My 1st Soap Box Sermon

[bear cat brown]

Good morning boys and girls, I thought today being a Sunday and 12 days before Christmas, I would jump up on my 2 story soap box and preach a little today. First, I would like to thank all the nice words that were said last year, and I'm so glad to be back on here.

 

My sermon today will be how some people in our sport have been wronged, can I get an AMEN!

 

As I have stated many times on this rasslin board I'm a huge fan of ..... Emily Gesslers. I got to see her rassle yesterday and am always amazed at the look on those boys faces after coming off the mat against her.

 

It seems that the powers to be will not let Emily compete in the girls State tournament because she is competing against the boys. I have a slight problem with this and I hope that you boys and girls will hear me out. I would think that the reason that Emily is not given the chance to win a State Title ( and she would) is because she is training harder and getting more mat time than the other girls. Shame on her for trying to better herself in a sport that she loves.

 

Here's my problem, don't most coaches use the saying; "Summer Training leads to Winter Champions " ?

Why is it ok for boys to train hard in the summer getting a ton of extra work to better themselves and not ok for girls to do the same? If I had a daughter ( and thank God I don't ) I think my silk panties would be so far up my tight booty that I might push this issue.

 

Now I know that Coach Steve Henry is kinda in charge of girls rasslin and was a huge factor in getting it going. Let me also say that Coach Henry is one of two Coaches that I have the utmost respect and admiration for. He is one of the best by far, but................. I disagree with him strongly on this subject.

 

Maybe I don't have all the facts ( but when had that stopped me from making an a@@ out of myself) So if any can set me straight, I'd thank you.

 

Thank You for giving me a little of your time, now if you mommies could for once go out and do some Christmas shopping so that we daddies don't have to do it all again, we ( daddies ) would appreciate it.

 

Good Luck Emily and I hope that your dream of becoming a State Champion is realized

 

the Rev

bcb iii

[ggun]

I don't believe there is any prohibition for any girl to wrestle to a state championship in the division she is wrestling. If any girl wants to wrestle in a division which is predominently filled with boys then have at it.

 

I fully support the girls in this state that are placing the foundation for girls wrestling. They are pioneers and are earning lifetime achievement principles for building respect for the younger girls who will have opportunities on the mat that they wouldn't have and have not had in the past.

 

The girls who compete against the boys, and their coaches, were fully aware of the rule before they stepped on the mat at the start of the season. I see no reason to complain.

 

Sure, one or two girls in the state may be inconvenience by this, but the great majority of girls are benefitting and many more will share the opportunity to learn by wrestling in the future.

 

g

[lbhiii]

I remember watching Emily wrestle one of our Copperhead's at the Tullahoma AAU/USA(?) tournament a few years ago. She's whipping this boy like a red-headed step child. The head snake himself, Coach Chuck Bean, turns to me in the corner and says, " I don't know what to say, I've never had a boy beaten by a girl. You handle it...." Thanks Chuck. After the match came to a merciful end, I patted the young man on the head and with a straight face told him to get ready for his consolation round.

 

Well low and behold, the kid comes back and wrestles like a champ in the consolation match and wins. Since he is winning, the head chicken snake, Chuck Bean, shows up and tells him, " Thats a good job son. The only thing worse than getting beaten by a girl is getting beaten by a boy who got beaten by a girl!".

 

I hope Emily finds much success and I hope Smiley doesn't have to wrestler her. What weight is she wrestling?

[xwrist]

To the Honorable Mr. BCB, I must admit that I LOVE to read your posts. You truely missed your calling,

because Ward Gossett might have been out of a job had you pursued the newspaper business. Gary called to let me know that I had been called out on Coach T and so here I am to answer the charges. Let me start by saying that we are attempting to get "Girls Wrestling" sanctioned and this is why girls must wrestle girls in order for this to be done. It is also viewed as an unfair advantage that girls could wrestle guys and then compete against those that do not. The answer to that of course is then let them also wrestle boys and thats where the problem starts. 1. Not all girls want to wrestle boys 2. not all fathers are comfortable with their daughters wrestling boys 3. The Gessler girl is in the 1% of Girls that can compete against guys and there are other reasons, but I will stop it there. Remember this is about girls from all over the state and not just the Gessler girl. With all the information that has been gathered by the "Girls Wrestling Committee" the majority of girls and their coaches only want to compete against girls. Emily chose to go with the guys and she has the opportunity to be a State Champion in that group. She won a State Championship last year when allowed to compete in the Girls State, so that will always be hers. Hope this helps................Steve

[CoachBray]

I understand the rule that was implemented on this subject and don't want to stir the pot. However, I do want to bring up a few points that I feel should be /should've been considered.

 

1. Girl's wrestling IS NOT sanctioned.

Emily went through the entire girl's season undefeated without a single point being scored on her. She wins OW in the "girls invitational" and is not recognized as a state champ. I was told she is not recognized as a state champion because the sport is not sanctioned. Why make her choose a path when girls wrestling is not sanctioned? Why make her walk through a half-schedule of girls wrestling to be "girls invitational" champion? I ask why not keep the rule as it was last year as she had to choose before the region tournament? I would understand a little more if it was sanctioned, it isn't.

 

2. Girls that wrestle boys have an unfair advantage.

Give me a freaking break!!!!!!!!!!! Bradley and Baylor have an unfair advantage because they have a room full of beasts that they get to practice with. Therefore, they should only be allowed to wrestle in Beast of the East and the Clash. The MUS defense had an unfair advantage as they had to face the MUS offense everyday. Let's take away their state championship. If a girl doesn't want to wrestle a boy, she doesn't have to. They HAVE a choice. Don't punish a girl because she wants to get better.

 

3. Parents may be uncomfortable with boys wrestling girls and vice versa.

Some parents are uncomfortable by letting their little sweethearts do anything that could damage their precious fragile egos. Some parents won't let their boys play football because they might get hurt. They don't form a flag football league for them. Nobody has ever taken it easy on Emily because she's a girl. She gets the best a kid can bring because they don't want to lose to her. Do you think everybody gives Cameron Croy all they got once he starts blasting them? I'm uncomfortable with my kid wrestling Michael Kennedy, but he still has to get out there.

 

4. Preparation for the future.

Emily Gessler will wrestle in college and wants to become an Olympian for her country. She has already wrestled in numerous national tournaments. She spent a week in PA this summer training with a girl that was in the Olympics. What is going to prepare her for the future? She was basically FORCED to choose the guy route in order to get better competition. She often get man-handled in matches (pardon the pun), but she doesn't shy away from it or go running to lesser competition.

 

 

So when we had our talk, I told her I was 100% behind whatever decision she wanted to make and she needed to take a few days to think it over. I knew what she was going to choose, her father knew what she was going to choose, and Emily knew what she was going to choose. So she'll battle as hard as she can this season and do this very best she can.

[MWR]

There is no reasonable logic whatsoever that girls should be allowed to compete against boys for numerous reasons which some have already been mentioned... Not saying they shouldn't be allowed to wrestle, just not against boys so a girls' state tourney oughta be sanctioned.

[ArtusCimber]

Well, I looked for a letter that I wrote to Mark Reeves last year about this issue, but it is on my computer at school. I will look for it tomorrow and will post it if I can find it.

 

If not, I'll post something new tomorrow.

 

The bottom line is this; if we are going to have girl's wrestling in Tennessee, we have to do it right from the beginning. It is my opinion, as well as nearly everyone trying to get this off the ground, that one of the first steps is that girls need to wrestle girls only. That seems to be the consensus around the state.

 

None of this was done to hinder Miss Gessler; it was done to benefit all the girls who do not want to wrestle guys. There is a girl at Elizabethton who has chosen to wrestle against boys. If there is anybody else out there who has made that decision, please let me know.

 

More later; King of the Hill is coming on.

 

Price

[ArtusCimber]

Here is the letter I drafted and sent to TSSAA.

 

Mr. Carter and Mr. Reeves:

 

On the morning of 6 October 2008, Steve Henry and I had the opportunity to discuss some of the issues facing us as we attempt to grow girl’s wrestling in Tennessee. The purpose of this letter is to express our thoughts and concerns on that front.

 

First, we agree that it is definitely in the best interests of the sport to have an individual tournament as opposed to a dual tournament. This will perhaps encourage schools that are unable to fill the weight classes necessary to be competitive in the dual format. There is greater potential for participation.

 

However, we disagree with allowing a girl to wrestle against boys all season then opt out of the boy’s regional to participate in the girl’s state tournament. In our opinion that is counterproductive to what we are trying to accomplish. First, the Science Hill and Soddy Daisy girls will not be wrestling against boys, regardless of the state’s final decision. Second, there will be more girl’s events this season. We plan to have a girl’s division in our preseason takedown tournament on November 15th, and Soddy Daisy will be hosting a girl’s division at their tournament in January. We are contemplating the possibility of more girl’s wrestling events as well with a view to possibly conducting two to three girl’s competitions per month. Furthermore, we feel that continuing to allow girls to wrestle against boys will take away the impetus from most schools to have girl’s only events. Why do the extra work if the girls can just be thrown in with the boys? Third, we observed at last year’s girl’s invitational that the girls who had wrestled against boys prior to the tournament had what we deemed an unfair advantage. Most schools would have no problem opting to leave those girls out of the boy’s regional anyway, because they would be unlikely to score in that tournament. It is our opinion that if we are going to have girl’s wrestling in the state then we need from the start to foster a mentality that this is going to be a girl’s only sport. The only way to do this is to move away from wrestling as a “coed” sport.

 

Finally, we support keeping the weight classes from last season. They seemed to work well and we see no reason to change them.

 

These are our thoughts and ideas on this issue. We appreciate your careful consideration of them.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Jeff Price

Science Hill High School

Jon Renner

Head Girl’s Wrestling Coach

Science Hill High School

Steve Henry

Soddy Daisy High School

 

I hope this helps fill in some of the blanks.

[sdkid]

The main issue with boys vs girls is that the boy is in a no win situation.He wins, so what he beat a girl he losses well you can imagine the feeling.The building of confidence and the fighting spirit is not the same in a hard fought loss to a girl.I am opposed to boy vs girl at any level.You have to think not only of the girls feelings of acceptence but also where is the reward for the boy in this obvious no win situation.I may take some heat for this but it is how i feel about the issue.Steve Henry is one of the smartest guys I know he always puts alot of thought and preparation into everything involving wrestling.I dont just say this because Steve is my coach and mentor (trust me we have had our disagreements)but because I think his approach to this matter is the most plausible one avaliable.

[playhard70]

BearCatBrown and Coach Bray, great posts. Each of you have excellent and valid points. Coach Bray, your analogies speak volumes. BearCatBrown, your correct in addressing-What's right is right. I personally don't know Gessler, but I've seen her wrestle. I also remember her brother, who, if I remember correctly, was a pretty good wrestler himself. Back on Ms. Gessler, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind the she is the best female wrestler in TN and certainly just as good and probably better than many of the boys. For those that have imposed the stipulations that "if you wrestle boys, you can't wrestle at the girls invitational", you're wrong. In fact, I think you're spineless because your girls have no chance on beating Gessler. Why punish her for taking the harder road to success? I would imagine that parents or coaches of girls that don't wrestle boys had something to do with imposing "this rule", ..just a guess. I liken Gessler to a Manny Pacquiao, Roy Jones Jr, or Floyd Mayweather Jr in that she could whip any girl in several weight classes below her and several classes above her, if she were to make those jumps. Stuff like this reminds me of those schools that wanted to have multiple valedictorians because they wanted to "spread the wealth". Or better yet, let's not keep score because we don't want there to be a "loser". Anyhow, you get the point. They all come from the School of Spineless, Cowardly, Keep My Self-Esteem In Tact, and Please Give It To Me Because I Don't Want To Work For It. As BearCat mentioned, Ms. Gessler I hope you accomplish all that you set out to do. I look forward to you becoming an "Olympian" and a World Class Competitor while the others have their medals from the girls invitational in shadow boxes wandering what could have been. Good luck to you on your season and I hope that mine will have to wrestle you because it will make him better.

[kuzer]

Somebody help me out here......What other TSSAA sports permit co-ed participation?

Is it permissable for a high school boy to participate in a female sport? I am not in tune with current TSSAA regulations, but don't recall co-ed participation in my day.

Perhaps if the novelty of female wrestling catches on and becomes a legitimate collegiate sport, it may help resurrect some of the male wresling programs that were decimated by Title IX.

[RMC]

Somebody help me out here......What other TSSAA sports permit co-ed participation?

Is it permissable for a high school boy to participate in a female sport? I am not in tune with current TSSAA regulations, but don't recall co-ed participation in my day.

Perhaps if the novelty of female wrestling catches on and becomes a legitimate collegiate sport, it may help resurrect some of the male wresling programs that were decimated by Title IX.

 

You know Title IX I think is only used to kill programs. You don't see anyone jumping up and down because Georgia Tech needs to add 160+ male athletes.