I have 5 daughters, and luckily for some of the boys in this state, I did not, nor would I let them, wrestle. I don't like the idea of them being groped (whether it be in a bad way, or a wrestling way) for 2 hours every practice, plus at the tourneys. I also don't like the idea of how many boys quit the sport because they don't want to hear "you got beat by a girl!!!!!!" from their classmates anymore. Not that any of my boys would have the option of quitting, but sadly some kids are allowed to quit. And the sad thing is, if the boy stayed out for wrestling, by the time High School came around, 99.999% of the time, the boy would whip the girls' tail. But by then, it was already too late.

Not all of the time, but some of the time, I see coaches that get overexcited and emphatic when their girl beats the boy. Which makes it that much worse for the boy.

I'm sure I'll get pounced on by some of the women's lib folks for this, but women have plenty of opportunities, and sadly, at the expense of some men. I will tell you for a fact: if a girl wants to get some or all of her school paid for, she can do it. Volleyball, softball, basketball, rowing, gymnastics,bowling, golf, etc etc. YOu do not have to be a superb athlete to find a school that will help you with your college costs, in exchange for particpating in a sport. I'm not saying D1 necessarily, but I have seen countless numbers of girls go on to college scholarships, who were not tremendous athletes or who were not tremendous at the sport they went to college with....This is what Title IX has done for women, and I think it has done a fine job of it. Also keeping in mind, that no matter what a kid or parent tells you, most of the money for college scholarships comes from the ACADEMIC side of it. Do the math, colleges are allowed so many athletic scholarships, and there are always way more kids than there are scholarships. Hence they split the scholarships up amongst the athletes, and use the academic, or grants, or whatever, to fill in the gap.

So if anyone is using the excuse of "I want my girl (or boy) to wrestle so she/he can go to college", try "I want my daughter (or son)to get good grades and a good ACT score, so she/he can go to college". It will get you much farther. But a lot of parents are too egotistical to tell the truth, because saying "my kid got a full ride to wrestle/play football/etc at Joe BLow University" sounds way cooler than saying "my kid is combining his academic money, a Pell Grant, the Sedgwick County Electric cooperative scholarship, his athletic scholarship, and a student loan, to attend Joe BLow university"

But I do totally disagree with the KC Archbishop telling a boy that he can't wrestle a girl, who freely accepted the challenge. It's not like the match is taking place at the motel 6 behind a locked door.......


That is my position on it, and you can have yours.

Thanks
Doug
ps I do understand that there are some kids, like Jarod Jonsohn, whose only hope for college is an athletic scholarship, with a 24/7 tutor, etc......

pss Coach Edison, Lance Engel, and the Ogden boys, don't be mad at me!!!