Catholic High School Wrestling

I am the Head Wrestling Coach at Hayden High in topeka. I was wondering if any of the other Catholic schools had the same problem that I have been facing. We are not allowed to wrestle girls, so at tournaments or duals we have to forfeit or try to get on the other side of the bracket and hope they don't meet. I think this rule is crazy, it's not 1950 anymore. When I tell other coaches at tourney's about this they cannot believe it. Just wanted to know if it was the same everywhere else. Thanks

If I'm not mistaken both Bishop Carroll and Kapaun Mt. Carmel have to follow the same rule.

So, do they let you wrestle females during Regionals and State? What would happen if Hayden played a football game against a team that played a female player? I'm guessing because it's football, it's a different story. Hayden has always treated the wrestling program like a stepchild. Good luck coach.

I don't think we are supposed to, but I hate to make a kid take a loss at regionals. I think it would just come down to the saying " didn't see it". And yes I think the football team would be allowed not sure why. Like you said though its football. And yes we get treated different. Thanks Coach, I admire your program and hope to get to that level.

Dustin Schuh

Kapaun isn't allowed to wrestle girls when the event is at Kapaun. Our 103 kid beat the south girl last year at the GWAL tourney, but we forfeited to her a couple weeks earlier and that forfeit lost us the dual.

Somebody is on to something there. Suit up a girl against the football team and put this policy to the test.

I will admit, I am glad that none of my daughters have any desire to wrestle, because this is a sport for men. However, I have coached a handful of girl wrestlers, who worked just as hard in the wrestling room as the guys and deserved every achievement they earned.

One of my students wrestled a girl in the first round of state last year. He did not forfeit, nor was he required to. It would take a decree from the Pope for me to tell a wrestler to take a forfeit against a girl. If she made weight and steps on that line, she's just another wrestling opponent.

That rule is asinine and assumes the worst out of our student-athletes. If Hayden has co-ed dances then I find this policy to be quite hypocritical, as there is far more "immoral" body grinding at those things than there is in a wrestling match.

Vatican II came in about 50 years ago, might want to get with the program.

The H.C.I.C @ T.M.P.

I hear you RedStorm, totally agree. I want to get a petition or something going to change this. I think it would be more discriminatory to not wrestle the girl. I let a kid wrestle a girl at Regionals last year but no one was there to stop me.

I am Catholic and all three of my girls wrestle. In fact i'm trying to get a girls team going out here in west ks. I think it is discriminatory, and ridiculous. My oldest won the championship yesterday with all pins against boys.
We are not in the 50's anymore. They are not having touchy feely time on the mat. It's a sport, and if you don't treat them equal and wrestle them the same as you would a boy you'll probably end up on the losing end. Well gotta hurry, it's Sunday morning and church is in 45 minutes. lol. Good thing we wrestle on Saturday.

Lyle Geyer dad and coach and Catholic with three girls wrestling.
cell # 303 -717- 5321

That's really a rule? Geez, in my Imac days, we wrestled against girls all of the time -- her name escapes me, but there was the girl at SFT that was fantastic and went on to college and was a huge success. I'm hoping that's just a Hayden rule, and that it gets changed.

The 13 years I was at Bishop Ward, we had a couple of girls wrestle for us, and we never forfeited to girls.

Is this a rule for all Catholic school because we had a girl that wrestled for our school and Hayden would not wrestle her and it's not fair for Hayden and the girl to not get to wrestle. In schools today they have to have sports for both boys and girls so the state can't holler and just being catholic kids are no diffent than other school kids. It's time for schools that have that rule to rescen it and let kids grow up doing what they want, because catholic kids when born had no choice about being a catholic.

^^^^ Wooooo you just took a hit into my religion do not come on here bashing a religion okay we do have a choice if you have any knowledge about being catholic just being baptized does not dictate you being stuck as a catholic better take a step back.

Yes Tom you are walkin on thin ice here bud.I am Catholic, and im not going to give my personal opinion, but bashing Catholics is NOT!!! the way to get this rule changed.
Maybe some ideas on how to change the rule?

Our nation is considering having women join combat arms units. I don't have any problem with that at all. If they can move, shoot and communicate, then they are welcome. Times are changing and we have to adapt to the times.

I will say this: While it was never an "order," I was asked to perhaps "steer" young ladies away from trying to go out back in the day, but I was never told they couldn't. As for competing against them, that was never a rule. I remember (finally) Brooke Bogran from SFT and Chelsea Arhold from Marion as being State qualifiers back in those days, and didn't one of the Oaks in Missouri (Park or Grove) have girl either place or win State back in the early 2000s? As a matter of fact, Maur Hill had a girl for a year or two, as I recall. I'm thinking this might just be a Hayden rule.

Nobody is bashing Catholics here, and if you are, take a number. I could see this rule being in place at a public school as well. All it takes is a board to make that happen. It just happens to be that it is the case for this particular school, that happens to be Catholic. Obviously, it is not the case for all schools, privite or otherwise.

Lyle, I applaud your efforts to try and get a girls team in Western Kansas. However, if your daughters have just a hint of your skill set, we might be better served just to take the forfeit and save a beat down.

so if some teams were smart in duals they would just sign up the cheerleaders on the wrestling team and when they do in fact wrestle those schools they just put an all girl line up for the win. something just isnt right about that rule. my kids will be going to carroll so i hope my sons do not have to take a loss or maybe an only loss on the season due to that.

The year I came back to Iowa, we wrestled a make-up tournament the week between conference and Sectionals. I had a couple of kids hurt, and we had flu going through the room, so we had some open weights. The week before the tournament, one of my senior managers -- the daughter of an old teammate of mine -- came to me and said she wanted to wrestle at the tournament. It was a two-pool round-robin. She got pinned in the first period in her first period, made it to the second in her second one. After a bye, she was going to wrestle for fifth place, and the kid she was going to wrestle was awful. So when she went out for the match, the other coach looked at the official and I and shook his head. It was a default and she retired with a 1-2 record. It was fun.

I was talking to a coach this weekend at the tournament and we dual his team friday. He said he would just go out and find 14 girls and sweep us, hopefully he was joking. Thanks for all the comments. I am going to look into finding who to talk to and what I have to do to try to get this stupid rule changed. Maybe my administration is just keeping me in the dark and they are really the one's that don't want us to wrestle girls. Again thanks!
Dustin Schuh

Good luck Dustin! Do it diplomatically, but I would look into it. At least see if you can get an actually answer. I just find it hard to believe the archdiochese sent this down this rule.

Heck I've been complaining for the past year about ole Danica "GoDaddy Girl" Patrick racin' with the boys in NASCAR's Nationwide Series.

If Richard Petty and I had our way women would only get to drive cars to and from the grocery store, but these are different days we live in now.

well here I am again thinking that I made some people mad about catholic school not letting there boys wrestle girls and if you new what I was thinking and where I grew up which was Wamego Kansas and was raised by my mother and lived two doors away from a man named Ark Decket and his three kids and they were great Catholic and I would never say anything bad about them or any catholic family and in fact right now my wife and I have foster kids in which two of them are girls and one of them want to wrestle and she is 11 years old and well I would like to ask you should I let her try? and just because she is a catholic in my mine no reason not to let her try and who knows mabe she will quit or mabe she may love it. So for the people that got upset I am sorry but I did not start this story and I just put my two cents worth in and by the way the coach from Hayden high school and I are very good friend and so I hope if I upset you I am sorry.

I say if u want her to try and she wants to try it to go for it. Only u and her can decide if its right for u or not. If she does good luck.

Don't know if it is still the case or not; but, it used to be a rule with whatever governing body was in place for Texas High School wrestling that boys could not wrestle girls. I know this was true in 1998 and 1999; both years at the Ulysses Tournament there was a girl wrestler for one of the Kansas schools and her Texas opponents took a forfeit both years.

Doesn't Texas have a girls' State wrestling tournament? I thought I heard that at one point.

Yes, at the time they did and that was the reason given for Texas not allowing their boys to wrestle girls. May still be the case, but I do not know that for certain.

This may be an understandable rule IN Texas, but if competing outside of Texas it does not make much sense, IMO.

Yes, at that time they did (and may still, I don't know) and that was the reason given for Texas not allowing their boys to wrestle girls.

This may be an understandable rule for competition IN Texas, but if competing outside of Texas it does not make much sense, IMHO.