Hello. I am WillyM and I have been a poster on the HS forum for 4 or 5 years with the Name Contrarian (I just changed to WillyM. Contrarian was too contrary).

I recently posted on the College Forum that Kansas City Community College has recently decided to start a womens soccer program. Please look at the College Forum Topic: Wrestling at KCCC---NOT. Read all of the posts under this topic.

Several interested members of the Kansas Wrestling Community have expressed concern on the KCCC decision and have emailed the KCCC AD with a request that KCCC revisit the soccer decision and to instead seriously consider starting both mens and womens wrestling at KCCC.

This is an important matter for all Kansas wrestlers, Kids, HS, intercollegiate, boys, men, girls, and women. We seriously need more collegiate wrestling opportunities in Kansas, especially in east central and NE Kansas (i.e., KC, KS).

In this regard we solicit your participation in emailing the KCCC AD with your support for establishment of men and womens wrestling at KCCC.

The KCCC AD is MR. Dan Pratt and his email address is dpratt1@kckcc.edu. Swamp him with your emails!

Bill Mason
Lansing

I have been told that Kansas City KS CC may not have the money to start a team. In future letters to them it might help to bring up the fact that in recent years Pratt CC, Newman University, Baker University, NWKTC, Bethany College and now Benedictine College have all added teams in Kansas. Due to the fact that wrestling scholarships are partial scholarships several of these universities decided to add teams due to the fact that the net effect of adding teams was actually more students and more money coming into campus. I am not sure if the net dollar effect would end up positive for KCKSCC or if additional students on campus is a priority for them but it might work out positively for them. I could see the school attracting some Kansas City Missouri wrestlers and other students from outside the KC metro area both from Missouri and Kansas. That should bring in more tuition money and possibly more students to their campus housing.

I know the Baker University AD at the time Dan Harris worked with the National Wrestling Coaches Association on a study that showed it would ultimately prove positive for Baker both in revenue and addtional students. I think that has proven to be true because Baker University has added students each year to its wrestling program. Baker University is a private school with higher tuition than a junior college so the numbers will not work out exactly the same but it still might be worth a look for KCKCC. I would just suggest if you are going to send emails to Mr. Pratt that you mention the potential postives (additional tuition, housing revenue and additional students) and maybe ask what would be the obstacles to adding a team at KCKCC. I am going to answer his reply to me doing that and giving him some specifics of the Baker study from four or five years ago.

Also the person who told me that KCKCC is probably not a great candidate to add a team at this time suggested that Johnson County Community College was in better financial condition and might be a better candidate to work on. So you might want to try sending their AD an e-mail on the possibility. FYI JCCC once did have a wrestling team but dropped it. I am not exactly sure when.

There definitely should be a junior college wrestling program in the Kansas City metropolitan area. I know our preference is that the first one would be on the Kansas side of State Line.

Husker Fan.

I am sending you a private message with the email I sent to Mr. Pratt. My email does not talk of the contribution wrestling may add to a college athletic program, but tries tp describe why Wyandotte County, KC, KS is not a good recruiting area for high scool girls soccer players. Not all KC, KS high schools play soccer, and even then it is far from competitive soccer club level sen in Johnson County, Wichita, Topeka, and a few othe smaller cities. Soccer is not a inner-city sport, especially for girls.

Perhaps the next step is for a small group of Kansas wrestling supporters to request a meeting with the KCKCC President to personally discuss facts and figures for men and womens wrestling versus womens soccer.

Women soccer fans don't take me wrong. I am certainly not anti soccer. My son played club, high school and community college soccer. I coached soccer, recreatrion and club, for 16 years. I love soccer, I just do not think women's soccer at KCKCC is a good fit.

Bill,

I just replied to your private message with a few observations that Coach Westphal pointed out to me that expressed why he felt Johnson County CC might be a better fit for adding a team that KCKSCC at this time.

If we could either school interested in talking to a small group trying to get a junior college men and/or women team added that would be great and I would be interested. There should be a junior college wrestling team in the Kansas City Metro area. I think all of us would prefer that the first one added would be on the West side of State Line Road.

Thanks.

I am getting lost switching between the WOMEN Forum, the COLLEGE Forum and private messages.

Understand everything you said. But I have some difficulty in rationalizing at this time that JCCC is a better fit for wrestling than KCKSCC. Perhaps JCCC is in better financial shape than KCKSCC. But, 24 or so KCKSCC soccer scholarships cost the same as 24 wrestling scholarships. 24 equals 24. And I understand that 24 scholarships are not enough to support both a mens and a womens wrestling program.

I truly think, that since it is a current topic, that getting KCKSCC to consider wrestling vice womens soccer is a good move. The time is ripe and these conditions may not happen again in the future.

If Mr. Pratt seems unwilling to consider wrestling in good faith then a request to speak to the KSKCCC president seems appropriate---or a set of emails with facts and figures stateing our feelinngs could be sent to the Board of Trustees. I am willing to help pull together some info for a fact sheet and sit down with the President, or to include such info in the emails to the Trustees.

WillyM,

I have looked at the KCKCC and JCCC most recent annual EADA Surveys from 8/1/2010-7/31/11 (KCKCC) amd 7/1/2010-6-30-11 (JCCC).

I think that KCKCC has a current Title IX situation that needs to be addressed and adding a women's soccer team will help their Title IX situation. Actually it would probably improve their Title IX numbers to add another women's team along with the women's soccer team. I think adding women's wrestling team would be more likely at KCKCC than a men's wrestling team just by looking at their Title IX numbers.

Johnson County CC is in a lot better shape in Title IX comparisons. In looking at each school's Title IX numbers, I am looking at men and student enrollmnent, and comparing those enrollment percentages to Unduplicated counts of men and women athletes percentages and Athletically Related Student Aid percentages for men and women athletes. Johnson County is a lot closer to the enrollment percentages for men and women in both of these categories than KCKCC is currently without a women's soccer team.

I do not know if this had anything to do with it but by adding a women's soccer team. KCKCC also pretty much will field the same exact women and men teams as JCCC. The only difference is that JCCC has both men and women tennis and KCKCC does not.

HUSKER

2011-2012 KCKSCC Sports
Men -- Women
Baseball-- Softball
Basketball-- Basketball
Soccer-- Volleyball
CC Track-- CC Track
Track & Field-- Track and field
Golf
Just looking at the above list, it would appear that KSKCCC currently has a balanced men/women sports program, except for men’s golf (can’t find a men’s roster to count). Every man’s sport is offset by a women’s sport. Granted, men’s soccer may (???) have more scholarships than volleyball (soccer a bigger squad). It would seem that adding women’s soccer would in itself create a Title IX imbalance.

All aside the two major reasons for wrestling at KCKCC remain:
1. Establish a collegiate wrestling program KCKS area.
2. Girls club or high school soccer is a non-viable sport in Wyandotte/Kansas City, KS. Realisticall, girls high school soccer in KCKS high schools is maybe at the level of U12 or U14 recreation soccer in Johnson County (I say this having coached soccer for 16 years--including competitive teams in the Johnson County leagues). Recruitment/scholarship dollars will have to go outside of the immediate KC, KS local area. Believe me; the need for scholarship dollars in Wyandotte is much greater than in Johnson County.