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Local girls show wrestling isn't just for boys anymore
1/28/03
In speaking with a couple of wrestling coaches recently, several good points were made about girls' wrestling.
Girls have made significant strides since stepping into the high school wrestling arena in the 1990s, yet there are some critics who doubt that girls belong in the sport.
They mumble that girls should not be wrestling. Leave it to the boys, they say.
How narrow-minded of them.
That backward thinking is exactly the kind of hurdle still facing females in our male-dominated society.
Youths, boys and girls alike, need encouragement in whatever they do.
Why should girls' wrestling be any different?
"A lot of girls have grown confidence, and it's a different view (of girls)," said 110-pound Hanks senior Tina Chavarria. "Girls can do things. It's not the old days when you did a sport and it was like 'whoa.' ... Girls want to say, 'Hey, girls can do things, too; it's not just a man's sport.' "
Chavarria, a second-year wrestler with plans to enlist in the Air Force, has excelled in her newfound passion, compiling a 30-3 record to rank her fourth in Texas according to Texas-USA Wrestling Inc.
Other state-ranked El Paso girls are Hanks' 119-pounder, Kim Quiñonez (third); 128-pounder Jenny Franco (fifth); and 165-pounder Diane Reveles (first); along with Montwood's 95-pounder, Mariana Chavira (fourth); 102-pounder Marisol Chavira (eighth); and 148-pounder Judith Rivera (third).
Not just for boys
Montwood wrestling coach Leo Garcia believes wrestling is a great opportunity for people to learn "self-defense, discipline. The more people get involved with it, the better it is for their community.
"Our culture limits a lot of girls from being in full-contact sports. ... Along the border, it's not a ladylike sport. That's why a lot of girls are hesitant to get into wrestling."
It is a viewpoint shared by Hanks girls' wrestling coach John Scheetz, who feels that the sport also instills discipline, encourages youths to maintain their grades and conditions them for physically demanding careers after high school.
Scheetz uses recent Hanks graduate Stephanie Jenkins as an example of how wrestling can help in molding a person. Jenkins was a two-time state champion at her 102-pound weight class and is currently attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, he said.
Scheetz, a former wrestler, considers himself a salesman of girls' wrestling and invites anyone to his practices. "We should have nothing to hide," he said, adding that girls do not wrestle boys.
"In the first week or so, we teach them how to stand, how to move. It's not like Marine boot camp," he said.
"We're going to be spending more time teaching them how to stand, how to shoot a takedown ... how to become better wrestlers."
Girls' wrestling should not be looked down on or avoided. It is a sport like any other and is another way for youths to prove themselves in a positive way.
Cultural or societal cages should not be clamped down on these hard-working girls.
Scheetz urges anyone interested in the sport to "come to a wrestling match."
"The district meet is next week. Have your daughters find where the meet is and go watch. I invite any parent to take me aside and ask me (questions)," he said.
For those who believe girls don't fit the wrestling mold, Chavarria had few words for them.
"Welcome to a new era. It's something new, and you have to accept it."
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CHAT ROOM
SPORTS FIGURES SOUND OFF ON VARIOUS TOPICS
By Heidi Pederson 1/28/03
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Brandon Slay
Olympic wrestling champion
Brandon Slay is the most accomplished amateur wrestler to come out of Texas. Slay was a state champion for Amarillo Tascosa High School and a two-time NCAA finalist. He went on to win the 2000 U.S. freestyle title at 167.5 pounds and a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
In the gold-medal match of the 2000 Olympic Games, he lost a controversial 4-0 decision to Germany's Alexander Leipold. Two weeks later, the International Olympic Committee announced that Leipold had tested positive for steroids, and the gold medal was awarded to Slay.
Slay, 27, took time off from wrestling after the Olympics, but in August returned to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado. In December he returned to Amarillo, and is now "not quite officially" retired. Through his Amarillo business, Greater Gold, he does motivational speaking and runs wrestling camps. His Web site is www.brandonslay.com.
Why did you return to the Olympic Training Center? I felt a little tingle inside of me that I might want to wrestle again. I figured I'm 26, I'm not married, I don't have any kids, and I still feel good. I needed to go out there and try. If I wouldn't have put those four months in, I would have always wondered.
What made you decide to come home? I wasn't as hungry as I used to be. I like wrestling. I like going to practice. I like lifting weights. But that's not what wins. You have to be borderline possessed, where it's all-encompassing in your life. I get more passion now from speaking to a group of 500 kids and seeing them really listen.
Did the fact that you already are an Olympic champion make it harder to continue wrestling? It's a lot harder, because your motivation's not the same. When you get second at NCAAs twice, you're not there yet. You're really hungry and you're willing to do anything to get there. Now, I've been there.
So you are officially retired then?: Right now, inside, I feel like that, but the competitor part of me finds it real hard to say, "Yes, I'm finished." It makes me sad, and I think that's why it's hard for me to say I'm retired. I've been doing this since I was 6. Knowing the ref's never going to blow the whistle again, it's hard to swallow.
What do you think of the reduction in the number of men's weight classes in the Olympics? (The IOC added women's wrestling, with four weight classes, for 2004, while dropping one men's weight class. The men also lost weight classes between 1996 and 2000)Obviously, it upsets me. In high school you have 15 weight classes, then you go to college and it drops to 10. Now in the Olympics you only have seven classes. Your opportunity decreases. When kids get older, there's not a place for a lot of them to continue because the opportunity isn't there. We only take seven freestyle wrestlers now. Just that one weight-class difference has ended a lot of wrestlers' careers.
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Girls show their wrestling power
By HARVEY COHEN, Correspondent 1/26/03
RIALTO - Many of the state's top girls high school wrestlers showed Saturday why their sport will make its debut in the 2004 Summer Olympics.
About 90 girls from 30 high schools statewide, including seven all-Americans, vied for 12 medals in the inaugural Inland Empire Girls Wrestling Championships held in the Eisenhower High School gym.
Kristy Bishop of Big Bear took first place at 126 pounds, and Michelle Graf from Colton won the championship at 152.
Graf won her match by technical fall over teammate Vanessa Tarango.
All-American Othella Lucas, a senior from Crawford High in San Diego and the state's top-rated 130 pounder, moved up to win at 134 by pinning Yazmine Lipsy from Ramona of Riverside.
Lucas is rated fifth nationally by the United States Girls Wrestling Association and already is preparing for the 2008 Olympic tryouts.
Thousand Oaks, one of the more successful high school wrestling programs, qualified for medals in five weight divisions.
"Once people see women wrestling in the Olympics, you will really see the sport take off,' said Thousand Oaks coach Shannon Williams-Yancy, who is a former four-time 112-pound national champ, and four-time world silver medalist. I tell the girls it's OK to be feminine and tough.'
University High of San Diego was the only school to have two champions Sandy Do at 122 and all-American and top-ranked Irene Proulx at 165.
Proulx pinned Eisenhower's Amanda Kiggundu for her championship.
Patricia Bernard, also from Ike, was pinned in the 144-pound title match with Mera Paplanas of Indian Hills.
Bernard, who wrestles on Ike's boys team as well, said she must improve her techniques, "instead of going on instincts alone.'
Bernard's boys varsity record is 2-5.
"Boys who lose to girls are still often made fun of by team mates,' Bernard said. "Boys are a lot stronger than girls, but technique usually overcomes strength.'
One of the tournaments biggest upsets came at 114, with Sylvia Cortez of Hanford West pinning Yesenia DeLamora, rated number-two in the nation, in double overtime.
Caroline Williams of Redlands reached the 118 title match, but was pinned by Andrea Williamson of Eastlake.
"This was a great day,' said tournament director Joe Paluba, who serves as Ike's boys and girls wrestling coach. "This is just the beginning. The CIF will have to listen to the girls. Next year will be even bigger. Yes, we're happy faces.'
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Eisenhower hosts girls' event
The Press - Enterprise; Riverside, Calif.; Jan 25, 2003; ANDRES CARDENAS;
Rialto Eisenhower wrestling coach Joe Paluba said he expects to have
more then 100 wrestlers, representing schools from San Diego to the Bay
Area, participating today in the Eagles' first all-girls tournament.
The tournament will begin at 9 a.m. Finals will start at 3 p.m.
Colton's Michelle Graff is ranked No. 1 in the state in the 152-pound
class by the California girls' wrestling Web site. Eisenhower has four girls
ranked: Christina Perez (No. 3 at 134), Felicia Quevedo (No. 4 at 138),
Amanda Kiggunda (No. 4 at 165) and Patricia Bernard (No. 7 at 144).
"I have four girls on my team and in the past couple of years we have
had to travel 100-plus miles to go to any tournament," Paluba said. "There are
enough girls locally that I believe we could have more than 100 girls
in the tournament."
The girls' state meet is Feb. 1 in Vallejo. As many as 16 exhibition
matches are scheduled to be held during the boys' state finals in Stockton,
which will be held in March.
Girls' wrestling isn't recognized by the CIF because not enough schools
participate.
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SGP senior wants to get hands on wrestling title
01/23/2003
By DAMON L. SAYLES / The Dallas Morning News
South Grand Prairie wrestling captain Daisy Callado doesn't consider
herself a pioneer, though her teammates disagree.
"She was one of the first," said Crystal Molinar, a sophomore on the
team. "You can't take that away from her."
Callado was a member of the first South Grand Prairie girls wrestling
team as a freshman in the fall of 1999. She trained with boys coach Mike
Eaton and former assistant Jerry Best, now the head coach at Allen.
Callado once wrestled with girls such as Suekoilya Shelly, a senior at
Hurst L.D. Bell who went to South Grand Prairie as a freshman. Shelly was The
News' 2002 Girls Wrestler of the Year.
"A friend of mine was trying to recruit, and she asked me before if I
wanted to do it," Callado said. "We started off with 12 girls, but they were
dropping like flies the first week."
Callado, once the recruited, now is the recruiter for a girls team that
features no other seniors. The 18-year-old is one of seven South Grand
Prairie girls wrestlers and one of the area's top competitors in the
110-pound weight class.
DAISY CALLADO
Age: 18
Classification: Sr.
School: South Grand Prairie
Weight class: 110 pounds
Did you know? When Callado is not wrestling, she is a fan of art and
photography. Callado has had drawings, paintings and sculptures
showcased in galleries and school exhibits, the most recent being a wire sculpture
of a ballerina called "Iron Beauty." The artwork took Callado three months
to finish.
"She actively recruits for wrestling and actively participates in
anything that's going on," second-year South Grand Prairie girls coach Erica
Goulding said. "Even if our boys go to a tournament and the girls aren't there,
she's there. She's a solid rock for the team, kind of like an older sister to
the girls."
The Texas wrestling Web site txusawrestling.com ranks Callado (30-4)
first among 110-pound high school girls wrestlers in the state. It also ranks
Molinar third in the 102 class and South Grand Prairie junior Deseree
Cazares eighth in the 119 class.
Molinar, 15, is only in her second year of wrestling, but she said
working with Callado has helped her physically and mentally.
"Wrestling can be hard, but she believes in us and makes us all
better," Molinar said of Callado. "She never lets any of us quit. Ever."
It was around this time last season when Callado wasn't sure if she
would wrestle again. Callado tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left
knee while wrestling with Molinar in December 2001.
"I went in for a takedown, and as I was driving to take her down, I
heard three snaps in my leg and just fell back," Callado said. "[Molinar]
pinned me, and when I stood up to walk back to the center to the mat, my knee
collapsed.
"I didn't know what was going on. I'd never broken anything in my
life."
After reconstructive surgery and a strenuous rehabilitation program,
Callado was back on the mat by April with her previous goal of winning a state
championship. She went undefeated in round-robin competition at the
Warrior Duals on Saturday at Arlington Bowie.
Two of Callado's four losses have come courtesy of Arlington Lamar
senior Brandi Brown, whom Callado considers her biggest competition. In four
matches this season, Callado and Brown have two wins apiece.
"[Brown] has been my obstacle my whole four years," Callado said.
"She's my goal right now."
"Brandi has been such an obstacle for the entire 110 weight class,"
Goulding added. "It's kind of like the running joke around here: Who's going to
win this week, Daisy or Brandi? They've gone back and forth all year."
Callado defeated Brown at the Lone Star Duals but lost, 7-6, in a match
at Lamar. Brown finished second at state last year, losing to San Antonio
Lanier's Tabitha Ramsey, 8-4, in the championship.
This year, Callado said anything less than a state title is
unacceptable – even with a knee she said "will never be 100 percent again."
"I still have pain, but if it hurts, I just go to the trainer as soon
as possible and as much as I can," Callado said. "When you go through
surgery like that, you'll never be the same, but you have to do everything to
take care of it."
Callado said her coaches and teammates have been reasons why she
focuses so much on winning at state. She credited Goulding and Eaton for being
there whenever needed, and she commended her younger teammates for showing
maturity and determination.
Callado is looking to continue her education next year at either NAIA
Cumberland (Ky.) College or NCAA Division II Minnesota-Morris, two
colleges with women's wrestling programs.
For now, Callado is focused on a state championship, staying healthy
and helping to establish a quality girls program.
"I just hope the girls benefit from my experiences," Callado said.
"They all have a lot of talent and really can go far."
"When she leaves, the beginning would be lost," Molinar added. "She was
the one who helped start it, but it'll be time for us to step up."
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