Event Schedule News page
Event Schedule
Regular Sessions
9/26 - Wed. Morning 9 AM Greco-Roman and Women*
9/26 - Wed. Afternoon 5 PM Freestyle
9/27 - Thurs. Morning 10 AM Greco-Roman
9/27 - Thurs. Afternoon 6 PM Freestyle
9/28 - Fri. Morning/Aft. 10 AM, 3 PM Greco Roman/Freestyle
Medal Round Sessions
9/28 - Friday Evening 8 PM Bronze Matches
9/29 - Sat. Morning/Aft. 10 AM Gold Matches
9/29 - Sat. Evening 4 PM Gold Matches
Women's Matches
*Women's matches will be held at Hammerstein Ballroom on Monday and Tuesday. Women's finals will be on Wednesday 2pm at Madison Square Garden as part of the Wednesday morning session. Anyone with a ticket to a session at Madison Square Garden will get in free to the women's matches at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Tickets will be sold at the door on Monday and Tuesday for the women's matches at $10 per session for those without a ticket to the Garden sessions.
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Female wrestlers face uphill battle
BY ANDY RESNIK 2/28/2001
Associated Press Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Not all female wrestling features scantily dressed women, sexual innuendoes and soap opera-like plots.
Some girls prefer bodyslams, headlocks and takedowns to World Wrestling Federation theatrics.
``It's nothing like you would see on TV,'' said Jessica Shirley, a high school senior who wrestles on the boys' team at Galion Northmor, 50 miles north of Columbus. ``I think it gives it a bad name.''
Shirley and about 200 to 250 other Ohio girls who wrestle are paving the way for their sport to gain high school varsity status in the state, said Kip Flanik, director of USA Wrestling's women's program in Ohio.
``Women's wrestling is not an isolated phenomenon anymore,'' Flanik said.
It's still growing in Ohio, where girls have to join boys teams or compete for USA Wrestling, a national sanctioning body that sponsors women's events.
``Because Ohio is such a strong state in boys wrestling, I think schools are a little more resistant to the idea of having girls wrestle,'' Flanik said.
The boys state wrestling tournament starts Thursday morning in Columbus. There won't be any girls competing.
``As far as girls wrestling against guys, they're not welcome by me,'' said Bill Barger, the coach at Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit, winners of seven of the last eight Division II wrestling championships.
``Why don't I go put three or four guys on the volleyball team? Girls should wrestle girls and guys should wrestle guys. There's nothing that can be gained by a guy wrestling a girl.''
Over the last 10 years, the number of girls competing on boys high school teams across the country has grown from a few hundred to several thousand.
Along with the 2,000 female wrestlers who compete in USA Wrestling-sponsored events, there's a chance the sport is growing enough to be in the Olympics, said Mike Duroe, national women's coach for USA Wrestling in Colorado Springs, Colo.
``The Summer Games have gotten so big, and they added so many sports over the last three Olympics, that any sport would face huge obstacles,'' Duroe said. ``But wrestling has as good a chance as any.''
If it happens, figure on 18-year-old Toccara Montgomery being there. The senior at Cleveland East Tech is one of Flanik's top pupils and USA Wrestling's top amateurs. She does not wrestle in varsity tournaments or matches because her school does not have a team.
``If she had a team to compete with, she'd been doing well against guys,'' Flanik said.
Montgomery said she has developed a lot of her skills by wrestling boys.
``Wrestling guys, you have to use more angles and try not to use your upper body strength as much,'' she said. ``I think you have to wrestle smarter when you wrestle a guy. You can't just charge in and try anything.''
No one knows that better than Shirley. The 17-year-old has been wresting boys since she was 7, gaining respect along the way.
``In junior high, a couple of guys forfeited. It was kind of rude I guess, just because I was a girl,'' said Shirley, who wrestled at Northmor for four years, this year competing in the 112-pound weight class.
``Now they take it fine,'' she said. ``Now most will actually come back and talk to you and ask you how long you've wrestled.''
Winning matches helps, too.
``Now they say, Oh that girl is pretty good, you got beat by her, instead of, you just got beat by a girl,''' Shirley said.
Duroe said girls learn a lot by wrestling boys, but the matches can be tough on boys who are worried they might hurt their opponent or accidentally touch her inappropriately.
Montgomery said boys aren't worried about the physical contact.
``I think the boy worries about losing to the girl. ``Peers can be mean about what they say.''
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Girls outlast guys on Kennedy mats
Friday, February 23, 2001
By RON FOX
Staff Writer
Imagine if someone told Gary Moore that he would coach 26 years before a wrestler spent all four years in his Kennedy High School program. And imagine if the first ones would be named Jasmine and Elizabeth.
"They're the only ones," says Moore, who has never lost his love of the sport. It's people like Jasmine Rodriguez and Elizabeth Then who make it all worthwhile. "That's kind of sad that nobody lasted four years in all this time."
Other wrestlers at the Paterson school have become discouraged and dropped out or become ineligible. Moore says there never was any discouraging Rodriguez or Then.
"They work hard and I've always treated them like anyone else in practice, and they've hung in there with us," says Moore, who is described as "cool" by the girls.
The 112-pound Rodriguez has been remarkable. Her upset over a boy in the first round of the Passaic County tournament was not a rare feat. Going into the District 15 tournament tonight at Becton Regional in East Rutherford, her season record is 6-10, and she says her career mark is 21-23.
"She also had the next kid on his back for a minute," Moore says about the County event. "I think she pinned two other kids this year, but didn't get the call. And if she gets a decent seed, I think she can place in the district."
Moore recalls another boy who lost to Rodriguez this year. "He's out with a broken hand. He punched something after the match."
The 119-pound Then's devotion to the program has been even more laudable. While she has wrestled on the JV level all four years, it hasn't been enough to discourage her, even though wins have been infrequent. She reported for tryouts when boy wrestlers -- classmates -- encouraged her, Then says.
"I like the sport. That's the main thing," says Then, who plays trumpet in the marching band and used to be in the school choir with Rodriguez. "I had a kid in a headlock and I almost had a pin," she says of a recent win. "But time ran out."
"Elizabeth wrestles at 119 and the kids are stronger up there," Moore says. Both girls use the headlock, and Rodriguez has displayed a dangerous cradle. Now they're considering wrestling in college.
Is the coach surprised the girls have stayed four years? "I'm surprised they stayed the first year," he says, chuckling. "But after that, I knew they'd stay until they graduated. They just loved what they were doing."
The girls have been friends for about six years, and they played volleyball and softball together before trying wrestling. "To do something over the winter," Rodriguez explains. "I wanted to box, but the school didn't have a boxing team. Elizabeth started wrestling the day before I did."
Moore had hoped for a big season from his entire team this year, but four returning regulars were declared ineligible because of grades -- one missing by 1 1/2 points -- on the eve of the season. Then senior heavyweight Gregorio Frias, who finished second in the season-opening Cutter Classic in Fair Lawn, blew out a knee in the first dual meet against Passaic.
"But without them, we still had a good year [8-7], and I'm very surprised," Moore says, praising Rodolfo "David" Tejada, Jared Hunter, Andrew Jefferson, and Sameer Abbedrabo.
Moore nearly was involved in another interesting pairing in the Passaic County semifinals. West Milford senior Darnell Moore, Gary's son, made it to that level and eventually earned a silver medal.
"If my 119-pounder [Abbedrabo] won one more match, he would have wrestled Darnell," Moore says. "I wouldn't have coached that match. I would have sat in the stands -- and enjoyed it."
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SEXLESS APPEAL;
Female pro athletes want to be recognized for their accomplishments rather than their appearances.
THE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
February 25, 2001
"You could have a topless tournament, and it would sell out."
Jennifer Capriati's response to a question on the future of
women's tennis rings true for many as women's professional sports
continue to evolve.
For every Cynthia Cooper or Karrie Webb, athletes celebrated for
accomplishments, there's an Anna Kournikova or Brandi Chastain,
athletes celebrated for their appearances.
A Sports Illustrated cover story on Kournikova in June drew the
ire of several women's organizations. The Women's Sports Foundation
called the feature, which included pictures of Kournikova in sexy
clothes in a bathroom and on a bed, "objectionable and demeaning to
female athletes."
Chastain cemented her place in American sports lore in an
unforgettable show of emotion and her sports bra at the 1999
Women's World Cup final. Chastain later appeared nude, with a
strategically placed soccer ball, in a men's magazine.
As female athletes continue to branch into every realm of sport,
the opportunities seem to follow. But will women's sports and
female athletes have appeal beyond sex appeal?
"It doesn't bother me at all if some of the guys come out to
watch women's tennis because they want to see a beautiful woman,"
Hall of Famer Billie Jean King said. "Who could hold that against
Anna?
"Still, it is unfortunate when others with a high skill factor
don't win the endorsements. Sure, the good-looking guys get more
endorsements, but the difference in men's sports is that the ugly
ones get their share, too."
Dr. Sinah Goode, an associate professor of kinesiology at Texas
Woman's University, holds predominantly male magazines such as
Sports Illustrated accountable for taking "athlete" out of "female
athlete."
"I would approach it from the perception of mainstream media,
because that's who does the marketing," Goode said. "The general
problem in marketing women's sports is building a female icon
rather than an athlete.
"Women are not always viewed as the athletes. That's not the part
that is attractive, which should be. You have some powerful women,
wonderful athletes; why put them in an evening gown?"
Goode believes attitudes toward women's sports are slowing
changing. Using organizations such as the WNBA, WTA and LPGA as
models, other start-up leagues have entered the growing women's
sports market.
The 11-team Women's Professional Football League completed its
inaugural season Jan. 13 and is adding an expansion team in Los
Angeles.
The Women's United Soccer Association is set to kick off in April
with five investors, all cable TV operators, committing a total of
$64 million. TNT and CNN/SI will televise 22 games nationally.
Women are also boxing, and there has been talk of a women's
hockey league.
"There are close to 1,000 girls playing football at the high
school level in the United States now," said Donna Lopiano, Women's
Sports Foundation executive director. "There are almost 2,000 girls
who are wrestling on boys teams. In both cases, I think you are
seeing the beginning of a trend and for that trend to move up to
the college level is one that is really to be expected.
"I see a number of these challenges coming up down the road. Your
audience is going to be one that is very interested in that. A
million chicks can't be wrong, right?"
The WNBA has drawn more than 5 million fans during its four-year
existence. Television contracts have given the league a foothold in
homes across the country. The league also tapped into a powerful
ally, the NBA and its commissioner, David Stern.
"Making a pro league happen is all about getting television
coverage, because if you don't have commercial units, advertising
units, then you're not going to draw on big corporate dollars,"
Lopiano said. "Stern went after NBC, Lifetime and ESPN. He got all
three to carry the league. He was able to offer commercial
inventory. He got big-time sponsors. He had a great grass-roots
marketing machine in place with the existing franchise. That is the
name of the game."
The eight-team WUSA hopes to follow the same model, though its
tie-in with Major League Soccer is more informal. The WUSA is
building off the momentum of several international events.
The 1996 Atlanta Olympics gave women's basketball a springboard
for the WNBA's first season in 1997. Women's soccer built a fan
base through the 1999 World Cup on American soil and the 2000
Sydney Games.
"I think that we have such a great following in this country,"
said Julie Foudy, co-captain of the women's national team and a
founding member of the WUSA. "You look at our fan base; it is just
fantastic. I think the median age of our fans is about 12. It's
just this frenzy with these young kids.
"The Olympics helped that. Our success there obviously helps
that. I think it's perfect timing. ... We have a group of investors
that are so passionate about not just soccer but women's soccer.
They are committed to it for the long term. They really want it to
be a player's league, which I love. It should be a family-oriented
league. Let's bring out the families, which are our fan base."
As women's pro sports continue to grow, Goode cautions against
building women's leagues as a "miniature version of men's sports"
or appealing to the traditional male sports audience.
Women's sports must build a different audience, and it is up to
the sports to build a connection with that fan base.
In addition to television coverage of women's events, there are
two general-interest magazines devoted to women's sports, Sports
Illustrated for Women and Real Sports.
"There's a rich future, but there is going to have to be some
real buy-in from the powers that be, your mainstream media, to the
idea of a woman as an athlete," Goode said. "The interest is there,
and the women are good."
Fans are the key to the success of any sport at the professional
level, regardless of gender.
The question remains: Will fans come and why?
"There is spectator interest in all sports. If you play well, and
if people are interested in your sport, they'll pay for a ticket
and come out and they'll spectate," Lopiano said. "The question is
critical mass. Will enough people come out? Will you market
yourself well enough so that you get enough folks to pay the bills
and pay for the continuation of the league?"
Leagues of their own
A list of some of the women's professional sports leagues and
when they were founded:
2001
Women's United Soccer Association
2000
Women's Professional Football
1997
Women's National Basketball Association
1995
Women's Professional Softball League
1981
Professional Women's Bowling Association
1971
Women's Tennis Association
1951
Ladies Professional Golf Association
Arthur Garcia, (817) 390-7760
agarcia@star-telegram.com