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Belinda Chou and Seren Martin lead women mustangs to 2nd place team finish at Toronto Open Wrestling Tournament.
Toronto, CANADA, Saturday November 13, 2004
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Veteran, Belinda Chou breezed through the 57 kg division at the Toronto Open while first year team member, Seren Martin recorded a stellar performance at 80 kg in her debut start as a mustang.
University of Western Ontario (UWO) placed second in team points with 42, narrowly edged out by defending Ontario University Association (OUA) champions, Brock University who finished one point ahead with 43 points.
Chou, who was Western’s female athlete of the year in 2001 and now attends Althouse Teachers College at the University of Western Ontario was spectacular, throwing all her opponents with a "one-arm shoulder throw." In the final she timed the throw perfectly against her G. Parahoo of Brock University who was trying to drive Chou back, but was thrown when Chou turned in quickly scoring 3 points. Teammate, Laura Skopelianos and Sarah Gil, both placed second at 53 and 61 kg respectively, while Jess Fitzgerald placed third at 65 kg. UWO team captain, Terri McNutt did not compete at his competition.
Coach, Josip Mrkoci said, "Seren wrestled very well and has made a good adjustment to university wrestling." Martin defeated last year’s OUA champion, Jen Hanson from Brock in the final.
Queen’s University placed third in team standings with 22 points. There were 12 women's teams competing at this tournament including a team from Pennsylvania, USA.
The UWO women’s team will travel to Lakehead, Nov 19-21, for their biggest test of the year where they will face competition in dual and tournament format from Canada West and East and teams from USA.
Captain, Tosh Jeffrey, who placed 2nd at 65 kg, once again led the mustang men. Jeffrey, who now has placed in all three tournaments to date (Montreal - 1st, McMaster -1st) lost to his Montreal wrestling club opponent in the final. "Tosh has had a tough but good three weeks, I think he’s done exceptionally well and the upcoming week-end off will be much needed." Said, Coach, Ray Takahashi.
The next tournament for the mustang men will be the Brock duals, Nov. 27. Among university teams, Western scored 15 points behind Guleph (23 points), McMaster (21 points) and Brock (20).
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Toronto Open Results
Saturday November 13th 2004
Women
Team Standing:
1. Brock - (St. Catherines)
2. Western - (London)
3. Queens - (Kingston)
4. Team Impact - (Toronto)
5. WOW - (Pennsylvania)
6. Guelph -
48kg
1. Eve Boyce - Team Impact OW
2. Melanie Howitt - Brock
3. Vicki Sullivan - Guelph
4. Megan McGuire - Western
5. Renilda Deios - Guelph
53kg
1. Janice Nguyen - Queens
2. Laura Skopelianos - Western
3. Jennifer Beedham - Matman
4. Karen DeClerk - Queens
5. Katy Winship - Guelph
6. Jenn Nguyen - LAW
57kg
1. Belinda Chou - Western
2. Golda Parahoo - Brock
3. Lindsay Reberbik - LAW
4. Amy Laidlaw - NCWC
5. Tessa Botticella - CYC
6. Maya Bass - WOW
61kg
1. Jen Chu - WOW
2. Sarah Gil - Western
3. Lindsay MacDonald - Brock
4. Jenn Aikins - Brock
5. Salpi Mrgdichian - Matman
6. Pam Wright - New Tec
65kg
1. Megan Dolan - Brock
2. Jody Dykstra - Brock
3. Jess Fitzgerald - Western
4. Jacqueline Davison - Guelph
5. Katie Pasic - Queens
70kg
1. Shannon Westgarth - Queens
2. Buffy Ainsworth - Brock
3. Rachel Shaw - Queens
77kg
1. Seren Martin - Western
2. Jocelyn Dresser - Brock
3. Jenn Hanson - Brock
4. Meghan Sweetham - McMaster
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10/26/04
It still shocks me when they sing the national anthem at wrestling tournaments. Is that the kind of event this is? A stars-and-stripes sporting event? As a competitor, I can't look askance or turn away, much as I hate national anthems; I must at least pretend to some kind of respect; people may be looking at me.
And looking at me they were during my one match this weekend at the Maccabi USA Wrestling Trials. I wrestled in the men's 50kg weight category (because there was no women's division), and everyone in the room looked on. When I won by a convincing technical superiority and a pin, I got a standing ovation.
Most people were standing already, crowding around the mat, and he was only a high school senior, but everyone except my coach expected me to lose, which made the victory greater.
In fact, simply by entering the tournament, I scored a victory for women's wrestling. It showed that at least one woman wanted to wrestle badly enough to enter a men's tournament - and she had the guts to do it.
I am constantly surprised by the fear I encounter from both genders when it comes to men and women wrestling together. They are reluctant to wrestle each other even in practice, and men often consider wrestling women a waste of their time. At the Olympic Training Center, the practices are sex-segregated, instead of divided by size (one practice for the smaller people, one for the larger). Occasionally, a boyfriend, friend or coach will wrestle with us a bit, but by and large the two sexes avoid each other.
Internationally, at the highest levels, men are still far ahead of women; even a female Olympian would probably be eliminated quickly at a high-level men's tournament. But how many people understand that this is due to a lack of funding and support, experience, interest, and development, not innate weakness? Sadly, I find that most people consciously or subconsciously locate the deficit within our (female) bodies. They don't see the point in women wrestling men because they don't believe that the gap can be narrowed, much less eliminated.
Why else would they avoid wrestling each other, leaving aside male fear of losing to a female? Everyone stands to gain - women will improve, men will have new partners with different styles, and in the long run, both sets will earn more respect from each other.
Wrestling is about pushing your limits, about rejecting the limits that others set for you, but I see both women and men passively accepting the limits set for them by society. Wrestling is not about physical strength unless we make it that way, and all else being equal, men's strength would only win for them a small percentage of the time.
The only way we will improve ourselves is by trying things that challenge us, even if we are uncomfortable; we will only gain if we take the risks. If we don't, we will be left wrestling with our own shadows in the dust.
Posted by hana at October 26, 2004 11:20 AM