Shelby Morrison with some of her trophies and medals. (Photo by Don Rice)
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Shelby Morrison dedicated to wrestling her way to the top
Michael Krog, Sports Editor 1/9/06
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Shelby Morrison with some of her trophies and medals. (Photo by Don Rice) |
Shelby Morrison can wrestle.
The twelve year old girl has been wrestling since the day that she walked into a wrestling practice, wrestled one of her friends and beat him. She was eight years old.
“I went to practice with one of my friends. They had this little mat and I wrestled one of my friends and I beat him pretty bad. So I asked my dad if I could wrestle and he said yes,” Shelby said.
Ronnie Morrison, her dad, has done more than let her wrestle, he dedicates his schedule to making sure that Shelby attends practice and gets to matches as far away as Missouri.
Every Monday through Thursday Shelby and her dad get in the car and Shelby does her homework on the drive to Amarillo for practice at the Maverick Boys and Girls Club under the direction of her two coaches, Anthony Herman and Noe Mora.
After practice she does situps and pushups. It makes for a late evening and the two often do not get home until 10:30 in the evening. Each Friday they have to go do a weigh in at the Maverick Club. Saturdays are spent at tournaments.
But it has all paid off.
Little, 82 lb. Shelby has enough trophies and medals to open up a shop. She has state championships from four different states for girls and is two time Girls National Champion. She is a wrestling celebrity of sorts and has younger girls come up to her at events and ask for autographs, her dad said. Shelby doesn't let it all go to her head and gives the credit to her coaches, Herman and Mora. Her dad credits her success to her defensive style of wrestling.
“She's a very defensive minded wrestler,” he said.
She regularly competes against boys older than her.
One stands out. Five time state champion Daniel Rivera whom she will meet again at the State Championships in Amarillo on March 11 at the Civic Center.
She has one win, one loss, in competition with him, but her dad Ronnie is betting on Shelby. The last time the two met he scored only two points on Shelby and she won 11 - 2.
Shelby and her dad had just received disappointing news the day we met. Shelby had been looking forward to competing for a spot on the Olympic team in two years.
But Ronnie had just received word that Shelby cannot do so until she is nineteen. A seven year wait.
As long as she keeps winning she should have no problem.
With all the practice and travel Shelby has little time for much else, but Ronnie insists that she watches television a lot and they usually have Sundays off to relax a bit.
She also makes sure that she is able to spend time with her best friend Allyson Burrows. When asked what she liked besides wrestling she only had one answer, although it took some prodding.
“Chicken,” she said. Not video games or playing, but chicken.
And that studying in the car must pay off, Shelby is a straight A student most of the time.
But all the travel is not cheap and Ronnie spends what free time he has finding sponsors for Shelby.
Ken Losure of Losure Petroleum is Shelby's biggest sponsor and Spradling Oil has been a help as well. And Shelby recently picked up GM as a sponsor, he said.
Ronnie works at Conner Industries and says that the company is extra supportive about working with his schedule.
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By MICHAEL LEWIS
Staff Writer 1/12/06
Somewhere around the middle of her match, Yudi Michel feels something change.
A female wrestler on the mostly male team at Pine Ridge High School, she competes in the 125-pound class, and just about every time she hits the mat in competition, the beginning is the same.
The male she's grappling with starts off slowly, unsure of exactly where to put his hands, as a million thoughts go through his teenage head.
After a few minutes, though, Michel notices a shift.
"It's like they get in there and all of a sudden this huge beast comes out of their chest," Michel says with a laugh. "Like an 'Incredible Hulk' kind of thing, where they get really fired up and angry.
"It's like," Michel says, "they really are scared to lose to a girl."
Michel is one of several females in the area who are at a distinct disadvantage this winter. While nearly all girls athletes these days get to compete against other women, Michel and nine others must compete against boys in their chosen sports.
That's because the school they compete for doesn't field a girls team in their sport.
These women face a ton of obstacles, some physical, but just as many psychological, in trying to excel.
But excel they do. Lauren Hall has gone 10-6 as a varsity wrestler for Seabreeze, and 15-8 overall. Michel and her teammates are all getting varsity experience on the Pine Ridge mat squad, and Halifax Academy's boys basketball team has two girls on it this season, with sophomore Holly Tremper seeing action in four of eight games.
This phenomenon of boys vs. girls used to be much more common, but with the explosion of women's sports in the past three decades, experiences of girls like Hall and Michel are becoming more rare.
"A women's wrestling team would be great," Pine Ridge's Coral Pitter said. "But for now, going against boys is what we have to get used to."
GETTING STARTED
Cheerleading was definitely not an option for Jessica Lazo.
The sophomore at Seabreeze was looking for a sport to play, and last fall she felt like wrestling might be the way to go.
Contact sports were in her genes; Lazo says her mother played football when she was younger.
Still, walking into the gym the first day of practice this year was intimidating.
"It was a little scary at first, because you don't know what the reaction of everyone else will be," Lazo said.
Of the nine girls interviewed for this story, almost all of them said just getting the courage to try out was a big hurdle.
"I was going to do it last year but I was too scared," said Hall, a sophomore who wrestles at the 103-pound class. "But this year I figured I was strong enough to do it, and handle whatever problems came along."
Eight of the 10 girls athletes competing against boys in the area are found in wrestling, perhaps the most macho of male sports. Being that high school boys aren't normally known as the most sensitive beings on the planet, a girl walking into wrestling practice was bound to draw some taunting.
"They want to see if you're for real and are really going to stick with it," Seabreeze coach Greg Schwartz says. "They don't respect any girl at first because they feel like she's going to quit after a day or two.
"But once you stick it out and show you're not going away, they back off and accept you."
Hall, Dezo and Seabreeze teammate Morgan Candage all said they took some ribbing initially, but after a few practices the boys on the team treated them like any other wrestler.
"I learned real fast that they don't care if you're a girl. They're still coming at you," Candage said. "They didn't take it easy on me at all.
"And I liked that."
PSYCHOLOGY AND FEAR
There are only a few different reactions when a boy realizes he's going to wrestle a girl, Johannah Mauck says.
The Pine Ridge junior has seen males get called to wrestle her, and for a few seconds, there's some awkwardness.
Some boys laugh, as if to say "I've got to wrestle HER?" Others act all macho, since they know that there's no way on Earth a girl will pin him.
Then there are boys who simply don't know what to do, taking one step forward and one step back.
"It's funny to see how the other guys on their team react," Mauck said. "They're all glad they don't have to wrestle a girl."
Pine Ridge coach Jack Cook tells his female wrestlers to "be prepared for that kid to wrestle the best match of his life."
"Every guy knows what he's going to hear if he loses," Cook said.
Some coaches refuse to even let their grapplers match up with the girls, telling Cook they'll forfeit that match, infuriating the Pine Ridge squad.
As for any thought of the, um, delicacies involved when high school boys are putting their hands on high school girls, that idea is squashed.
"Believe me, that's the last thing you're thinking about," Hall said. "It's nowhere near intimate."
So what's it like for a guy to wrestle one of the girls? Pine Ridge freshman Anthony Aguanno has been pinned in practice, and his ego has lived to tell about it.
"I definitely don't want to lose, but I don't feel any worse than usual if I do," Aguanno said. "These girls are good athletes and sometimes they're going to beat you. It happens."
With high school pressures being what they are, does wrestling hurt a girl's social life? Lots of boys (and men) are intimidated by stronger women.
"Yeah, I think they're a little more scared of coming up to me and talking," Mauck said with a chuckle. "But once they get to know me, they relax a little."
"I think they were probably scared of me before anyway," Pine Ridge's Amber Draper said. "But now they're really scared."
Still, a few bruises after practice and some uncomfortable moments in the school hallway are a small price to pay for the joys of being an athlete.
"It's an awesome feeling when you win," Hall said. "You put all the hours in and put up with more stuff than other girls athletes do, and then you pin somebody and it's just an unbelievable feeling.
"Definitely makes it all worth it."
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Girl grapplers pin hopes on success in a 'guys' world'
By GUY LORANGER : The Herald-Sun
gloranger@heraldsun.com
Jan 11, 2006 : 8:31 pm ET
Chapel Hill High wrestler, runs during practice. Two foot surgeries delayed Dunphy’s entry into wrestling until this season. |
DURHAM -- The toughest opponent Erica Lyons has faced on the mat this season wasn't one of her male teammates on the Jordan High School wrestling team or a boy from another school.
It was another girl.
In her second match of the season, and her first against a female wrestler, Lyons went three demanding rounds Jan. 4 against Chapel Hill's Audrey Dunphy.
"I thought that wrestling a guy, you'd have to work harder," said Lyons, who dropped a 6-2 decision in the exhibition match. "But I realized that she's been going through the same thing, with people doubting her. She'd been working just as hard as me, and that made me want to work harder."
Is it a matter of proving something to others or proving something to themselves?
For Lyons, a freshman who began wrestling last year at Githens Middle School, and Dunphy, a senior wrestling for the first time this season, it's been a little bit of both.
"For me, it's been a personal thing, but I'm happy to see other girls wrestle because it's part of a revolution," Dunphy said. "And I really respect the other girls who wrestle."
While Lyons and Dunphy might be a rarity in a traditionally all-male sport, they are not alone.
The N.C. High School Athletic Association estimates that between 20 and 30 girls are wrestling in the state this winter. The USA Wrestling Association puts that participation number at 3,800 nationwide.
They don't differ from their male counterparts in why they decided to take up the sport: It looked like fun.
"I remembered working at the Tiger Classic [wrestling tournament] and thinking it was interesting just to see two people going at it in the ring like that," Dunphy said. "I wanted to get into shape after cross country and to get some conditioning, and then I realized that I could really wrestle.
"I like the adrenaline rush, and the way your instinct kicks in. It's something interesting and new to do before I graduate."
Lyons, whose father wrestled in high school and whose older brother, Eric, also wrestles at Jordan, said several girls at Githens were encouraged to try out for wrestling last year by the team's coach, Robert Sims.
But only two girls actually tried out, and she was the only one who stuck with it through the season.
She won her first match in a dual meet at Lowe's Grove and went on to wrestle 11 more matches.
"I didn't expect to come out with the win, because I hadn't been wrestling that long and didn't think I knew enough about it," said Lyons, who also runs track. "It felt great, but I had to win by points. It went to the third period. I knew I had to work more at it."
Dunphy, who helped Chapel Hill win the state 4-A girls' cross country title this past fall, said her social studies teacher, Chapel Hill coach Wilson Diaz, asked her to come out for the team two years ago.
A pair of foot surgeries were the only things that held her back. And with those behind her this winter, she decided to finally go through with it before heading off to East Carolina in the fall.
"You get a lot of obstacles in wrestling, and I like to be challenged," said Dunphy, who has posted a 4-12 record this season, including two wins over male wrestlers and another win over a female wrestler from Hickory's St. Stephens High. "Facing obstacles is interesting to me."
One obstacle that neither has faced is non-acceptance from their families, coaches and teammates.
Although Lyons said her mother, Kimberly, was a little reserved about the idea at first -- "She was afraid that I was going to become a tomboy" -- those reservations faded away with every match.
Dunphy, meanwhile, said her parents, Frank and Cherie, needed to see just one match to be convinced.
"They've been behind me from the beginning," she said.
She also said she wasn't surprised to hear that Lyons had been receiving the same amount of support from her teammates at Jordan as she has experienced at Chapel Hill.
"Wrestlers are very humble people," Dunphy said, "and they're very open-minded."
Jordan coach Phil Davanzo, a former N.C. State wrestler and assistant coach at Raleigh's Millbrook High, said Lyons has become a leader on the team through her example.
"I don't know if it's because she thinks she has to prove something or it's because that's just the way she is," Davanzo said. "But it doesn't matter to me if she's a guy or a girl -- she busts her butt in here every day. The guys on the team see that."
Jack Coman, a senior who wrestles above Lyons in Jordan's lineup at 103 pounds, said his practice partner earned his respect right away and also changed his view about having a female wrestler on the team.
"I wouldn't like it if a girl wanted to wrestle just to make a statement, but it's different if it's a girl who wants to wrestle because she really, truly likes the sport," Coman said. "Erica likes wrestling, and she pushes herself every day. She never slacks off."
Diaz just wishes Dunphy had joined the Tigers sooner.
"Instead of just figuring it out now, she'd be way ahead," Diaz said. "She would be on the varsity level for sure, because she's a great athlete.
"She's good with her hips, which is a strength a lot of women wrestlers have. They can shift directions better. And she's also really physical, which is something you don't see a lot with women wrestlers. If she gets shoved around, she fights right back."
Diaz coached a female wrestler at Chapel Hill four years ago. He also worked in his offseason wrestling club with Anna Matteson of Eastern Randolph High, who went on to compete for the U.S. Olympic team when women's wrestling was added to the Athens Games in 2004.
He would support adding a girls' division to the state wrestling championships. Currently, only two state high school athletic associations -- Texas and Hawaii -- offer a championship for girls.
"I think it would be great if you could have a lightweight division and a heavyweight division or something like that," he said. "It would be great for the sport."
Lyons said she hopes to excel in the sport, regardless of whether there is a separate division.
"My goal is to get as far as I can and to try, if possible, to make it to the state finals and rank somewhere," she said.
Dunphy, meanwhile, said she gets her reward from the sport every day when she steps into the wrestling room.
"It's a great sport, because it yields character," she said. "It's all in the mind. You have to go out there with the attitude that if you set your mind to it, you can do anything."
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'We are girls in a guy's sport'
Females defy social norms, find success as wrestlers
By DAVID FILKINS, Staff writer
First published: Thursday, January 12, 2006
SCHUYLERVILLE -- Never before had Sarah Anderson felt blood trickle from her nostril, meander over her top lip, and pool in her mouth.
Never before had the skin been ripped off both knees and replaced by the sort of gashes that result from a knee-first slide across a patch of concrete or pile of broken glass.
Anderson was 8 years old when she first wrestled. Her opponent was a boy who pummeled her into a bruised, bloodied mess. He was stronger and nearly 20 pounds heavier than his 45-pound opponent, whose mother, Rhonda, peeked through her fingers as they covered her eyes.
She cringed watching her little girl's limbs twisted, face struck, neck wrenched, body lifted and repeatedly slammed to the mat.
But Sarah loved it.
She loved the competition and that she was wrestling, just like her father did in high school. And she loved how socially acceptable behavior, like being gentle, wasn't part of it.
Anderson has done most of the bullying since.
The 14-year-old is one of 17 girls wrestling for high school teams in Section II. Unlike basketball, softball, volleyball or track, wrestling isn't offered to girls in high school. It is at the national, collegiate and Olympic levels, but lack of interest among high schoolers means those who wish to compete in the unforgiving, ultra-macho, not-fit-for-the-feeble sport must do so against boys.
"Sometimes we'll be in a restaurant and my dad will have the waiter guess what sport I play," said Anderson, an eighth-grader who happens to be the top 96-pounder on Schuylerville High's varsity team.
When the waiter gives up, Buck Anderson says his daughter is a wrestler. The response is always the same.
"They ask if I'm the scorekeeper or something," Anderson said, rolling her eyes.
She refrains from turning the waiter into a pretzel, though she probably could. She is a skilled technician with deceptive strength despite not having a visible muscle on her 5-foot-2 frame.
Anderson won the 96-pound division of the Saratoga Springs Invitational on Saturday, defeating three boys, pinning two and beating the third 9-0. She won similar tournaments this winter in Glens Falls and Hudson Falls and is 10-0 this season.
Amy Whitbeck of Duanesburg High, Dianna Acors of Burnt Hills High, and Schuylerville teammate Heather Thompson join Anderson as nationally ranked girls who are wrestling in Section II. They not only compete, they win the majority of their matches. Sometimes the most difficult part is finding a willing opponent.
Area coaches and wrestlers say facing a girl is a no-win proposition for most boys. If he wins, no one notices because it's expected, especially in a sport that relies heavily on strength. If he loses, it's just plain embarrassing. Most boys could handle being outplayed, outhustled, outpointed, outsmarted or outmaneuvered by a girl, but to be outmuscled is to remove an advantage normally conceded to males by virtue of anatomy.
It's not unheard of for girls to win by forfeit while an eligible wrestler sits across the mat unwilling to compete.