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By Shannon Shelton | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 22, 2004
University's Jennifer Talana (top) and Lake Brantley's Lindzee Bailey compete in a 112-pound match at Tuesday's Oviedo Invitational. Several area schools are trying to build programs in the sport, which is not FHSAA-sanctioned. January 22, 2004 |
Vanessa Damsel just wanted to play softball. Somehow, she ended up on Oviedo's girls wrestling team.
While in the athletic office to ask for a signup card for softball, Damsel listened to a pitch from athletic secretary and girls wrestling Coach Marge Carver. Carver wanted to revitalize the school's girls grappling program and was willing to recruit any girl who would show up.
"I looked at her like she was crazy," Damsel said. "But I went. I watched practice and it was weird. Then I came back. And I stayed."
At 112 pounds, the diminutive freshman who once participated in cheerleading is now hooked on wrestling, although she knows she has a lot to learn about technique and skill. That's the case with most of the nine regulars at Oviedo and girls at other schools who participate in wrestling. So schools have a double mission -- teaching girls the support and building interest among women who might be interested in trying it out.
"It's hard to get girls to come out when a program is first starting," said Amy Jinright, an assistant coach at Oviedo. Jinright wrestled at Oviedo before graduating in 2003 and now attends Seminole Community College, where she is training to become a firefighter. Although Carver is the team's head coach, Jinright has the mat experience and is able to demonstrate moves and technique to the new charges.
Jack Westcott, a 1998 graduate and Joy Warren, a 1999 grad, are two other past Lions wrestlers working as assistant coaches.
Jinright is firm but understanding, showing the girls the correct way to execute different holds. It has taken time for them to become comfortable with the idea of taking down opponents.
Giggles often break out as they try what they've learned.
"I tell them they have to get over the whole being-nice-to-everybody thing," Jinright said. "You can't be nice when you're on the mat."
Women's participation in competitive high school sports has been commonplace since the early 1980s -- about a decade after the passage of Title IX, the federal law that mandated equality in programs offered by academic institutions. Even in male bastions such as weightlifting, women have made strides; the Florida High School Athletic Association approved girls weightlifting as a recognized sport for this season.
But wrestling is a different animal. The one-on-one contact and extreme physical nature of the sport has kept many women from even considering it as an option. The majority of the Oviedo girls said they came out to a practice out of curiosity, not out of an inner desire to wrestle.
And their families definitely didn't introduce them to wrestling as children, as is the case with many male wrestlers. That's why reaction from family and friends can be mixed, although the girls who compete say they haven't experienced strong opposition to their decisions.
"A lot of people think it's cool," said senior Megan Kranz. "Others will say to me, 'Eeeww, gross.'"
Unlike other sports that have been sanctioned recently, girls wrestling is far from that point right now. The immediate goal is much more modest, although supporters do want to work toward earning official FHSAA recognition.
Right now, they're building programs in schools to a level in which they can become self-sustaining. In the past, girls wrestling powers have died out instantly when a coach left or when girls graduated without underclassmen to take their places.
One of the best examples of a girls wrestling dynasty would be Osceola. The program has been in existence for four years. The past two years, it has been among the top teams in the state. Osceola is the reigning state champion and the school will host the unofficial state tournament on Jan. 31 at 9 a.m.
"We were able to have separate girls matches this year, not just a few before the boys' matches or have the girls wrestle the JV boys," said Coach Jim Bird.
Osceola has 15 girls and can field a wrestler in all but one weight class, a rarity at many schools. Wins by forfeit are common at tournaments, since there might not be any wrestlers there in certain classifications. Bird said his county benefits from wrestling programs at the middle-school level, and he can get ninth-grade girls that already have experience.
St. Cloud has more than 20 girls and University also fields a team. Other schools may have two or three girls that practice with the boys teams and wrestle in the girls tournaments, even if the school doesn't have a separate girls squad.
Carver tries to sell the girls on the fact that there are opportunities beyond the high-school level. The annual national tournament in Fargo, N.D., has a girls division, and some colleges do offer scholarships for women in wrestling.
Like the others, Damsel said her friends and family were quite surprised by her decision. But she hasn't regretted it yet.
"I like this better," she said. "I look forward to this."
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Eastwood wrestler's skill, work ethic is coach's dream
Lenny Jurado 1/22/04
El Paso Times
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Yasmin A. Aboytes / El Paso Times ---------------------------------------------------------- Yocum file Who: Tressa Yocum. Age, height: 17, 5-foot-7. School, class: Eastwood, junior. Sports: Wrestling (165 pounds), soccer (defender). Notes: Yocum is undefeated this season, having won more than 25 matches; recently earned outstanding wrestler honors at Amarillo Caprock tournament. |
While some girls grew up dressing Barbie, Tressa Yocum dressed herself in wrestling gear and a pair of soccer cleats.
"I liked wrestling because that's what all the guys in my family did, and soccer has always been my favorite sport," the 17-year-old said.
Rather than spend hours in the toy store, the Eastsider preferred showing boys she was no slouch on the wrestling mat.
"One time, I wrestled an eighth-grader, and I was in third grade -- I pinned him in the second period," she said. "After that they (YMCA parents) didn't want their boys to wrestle me anymore."
Not much has changed for the junior at Eastwood, .
After years of vigorous training and tireless study, the 5-foot-7 Yocum has emerged as an elite wrestler as well as a standout defender on El Paso's top-ranked soccer team.
"I'm really proud of her," said Shane Yocum, her father. "She works hard, and she's always at some kind of practice, whether soccer or wrestling."
Drop of a pin
Such determination has paid off for Yocum, a relatively quiet girl who has gone undefeated in more than 25 wrestling matches this season.
Competing in the 165-pound weight class, Yocum is a savvy athlete who quickly can overpower opponents by using their momentum against them. However she's also a technical wrestler, which she attributes to her father's tutelage and afternoons of trying to pin her older brother, Troy, in her back yard.
"She knows the moves and has the strength to do them.
Put all that together, and you have a good wrestler," Eastwood girls wrestling coach Tony Dubeansky said.
Yocum has proved she is state-caliber despite wrestling only sporadically the past two years in Eastwood's fledgling girls program.
Nearly two weeks ago she earned outstanding wrestler honors at the Amarillo Caprock Tournament, one of Texas' more competitive venues. There she pinned four of her seven opponents in 15 seconds or fewer.
The grappler also finished first Saturday at the Bowie Invitational, the city's largest wrestling meet.
"She's a coach's dream, to be honest," Dubeansky said. "I've been in wrestling a long time, and I never thought I'd have an athlete who could compete at the state level so quickly."
Double duty
Yocum's talents extend to the soccer field, where the club-league veteran has been a starting sweeper for the Troopers (5-0) since her freshman year.
"She's quick and strong, a lot of the things that have made her very successful in wrestling," Eastwood soccer coach Mike Cataldi said. "Tressa plays very dominant with her upper body. She's not afraid to jump (for headers) and bang bodies. She's a warrior in there, basically."
Cataldi added that she's a significant part of his defense, a unit that has allowed only two goals -- Del Valle and Coronado -- in five matches.
"With her strength and physical ability, she makes a huge impact," he said.
Forging a champion
Yocum has dabbled in volleyball, track and field, wrestling and soccer but her heart is in the latter two sports.
Wrestling since she was 6 years old, the ever-competitive Yocum has pinned 80 percent of her male opponents, she said.
"She would probably dislocate her shoulder just not to get pinned," her father said, laughing.
Injuring herself is not something Shane Yocum advises his daughter, but he has taught her virtually everything she knows.
It helps that he's a two-time Indiana state wrestling champ who competed in the 1976 Olympic trials. He also was a starting nose guard for UTEP in the early 1980s.
Though an ultra-supportive father, "I never had to push her into wrestling," he said. "She would ask me for help, and I would show her a lot of moves that they don't know down here."
But when she began playing soccer in the third grade, the sport quickly became her favorite.
"It's not as physical (as wrestling), but it's more competitive for me," she said.
