First, Cheryl James-Meyer is a legend of Kansas Kids Wrestling and for building the idea and foundation of Kansas Women Wrestling.

Second, In my two years as a head coach at DeSoto I coached five girls. In my first year I had a foreign exchange student from Brazil who was not satisfied with the weight she was gaining being in America, a softball player who wanted to be in shape, and Nicole Husted who wanted to wrestle. They all shared a common mindset in the fact that they wanted to improve something. That made them no different than the boys and watching them improve and learn about their physical capabilities and boundries was AMAZING.

In my second year, I got two more girls on my team. Both were seniors from the High School Newspaper staff who had been inspired by the interview for the story about the 3 girls the year before. They didn't know what to expect, but continued to work. Husted won her first match against a boy during this season which will be on of my best coaching memories seeing her intensity when she knew she was "in the match".

There is nothing like watching HUMAN BEINGS make themselves better. Of the Newspaper Staff girls; one was the Validectorian of the DeSoto '03 Senior class, and the other is studying at the KC Art Institute.

People who want to make themselves better, regardless of gender, are welcome in my company at any time. PERIOD.