As a divorced father of
two girls, I was somewhat
stunned earlier this school
year when my eighth-grader,
Ainber, said she wanted to
wrestle.
So of course I read with
great interest the article con-
cerning girls in high school
w -estling ("Girls grapple
w th breaking tradition,"
Sports, Friday).
I was impressed with my
daughter's mature approach
to wrestling after discussing
the obvious issues related to
the male-female anatomy
differences.
I must admit I was ner-
vc,us as I signed the parental-
release form. It certainly
seemed an odd choice to me
as a first venture into orga-
nized sports for a young girl.
My only admonition was
that if she decided to join the
team, there would be no quit-
ting because it was "too diffi cult."
Well, the last match of the
season was a week ago, and
my daughter did not quit. She
was not a starter, but She
wrestled several exhibition
matches and was a B-team
starter at a recent tourna-
ment. Although my daughter
won only one match, she was
competitive in all her matches.

Breaking Hold: New York high school students Chrissy Wilde,(top) and Amanda Aho compete in male - dominated sport.

She attended all practices
except when illness prevent-
ed it for a couple of days.
As the season progressed, I
saw a growth in her self-re-
spect and confidence. Her
school grades improved, and
she is developing aggressive
goals for her education anct
future. She now identifies
with a promising peer group
and has gained the respect of
many other students, male and

female.I am still not comfortable

with the wrestling, but those
are my standards from being
raised as a baby boomer. I
recognize that today's teens
must compete in a different

world than I did.
I am proud of my daughter's

accomplishments in attempting
a difficult task and seeing it through

to the end. In my eyes she is a success,
and wrestling has helped her attain
that success

Martin A.Warl