I was once "the girl", however I was never as good as "the girl" leading this topic. But I think if the sport had afforded more opportunities when I was wrestling I could have been. I started wrestling in the mid 90's and was for SURE an oddity. I spent 2 years getting my butt kicked day in and day out, but I loved every minute of it, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I just plain LOVE wrestling. I got to the point in high school that I had to think seriously about college and scholarships. I was also a decent soccer player and my junior year I started focusing on that. I tried to keep up with wrestling and soccer training but of course it was too much, so I went with what was going to give me scholarship money. I had to say good bye to wrestling. Half way through that season my wrestling coach informed my mom that had I stuck with wrestling I would have qualified for a girls tournament. Believe me, had I known that I would have stuck with wrestling. It is far easier to get a girls wrestling scholarship than a soccer scholarship. There are far fewer contenders in wrestling.

Wrestling never made me feel abused by "being groped", and I don't feel sorry for the "poor boys" either. If 1 match with a girl causes them to doubt their worth or manhood then the problem isn't the girl on the mat. They are going to have much greater issues to deal with later in life when they have female coworkers, female bosses, wives and daughters.

I think anyone that wants to wrestle should be allowed the opportunity. If there are enough girls to put together an avenue just for them that is awesome! But if not the boys should be confident in the work they have put in and respectful enough to recognize that they should EXPECT girls to come out full force and armed with the same confidence.

I for one am looking forward to watching my daughter and all the other girls wrestle in McPherson this weekend.

Best of luck to all!