I've read your post on adding girls wrestling to boy's programs at colleges in Kansas. It all sounds good but I have to tell you, it will be harder than you think. The biggest enemy to girls wrestling is girls themselves. We have been trying to grow women's wrestling for about 3 years. Girls are hard to get to commit to anything that's demanding. Especialy when you have basketball, softball and soccer. The girls that have the talent to be good at wrestling, are heavily recruited by coaches of other sports. Even though there are more scholarships and money than any other sport out there. To give you an example, we took 15 girls to a women's tournament in Missouri. Our high school and middle school girls were beating the tar out of the women's college wrestlers. Girls that really don't have that much experience, if any, at wrestling are getting full ride scholarships to major colleges. We have already talked to Mr. Bowden about girls wrestling in high school, and all it would take is for the high school coaches to ask for it and it's in. Once you have it in high school it doesn't take much for the colleges to look at it. We also talked to the assistant athletic director at WSU and it was told to us to prove that it would be a viable addition to women's athletics, and boys would soon follow. I tell you now, my wife works her butt off to keep these girls interested, but it is only a few that will commit. The main reason of all is, girls want to wrestle boys. They say boys are easier for them. Neither boys nor girls like how their counterparts can flex beyond compare. The girls also have an excuse when a boy beats them, but not when a girl does. Some of you probably think I'm putting down girls wrestling, but it's just the opposite. We have traveled and missed alot of our own boys' careers, to promote girls wrestling. The one way Kansas high school coaches could help is to encourage and promote girls wrestling, because the one sport you might save is your own. So I hope this will help you direct your efforts in promoting wrestling over all. If anyone sees the value of a presentation to the KWCA in November, please let us know.

Coach Ed
Kansas Krusaders