On the eve of Martin Luther King, Jr's Birthday it is sad that such a topic would be up and getting hits. We still have a long way to go. Strength comes in unity and togetherness. We have been working with girls wrestling for 12 years and are amazed at the thoughts and reasons people have for being for or against something...it is no different with womens wrestling. We have also ran a "boys" club for 15 years and we have rules about the team members not going to tourneys without the head coaches permission. It is my hope that possibly the team in question has the same rule as us and in fact the family of the girl wrestler misunderstood the rule. Unfortunately, we have seen many times where a team really doesn't want girl wrestlers on the team and doesn't want to give them the help they need to succeed. Once the girl finds out that the Kansas Krusaders provide support for the girl to expand her wrestling world to see what is available out there for girls. Their team will either embrace the fact that the girl is getting the help that they need or they will immediately feel threatened and think that the Krusaders are trying to steal their girl wrestler. This is not the case. The Kansas Krusaders have built a good reputation of helping the girls to advance and we are now getting national attention for our KS girls performances.

It is only ignorance that would keep a club from allowing the girls to work with the Krusaders and/or go to all girl tourneys. None of these activities will in any way affect the boys clubs adversely. If in fact we continue to grow the girls programs then we will optimally provide safety for the boys programs as well. It will provide a safer and less stressed environment overall for girls and boys.

There are arguments on both sides with girls wrestling girls, girls wrestling boys and what is the "right" answer. We do not profess to have all the answers but we have experienced this problem from all levels and have a pretty good picture of what goes on in numerous areas. What needs to be done is more people need to embrace girls wrestling and work towards a "girls wrestling girls" environment for the future of wrestling and the saftey of the girls.

If you would like to have more information or discussions regarding girls wrestling...we are available by phone , email, pm etc...we are easy to find.

Ed and Jenni Edison