The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- November 22, 1999

Wrestling with reality

Women wrestlers try to pioneer their way to a sanctioned sport

BY TY HALPIN
STAFF WRITER

When Doug Reese proposed the idea of sponsoring women's wrestling to his institution, he was not taken seriously -- at least, not right away. The University of Minnesota, Morris, wrestling coach had to overcome some misconceptions first.

"People thought I was talking about mud or Jell-O wrestling," said Reese. "I had to explain that this was serious, Olympic-style wrestling. We really had a lot to prove at the start, but once we proved the team had some serious athletes, everyone has been behind us."

Reese and many in the wrestling community hope the women's version of the sport will make a push to become an NCAA-sponsored sport. To do so, the sport must meet the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics guidelines to become an emerging sport.

Those guidelines require that the sport have 20 or more varsity teams and/or competitive club teams in existence on college campuses. Other data also must exist to demonstrate support for the sport, such as collegiate recreation and intramural sponsorship, high-school sport sponsorship, and nonscholastic competitive programs and associations. Organizational support from the United States Olympic Committee, the sport's national governing body, conferences, coaches associations and professional organizations also are considered.

Global interest

Internationally, women's wrestling is on the rise. More than 50 countries sponsor a national team, and USA Wrestling expects the sport will receive medal status for the 2004 Olympics. The United States won its first world championship this year and is supported financially by USA Wrestling.

Tricia Saunders, 33, is a groundbreaker for women's wrestling. A four-time world champion, Saunders didn't compete past the sixth grade because the opportunity was not made available to her. Instead, she was a gymnast. She returned to the mat in 1989 after college when her brother, also a wrestler, saw women competing at the world level.

"I think the sport will expand whether we care or not," said Saunders. "Internationally, the feeling is that it's a wonderful sport and people are used to seeing women compete in this way. In the United States, it's different, and the process is somewhat slow. The girls are there; it's just a matter of time, really."

Grass-roots interest

On the high-school level, participation numbers have increased recently. A few years ago, there were a handful of girls interested in competing. Now, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, 661 schools and 2,361 girls participate in the sport. Those numbers are not the total, either. Many girls compete on boys teams.

"With the growth we've had at the lower levels, there are a lot of talented athletes looking for an opportunity to participate," Reese said, noting that Michigan, Texas and Hawaii sponsor high-school championships for girls. "It hasn't been as fast a process as I had hoped, but there's tremendous growth at the grass-roots level, which is encouraging."

That support could turn into NCAA sponsorship, but not before more teams are formed at the collegiate level.

Should women's wrestling reach status as an emerging sport, it would be recognized by the NCAA to provide additional athletics opportunities to female student-athletes. It would have a national championship conducted by its governing body or perhaps a coaches association. But there is no NCAA championship in an emerging sport.

Legislation was passed in 1994 creating the nine original emerging sports for women: ice hockey, rowing, synchronized swimming, team handball, water polo, archery, badminton, bowling and squash. Rowing has since been elevated to an NCAA championship sport and removed from the list of emerging sports. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics has asked that water polo, ice hockey, squash and bowling be put on the "fast track" to championship status.

Culture shock

In Canada, legislation has assisted the development of women's wrestling. Canadian law states that any high school sponsoring a team must do so for both genders.

"It's a completely different system," said Jennifer Reid, a Toronto native at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, who competes with the men's wrestling team. "What is the equivalent of the state tournaments here have just as many girls as boys qualify. The participation is similar here, just not at the college level."

Reid is on a one-year-abroad program from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. Brock fields a full women's team. The men with whom she trains at Wisconsin-La Crosse were unsure what to make of Reid when she stepped into the wrestling room.

"At first, they didn't say much, but now, they volunteer to help me get better," Reid said. "They're getting used to having a girl in the room. For sure, it will just take a few pioneers to get the trend moving. I think everything will come together in a few years."

Reese has seen the sport make advancements. While Minnesota-Morris is the first NCAA institution to officially sponsor the sport, two schools in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics -- Missouri Valley College and Cumberland College (Kentucky) -- have added women's wrestling.

"We have women from all over the country come here solely to wrestle," Reese said. "That was a big reason for starting a program. There's plenty of talent for more programs to be created."

Title IX

Title IX -- often blamed as a reason to cut men's nonrevenue programs -- may actually be a blessing, Reese believes. If the wrestling community can take a proactive stance on Title IX through women's wrestling, Reese thinks the legislation will turn out to have a positive effect on the sport.

"In my opinion, we need to do more things to embrace Title IX and do it in such a way that we can keep our men's programs," said Reese, who has had eight wrestlers compete on the world level. "We've seen women's (ice) hockey grow very quickly with the support of the NCAA. The men's programs have continued to be strong as well. It's an inexpensive sport, especially if you already have a men's team. It seems like a no-brainer."

Development plan

With the explosion on the high-school level, women's wrestling is in need of more national exposure to nudge it to the level of women's ice hockey. Taking a cue from the ice hockey constituents, those in support of women's wrestling are pointing toward the 2004 Olympics to offer exposure.

USA Wrestling has provided more opportunities for women in the United States than ever. Women compete in about 75 percent of the events USA Wrestling sanctions. The organization also sent a proposal to many NCAA institutions and conferences asking them to consider adding women's wrestling.

To make the sport viable, more support on the collegiate level is needed, Saunders and Reese say. They are not as far from that goal as it might seem.

"I think there is quite a lot of support at the lower levels and through high schools," Saunders said. "It's really just a matter of time before it becomes accepted, much like judo and karate are accepted. When it does, I think people will realize the positive influence this sport will have."

Women's wrestling, as with most sports that aren't traditionally contested by females, needs pioneers to challenge the system. Saunders and Reese continue to push the sport, hoping the 2004 Olympics will bring widespread acceptance and, eventually, NCAA sponsorship.

As for the student-athletes, Reese thinks women will continue to wrestle, and in larger numbers, whether or not colleges offer the sport.

"It definitely takes a different breed to do this, but that's true of any wrestler," Reese said. "There are a lot of dedicated athletes here. They're not out to prove something. They've just fallen in love with this sport and don't want to stop competing. They're just looking for a place to wrestle."