Courtney Jackson, 9, won first place at Orem wrestling tourney last year.
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Tourney called biased against girl wrestlers
Moms say 2 girls, ages 6 and 9, were denied participation
By Carrie Sheffield 11/25/03
Deseret Morning News
Two mothers who say their daughters were unfairly denied participation in a local wrestling tournament have contacted attorneys and the ACLU for advice on how to prevent it from happening again.
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Courtney Jackson, 9, won first place at Orem wrestling tourney last year. Family Photo |
Kristi Jones of Santaquin and Jessica Vellinga of Provo said their daughters faced gender discrimination during the Rocky Mountain Wrestling invitational at Orem High School Saturday morning.
Jones said her daughter, Courtney Jackson, 9, who won first place in the same tournament last year, was not allowed to wrestle boys at the event this year because of rule changes by the tournament operator, Cole Kelley.
"He just told me that he wasn't going to let them wrestle her," Jones said. "She was upset. She feels like she should have the same rights as everybody else."
Vellinga said her 6-year-old daughter, Jet, faced similar circumstances at the tournament. She said Kelley told her he once had to wrestle a girl at a national tournament, and he didn't want to put the boys through the same experience.
"He wasn't even discreet about it," Vellinga said. "He said 'I'm not going to have girls wrestle boys at my tournament. He called my daughter 'honey.' . . . He was really patronizing toward us."
Kelley said he was trying to match wrestlers up into similar groups for competition and put Jet and another girl into the same group but was unable to find a group for Courtney. He said he was planning to put Courtney in a group with boys but her mother pulled her out of the tournament before he could place her.
The mothers say Kelley's registration forms asked for information on age, weight and experience and said nothing about gender-based groupings.
"It was a very underhanded way at discriminating against the girls," Vellinga said.
Kelley also blamed a blown fuse in the sound system for a failure to tell Jones and other parents about the grouping system.
"I do feel bad, and I want to apologize to Courtney for my error for the miscommunication," Kelley said. "I want to apologize to her mom for the miscommunication, and for the the future, I want her to know I'll make more of an effort to make it a positive experience."
Kelley said he was worried parents of some boys might be unwilling to have their sons wrestle against a girl.
"It happens frequently in the sport," Kelley said. "There are people that are uncomfortable with it, and I understand why they would be uncomfortable. If they refuse to wrestle, then it's unfortunate for the boy. It's unfortunate for the girl. I was looking for kids her weight, her size."
Courtney's coach, Brad McKee, said he pulled the entire Santaquin junior wrestling team from the tournament because of Kelley's actions.
"He completely took the word 'fun' out of wrestling and completely interjected his own, and that was 'discrimination,' " McKee said. "It's unfortunate that they make this an issue of gender. It's a skill thing. If you don't want to wrestle a girl, then you should forfeit the match. If you think you can beat her, then put the gear on and let's get it on."
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Parents upset over daughter's exclusion in wrestling event
Monday, November 24, 2003
The mother of a 9-year-old Santaquin girl said her daughter, who has wrestled for two years with the Santaquin junior wrestling team, should be allowed to wrestle boys.
Kristi Jones said that her daughter, Courtney Jackson, was discriminated against when she was not allowed to wrestle boys at the Rocky Mountain Wrestling invitational Saturday morning
But Cole Kelley, owner of the private tournament, said the problem was not discrimination but rather discomfort on the part of other male wrestlers and their parents.
Jones said that nearly 1Ý hours went by without her daughter being called to a match on Saturday. Jones said that when she
approached Kelley, she was told that girls were not allowed to wrestle boys, though Jones said Courtney competed in the same tournament last year.
"He said she was not going to be allowed to wrestle boys," Jones said.
According to Jones, it was only after the entire Santaquin team had resigned in protest, and after Kelley had refunded their money, that Kelley offered to find someone for Courtney to wrestle.
But Kelley said there were no other girls for Courtney to wrestle.
"There were two girls that were first-graders that were similar in weight, and we matched them up together and we wrestled them," he said, noting that he also refunded their money because of lack of competition and offered to give them medals.
The parents of the first-graders could not be reached for comment.
Kelley said that he asked his assistant coach to ask some of the boys in the tournament if they would mind wrestling Courtney.
The process was taking longer than expected, he said, but before the assistant coach returned, Courtney's parents decided to remove her from the competition.
"Obviously there were parents that had concerns about their boys wrestling girls in the tournament," Kelley said. "Sometimes the wrestlers will forfeit or refuse to wrestle the match.
"We did want to match her up with boys who would wrestle her instead of just putting her name up and discovering later that the boys were going to forfeit."
Jones said only one boy has refused to wrestle her daughter in the past two years of competition.
Kelley said that Courtney's mother removed her from the tournament because "they thought my attitude was negative and they ran with that. People have to understand that there are people out there that don't want their sons to wrestle girls.
"I think that wrestling is a great sport for girls and it is picking up on a national level. It is a great form of self-defense, so I'm not against females wrestling."
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11/26/2003
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
The November 2003 TheMat.com North American Women’s College Wrestling Rankings for teams and individuals has been released. This is the first ranking of the year for North American women college wrestlers.
Simon Fraser Univ. of British Columbia, Canada was named as the top North American college team in the preseason rankings. The team is coached by Mike Jones.
Simon Fraser received all five of the first place votes, to reach the maximum 100 points. Simon Fraser was the team champion at the 2003 CIS Nationals in Canada, and finished last season as the top ranked team in North America. Simon Fraser won the team title at the Women’s Championship Cup of Wrestling, a 10-team dual meet event held at Lakehead Univ. earlier this month.
Ranked No. 2 is CIS power the Univ. of Calgary, from Alberta, Canada. Calgary is coached by Mitch Ostberg and was second in the CIS Nationals last year. In addition, Calgary placed second behind Simon Fraser at the Women’s Championship Cup of Wrestling.
The top U.S. team in the rankings is No. 3 Cumberland College, a NAIA school in Kentucky, coached by Kip Flanik. Cumberland College was the No. 1 ranked team in the United States at the end of last year. His team placed third in the Women’s Championship Cup of Wrestling.
Missouri Valley College, an NAIA school coached by Carl Murphree, earned the No. 4 ranking in North America. Missouri Valley College, which has traditionally been a powerhouse program among American colleges, has not yet started its women’s competition schedule.
Seven of the top 10 teams were from Canada, and three were from the United States. Rounding out the Top 10 were No. 5 Brock Univ., No. 6 McMaster Univ., No. 7 Univ. of Saskatchewan, No. 8 Lakehead Univ., No. 9 Pacific Univ. and No. 10 Univ. of Manitoba.
A total of 20 teams were ranked, and other teams receiving votes were also recognized. The entire poll can be found at:
http://themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=591
The team ranking poll is elected by a panel of women’s college coaches, three from Canada and two from the United States. Eligible for ranking are college varsity and club women’s wrestling programs.
Canadian athletes dominated the individual rankings, with seven of the eight No. 1 ranked wrestlers hailing from Canadian schools.
The only U.S. wrestler with a No. 1 ranking in November was Toccara Montgomery of Cumberland College at 72 kg (158.5 lbs.) Montgomery, a junior, was a 2001 and 2003 World silver medalist and won a gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games.
Three athletes from Simon Fraser Univ. hold No. 1 rankings: Sara White at 51 kg (112.25 lbs.), Jessica Peterson at 59 kg (130 lbs.) and Emily Richardson at 63 kg (138.5 lbs.)
Two wrestlers from the Univ. of British Columbia who hold No. 1 rankings are Lyndsay Belisle at 48 kg (105.5 lbs.) and Shannon Samler at 67 kg (147.5 lbs.). Both are past members of the Canadian World Team.
The other top-ranked athletes were Heather Sweezey of Brock at 55 kg (121 lbs.) and Pamela Wilson of McMaster at 80 kg (176 lbs.)
The November 2003 North American Women’s College Individual rankings can be found at:
http://themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=594
The individual rankings are selected by TheMat.com, with assistance from coaches. Athletes who are considered for ranking are eligible full-time college students, and are members of their college women’s varsity or club program, or a member of their college men’s wrestling team.
Women’s wrestling is a growing sport in Canada and the United States on the college level. The International Olympic Committee has named women’s freestyle wrestling as the newest sport added to the Summer Olympic Games program. The United States and Canada are among the most successful women’s wrestling nations in the world.
Copyright 2003 by USA Wrestling and TheMat.com.
Media outlets may reproduce these rankings only if they identify them as TheMat.com U.S. Senior rankings