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LOCAL WRESTLER INVITED TO WORLD COMPETITION

Greensboro News Record; Greensboro, N.C.; Jul 21, 2002;

Anna Matteson's life as a female wrestler began when her mother noticed
her daughter's shortness was a problem in middle school basketball.

"Basketball is just not working for you," Karen Pickett Moore told her
daughter.

Currently a rising 16-year-old senior at Eastern Randolph High School,
Anna Matteson is still only 5 feet tall, and her weight fluctuates between
132 and 154 pounds, depending on when her next wrestling match is
scheduled.

"The less fat, the quicker and better you perform," Anna says as she
reflects on the many Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners she has missed,
since these are during peak tournament seasons.

Anna's wrestling represent the United States at the World Competition for Women's Free
Style Wrestling this summer in Beijing, China. This opportunity was offered
after Anna was chosen an All-American Wrestler in Chattanooga, Tenn. The trip
to China follows the five wrestling camps she will have attended this
summer.

Before Anna was a wrestler, she was a boxer, helping teach Tae- Bo at
Team USA in Greensboro. Her boxing trainer, who competed on the same karate
team as Tae-Bo guru Billy Blanks, had Anna in the boxing ring by her second
class. She had the headgear, the mouthpiece and the gloves, but she
was, as Anna said, "unbalanced and out of condition." Her opponent was male,
something that she began to accept as the norm.

It was not until the first day of wrestling practice during her
freshman year that Anna decided to try wrestling. Paired by weights, she
wrestled some 20 matches that year following her first competition, when she
pinned a male opponent at Asheboro High School.

Three matches into her sophomore year, Anna advanced to the Varsity
Wrestling team. This past year she was team captain.

Eastern Randolph's wrestling coach of the past 18 years, Greg Hardin,
says of his star female wrestler: "This China trip is just another thing in
her busy schedule. She is always busy and just can't sit still."

Anna laughs at how her mother credits sports for having taught Anna
focus and calmness. Her mother says anyone could have recognized Anna's gifts
for wrestling at the early age of 3. A very strong child, Anna also was
very aggressive.

Before you visualize a short, hyperactive girl with no teeth and lots
of bruises, let me quickly tell you that Anna Matteson is a very
attractive young woman who "enjoys looking like a girl."

Particularly important is looking nice for weigh-ins before each match.
Whether this is part of her psychological game for opponents or just to
catch the eye of fellow male wrestlers, it seems to be worth the extra
effort.

"They learned early not to take me too lightly," she says with a grin.

As she faces sexism in a male-dominated sport, Anna optimistically says
that it isn't as bad as we might imagine.

"Anna wants to be a good wrestler, not just a good girl wrestler,"
Coach Hardin recently said with pride.

Anna also is quite the student, currently carrying a 4.75 grade point
average and representing Eastern Randolph on its Quiz Bowl team. She
hopes to continue wrestling in colleges but realizes Canadian colleges offer
more female wrestling opportunities than American colleges do. She plans to
major in chemical engineering, with a possible minor in sports medicine.

Another interest for Anna is the power lifting team she has joined at
King's Gym in Liberty. Her best competition saw her benching 155 pounds,
squatting 265 pounds and dead-lifting 290 pounds.

Wish Anna well and donate to her traveling fund at: Cardiac Kids, 3678
Brower Meadow Road, Staley, NC 27355. She leaves July 31.

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Title IX proves to be positive for female athletes

By Nate Wilkinson staff writer
June 28, 2002

Thirty years after the passage of Title IX in Washington, D.C., its lasting effects are felt every day in Sebastian.

Sebastian River girls lacrosse coach Dermot Whelehan recalls one particularly memorable instance.

"We were playing a team in central Florida and we had a girl on our team that had never scored a goal in any kind of sport," Whelehan said. "She scored a goal in the game and immediately burst into tears. That's what Title IX is all about."

Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendment revolutionized sports in the United States. It slowly opened doors for women into an exclusive world dominated by men.

The amendment, which celebrated its 30th anniversary on June 23, stated that "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

What that government speak translated into was that gender discrimination in athletics would be prohibited. And since both high schools and colleges received federal funds, both would be affected by Title IX.

In order to comply with Title IX, schools and universities must satisfy one of three requirements: They must demonstrate that the percentage of female athletes is nearly equal to the percentage of female students, show it is significantly increasing opportunities for women, or prove that it is meeting the athletic interests and abilities of female students.

Proponents of Title IX claim that the three-prong test is not strict enough. And while compliance with the first requirement is easy to discern, proving compliance with either of the last two is essentially a matter of interpretation.

Sebastian River athletic director Michael Stutzke was determined to construct a Title IX friendly athletic program when the school opened in 1994.

Since then, Sebastian River has witnessed five female state champions, the creation of a girls lacrosse team that was only the fourth such program by a public high school in Florida, and a female athletic participation rate as high as 52 percent in 1998 and 1999.

Currently, 48 percent of the athletes are female.

"If females have the desire to play sports at Sebastian River there is plenty of opportunity to do so," Stutzke said. "That's the true spirit of Title IX."

Athletic opportunities for females have been increasing in more places than just Sebastian River High School. According to statistics compiled by ESPN.com, the number of girls participating in high school sports has risen from less than 300,000 in 1971 to close to 3 million today.

Critics of Title IX however, claim that the regulation actually engages in reverse discrimination against men. Many feel that women should not be afforded equal treatment in athletics because men are generally more interested in sports than females.

In order to provide equal opportunities for women's sports, many men's programs have received less funding. More than 150 men's collegiate wrestling programs have been slashed since the inception of Title IX and Sebastian River's own attempt to create a men's volleyball team never came to fruition.

The merits and drawbacks of Title IX will continue to be debated as long as there is men's and women's athletics.

In my own opinion, I think it has done wonderful things for females and will continue to do so in the future. But as a former three-sport athlete, I shudder at the thought of athletic opportunities being denied or no longer afforded to people, regardless of sex.

The success of Title IX will occur when athletic directors and administrators across the country seek to create equality by creating opportunity, not restricting it.

This will not be an easy task, but it is something that can be done. If these officials work as hard as every athlete sweating in 90-degree heat or shooting jumpshots in an empty gym, my dream might soon be a reality.

"We haven't gone as far as we need to," Stutzke said. "But the data shows we're doing some of the things the people 30 years ago were hoping to accomplish."

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