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Resident program gives women a shot at Olympic gold
JOHN MARSHALL, AP Sports Writer
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.10/3/02
Jenny Wong has spent most of her wrestling career as an afterthought.
From the club level to high school to two different NCAA
Division I programs, Wong's development on the mat has always taken a
back seat to the needs of male wrestlers.
Not anymore.
The U.S. Olympic Committee has created a year-round women's resident
wrestling program that focuses solely on developing
women's wrestling - something Wong and most women wrestlers have never
had. "It's been totally different. When you're in Division
I men's rooms, you're not the focus," said Wong, of Stillwater, Minn.
"The coaches are great and will help you when they can, but their
job is to get the guys ready for NCAAs. Now we're wrestling women and
it's great."
The USOC and USA Wrestling have supported women's wrestling since it
began about 20 years ago, but have never given it the
resources to put the U.S. team on the same competitive level of
countries where the sport is more popular.
That changed in September 2001 when women's wrestling was added as an
Olympic sport.
"Before, if girls wanted help, they'd come in here and the coaches
would help them when they were done with the guys," U.S. women's
coach Terry Steiner said. "But they were kind of pushed all over the
place until it gained Olympic status, which changed USA
Wrestling to go full blast with it. An Olympic medal is an Olympic
medal, and that is how they look at it, too."
The program, which began in August, has 18 women who live in
dormitory-style rooms at the USOC Training Center in Colorado
Springs. The women stick a regimented program that includes two
workouts per day, five days per week, and have full use of the
USOC training, medical and food facilities.
The wrestlers also have access to sports psychologists, bio-mechanists,
and strength and conditioning coaches.
"It was a really big change to have time to devote to the other aspects
of the sport, like really fine tuning wrestling, being able to
come in extra sessions to watch videos - all the stuff that I knew was
good for my wrestling but I never really had time to do
because I was trying to go to classes," said Patricia Miranda, who
wrestled with Stanford's men's team for five years before joining the
resident program.
The program is off to a good start with the hiring of Steiner.
Steiner was a three-time All-American at Iowa and won a national title
in 1993. He coached at Wisconsin and Oregon State, and has
worked with Olympic-caliber wrestlers, giving the program instant
credibility.
Even though he had never coached women before taking the position,
Steiner has taken to the women's movement full force.
Along with his coaching responsibilities, Steiner has spent time
attempting to change perceptions about women's wrestling and has
worked to build support for the sport.
"It's the first time that I really feel like somebody is committed to
focus on developing women's wrestling and getting us medals in
2004," Miranda said. "Just not holding any punches, really getting
behind developing this wrestling. Having somebody there as good
as Terry, I think is the best thing that's happened to women's
wrestling in the U.S."
Even with Steiner's efforts, women's wrestling still has a long way to go.
Many coaches, particularly those who have been in the sport for a long
time, believe a wrestling mat is no place for a woman and
that it should be restricted just to men. That mindset has stunted the
growth of the sport and kept it from building a foundation at the
lower levels.
On the club level, many girls are forced to wrestle boys because there
aren't leagues specifically designed for them. The same is true
in high school, where just two states, Texas and Hawaii, have high
school leagues for girls.
The collegiate level is where many Olympic-caliber wrestlers come from,
but there are only about a dozen programs. The NCAA
requires at least 20 schools to have a program before it can even be
considered for sanctioning.
The result is that wrestlers like Wong and Miranda spend their careers
competing against men who are often stronger and faster.
"You've got to look how wrestling has evolved in the U.S.," Steiner
said. "It's been a guys sport since the beginning, so you have a
lot of coaches and people out there who think it should remain a guys
sport. I think that the thing you really have to look at and what I
really looked at in taking the position was what I've gained from the
sport off the mat, the things that it has taught me.
"Why should we limit that to half the population?"
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10/3/2002
Ted Witulski/USA Wrestling
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