A letter was recently sent from Dr. Dale Crozier, Superintendent of the MFL-MarMac School District and a representative for Northeast Iowa on the IHSAA Council, to both the IHSAA and the IGHSAU. His letter states he is in full support of the creation of sanctioned girl’s wrestling in Iowa. He goes on to say, in part, “It is time that Iowa joins the other states to provide balanced competition, increased opportunity and equity among the genders.” He reasons that girls, physiologically, can’t compete competitively with boys in a fair fashion, and need to have at least some opportunity for girls to compete against girls and to also have state-sanctioned individual championships. “Iowa has one of the richest traditions of wrestling in the country, and we should now allow this opportunity equally for both sexes,” said Crozier. He goes on to cite the fact that women’s wrestling is popular throughout the world, and also recognized in Olympic competition (note-before I go any further, I want to make it clear that what he’s referring to is NOT the women wrestling professionally on television. While it’s true they are athletes, it is totally not the same).
I was able to interview Jean Berger, Executive Director of the IGHSAU, by phone for this story. She explained that, according to current policy of both Girls Union and the Boys Association, if 15 percent of the member schools (or approximately 50 school districts) can submit a plan for a new sport to be added the board of either organization will address it. “The process is outlined, and has been shared with all AD’s in the state,” said Berger.
She went on to say that currently about 18 schools have expressed interest, or already have, a separate wrestling program for girls. Those include districts such as Waverly-Shell Rock, Denver, Decorah, Anamosa and Colfax-Mingo. “They have double digit numbers of participants for the sport,” said Berger. She feels the most people we can impact the better they feel about starting the sport. “It’s not as easy to do as with the boys wrestling,” said Berger. “I worry about the details, and certainly want the experience to be good for the girls that participate.”
For instance, what about weight classes? According to Berger, states not utilizing the weight classes the IHSAA uses now are putting them in the class closest. “In other words, if we have 100 girls weighing around 135, then we call it 135,” said Berger. There are also questions like: What do we do about headgear?; What about long hair?: What about uniforms? “It can be all worked out, but we need a plan,” said Berger.
She mentioned that when the Union recently added soccer, for the first two years after sanctioning the participation went down. “Soccer is now growing,” said Berger. “With bowling, we grew the sport first then sanctioned it. There are great numbers that are interested and support the idea of girls wrestling. Our goal is ‘girls vs. girls”. She realizes that proponents are passionate about the idea, and she is not necessarily against it happening at some point. “We want it to be meaningful and sustainable,” said Berger.
Eagle Grove AD Rich Thacker, a former high school and college wrestler himself, feels that anything that can allow wrestling to be impactful in people’s lives is a good thing and regardless of gender. “It’s just you and your opponent out there on the mat,” said Thacker. “I feel I learned a lot of life lessons that have made me who I am. It was a very impactful thing for me as a young man.”
When it comes to the question of sanctioning, he feels that there has to be “equal understanding of what it means for both the IHSAA and IGHSAU.” He goes on to explain that if the Union decides to offer the sport, it will disallow any girls from participating through the IHSAA. “A new schedule for the girls wrestling team would need to be drawn up for the Union,” said Thacker. “They can now get up to 16 matches by being on the boys team. Under the Union sanction, there would be a massive reduction in their match opportunities and larger requirements for travel. Girls should have the opportunity to wrestle (if they wish), but sanctioning could potentially hurt the growth of the sport.”
Thacker said his bottom line opinion is that, under the current definition, he’s against sanctioning. “The first logical step is to redefine sanctioning to allow boys/girls wrestling during the season, then separate paths for each in the postseason,” said Thacker as to what he would like to see. He feels the interest, for girls to go out, will come with the opportunity of fair competition. “I can see schools getting together (co-op) to field a full team,” said Thacker.
Ashley Ramirez-Marcelino decided to try wrestling this year, and is believed to be the first girl at EGHS to try the sport. According to her, it all started with a conversation with a friend in Biology class.
“My friend told me about wrestling, and that practices were starting that day,” said the sophomore. “He told me I should do it, but that I was probably going to get destroyed and I agreed. Part of my thought about it, and so I told him I would do it.” She admits she was scared and kept second guessing herself, but also figured she had nothing going on after her school day and that it might be a great chance to try something new.
“At first the guys on the team had their doubts, and they figured I wouldn’t stay long because it’s a very tough sport to be in and takes a lot out of you, both physically and mentally,” said Ramirez-Marcelino. She admits that as she kept showing up everyday, the coach told the team that she was in the room to stay. “The team was very accepting and helpful, and I appreciate everything the coaches and my teammates did to help me.”
Despite all that help, Ashley still felt out of place sometimes as being both the only girl and a newcomer. “I would sometimes feel embarrassed practicing moves and not sure who to ask for help because I didn’t know most of the boys there,” said Ramirez-Marcelino. “However, they were all super helpful and nice. As time went on though, I started to feel like I was an actual part of the team.”
After the meet was over, and also her first match, the team was heading to the locker room when a man stopped her, shook her hand and told her she had done a good job in her wrestling debut. “It felt so super amazing to hear that, and it made me feel better because I got utterly destroyed in that match,” said Ashley. “It was amazing to have that kind of support.”
She easily admits that it was just as hard as she expected. “All the practices were brutal, in my opinion, and I would question why was I doing this and silently curse in my head, or sometimes out loud,” said Ramirez-Marcelino. “The coaches pushed us, even if we were tired and barely had the strength to go on.” She knows it was to make them better athletes and she’s thankful they saw the potential that she, and others, couldn’t see in themselves.
Ramirez-Marcelino believes sanctioning of girls wrestling will give them an amazing opportunity. “The thought of having to wrestle boys might make girls shy away from giving it a chance, especially with the physical contact,” said Ashley, her season cut short by injuries. “But with girls just wrestling girls, it might make them more comfortable to go out. There are differences in physique and aggressiveness between girls and boys, so there might be that element of fear. I hope the decision to sanction makes girls more comfortable to try out wrestling and experience this wonderful sport.”
As you can see, a number of different views and opinions have been expressed on this. Where do you stand on sanctioning? Do you feel girls should even be wrestling with guys in the first place, or maybe they should be wrestling other girls under the IGHSAU sanction? No matter what is ultimately decided, let’s be sure to keep the best interests of ‘The Iowa Girl’ at the forefront.
