August 11, 2020,
In these unprecedented times, we welcome great news wherever we can get it. And there is fantastic news.
Especially if you are a female freestyle wrestler.
Just look around you and keep reading about this phenomenal growth.
The global news leader ESPN reports, “Since 2001, the number of girls in high school wrestling has soared from 3,405 to nearly 17,000, buoyed by the introduction of women to Olympic wrestling in 2004 and the rise of MMA, a sport dominated by strong wrestlers. In the past year, six states have sanctioned the sport, making it one of the nation’s fastest-growing high school girls’ programs.”
Very impressive. Accolades well deserved.
Let’s travel around the United States and look at the headlines.
grapplingstars.com, femcompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com articles, Argus-leader.
Sacramento, California.
You know when a youth industry is green hot when the trainers and teachers are charging you $120 a month and you are happy to pay it.
The team at mattime.com feel the fee is well worth it. At their site they announce, “MatTime® is now offering high level wrestling instruction for female wrestlers in the Sacramento area. We are ready to roll after the recent layoff and we’re doing it in a big way! We already have wrestlers at MatTime from Del Oro H.S. , Davis H.S. , Calaveras H.S, Elk Grove H.S., Whitney H.S. and more to come. We will also have an collegiate All American in attendance. The coach of the girls will be NCAA All American from Iowa Grant Gambrall.
MatTime is opening its doors to advanced wrestlers throughout the Sacramento region (and we have a few 7th and 8th graders) so that the best girls in California can come train under the same roof. Our goal is to make these California girls the top wrestlers in the country. With girls wrestling being one of the fastest growing sports in this country and throughout the world along with the help of the NCAA declaring Women’s Wrestling as an Emerging Sport, colleges and universities will be forming competitive women’s teams this will bring great opportunities for our girls.”
Pennsylvania
At the informative news source, the York Daily Record, they share it was about two years ago when Coach Dan Heckert really saw the potential of girls’ wrestling as a growing sport.
“As girls’ wrestling continues to grow in Pennsylvania, Heckert will lead one of the first official teams in the state. He was recently hired as the head coach of North Allegheny’s girls’ wrestling team, which was approved by the school district on June 24.”
That makes Coach Heckert the first individual officially hired to coach a girls’ wrestling program in the state.
Great expectations abound.
Wisconsin
The DeForest Times Tribune sounds the drum roll. “Over the last 10 years, one of the fastest growing sports in Wisconsin and across the United States has been women’s wrestling. The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control took notice and recently acted on a coach’s committee recommendation to start a tournament series for girls wrestling.”
A much-discussed coaches’ recommendation to add a girls division to the State Tournament Series in wrestling was amended to conduct a girls-only individual tournament in 2021-22. Girls and boys will be permitted to wrestle each other during the regular season, but the Tournament Series will be gender exclusive.”
They add that girls wrestling has been around the region for some time. Poynette has hosted a number of events in the past five years. In 2015, the Poynette Panther Wrestling Club and the Club @Damage Inc., Women’s Wrestling Week, while in 2018 the groups hosted the first stand-alone Wisconsin Wrestling Federation women’s high school folkstyle state tournament.
grapplingstars.com, femcompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com articles, Shaw Media photo
Illinois
The team at The Bellevue News Democrat shares more about this great surge, “Since the inception of the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association girls state wrestling tournament in 2017, eight metro-east area athletes have had the thrill of being on top of the victory platform as champions while 10 others have captured medals.
Beginning in the 2021-22 season, top high school girls from Southern Illinois will have the same opportunity as their male counterparts — to be Illinois High School Association girls wrestling state champions.”
The IHSA Board of Directors, along with the recommendations of its wrestling advisory committee, has approved their first sanctioned state wrestling tournament.
As we can see the growth continues.
One more.
South Dakota
ABC affiliate KOT TV reports, “The high school wrestling scene in this state will look a little bit different next season after the South Dakota High School Activities Association recently approved sanctioning girls wrestling beginning in the 2020-21 school year.”
South Dakota will be the 25th state in the country to sanction the sport, something that has taken a little time to take hold in what is traditionally viewed as a very masculine sport.”
Muscle up girls.
grapplingstars.com, femcompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com articles, Connecticut-Wrestling-Online.
This is important.
The girls wrestling division will begin with one classification, as opposed to boys which is split into Class A and Class B, with four weight classes to begin with.
The top eight wrestlers in each weight class will qualify for the State Tournament, with the girls competing alongside the boys at the same event.
The addition of weight classes in the future will be determined by participation numbers. Given the great strides that the girls are making, that should be no problem.
The NCAA certainly has their eyes focused on girls wrestling. They recently had a huge announcement to make.
On June 18, 2020, at ctwrestling.com Connecticut, they posted, “Women’s wrestling has been added to the NCAA’s Emerging Sports for Women program in Division I, the NCAA announced Wednesday. It was approved at the Division II and Division III level earlier this year.
Having women’s wrestling as part of the emerging sports program could convince other schools to add the sport. There are already some collegiate women’s wrestling programs.”
As women’s freestyle wrestling continues to surge, virtually every news source at the four corners of the United States and everywhere in between are becoming aware of this unique explosion.
Regarding dignified female grappling, good news is not only traveling fast but far and wide as well.
grapplingstars.com, femcompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com articles, St.-Louis-Post-Dispatch
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OPENING PHOTO grapplingstars.com, femcompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com articles, Northwest-Herald
https://mattime.com/pages/girls-wrestling
https://www.hngnews.com/deforest_times/article_cd4c8781-ced0-58c4-a3d4-e9c7232f5520.html
https://www.bnd.com/sports/high-school/article243597357.html
https://www.kotatv.com/content/sports/Girls-wrestling-coming-to-South-Dakota-571360351.html
https://ctwrestling.com/2020/06/ncaa-names-womens-wrestling-as-an-emerging-sport/3412/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://www.espn.com/high-school/story/_/id/26438471/why-girls-high-school-wrestling-rise
