California Interscholastic Federation and that means that any female in the state can compete for a state title, a section title or even a spot on the varsity team. I’ve seen a few female wrestlers who have made it on varsity teams though I’ve never seen one compete at the section championships or the state championships.

So it’s sort of a strange position for the young ladies: They have to wrestle and beat the boys if they want to get good experience. And there aren’t many opportunities to wrestle against other girls in tournaments or duals.

But the sport itself is becoming more popular for girls and the CIF is doing a great job of giving young ladies the chance to compete in their own tournaments. The 2008 CIF Girls Wrestling Regional Tournament concluded Saturday in Sacramento and even though there are likely other elite girls’ tournaments to come, it was the last tourney of the season for girls sanctioned by CIF. Emmy Zack, CIF’s Director of Communications, said there may be other tournaments that are called “championships” but those are not done through CIF.

More experience for the girls competing against each other is a great idea. There are a few who can compete with the boys on the varsity level and have success, but there aren’t enough to justify not having girls-only tournaments. Unfortunately the tournaments are spread out all over the state because there still just aren’t enough girls wrestling in enough parts of the state.

Locally we had two girls who prospered at the tournament at Inderkum High. You can see the brackets by visiting this link .

— Holly Thein (Paradise) was second at 138 pounds.
— Jessica Rubio (Gridley) was fifth at 122 pounds.

Congratulations to Thein and Rubio. They’re following in the footsteps of Paradise High grad Amy Havens, who placed fifth at the Body Bar Women’s National Championships in 2005, among other honors.

The Nosebleed Section says thumbs up to girls wrestling tournaments. Seeing more of them would be very nice.