Going to the mat: will coed wrestling be a takedown in Minnesota? - News Debate - insufficient funds for all girl wrestling teams - Brief Article

Current Events, April 5, 2002

"YOU LOST YOUR MATCH to a girl?" Some boys may be hearing those words more often as more and more high school boys and girls square off at wrestling matches.

The National Federation of State High School Associations says that in the past ten years, the number of girls on high school wrestling teams nationwide has grown from about 100 to more than 3,000, mostly on boys teams. Only three states, Florida, Hawaii, and Texas, have separate girls high school wrestling teams. In states that allow coed (boy-girl) wrestling, girls generally must join boys teams if they want to compete on the mat.

Despite the growing popularity of girls wrestling across the country, lawmakers in Minnesota are considering whether to repeal part of a state law that allows girls to take part in public-school-sponsored sports with boys if a girls team is not offered in a particular sport. If the repeal succeeds, coed wrestling would no longer be allowed in Minnesota's public high schools.

A Touchy Issue?

During a February hearing of a Minnesota House of Representatives committee, some male wrestlers, parents, and coaches voiced their opposition to coed wrestling. High school wrestler Abe Olson said that the full body contact involved in wrestling makes him uncomfortable wrestling with girls. "It's different than football. There you're separated by pads, not a thin layer of Spandex," Olson told the lawmakers.

Minnesota Rep. Paul marquart, who coaches wrestling, said he does not allow boys on his teams to wrestle girls. "If we saw these same things in the hallways of [a] school, we'd break them up and send someone to detention," Marquart commented.

Girls Will Be Girls

Some girl wrestlers and their supporters contend that coed wrestling is often the only opportunity girls have to practice their sport. As is the case in some other states, school administrators in Minnesota generally say they haven't got the funds to offer all-girls wrestling leagues. Minnesota Rep. Mary Jo McGuire said, "Obviously, the best thing would be for the girls to have their own teams. But ... with the financial crises facing our schools, it is going to be difficult to expand right now.... In the meantime, we don't want to take away the opportunity from the girls who are able to, and want to, compete."

Melissa Kendall, a California high school wrestler who beat many boy wrestlers on her way to earning a varsity letter, said, "Guys may be bigger and stronger, but really it doesn't make a difference. When you go out there, it's not a girl against a boy, it's wrestler against wrestler."

Should coed wrestling be allowed in public school sports programs? Why or why not?

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