Girls Wrestling is Now a TSSAA Sanctioned Sport

[bbb]

"It's a big day for girls wrestling and for high school wrestling overall."

 

--TSSAA assistant executive director Mark Reeves on the vote by the TSSAA legislative council today to have girls wrestling as a state-sponsored sport.

 

 

Girls high school wrestling in Tennessee had their collective hand raised in victory today as the TSSAA Legislative Council had a majority vote to fully sanction girls wrestling as a state sponsored sport.

 

The inaugural girls traditional team and individual championships will be held alongside the boys state traditional tournament Feb. 2015 at the Williamson County Ag Expo Center in Franklin.

 

There has been a Girls Invitational Wrestling Tournament held at the state level for the past six years with approximately 120 girls competing statewide during the season and 70-75 girls competing for individual and team championships the past couple of years.

 

"It's outstanding that TSSAA has now sanctioned the sport of wrestling in Tennessee," said Jon Renner, head girls wrestling coach at Science Hill High School and one of the authors of the proposal.

 

"This has been a long time coming and now that girls wrestling is a TSSAA sanctioned sport it gives the girls their own identity."

 

Past Winners: Science Hill (2009-10-12-13-14) has won five of the six girls invitational titles, while Dixon County has won one (2011). 

 

2015 State Finals: Now that girls wrestling is a sanctioned sport, the individual finals will now be held at the same time as the boys state finals for D-I A-AA, AAA and  D-II ... in previous years, the girls finals were held in the early afternoon during the boys consolation finals.

 

Where It Started: Former Soddy Daisy wrestling coach Steve Henry and former Red Bank coach Dickie Brown were the pioneers of girls wresting in Tennessee with a decade of a Trojan-Lion girls dual meets each November.

 

"We discovered long ago that a girls dual match is just as exciting as an important boys match," said Henry who coached the Lady Trojans to the only girls state duals invitational title in 2008 held at the state tournament in Clarksville.

 

"The Soddy Daisy-Red Bank matches were electric, drew big crowds and were used as a fund raiser for the boys wrestling programs," Henry stated.

 

"I hope and encourage schools who have a girls team or plan to start one, to build a rivalry with another school and have duals meets which will help the traditional tournaments."

 

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net

Edited March 12, 2014 by bbb

[tnlonghorn]

So .... although everyone has voiced their opionion and been pretty much in agreement that holding all the finals at the same time has ruined what was once the most exciting sporting event in high school sports we are now going to add yet another final at the same time? Does the Tssaa listen to anybody? Do they care that wrestlers work harder, sacrifice more and deserve  for their finals to be the pinacle of their wrestling careers. Its quite a shame that other tournaments are more exciting and ran better than what should be the ultimate competetion. WOW! This will be utter chaos and confusion. I thought last year couldnt have gone any worse but now lets add more matches at the same time?  This is nothing agianst girls wrestling. Im all for any wrestling we can get but dont host all the finals at the same time please!!!

Edited March 12, 2014 by tnlonghorn

[karelin]

Sigh!!!!

I'm glad D-2 is looking to have their tournament apart from the others.

[tnlonghorn]

Sigh!!!!

I'm glad D-2 is looking to have their tournament apart from the others.

 

That would be the absolute best thing they could do. Atleast they could make it an exciting and memorable event the kids would never forget. I bet the Tssaa fights it though because they obvioulsy dont care about the kids experience.

[tnlonghorn]

Im really confused as to why they think this approach is better? Do other sports play side by side? Do the girls and boys play their state basketball finals on adjoing gym floors? Do they not realize all of these kids have grown up wrestling with and each other and we as fans would like to sit down and watch the kids achieve their lifetime goals? Cant wait to see how they mangle the prefinals show and announcing of the finalist with yet another match going on.

[coyotewrestlingclub]

Does anyone know if this will change the rule against girls wrestling boys in regular season and then wrestling in the girls state tournament? 

[deadlift]

I doubt there will be any girls wrestling boys after this. Will be more like the current difference between baseball and softball.

[cbg]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[bbb]

boys and girls golf play on the same course at the same time and it works just fine

 

bbb

[tnlonghorn]

_{BB, Im suprised by your view on this. You are probably the biggest wrestling historian in the state. You have seen first hand the decline in excitement of the state finals. I for one dont want wrestling to be anything like golf. Do we really want our state finals to have the enrgy and excitment of a golf tournament? Wrestling is a sport for warriors, we should honor those who sacrifice so much and work so hard. Not to mention we need to be promoting the event and sport and making it as exciting as possible.}

[PUMMELKING]

boys and girls golf play on the same course at the same time and it works just fine

 

bbb

They dont hit fro mmthe same distances.  So are the rules gonna change for girls.  Should just be Freestyle...what they will wrestle in college and beyond if they have the opportunities.

[bbb]

So .... although everyone has voiced their opionion and been pretty much in agreement that holding all the finals at the same time has ruined what was once the most exciting sporting event in high school sports we are now going to add yet another final at the same time? Does the Tssaa listen to anybody? Do they care that wrestlers work harder, sacrifice more and deserve  for their finals to be the pinacle of their wrestling careers. Its quite a shame that other tournaments are more exciting and ran better than what should be the ultimate competetion. WOW! This will be utter chaos and confusion. I thought last year couldnt have gone any worse but now lets add more matches at the same time?  This is nothing agianst girls wrestling. Im all for any wrestling we can get but dont host all the finals at the same time please!!!

so what is your solution ?  four traditional (girls, A-AA, AAA, D-II) or three duals finals at different times or sites or dates?

that's not feasible ...

 

Ga. does it all at the same time and it works fine  I do like the way Ga. does the intro for the finalists  introduced by weight, each finalist walks down the steps onto the mat with a quick bio  no smoke lights etc

 

and they can do five divisions in about 10-12 minutes  it is impressive (I have only seen the Ga. finals once so not sure they still do the intro this way)

 

tennis holds D-II, AAA and A-AA finals all at the same place and some team finalsat the same time and it works

bbb