Femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com Femcompetitor.com photo credit
November 1, 2021,
When things are going well, things begin to swell.
Sounds swell.
Post Covid-19, women’s collegiate wrestling programs across the United States are being added to University athletic departments and female coaches are gaining more opportunities.
Female wrestling is flourishing at the high school level as well.
At the Modesto Bee they share, “In 2018-19, high school participation in the sport declined for the first time in 30 years but girls wrestling increased by 27%, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. There were 21,124 girls who wrestled last year compared to 16,562 during the 2017-18 year. In California, there were almost 1,000 new girl wrestlers in 2019 while the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section has doubled its participation from 2016 (540) to this year (1,095).”
As you electronically travel the country, state by state there is progress.
As reported by ESPN, “87 girls from 55 high schools found their way to the mats for North Carolina’s first official high school girls’ wrestling invitational contest.
The state is one of many experiencing a boom in female wrestlers. For years, girls around the country were folded into boys’ programs. But 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.”
At the high school and junior college level, our associates at Grappling Stars attended an all-girls wrestling tournament in Rocklin, California.
In terms of the growing popularity of the sport, they shared, “As we drove down Industrial Avenue towards Tinker Road we saw something that surprised us once again.
The sign said “overflow parking” should head this direction. So the regular parking is full? For girls wrestling? Really?
We’ve never seen that before.
After parking we were in for another nice surprise.
A bus would shuttle us to the event. Again. All of this for a girl’s wrestling tournament? Usually the girls have to be second fiddle to the boys at tournaments. Here at their own girl’s only tournament, the parking lot is full and you get a shuttle bus to take you up to the door.”
The news keeps getting better.
Eight colleges previously announced that they will add women’s wrestling for the 2018-19 season: Tiffin University (OH-NCAA Div. II), Southwestern College (KS-NAIA), York College (NE-NAIA), Lakeland University (WI-NCAA Div. II), Presbyterian College (SC-NCAA Div. I), Baker University (KS-NAIA), Schreiner University (TX-NCAA Div. III) and Gannon University (PA-NCAA Div. II). Presbyterian College, which added men’s and women’s wrestling at the same time, became the first NCAA Div. I program within the WCWA.
In terms of additions, there is massive news.
On September 23, 2021, as reported by theathletic.com, “Iowa will become the first major athletics department to add women’s wrestling and plans to incorporate the new sport with the 2023-24 school year, the school announced Thursday morning.”
Iowa traditionally has had great Division One Football teams that are part of the elite power national power five divisions.
The athletic department (hawkeyesports.com) adds, “The University of Iowa Athletics Department is adding women’s wrestling as an intercollegiate program, becoming the first NCAA Division I, Power Five conference institution to offer the sport.”
That is further evidence that the sport is gaining traction in finding approval and funding at the major Power Five universities, placing the female student athletes involved to earn substantial scholarships.
Much of this has to do with the NCAA, after years of struggle, designating women’s wrestling as an emerging sport.
It was a long time coming but some things are well worth the wait.
It is made official.
Women’s Wrestling has been designated an NCAA emerging sport.
As reported at ctwrestling.com on June 18, 2020, “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.”
The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics is responsible with identifying and managing the progress of emerging sports for women.
An emerging sport is a women’s sport recognized by the NCAA that is intended to help schools provide more athletics opportunities for women and more sport-sponsorship options for the institutions, and also help that sport achieve NCAA championship status.
It all began back in 1994.
When the NCAA adopted the recommendations of the Gender Equity Task Force, one of the recommendations was the creation of the list of emerging sports for women.
The NCAA announced, “The NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program will grow by two sports this August, as acrobatics and tumbling and women’s wrestling are now approved in all three divisions.
Acrobatics and tumbling and women’s wrestling were recently approved for the emerging sports program in Division I and were approved in Divisions II and III in January. Both sports will join equestrian, rugby and triathlon as emerging sports Aug. 1. Acrobatics and tumbling anticipates 30 NCAA schools will sponsor the sport in 2020-21, while women’s wrestling will be sponsored by about 35 schools.”
It is so great to see that in writing.
In terms of coaching women’s wrestling at a Power Five school, at least one female candidate has emerged as a possible choice.
Clarissa Chun is the USA Wrestling assistant National coach and an American Olympic women’s freestyle 105.5 lbs. wrestler. She is the first female wrestler from Hawaii to win a medal at the Olympics.
In 2018, she was inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame.
Ms. Chun came from a judo background, winning five junior national championships before she tried wrestling in her junior year at Roosevelt High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. She captured the state wrestling title in 1998, the first year girls wrestling was a sanctioned sport.
Very impressive resume.
We were also extremely impressed watching fully competitive wrestling at the Female Competition International (FCI) October 2, 2021 Event at the sprawling majestic San Francisco Airport Hyatt Hotel.
The concept of uniting female sports under one flag, with female grappling as the gasoline, is intriguing.
Watching it live in a production that included Brazilian Samba Dance, an Opera Singer, a Model Shoot, vibrant Competitive Cheer and traditional Japanese dance was fascinating to view up close.
As the competitive female wrestling industry, including high school, collegiate, weekend amateur and professional participation continues to trend upward, the future looks incredibly bright for this captivating sport that continues to take the United States by storm.
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OPENING PHOTO Femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com Femcompetitor.com photo credit
https://www.modbee.com/sports/high-school/article239847413.html
https://www.espn.com/high-school/story/_/id/26438471/why-girls-high-school-wrestling-rise
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarissa_Chun
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
