This weekend, at the South Dakota State Wrestling Tournament, there will be one wrestler who will capture more attention that anyone else. Ronna Heaton of Brookings will be the first ever female to take the mat in the state tournament. Her skills are unquestionably worthy of an appearance at the state level as she has won several national awards, and even though she is a girl, she has a right to equal opportunity of boys. Legally, there is nothing that says she can't wrestle with the boys. However, there are many legitimate reasons that reason against allowing girls to wrestle with boys. Let's be honest, most boys wouldn't turn down an opportunity to wrestle a girl... but not in a serious competition with people watching! Boys have been taught their who lives to not attack, hit, or physically abuse women. You can't expect a boy to be able to flip the switch on and try to beat the girl across the mat from him. It's weird. It's against his instincts. It isn't right. And in perhaps a more serious issue, wrestling is intense and scrappy. If the girl is fighting to get position on the boy and accidentally... uhh... nudges... a tender spot, there will be issues -- awkward issues. Im not saying girls shouldn't be allowed to wrestle, but many states have sanctioned girls only divisions. As a part of the heartland of wrestling in the United States, South Dakota should sanction a girls division in wrestling and allow boys to wrestle boys and girls to wrestle girls.
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/female-high-school-wrestler-blazes-new-trail-in-south-dakota/article_0679bdc8-cd67-5e7e-a0d9-bac0306dbfbc.html
I get what you are saying matthew, but have you ever watched a wrestling match with a guy and a girl. If you haven't I can show you the match I had against a girl last year, or the national championship match that a girl just won a few weeks ago. They realize that they can get hurt and a majority of the time guys don't really care if they wrestle a girl, some see it as a easy win. Just as a last comment, men wrestle during boy's basketball season:)
ReplyDeleteI think if a girl hits a guy in the crotch during a match, it's no different than if another guy did it. She's not going to care. She's trying to win. When you wrestle, you have to acknowledge that you're going to get up close and personal with a stranger. It's not really a reason for girls not to be allowed to wrestle. Also, if hurting women is against a man's instincts, how is it that 1 in 4 women experience domestic violence in their lifetimes, overwhelmingly from male partners? (source: http://www.safehorizon.org/page/domestic-violence-statistics--facts-52.html) I see what you're saying Matthew, about how women wrestling men could present problems, but the way I see it it's about women naturally having less muscle mass than men which presents a fairness issue, and that can be solved by weight categories and women training harder to build themselves up. If Maggie can be on the football team and women can be in the army, I don't see why women can't wrestle.
ReplyDeleteBeing a very competitive girl myself, I really wouldn't give a crap if I hit my male opponent in the crotch. I realize that wrestling someone of the opposite gender could be awkward, but I'd probably feel the same way if I was wrestling a lesbian. I really wouldn't care. I'd try to kick their a**. But none the less. girls should not wrestle boys simply to protect their fragile egos.
ReplyDeleteI don't see what the controversy is. If they each agree to wrestle each other, have at it. You said it yourself, this girl is state mat worthy, so why not let her compete to be the state champion out of all the wrestlers. It's not awkward, it's competition.
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