Whitney Conder, 14, top, defeats Kannith Meas, 15, during the state's first all-girls wrestling tournament yesterday at Vashon High School. The tournament attracted 34 school and club wrestlers from Oregon and Washington.
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Girls grapple for the chance to show off love of wrestling
By GREGORY ROBERTS 12/28/02
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The license-plate holder on a van parked at Vashon High School yesterday read, "Boys play basketball -- men wrestle."
Inside the school gym, dozens of teenagers grappled and grunted on thick rubber mats as they warmed up for a wrestling tournament -- but there wasn't a boy or a man among them. Just girls -- or, as the car-tag slogan might have it, women.
"It's physical. It's fun," Kathryn Snyder, 14, of Salem, Ore., said before her first match. "I like moving a lot."
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Whitney Conder, 14, top, defeats Kannith Meas, 15, during the state's first all-girls wrestling tournament yesterday at Vashon High School. The tournament attracted 34 school and club wrestlers from Oregon and Washington. |
Organizers say the unofficial, invitational event was the first all-girls wrestling tournament in the state.
The tournament, which drew 34 school and club wrestlers from Oregon and Washington, was staged the day before a big annual boys tournament at Vashon High.
"We put it together to spotlight girls' wrestling," said tournament co-director Mike Mattingly, who is a member of the Grapplers Society, a Vashon parents group that supports the island's thriving school and community wrestling programs.
Female participation in organized wrestling is not new in Washington, but it's not exactly a hallowed tradition, either. The Vashon High team, for example, signed up its first girl member in 1994.
Many high school teams in the state include girls, and several of those wrestlers participated in yesterday's tournament, including seven from Evergreen High School in the Highline School District.
Sports associations estimate that 3,000 girls nationwide wrestle on high school teams each year, and the sport is big enough to merit annual U.S. championships.
But girls' wrestling isn't yet popular enough in this part of the country for schools to set up separate teams for girls. In a distinct minority on their high school teams, girls usually end up wrestling boys in interscholastic matches.
"It's hard for girls to go out and wrestle hard with guys," said Cristy Watson, a 17-year-old junior at Bethel High School in Spanaway. "But I hold my own with them."
Cristy competes in the 119-pound class as the only girl on her school team. She started wrestling four years ago, following her older brother into the sport.
"I decided to try it out, and it was fun for me," she said yesterday. "I like working out a lot. It's a way for me to use the muscles I work out with -- and establish dominance, be aggressive out there."
Cristy's father, Brian Watson, traveled to the tournament with her and videotaped her matches.
"The girls that wrestle, they have to be tough," he said. "Pound for pound, guys generally are stronger. The girls have got to be better to win.
From left, Rachel Hannan, 10, Misty Corwin, 12, Alysia Pohren, 10, and Kelsey Hanson, 10, all from the wrestling club USA Cobra, watch the older girls after they completed their matches. A Vashon parents group supports the island's school and community wrestling programs |
"Cristy's dedicated, man," he said. "She frickin' runs and she runs and she runs. She's lean."
For wrestlers of either gender, the quick, catlike moves are the same, as are the holds, the grimaces, the intensity of the effort.
"There's nothing harder than wrestling," said Vashon High junior Laurin Daniels, 17, who wrestles in the 135-pound weight class as the sole female member of her varsity team. "The way you feel after a hard workout or after you win a match, it's just great."
Laurin was undefeated in 11 matches against girls last year, and quickly overpowered her three opponents yesterday to win her bracket. Victories over boys have been more elusive.
Still, she said, "When I wrestle a girl or a guy, it doesn't make a difference. I treat them exactly the same. I grab onto the same places."
Some girls do beat boys.
Leilani Akiyama, 15, a sophomore at Newport High in Bellevue, is in her second successful year of interscholastic wrestling, and has defeated both her male opponents in her 112-pound weight class so far this season.
"Last year, I got, 'Oh, she's only a girl, you can take her,' " Leilani said yesterday, shaking her long black hair free from her headgear after a winning match. "But they see me just pin them, and they're all surprised."
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Thursday, December 26, 2002
By Cindy Fairfield
CHRONICLE SPORTS EDITOR
When Adrianne Dempsey walks off the wrestling mat after a match, she flips her long brown hair over her shoulder, reaches down and grabs a portable walking stick and taps her way through the crowd.
Sometimes, people gasp. Sometimes, they smile.
Adrianne doesn't see any of it.
Adrianne, a 15-year-old freshman, isn't just the only girl on Orchard View's varsity wrestling team. She has bigger challenges to overcome. Like only being able to see 10 percent peripherally out of the one eye she has. The other is glass, a prosthetic that was needed after Adrianne was struck with retinal cancer when she was 21 months.
"It's no big deal," says Adrianne. "I think I can pretty much do whatever I set my mind to. I've always liked sports."
Finding her niche
Bob and Diane Dempsey wanted their daughter to have opportunities despite her disability. Though Adrianne spent much of her young life in hospitals, she has been cancer free since age 6.
And she has not been content to sit around.
Once, Bob looked out the living room window to find Adrianne rolling up and down the sidewalk on her sister Jessica's bicycle.
"She had one with training wheels but had never been on a two-wheeler," said Bob. "She just went out there one day and started riding it."
When neighborhood kids would gather in the yard to play flag football and other games, Adrianne would join in though she couldn't see. Sometimes, when Bob would pitch softballs to Jessica, Adrianne would insist on getting a swing herself.
"I would have to tell her exactly when to swing because she couldn't see the ball," said Bob. "We took her to the Western (Michigan University) camp for blind kids and she learned there were a lot of sports she could do."
Adrianne, a regular at the annual camp, competed in track and field, swimming, gymnastics, powerlifting and wrestling. Last year, Adrianne was named the Michigan Blind Athlete Association's female athlete of the year for her performance at camp.
"I've always been a tomboy and really into sports," said Adrianne, an honor student who reads Braille at school. "I like the physical challenge and the competition."
Competitive spirit
Adrianne wrestled at OV on the seventh- and eighth-grade team. She finished 7-5, including wins over five boys.
As a freshman going up against older wrestlers, Adrianne, who wrestles at 119, is searching for her first win.
"She almost got it two weeks ago at a West Catholic tournament," said OV wrestling coach Scott Loss. "She took the guy down, put him in a cradle but turned her head the wrong way and time expired before she could win.
"But, she does a good job. I think she'll win a couple matches this year."
Wrestling is more about technique than strength and Adrianne is intent on learning the right moves.
"My coach is really nice and helpful," said Adrianne. "Most of the wrestlers have been encouraging and supportive. Some of them have not been, but that's the way it goes."
Jessica, a junior cheerleader, is impressed with Adrianne.
"She's my role model. She really loves wrestling," said Jessica. "Last year, there were other girls on the team and when they would lose, they would cry. Adrianne never has. She's not a whiner. She handles things very well.
"I think she has won the respect of her teammates because of that."
Bob and Diane say Jessica has been a "rock" for Adrianne, who relies on her older sister to get to bathrooms at away meets so she can change her clothes.
"Jessica has been her chaperone at a lot of places. She has sacrificed a lot for her sister," said Bob.
Some parents do not like the idea of girls and boys wrestling on the same team. Adrianne's mother, Diane, isn't one of them.
"I feel there aren't a lot of sports she can do," said Diane. "She can't do ball sports. So I'm glad there is a sport where she can compete."
Time will tell
There are two regrets Adrianne has about not being able to see.
"My sister draws really well and I never see her drawings," said Adrianne. "I also love hockey and would really love to be a goalie."
Neither of those things will happen for Adrianne, an ardent Detroit Red Wings fan.
Not only will her vision never improve, but it is getting worse.
"We're trying to hold the line with it right now," said Bob. "She has absolutely no central vision and we're trying to save what peripheral vision she has."
Sometimes, students will jump into Adrianne's path and make faces or get real close to her eyes and taunt her.
"There are some immature 10th graders that think it's cute," said Jessica.
Though Adrianne doesn't see them, she knows they're there.
"Sometimes, I just say, 'Stupid blind people,' " said Adrianne. "They get all confused and it's pretty funny."
Adrianne has learned to keep her sense of humor. Sometimes, when she gets hit in the face during an activity, she will pop out her prosthetic eye and say, "Now look what you did."
She plans to attend college and is considering teaching or physical therapy.
Diane is confident Adrianne will be successful.
"I want her to get everything out of life she wants," said Diane. "There is a reason why things happen the way they do and someday we'll know why. I really see great things in her future."
In the meantime, Adrianne is doing just fine in the present.
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Girl fights through sight impairment to land spot on wrestling team
Associated Press 12/27/02
MUSKEGON, Mich. - Adrianne Dempsey shrugs when people whisper about her as the lone girl on Orchard View High School's varsity wrestling team.
She's hurdled tougher obstacles in her young life, such as the retinal cancer that struck her as an infant and stole much of her eyesight.
"It's no big deal," says Adrianne, a 15-year-old freshman who's been cancer-free since age six. "I think I can pretty much do whatever I set my mind to. I've always liked sports."
And she's usually been active, despite her 10 percent peripheral vision in one eye and a glass prosthetic in the other socket. She's ridden her sister's bicycle, played flag football with the neighborhood kids and insists on taking a few cuts when her father pitches softballs to older sister Jessica.
"I've always been a tomboy and really into sports," Adrianne told The Muskegon Chronicle for a recent story. "I like the physical challenge and the competition."
Adrianne logged a 7-5 record as a junior high wrestler, including wins over five boys. As a freshman going up against older wrestlers, she's searching for her first win in the 119-lb. weight class.
"She almost got it two weeks ago at a West Catholic tournament," said her wrestling coach Scott Loss. "I think she'll win a couple matches this year."
Jessica Dempsey is a junior cheerleader and speaks glowingly of her sister.
"She's my role model. She really loves wrestling," Jessica said. "Last year, there were other girls on the team and when they would lose, they would cry. Adrianne never has. She's not a whiner. She handles things very well."
Adrianne is a regular at Western Michigan University's camp for sight disabled children and has competed in track and field, swimming, gymnastics, powerlifting and wrestling.
Last year, Adrianne was named the Michigan Blind Athlete Association's female athlete of the year for her performance at camp.
What sight Adrianne has is diminishing and among her few laments are that she can't see her sister's drawings or play hockey goalie.
She plans to attend college and is considering teaching or physical therapy. Her mother Diane is confident Adrianne will be successful.
"I want her to get everything out of life she wants," Diane said. "I really see great things in her future."
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