Girls wrestling in TN

[kpdb]

For the girls to have success they must have opportunities and not just a limited nuber. They should have same amount of dates of competition in order to compete and get better. The down side is not enough teams or just Schools/Individuals of Girls are present in TN.

It is not a good situation for a girl to wrestle a boy. The boy does not gain anything from wrestling a girl and wins, but can be very costly if he does lose. Ridicule and flack from others about not beating a girl can be so bad the boy stops wrestling all together.

Now if girls are limited to wrestle girls only in order to compete in a STATE Tourny they need to be able to compete every week and not just here and there, this is not going to happen until more participants/coahes and schools have the programs. The TSSAA needs to allow girls to wrestle druing the season against boys/girls does not matter just an opponent to get mat time and competition and then at STATE time they can to choose wrestle in Girls qualifer or go to Boys Region. Once the numbers are up and TSSAA takes the step to make it a Sanctioned STATE tourny they could possibly add restrictions, but until then, just let them wrestle.

They should also look at going ahead and be putting emphasis on the format they compete--make it FREESTYLE. Boys wrestle folkstyle in HS because that is what they do in College, so let the girls compete in the style the will do in College. IT will anable them to be more familiar with the rules and style throught HS and not just learning and competeing in College. Freestyle is what the Women do Internationally and in Olympics. Wrestling Freestyle gives the college coaches a way to see the girls compete in a format they will be doing the next four years and possibly earn a scholarship.

The Coaches and TSSAA have an opportunity to set the standards and be a model for other states to copy if they did Freestyle and Sanctioned the Girls State as so.

 

ETSU and MTSU both wrestle folkstyle in college. Also, keep in mind Freestyle is what men do Internationally and in the Olympics. They seem to make the transition.

[PUMMELKING]

The schools in College for Womens Wrestling are prodominantly Freestyle.

Yes the men have the opportunity to wrestle other styles after four more years of competition and experience. That is the reason to start the women off sooner so they will have many more opportunities to compete in the Freestyle not only in HS but in College and beyond.

ETSU and MTSU both wrestle folkstyle in college. Also, keep in mind Freestyle is what men do Internationally and in the Olympics. They seem to make the transition.

[Indian]

Can't they get better by practicing against boys, which might be better since the coach could pair them with appropriate skill and experience levels?

[KingGreene]

 

 

ETSU and MTSU both wrestle folkstyle in college. Also, keep in mind Freestyle is what men do Internationally and in the Olympics. They seem to make the transition.

 

Those are club teams and they have no one else to wrestle because they try to wrestle folkstyle. If you are going to wrestle in college as a woman, you have to know freestyle.

 

I agree with Pummel. We need to get the girls in Highschool doing freestyle. It would be nice if they could get it to where that is the only style they did all year round. But the biggest problem with that would be getting coaches that know about freestyle. Very few wrestlers and coaches in TN really know much about freestyle/Greco wrestling.

[kpdb]

Those are club teams and they have no one else to wrestle because they try to wrestle folkstyle. If you are going to wrestle in college as a woman, you have to know freestyle.

 

I agree with Pummel. We need to get the girls in Highschool doing freestyle. It would be nice if they could get it to where that is the only style they did all year round. But the biggest problem with that would be getting coaches that know about freestyle. Very few wrestlers and coaches in TN really know much about freestyle/Greco wrestling.

 

KingGreene , PUMMELKING where do I start? You talk about improving wrestling in Tennessee and girls having an opportunity to wrestle after high school, yet you trash the mechanisms set in place to do so.

 

You throughout "Club" as it if were a bad word. Let me ask you this, how would you start a college wrestling program in this era of Title IX and tight budgets? You might find 160 or so Colleges who are trying to do the same thing and join them (NCWA). At first, you would not be part of the University's Athletic program so you are not an official team, but wait most Universities sponsor "Clubs" by helping to pay for travel, etc., some schools treat clubs as if it were an official team. Next you would start trying to recruit wrestlers, you will need to find kids who love the sport because you do not have a lot to offer at the beginning. Once the team is in place you would find sponsors, fund rare, and of course accept donations. You start giving the wrestlers money for books. You get better wrestlers, then more money, etc. Until you finely have a team that can compete at a higher level. After years of work you can now go to the University with a competitive Men's and Women's wrestling team with a hope of having them instated as a program.

 

The (freestyle) Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association is the top Women's College Wrestling division, not doubt. These 16 teams have the best high school wrestlers on their rosters. Yet, let's not forget about the 29 NCWA (folkstyle) teams who are trying to join their ranks. (not all of the Tennessee guys who had good college careers were DI athletes)

 

IF YOU WANT TO SEE WRESTLING GROW, NOT ONLY IN TENNESSEE, BUT IN THE US, PLEASE STOP PUTTING DOWN THE "CLUBS" AND HELP THEM. The NCWA lists over 160 men's teams and 29 women's teams, several of those are here in Tennessee.

[KingGreene]

Colleges creating women club teams that only wrestle folkstyle is counterproductive.

 

It is taking women with potential away from the freestyle game. Giving them less of a reason to want to learn and get good at freestyle and, in turn, slowing down our progression at the international level.

All the best college girls' aspirations are not just a college National championship. They strive to be Olympic representatives and Olympic medalists. And the college teams compete at the Fila tournaments which allow them to pursue those dreams. Club teams are not following the same path.

 

If girls want to just wrestle a few more matches in their free time, go ahead. Clubs are cool. I loved playing ultimate frisbee in college too! But with women, I really do not see college club teams growing the sport at all.

 

Now, in all seriousness, If you see a different side to this that I may not know about, please explain this to me, because I am completely for the growth of women's wrestling... I have some pretty close ties to the sport.

[kpdb]

Colleges creating women club teams that only wrestle folkstyle is counterproductive.

 

It is taking women with potential away from the freestyle game. Giving them less of a reason to want to learn and get good at freestyle and, in turn, slowing down our progression at the international level.

All the best college girls' aspirations are not just a college National championship. They strive to be Olympic representatives and Olympic medalists. And the college teams compete at the Fila tournaments which allow them to pursue those dreams. Club teams are not following the same path.

 

If girls want to just wrestle a few more matches in their free time, go ahead. Clubs are cool. I loved playing ultimate frisbee in college too! But with women, I really do not see college club teams growing the sport at all.

 

Now, in all seriousness, If you see a different side to this that I may not know about, please explain this to me, because I am completely for the growth of women's wrestling... I have some pretty close ties to the sport.

 

Let us try this from a different angle. There are NO NCAA or NAIA sanctioned Girl Wrestling teams!!! All of the WCWA (freestyle) and the NCWA (folkstyle) are by definition CLUB teams!!!!!! To join the WCWA the team pays a $200.00 membership, to join the NCWA the team pays a $500.00 membership; CLUBS can join both. The WCWA is winding up now, the NCWA nationals are not till March.

 

If you will go to the following web sites you will see CLUBS who are doing so.

http://www.nwcaonlin...omensfacts.aspx

http://www.ncwwa.net/teams

 

You may notice that ETSU is on both lists!!!

 

Thus, I ask again, help the local Women's Wrestling Club.

 

And as far as the freestyle thing goes; what is free style but take downs. Mat time is mat time. There has never been a male Olympic wrestler who was 100% freestyle.

[KingGreene]

And as far as the freestyle thing goes; what is free style but take downs. Mat time is mat time. There has never been a male Olympic wrestler who was 100% freestyle.

 

Like I said, people in this state obviously do not understand freestyle. It is far more than just takedowns.

 

Yes, USA wrestlers have to start with a folkstyle background because at the very beginning of our sport, for some reason, they decided to stray away from what everyone else was doing and create their own style. And, as a nation, we typically struggle to compete well at the international level because of that. Obviously there is nothing we can do about guys wrestling this style we made up because it is so big now. But I wish boys wrestling was also freestyle. It would help us out internationally. And I personally enjoy watching, wrestling, and coaching freestyle more than folkstyle.

 

That is the reason the WCWA decided to choose freestyle over folkstyle. Because that's what is competed internationally. So why waste time doing folkstyle all the time if they had the choice to do otherwise?

 

I am not downing club teams, so I don't know the point of all the stats you "throughout" there. But i think they should be all going in the same direction to make the sport better and more competitive. And right now they are not.

[KingGreene]

I'm not sure why ETSU would be on the WCWA list? I'm pretty sure they don't have any girls this year. They didn't bring any to the national tournament (which is 30 minutes down the road from their campus). I believe they might have had 1 or 2 show up last year. But they came in thinking freestyle was just takedowns and got destroyed by women who train freestyle.

[notscared]

Why are we talking about girls wrestling? Its State Duals time. Go Blue!

[kpdb]

I'm not sure why ETSU would be on the WCWA list? I'm pretty sure they don't have any girls this year. They didn't bring any to the national tournament (which is 30 minutes down the road from their campus). I believe they might have had 1 or 2 show up last year. But they came in thinking freestyle was just takedowns and got destroyed by women who train freestyle.

 

KingGreene you make my original point well. We need a separate girls high school division in Tennessee to create interest in girls wrestling. A young college and High School program need girls who just want to wrestle. Where are they? We are talking about competing internationally when the 8 person brackets at the TN Girls State will go unfilled and ETSU and MTSU just need wrestlers.

[Shutterbugg71]

My daughter has wrestled Tory. My daughter also struggled at the beginning of this year (her senior year) whether or not to wrestle Varsity and not to go to Girls State. She has pinned a few guys on her team while Tory is an EXCELLENT wrestler and has won matches against guys on OTHER teams. Wrestling guys makes the girls stronger, more competitive. The woman who heads up the girls wrestling in this state does not allow her girls to wrestle guys, which is unfortunate, and it shows on the mats. Girls should be given the choice during the season to wrestle boys and then given the choice to qualify for either the boys or girls state. If a boy wants to wrestle at girls state...well, more power to em. That would be more humiliating than actually getting beat in a match by a girl. I hope Tory can go on wrestling in college and beyond as she is a technically great wrestler. My daughter will be wrestling in college for which I am thankful for that opportunity. I hope the future holds a better future for the girls as I have another daughter contemplating the sport.

CHANGE IS NEEDED...