Expanding Girl’s Wrestling in Utah

It’s been a rocky, steep, and slow climb for womens wrestling to get where it is today, and the tricky part is, the climb isn’t over. It’s been a while since Title IX was passed in 1972, but that was a significant step in the growth of girls folkstyle wrestling on a high school level, giving girls an opportunity to experience the incredible lessons that wrestling has to offer, and it was where a lot of the changes started. In 2004, the Summer Olympics in Athens had womens wrestling on it’s program for the first time and has continuously recognized womens wrestling every year since. Due to these two, and many other feats, female wrestling has become more and more of a powerhouse, proving that girls can be just as tough as boys, whether they’re wrestling with them or along side them, but in order for the female side of wrestling to truly expand to its full potential we, as a state and nation, need to grow it to the point where we have a women’s program that is separate from the men’s, with equal opportunities.

According to nwcaonline.com; California, Hawaii, Texas, Washington, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Oregon, and Guam all have high school sponsored state championships exclusive to girls, and there are 24 current women’s college varsity wrestling programs with a growth of 2 colleges per year across the nation. The National Federation of State High School Associations came out with a 2013-2014 High School Athletics Participation Survey that stated that there are roughly 9,904 female wrestlers that are representing their high schools across America. While these numbers seem small they represent a huge growth for the women’s division of wrestling on a national scale. There is still massive amounts of work to do for womens wrestling to reach it’s full potential, and we want to do our part here in Utah to make that happen.

This may seem like a daunting task, but that’s what wrestling is about, overcoming hard things. One of the biggest ways we can grow womens wrestling is through raising awareness. A lot of parents or young girls just don’t realize that it is acceptable and encouraged for girls to wrestle. While talking with Adeline Gray, the number 1 ranked 75kg/165 lb womens wrestler in the world and two time World Champion, she was asked what the best way to grown womens wrestling would be and she said, “Push to get programs to young ages. [Get them] informed about the opportunities and availability of wrestling for women.” There are a lot more opportunities for female wrestlers to be successful than most people assume. Locally, we are striving to provide more and more opportunities for all ages. Currently, Titan Wrestling Club, in Syracuse, holds all girls practices every Tuesday and Thursday from 7-8 pm. Mapleton Jr. High also runs all girls practices every Thursday night (except December 4th) from 6:30-7:30 pm up until Christmas break, and starting after Thanksgiving break Layton high will have all girls practices Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:30-6:30. The age groups vary for all programs and this gives girls a chance to get used to, and discover their passion for the sport, without being overwhelmed by wrestling boys. While these are just a couple of options, we look forward to organizing some all girls divisions in tournaments in the future.

Another way that we can expand womens wrestling is simply by looking at it in a different light. Adeline was asked what she thought the biggest struggle for girls to overcome in wrestling was and she answered with a single word; “acceptance.” Because womens wrestling is so “out of the norm” a lot of people have a tendency to reject it, seeing it in more of a negative light than a positive one. Adeline mentioned that a key to reshaping the stereotypes and promoting the female division of the sport would be by, “Letting people know about the top women in the sport and advertising them as beautiful, confident, and strong women that are elite athletes.” Just like a lot of people have preconceived notions about mens wrestling, they have boxed in womens wrestling by judging it without seeing all of the amazing benefits that come from it.

Most people may not realize the kinds of life skills and lessons a person can develop from wrestling, whether that person is a male or a female. Jodie Cox, mother of Hailey Cox, spoke on the many ways wrestling has benefited her daughter saying, “Hailey is a 4.0 Student -- She knows what it means to set high goals, work hard, and be accountable for her actions. Hailey is the Student Body President of her Junior High School -- She has the self confidence to try out for hard things and the people skills to connect with her peers. She is a natural leader. Hailey has taken advantage of opportunities through wrestling that have enabled her to compete on the USA Women's Pan American Team and World Team taking her to Brazil and Slovakia to compete. She has goals of competing in the Olympics and is currently getting to travel all over the country at Women's clinics and camps. AMAZING opportunities that have all come through being given a chance to wrestle.” Adeline Gray also said, “I stress the opportunities that [wrestling] can open up like education, travel, and positive self image. It gives a dream, something to work towards that can help push yourself to be better than you ever thought you could be.” Both wrestlers, Adeline and Hailey are role models that any parent could be proud to have their daughter look up to and that is the kind a woman and person in general that wrestling helps produce. 

Our goal as a wrestling community is to keep the sport growing and make it the best it can be. In order to grow wrestling, we need it to be well rounded, and that means no longer only focusing on the boys, but also developing strong women to lead the sport as well. Until we are developed enough to provide what we hope will become all girls divisions and programs, the girls can still gain valuable training and experiences with the boys. Jodie Cox said, “We have had a very positive experience all the way around with Hailey and how people have received her wrestling with boys. I think she has earned a high level of respect from her "boy" teammates and opponents that shows on and off the mat. She was voted team captain of her "All Boy" Junior High wrestling team which shows the level of respect that they have for her and her leadership abilities.” Adeline Gray also talked about her positive experience competing with boys, saying, “I want to thank the boys that got me where I am. It takes courage to step on the mat and treat a girl as an athlete. I have had a lot of positive males wrestle me as an equal and I think that shows more character than just in the sports world but translates to women's equality in the real world. We only have so much time and energy to give do not forget to give thanks to the people that were positive and helped you become a better, faster, stronger person.”  Which just goes to show that it doesn’t matter if its a girl wrestling or a boy, wrestling teaches evident lessons on respect, and we should show the rest of the world how fully wrestlers and the wrestling community embraces that.