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Help Save Olympic Wrestling!!!

9/30/2002
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

In late August, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the suggestions of its Program Commission, which included the proposal to drop one style of wrestling from the Olympic Games.

YOU can help tell the IOC that both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling belong in the Olympic Games.

On its web page, the IOC has provided an opportunity for people to provide its opinion about the future of the Olympic Games. Please visit the following link and give the IOC your reasons to retain both wrestling styles:

http://www.suggestions.olympic.org/question-intro.aspx?LN=EN

Some information that may help you in your submission:

The exact text of the commission report follows:
“The low public and media comprehension of the differences between the two wrestling disciplines currently in the Olympic Programme were noted by the Commission, which has resulted in relatively low broadcast and press coverage. In comparison to this lack of global popularity, the Commission noted the high athlete quota and the number of events in the sport of wrestling. The Commission therefore recommends the exclusion of one of the wrestling disciplines from the Programme of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.”

Since this is why the IOC is considering cutting a wrestling style, you should tell them these truths:
* It is very easy to tell the difference between freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. In freestyle, you may use the entire body to compete, while in Greco-Roman, you may only utilize the upper body to execute holds. The styles look different, and they utilize different techniques and strategies.
* Wrestling has global popularity, with over 150 nations participating internationally.
* Both styles are popular across the world, and both styles belong in the Olympic Games.
* Wrestling receives considerable coverage in the world media. For instance, at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the most popular athlete was Greco-Roman wrestling champion Rulon Gardner of the United States, who defeated three-time Olympic Champion Alexander Kareline of Russia.
* In many nations, wrestling is the most popular and successful sport. Examples include Iran, Mongolia, Turkey and others. This has been displayed by the large number of nations that choose wrestlers to carry the national flag during Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

The decision whether or not to retain both wrestling styles will be made by the IOC Executive Board, a group of 15 IOC members, including the President, four Vice-Presidents and 10 other members. They are:

President Jacques Rogge (Belgium), Vice President Thomas Bach (Germany), Vice President James. L. Easton (United States), Vice President Richard Kevan Gosper (Australia), Vice President Vitaly Smirnov (Russian Federation), Sergey Bubka (Ukraine), Franco Carraro (Italy), Ottavio Cinquanta (Italy), Zhenliang He (People's Republic of China), Toni Khoury (Lebanon), Gunilla Lindberg (Sweden), Lambis W. Nikolaou (Greece), Denis Oswald (Switzerland), Tomas “Tommy” Amos Ganda Sithole (Zimbabwe), Mario Vázquez Raña (Mexico)

You can contact the Executive Board of the IOC at the following address:
Executive Board
Château de Vidy
1007 Lausanne
Switzerland
TELEPHONE - 011 (41.21) 621 61 11
FAX - 011 (41.21) 621 62 16

As an American citizen, you also have an opportunity to share your views with the IOC Vice-President who will serve in judgement of wrestling on the Executive Committee.

James L. Easton
CEO
Easton Sports, Inc.
7855 Haskell Ave.
Suite 202
Van Nuys, CA 91406-1902
FAX: 818-994-3889
E-mail: jeaston@eastonsports.com

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Wrestler keeps sights on gold

Submitted by: MCB Quantico 3/8/02
Story Identification Number: 2002320161312
Story by Sgt. Daryl G. Sanford

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va.(March 8 , 2002) -- Last year, when Cpl. Miriam Jenkins stepped onto the mat at the Marine Corps Wrestling Camp, she was one of the first female Marines to try out for the team. This year, however, she alone represents her gender on the crimson and gold wrestling mat. But that doesn't bother her. In fact, she looks forward to the challenge.

"I am physically and mentally strong-er than I was last year, and I really fine-tuned my skills," she said.

Jenkins, a Gainesville, Fla., native, has the goal to be one of the top female wrestlers in the world, and dreams of being one of the first female wrestlers to compete in the Olympics in 2006. She has had this feeling ever since she began wrestling as a freshman at Gainesville High School.

Before she began wrestling, Jenkins never really excelled at any sport. She was never the couch potato, however. As the fifth of nine children raised by a single mother, money was always tight. She never had the luxury of playing video games as a child, and she didn't just sit around watching television all day. The two oldest children were boys, and when they went out to play neighborhood football games, or other sports, all the children followed. They also used their imaginations.

"Everywhere we went, it seemed that there were woods around," she said. "And we would always play in the woods. I would usually imagine that I was on an African safari. We grew up using sticks as our toys and acted out our video games. It wasn't a big thing for us. We had more fun doing that than anything else."

When she was a freshman, she was looking for something to do between the marching band season in the fall and track in the spring. That's when she decided to wrestle. Although she wasn't the first female on her team, she was the first to immediately win a spot on the varsity squad. At that time, there weren't separate weight classes for women. They had to compete in the same classes as the young men.

Her first varsity match proved to be a memorable one.

"In my first varsity wrestling match, I made it all the way to the finals," Jenkins recalls. "I remember the boy I wrestled. He was a senior, the captain of his small-town team and celebrating his birthday. When I won, they were calling me all kinds of names, but it wasn't a race issue. It was the fact that I was a girl, and I beat him."

Although her school praised her for weeks following her first victory, many of the other schools didn't take her wrestling seriously. In fact, she didn't either until the following year.

"Just before my sophomore year, my mother moved and that put me in a different school zone," she said. "But, I wanted to continue to wrestle for Gainesville High School."

She filed for a zoning exception, and after a little work, she got it, but was required to sit out one semester of competition. Although she couldn't compete, Jenkins didn't miss a practice or the opportunity to cheer on her teammates.

"It was a big eye opener when someone told me I couldn't wrestle," she said. "But I still worked hard at every practice and showed up at every meet to let everybody else know I wasn't out of the picture. In my junior year, I dove right in."

In her junior year, she again started with the varsity team and finished in fourth place in the regionals; one match away from qualifying for state tournament. She vowed to make it to state her senior year, and she did. She also made another decision in her junior year. While attending 1998 World Team Trials, Jenkins spied the Marine Corps Wrestling Team watching a match.

"At that time I didn't know the Marines had a wrestling team, and I remember thinking 'my recruiter never told me that,'" she said. Although she had already made the decision to join the Corps, seeing the Marines at that match helped to strengthen her decision.

She finished her senior year with a 35-17 record, won her district championship and came in second in her region. She finished eighth overall in the 103-pound weight class in the 1999 Florida State finals.

At the end of her high school wrestling career, she began to earn the respect of other schools and wrestling club coaches in her district. Although they didn't like her at first, they grew to respect her.

"They realized I was in the sport because I loved it, not because I wanted the attention," she said.

Soon after graduation, Jenkins joined the Marine Corps. She graduated boot camp, earned her bulk fuel specialist military occupational specialist and was transferred to Okinawa, Japan, for her first duty station. Soon after she got there, she competed in two wrestling competitions and placed in the top three at both. Deployments kept her from other tournaments, but after her year tour was up, she transferred to her current duty station at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and immediately left to join the All-Marine Wrestling Camp in late January 2001.

She stayed with the team for a few months after the trials, but when the University National competition was over in July, she returned to Camp Pendleton, and immediately joined the base wrestling team. She continued to practice the skills she learned while at the All-Marine Camp.

"One thing about wrestling is that you don't have to rely on strength to win," she said. "You can be wrestling someone who is a lot stronger than you, but it doesn't mean that they will win. Sure, they can pick me up, but I know at least three ways to get out of it."

This year, her goal it to start down a path that will take her to the Olympics, where she plans on waving her American and Marine Corps flags on the podium.

"My goal is to be an Olympic champion," she said simply. "If I don't make it this time, you can sure bet you will continue to see me. As long as I can continue to wrestle, I will be out there, working my way to Olympic gold."

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Female wrestlers finding increased success on mat
Wrestling Roundup

By James Escarcega
Correspondent 1/02

Vanessa Butanta and Monica Gochioco wrestle for two different schools. They have never met each other. But both have the same philosophies when it comes to the sport of wrestling.

They love to be in action. They take great pleasure in defeating the boys and are very accomplished at a young age.

Butanta, who wrestles for Northview, and Gochioco, a wrestler at Bishop Amat, are sophomores and were among a group of area female wrestlers who placed at the Williams Cup Tournament last weekend at Thousand Oaks High School.

Butanta took first place in the 135-pound class. Sierra Vista's Ivy Lopez (112) and Julie Duarte (130) finished second, Bishop Amat's Gochioco (125) and Noralynne Vasquez (130) and Charter Oak's Monique Marquez (145) both finished third. Rosemead's Nadine Serna also placed fourth at 112 pounds.

Butanta is considered the most accomplished girls wrestler in the area. She has traveled to Northern California twice and finished first in a tournament at San Jose and placed third at another tournament in San Mateo.

"It has been a pretty exciting year up to this point," Butanta said. "I've been wrestling for seven years and love the sport a lot."

While Butanta also plays volleyball and softball, Gochioco only participates in wrestling. She is so dedicated to the sport that she turned down an offer from the girls varsity soccer coach to be on the team and start.

"I had to lie to my mother on the first day of tryouts last year," Gochioco said. "I am so focused on the sport and the team. The team is my second family."

"Monica is a dynamo," Bishop Amat head coach Tom Pierre said. "She loves to be on the mat and competing. The guys on the team like her for that and watch her back very closely."

The acceptance of girls competing against boys has changed since the early days of the sport.

"I remember the days when I wrestled that when girls wrestled, it was the story of the tournament," Northview coach David Ochoa said. "I think that it is great the girls are succeeding in our sport."

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Schneider first female wrestler at West Fairmont

FAIRMONT 1/12/02
By Shannon Blosser

West Fairmont’s Lisa Schneider always wanted to wrestle. There was just one thing holding her back.
Her mother.
“I’ve been interested in wrestling since I was in seventh grade,” said Schneider. “I wasn’t really allowed. I just kept telling my mom (Diane) that I really wanted to do it. I just went to practice one day. I was really interesting in wrestling. I’ve been a mat maid for two years before this.
“It was something I wanted to do.”
And Schneider has done just that. Schneider has gone from keeping the score in the matches as a mat maid to becoming the first female wrestler at West Fairmont.
But she had to convince her mother first.
“My mother was scared that I would get hurt,” said Schneider.
She’s not as scared anymore.
“When I saw how hard she was working, I really started to support her,” said Diane. “She would go to practice and come home and not even complain.”
Schneider is one of four female wrestlers taking part in this weekend’s Winner’s Choice/Rotary wrestling tournament at the Woody Williams Armory. The others are Stephanie Beach of Hundred, Priscilla Miller of Preston and Wirt County’s Erica Dye.
Last year, Dye became the first female wrestler in West Virginia wrestling history to place in the state tournament.
Dye has been an inspiration for not only Schneider but all the other girls in the tournament.
“I talked to her last year, because I really wanted to wrestle last year,” said Schneider. “She told me how fun it was. She inspired me to wrestle.
“She is excellent.”
Like Dye, Schneider has to overcome the obstacles associated with women entering the sport that had long been a male-only sport.
One of the biggest obstacles has been gaining respect for her fellow wrestlers and friends.
“I’m happy that I am the first girl wrestler at Fairmont Senior,” said Schneider. “But a lot of people think I did it only to be the first person. When you think about it, there weren’t girls’ basketball teams 20 years ago. In 10 years, there will be girls’ wrestling teams in every school.”
Mark Delligatti, West Fairmont’s head coach, said he was apprehensive at first at allowing Schneider to join the team. That apprehensiveness, just like the one Schneider’s mother had, has disappeared.
“She’s a great person to have on the team,” said Delligatti. “She is just like one of the guys.”
And Schneider wants to be treated just like one of the guys during matches and practices.
“I’d rather them (boys) wrestle me as a guy,” said Schneider, “because then I know I won by being tough and not by them letting me win.”
However that’s not always the case. Some male wrestlers, when wrestling female wrestlers, will wrestle harder than they would against another male in order to keep from losing.
“I’ve beaten a couple of guys,” said Schneider. “It all depends on the guy. I guess it is their morals. If they’re going to wrestle you harder or they are going to let you go easy.”
That is just one of the hurdles that Schneider and the other females wrestling across West Virginia have had to incur. But she keeps coming back for more because of her love for the sport.
Something she has had since seventh grade and a love that was increased after watching Dye’s run through the state Class AA-A tournament last year.
“When I win a match and I get my hand raised,” said Schneider

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South Dakota girl wrestler not a sideshow

Jan 16, 2002 -By Roger Merriam
The Public Opinion

Megan Croatt doesn't consider herself a trailblazer. She's just another one of the "guys" on the Ortonville (Minn.) High School wrestling team.

The 103-pound eighth grader, in her second year on the Trojans' varsity squad, took a 9-8 record with eight pins into Ortonville's weekend events.

That's certainly no small feat for a young athlete believed to be the first-ever female varsity wrestler in OHS history.

"She's not a sideshow at all. It's just a thing where she decided she wanted to come out," said Ortonville head coach Joe Eustice. "I don't look at her as a girl, so to speak. I look at her as another wrestler."

Wrestling, for those who know, is certainly no easy sport for anyone. The sport involves more than its fair share of dedication and hard work.

The level of commitment is higher for those wrestlers who achieve more than their fair share of success and even higher for those trying to break into the male-dominated sport.

Croatt is doing just fine. She went only 3-17 as a seventh grader on the varsity last year, but she weighed only about 96 pounds while competing in the 103-pound weight class.

She's obviously learned and improved.

"She knows a lot of moves and works extremely hard. When she runs up against kids her age, she usually wins," said Eustice.

It isn't completely rare to find female wrestlers. A number of youth wrestling tournaments, in South Dakota as well as Minnesota, allow girls to compete. Many even have their own powder puff divisions.

The Minnesota High School League, as well as other associations in a number of states across the country, do allow female wrestlers to compete on boys teams.

That isn't the case in South Dakota, where Section 13 of the S.D. High School Activities Association's constitution and by-laws state that gender-mixed teams are prohibited in all cases. The SDHSAA only governs high school athletes in grades 9-12.

Jerry Diel of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) said that most of the 49 states that offer high school wrestling do allow girls to compete in the sport. Two of those states, Hawaii and Texas, have separate state tournaments for boys and girls.

Unofficial figures from the NFHS indicate that approximately 3,000 girls compete nationwide in wrestling compared to 244,000 boys.

Croatt's wrestling career started as a second grader. Her father Tom, a former wrestler at Ortonville, operates the kids wrestling program in Bellingham.

"He helps me with my moves and other stuff," said Croatt. "And he just tells me to keep doing it if I like it."

Eustice said there have been few problems in Croatt's two years on the varsity. Ortonville usually notifies the opposing school that it has a female wrestler a few days before the match. She either weighs in first or last and is fully clothed during the weigh-in.

Croatt would not be allowed to wrestle in South Dakota but has wrestled against South Dakota foes in Minnesota, where teams followed their state's rules.

Her record likely would be even better but the Trojans often move her up to 112 pounds in order to give themselves a better chance at a dual victory. Most of her losses have came at the higher weight.

Croatt says she's having fun competing in a sport she likes but isn't sure what her wrestling future holds. She admits she has had thoughts of qualifying for the state tournament or even winning a state title.

"That would be really cool," said Croatt, who also participates in cross country and track.

Eustice definitely sees potential for good things down the road.

"She's a tough kid and a tough wrestler. She does a number of things quite well and there are still things she needs to work on. That's the same with a lot of kids," he said. "I think the key for her down the road is if she can stay in the lower weights. If she does that, I think she can certainly do quite well."