News Page
Girls just wanna wrestle
Hanford West's grapplers put their athleticism on display this weekend when they host state's Girls Invitational.
By Nick Giannandrea / The Fresno Bee
(Updated Wednesday, February 1, 2006, 9:19 AM)
Hanford West High wrestlers from left, Michelle Wynne, Norma Garcia, Amanda Baker, Gabrielle Corona-Zamarripa, Maria Dominguez and Brandy Chestnut will be among the 300-plus females at the California Girls Invitational at Hanford West this weekend. Darrell Wong / The Fresno Bee
|
HANFORD — Amanda Baker was recruited.
Family ties drew Michelle Wynne, Gabrielle Corona-Zamarripa, Norma Garcia and Brandy Chestnut to the mat.
Maria Dominguez simply wanted a new challenge.
The six Hanford West High students form what is believed to be the largest group of female wrestlers to compete for one school in Central Section history.
They participate in a sport primarily the domain of boys, where sexist attitudes from opponents and spectators, although waning, still exist.
"That's what pushes you to do your best because you want to prove them wrong," Wynne says. "It's not about gender, it's about competing and wrestling, not about being a girl."
But this weekend is just for the girls.
Hanford West hosts the California Girls Invitational, which pits the best girls from the north against their counterparts from the south in an unofficial state championship. At least 160 teams and 300 to 350 wrestlers are expected to compete Friday and Saturday in the seventh-year tournament.
"It's rough any time you start at ground level to get acceptance," says Allen Blanchard, who coaches the girls at Hanford West. "But, we are getting acceptance. Eyes are opening up."
Girls wrestling has caught the attention of the California Interscholastic Federation, the state's governing body for high school athletics.
Hanford West wrestlers Gabrielle Corona-Zamarripa, left, and Amanda Baker practice their moves on one another. |
The CIF does not offer wrestling as a separate sport for girls.
But with the number of girls wrestlers in the state doubling in the past four years, that could change soon.
"I don't think it will be in the next year, but in the years to come, I definitely think there will be girls wrestling teams," Corona-Zamarripa says. "It's just a matter of time."
That's the plan, according to Central Section commissioner Jim Crichlow.
"The intent is to move it forward as a full girls sport, where they have their own state championship," Crichlow says. "How long that process will take, I'm not sure, but that's the direction."
If the CIF's plan comes to fruition, Baker, Wynne, Corona-Zamarripa, Garcia, Dominguez and Chestnut might go down as pioneers.
And they each have traveled an interesting path to section history.
Meet the girls
Hanford West head coach Scott Davis heard the story floating around campus — Amanda Baker had beaten up a couple of boys.
"I'm just not one to back down, that's all," Baker says.
That was exactly the attitude Davis was looking for, so he decided Baker would be a perfect fit with the Huskies' growing group of girls wrestlers.
"He put out a search warrant for me," Baker says. "He finally caught me one day at break and said, 'Hey, I've been looking for you,' and he started recruiting me."
It was an easy sell.
"I like wrestling boys and taking their ego," says Baker, who competes at 126 pounds.
Davis' overture prompted the 17-year-old senior to participate in sports for the first time.
This time last year, Baker spent her afternoons studying or playing guitar. Now she's learning new moves.
"I love how the sport challenges me," Baker says. "I don't get bored."
Before an automobile crash between her freshman and sophomore years, Wynne was a basketball player. She started playing as a 9-year-old.
"It was my favorite sport," Wynne says. "I was really thinking about pursuing that later in life. I wanted to be a coach someday."
The crash derailed that plan.
Her hand was in a cast for most of a year. When she tried to play basketball again her junior year, the loss of mobility made dribbling and shooting difficult.
Wanting to stay active this year by playing a winter sport, Wynne went to her father, Andrew, for advice. He suggested wrestling, the sport he had done in high school.
"I was thinking he's just imposing his dreams on me," says Wynne, a 17-year-old senior who wrestles at 103 pounds. "So I thought I'd do this for him and he'd get a kick out of it, but I've liked it."
As a 15-year wrestling coach, Ralph Corona knew exactly what his daughter was getting into when she told him she wanted to try the sport.
"My dad warned me I would get cuts and bruises, but that's OK," says Corona-Zamarripa, a 15-year-old sophomore who competes at 132 pounds. "Personally, I like to get bruised or cut up. It makes me feel like I got a good workout."
Corona-Zamarripa got her start in a freestyle program a year ago. She enjoyed the experience so much she tried out for her high school squad this year.
Now, her sights are set on wrestling in college.
"Gabby is very strong-willed and wants to win," Blanchard says. "She's very talented and probably the one who can go the furthest."
Corona-Zamarripa, who also played volleyball this year, says she has yet to experience anything as rewarding as wrestling:
"When you win, you feel all that hard work pays off."
She found it on the mat.
"Being a freshman, it makes me feel good to be a part of something," Garcia says. "Wrestling gets me in better shape and it helps with my self-esteem."
Garcia is no stranger to the sport. The 15-year-old has four cousins who wrestle.
"They were always happy and working hard," says Garcia, who wrestles at 235 pounds. "Without them knowing, they encouraged me to do it."
Blanchard describes Garcia as kind-hearted, at least until you get her on the mat.
"She's the one you don't want to get mad," Blanchard says. "If you do get her mad, she's going to go out and take care of business."
Garcia, who also played volleyball in the fall, hopes to wrestle in college.
"Some people may not think fighting around is fun," says Garcia, who admits she was scared at her first practice, "but I do."
And she didn't even have to pay for her sparring partners.
"I fight a lot with my brothers," she says.
That's why sitting in the stands cheering on her three younger brothers as they wrestled just wasn't good enough for Chestnut.
She had to get into the middle of the wrestling circle, too.
"I thought it looked like a lot of fun," says Chestnut, a 15-year-old freshman. "I like physical sports."
"I get so pumped up," says Chestnut, who competes at
98 pounds. "I'm really ready for state."
Chestnut's competitive streak is easy to notice.
"She's a freshman and a little hyper," Blanchard says. "She really wants to win."
"I am a curious person," Dominguez says. "I have tried everything except for swimming because I don't know how to swim."
But before moving with her family to Hanford before her junior year, Dominguez didn't even know wrestling existed. Her previous school, Belmont High in Los Angeles, did not have a wrestling program.
Rather than taking the familiar route by joining Hanford West's soccer team, curiosity won out again.
"I wanted to do something new, even though I'm better at soccer," says Dominguez, who wrestles at 146 pounds.
So the 17-year-old senior tried out for wrestling, even against the wishes of her mother.
"I kind of had to cry for her to let me do it," Dominguez says. "It was tough at first, but she's gotten used to it. Now she's like, if you get hurt, don't complain. So I don't complain when she's around, even when I have bruises all over."
The future
Only two states — Hawaii and Texas — offer wrestling as a separate sport for girls.
The CIF is doing what it can to make California the third.
For the first time in state history, the CIF ran regional girls-only wrestling tournaments on Jan. 20-21 — with approximately 250 wrestlers competing in the northern regional and 240 at the southern regional.
The regionals featured nearly half of the 1,042 girl wrestlers in the state this year. The numbers of girl wrestlers has grown by nearly 300 since a 2003 survey and by almost 500 since 2001.
"Considering we have 1,042 girls wrestlers, we had almost half of them participating," at the regionals, says John Tarman, the CIF's assistant executive director. "That's extraordinary participation and we couldn't be happier.
"But the support has to continue to grow so we can get to the point that some time in the not-too-distant future we have boys wrestling boys and girls wrestling girls."
Despite growing interest and a desire by the CIF to make girls wrestling a sport, issues stand in the way.
For girls wrestling teams to become a reality, schools must have the finances to pay for coaches, uniforms, equipment and transportation. Finding practice facilities for separate boys and girls teams also could present a problem.
Those are issues the CIF can't solve.
"The age-old question is finances," Crichlow says. "How far can we push as the CIF to tell schools to start wrestling? That gets dicey. We will do everything we can to help it, but we will not be like big brother and force it down people's throats."
The regionals will return next year. And the hope is momentum will continue to build for a female sport that made it to the Olympic stage in 2004.
"It's a challenge to see into the crystal ball," Tarman says. "What is absolutely given is [that] the level of excitement was special. These girls knew they were making history. The coaches and parents knew they were making history. And the quality, the technical wrestling, was extraordinary."
Michelle Wynne, left, and Brandy Chestnut get some mat time in at Hanford West High, host of the unofficial girls state wrestling championship. Darrell Wong / The Fresno Bee
------------------------------------------
Fulp-Allen wins NorCal wrestling title
By MARK FOYER--Half Moon Bay Review 1/30/06
Katherine Fulp-Allen will continue to wrestle in college.
But almost nothing can match the thrill the Half Moon Bay High School senior had Saturday when she won the California Interscholastic Federation Girls Northern Regional Tournament.
Though the CIF, the governing body for high school sports, had given its blessing in the past for state tournaments, this was the first time the CIF name was on the tournament.
"That is a big deal," Fulp-Allen said. "It's good to win the first CIF Northern California tournament."
Fulp-Allen won the 114-pound title and will wrestle at the state tournament in the Central California community of Hanford in two weeks.
She began the tournament by pinning Daisa Blodgett of Pittsburg late in the second round. She followed that with a technical fall win over Megan Wiles of Etna.
Fulp-Allen then knocked off Ariel Green of Sutter, 13-1, advancing to the finals. She claimed the title with a 4-2 win over Alex Tolero of St. Patrick-St. Vincent.
Fulp-Allen clinched the win with a takedown in the second round.
"That was a relief that I was able to perform to such good standards," Fulp-Allen said. "I had been coughing for a while. I have taken a lot of medicine. I did wrestle with a cold last year, and it can drain you."
Maggie Ortiz was the only other Cougar to pick up a win at the tournament, going 1-2.
-------------------------------------------
103
1. Michaela Hutchison, Skyview
2. Aaron Boss, Colony
3. Ross Edelen, South
4. Michael Abt, Sitka
5. Kyle Wilson, Colony
6. Tuck Van Meter, Kodiak
-----------------------------------------------
February 1, 2006
0
Points scored by the Chesapeake boys basketball team in the fourth
quarter of a 34-31 loss to North County, which outscored the Cougars 4-0 in the
period.
26
Seconds Arundel's 103-pound sophomore Nicole Woody needed to pin her
Frederick opponent last week.
30
Points for Severn's Lindsay Hall, a career-high, in the Admirals' 43-41
victory at Maryvale Prep.
950
Combined career wins by Southern girls basketball coach Linda
Kilpatrick (400) and former boys coach Tom Albright (550), who retired two years
ago, over the past 40 years.
Originally published February 1, 2006
1
Female wrestling coach in the county in Wilde Lake assistant Maria Schweitzer, 28, who competed for the Wildecats as a lightweight when she was in high school.
-------------------------------------------
Bear wrestlers take second at regionals
Article published on Monday, January 30th, 2006
By NICK SANDIN Special to the Mirror
As expected, the two-time defending state champs from Wasilla rolled to
victory at the Northern Light Conference regional championships and
right behind them were those Kodiak Bears.
A golden finish by junior Ben Watkins in the 215-pound class, Kodiak
scored 256.5 team points beating out Colony by 19 to claim second place.
Watkins defeated Nick Hann of Skyview 12-4 in the championship match Saturday
at Palmer High School.
Kodiak’s Steven Guanna walked away, literally, with the Bears other
individual champion title in a forfeit win over teammate Lucas Fried in
the 125-pound division. Kodiak had four wrestlers with second-place
finishes, including Fried. Jimmy Eggemeyer lost a close battle to Wasilla’s Alan
Bartelli 3-2 in the 112 title match. Mike Trudeau, also of Wasilla, won
over Kodiak senior Jared Sundberg 8-4 in their title fight at 152 and the
Bears’ Aaron Nevin lost the 171 crown to Cody Dishon. Colony’s Dishon was
co-awarded the Most Outstanding Wrestler award for the tournament, an
honor that he shared with 103 pound winner Michaela Hutchison of Skyview, the
first NLC/Region III female champion ever. Hutchison is the sister of
three-time state champ Eli Hutchison who won the 135 class Saturday,
upping his record to 189-0 in Alaska high school wrestling.
Kodiak also claimed five fourth-place finishers; Tuck VanMetre (103),
Marlon Branson (140), Al Cratty (160), and heavyweight Nick Watkins.
Final Team Scores: 1. Wasilla, 437; 2. Kodiak, 256.5; 3. Colony, 237.5;
4. Skyview, 224; 5. Kenai, 107; 6. Palmer, 66.5; 7. Homer, 60; and 8.
Soldotna, 56.5.
Due to volcanic ash the team was stuck on the Mainland and coach Pat
Costello was unavailable for comment.
--------------------------------------------------
Pacific women wrestlers pin hopes on 2008 Olympics
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By Lisa Cromwell The Argus
FOREST GROVE -- In a new sport like women's wrestling, almost any athlete with talent and dedication can be a contender.
"Every woman in this sport becomes a factor in our program," said Terry Steiner, coach of the U.S. Olympic women's wrestling team on Sunday during a break from teaching the Pacific University Women's Wrestling Team, at the school's athletic center.
"It's a real small world. It's just so new that everyone in it is a contender. Every sport when starting out has the same character. These girls have a lot of opportunities the boys don't have."
Though a club sport for two decades, women's wrestling became an Olympic sport in 2004. There are five college programs nationally, compared with 326 in men's wrestling.
Steiner, one of four Olympic coaches for the U.S. team, traveled from USA Wrestling headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., to help Pacific's team from Jan. 28 through Jan. 30. He took them through foot speed drills, agility, body awareness and various moves on the red and white mats of the gym's wrestling room.
Pacific women's wrestling coach, Scott Miller, and Frank Johnson, a former Pacific wrestler and Forest Grove High School coach who started the women's program at Pacific, were on hand, as well as two Pacific men's wrestling team members working out with the women.
Pacific's wrestling teams are about evenly matched in numbers, with 15 on the women's team and 20 on the men's. They share the same coaching staff.
There are differences, including a higher attrition rate on the men's side and a philosophical divide. "When I took the job, the men assumed I knew what I was talking about without having to prove it.
"The women are just the opposite: I have to prove to them that I know what I'm talking about," said Miller.
Winning matches takes a lot of work -- practices are 1 1/2 hours every day, plus weight training three times a week and daily half-hour cardio sessions. "The college experience for these athletes is not like a normal student's," said Miller.
"They have to really budget their time, maintaining at least above a 2.0 grade point average. We recruit students we think will succeed in this atmosphere. We look at what men and women are doing outside the season, from November through February or March -- if they're involved in another sport. Any other sport complements wrestling."
Five women wrestlers proved they have what it takes to place high at matches. Kapua Torres is a returning national champion in the 51 kilogram (112.25 pound) class. For her, wrestling is a family affair.
She was on the mat Sunday with her dad, Reggie, a wrestling coach at Kahuku High School in Hawaii.
Torres, a 5-foot, 3-inch Pacific junior, started wrestling in eighth grade at Kamehameha High School and won the Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship.
Frustrated on Sunday by having to sit out upcoming matches due to "stingers," a nerve problem in her neck, Kapua said women wrestlers have to be especially strong.
"We're kind of pioneers," she explained. "I hope we are as tough as the men."
Miller said they have to be, with so much good competition out there. "Our matches are 70 percent dog fights and 30 percent routs."
The team is definitely up for national matches as well as those in the Canada West conference they recently joined, he added.
Titilope "Titi" Lawani, a 5-foot, 6-inch sophomore, earned number two status nationally last year in the 63 kilogram (138.75 pound) class. Sweat pouring from the red bandana holding back long black braids, she said Steiner helped her be more aggressive. "I'm going to take more shots, focus more on my offense, go for the legs more," she said.
Glencoe High School graduate Stacey Martell, a 5-foot, 7-inch senior who tied for third place in the 72 kilogram (158.75 pound) category, said wrestling serves her well. "It taught me to be more independent, my own person. It's a challenge to be a woman wrestler -- people are surprised.
"Women are doing things they couldn't do before. This gives them opportunities in areas that in the past weren't meant for them, but they can do as well as men."
------------------------------------------------
Coach alters attitudes in the wrestling room
Terry Steiner works at breaking down barriers as USA Wrestling's national women's coach
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
MOLLY BLUE
FOREST GROVE -- Wrestling rooms are sweltering, the hotter the better. The walls are padded, and mats line the floor.
Typically, they are places where boys and men test their mettle, training to last six minutes in one of the most intense competitions in sports.
The wrestling room at Pacific University is typical, with the heat, the pads and the mats. Sunday, it was filled with 20 athletes, turned out in T-shirts and shorts or sweat pants. But as Terry Steiner, a coach of USA Wrestling's national team, drilled the wrestlers, there was a difference.
These were women going through the grueling drills.
Steiner, 36, coaches wrestling, preaches discipline and teaches lessons about life on the mat and beyond -- for women.
The former All-American and NCAA champion from the University of Iowa grew up in Bismarck, N.D., forging his career in the sport during the late 1980s and early 1990s when there weren't any girls in the wrestling room.
The idea of girls wanting to wrestle remains foreign to many. Yet Steiner shifted his way of thinking and in 2002 became USA Wrestling's first national women's team coach.
"Five years ago, I can't say I agreed with women's wrestling," Steiner said. "If you ask coaches why they coach, they say they love the sport, what it teaches. If that's true, why limit it? Let everybody have an opportunity to learn."
Steiner, who had been an assistant at the University of Wisconsin and Oregon State, was looking for a head coaching job -- with a men's program -- when he was approached about the women's national coaching position after women's wrestling was added to the Summer Olympics program in 2001.
Had it been a men's job, he would have jumped at it. Because it was a women's job, he talked to his twin brother, Troy, also a wrestling coach, and sought out his former coach at Iowa, the legendary Dan Gable.
A husband and father to a daughter, Steiner finally turned to his wife, Jodi Zueger, for advice.
"She told me that from the outside, looking into the wrestling community, it was ridiculous," he said. "Here, I could be starting something, be one of those people who stands up and says, 'Why not women's wrestling?' That's when I had my answer. I had opportunities from my parents. I want to give that to my daughter."
Steiner brought that message to Pacific University this past weekend, conducting five sessions over three days, including a 6:30 a.m. wakeup workout on Monday.
The athletes were from junior high schools and high schools in Oregon and Southwest Washington, along with wrestlers from Pacific's elite women's program. A wrestler from the Pacific men's team, sophomore Ryan Kuroda, also worked out.
"You couldn't keep him away," said Scott Miller, Pacific's coach. Kuroda "doesn't see gender, he sees another wrestler across from him."
Steiner demonstrated some moves with Kuroda, but he also demonstrated them with the women wrestlers -- another thing he wasn't sure he could do when he started this job.
"The first time I worked out with girls, in the back of my mind I was worried -- where do I put my hands?" he said. "But I walked out to start and I realized this isn't their problem, this is my problem. They are wrestlers. They have the same dreams I had. They just want to learn. So if I need to show a hold, I just need to do it."
The rhythm of Sunday's practice was simple: Steiner would demonstrate moves, describe their merits and pitfalls, and then the wrestlers, working in pairs, would try them. He'd stop them, calling out, "OK, look in," and as the wrestlers untangled, he'd show another move, and they'd go through it.
If wrestling is an economy of motion, so is its coaching. Steiner doesn't waste words, doesn't squander time and runs his practices with efficiency.
"I like his style," said Michelle Ludwig, a junior from San Diego. "As far as technique goes, there are holes in my defense and offense. I learned lots of new moves and better ways to do some old moves."
Ludwig, who earned All-America honors last season at a national tournament for college women's programs, said she also came away with a new perspective on perfection.
"It may sound cheesy, but it's true. You shouldn't be afraid to not be perfect," Ludwig said. "You can try a move and fail. You can try it 100 times and fail. But if you get it one time, you've succeeded."
Steiner is familiar with Pacific's program, which he called one of the best in the nation. Tela O'Donnell and Sally Roberts were members of Pacific's first wrestling team before moving to the Olympic Training Center at Colorado Springs and joining the national team's resident training program.
Miller said there are a few others who might be lured away from Forest Grove to join the national team.
But that wasn't the purpose of Steiner's trip. He was there to work, and after more than two hours of drills, he talked.
"I hope someday you are successful in your family, in your career, in your jobs and your lives," Steiner said. "Hopefully, we're not teaching you just wrestling. Let's change some minds along the way; let's change some attitudes."
----------------------------------------------------
Girl power
Elmwood Park duo proves mat not only boys' domain
BY DANNY CARLINO
CONTRIBUTOR 2/1/06
For many people, a wrestling mat is no place for a lady, but Elmwood Park High School seniors Jenn Novielli and Jen Tonelli have turned the mat into a comfort zone for themselves for the past four years.
Although it's hard to talk about one without the other since they're the only two girls on the team and have the same first name, they did arrive at the wrestling room in very different manners.
Tonelli, who wrestles at 112 pounds, knew wrestling before entering Elmwood Park mainly because of her older brother, Rich, who was on the team while attending the school in the late 1990s. He wasn't teaching her any moves, though. Suffice to say that she provided him with a useful training tool.
"When he wrestled and wanted to try some moves, I was always his 'dummy,' so when freshman year came around, I decided to try out," Tonelli said. "My brother did it, and I liked watching it."
Novielli (119 pounds) has always been involved in sports. She had tennis in the fall and track in the spring. Her favorite sport is soccer, but there was no team at the school for her to compete on until the spring of 2005. There was something missing for her in the winter time, though. She needed to find an activity that would push her physically, and she found it by process of elimination.
"I wanted to be a three-sport athlete, and I was doing track and tennis, and I play soccer, but I had nothing in the winter," Novielli said. "I'm not good at basketball, and freshman year I heard about wrestling, and it always appealed to me."
You hear about stories like this often enough where girls take part in sports traditionally played by boys. Much like in all those other instances, Novielli and Tonelli experienced struggles both on and off the mat.
Obviously wins would be hard to come by going up against boys. They knew that but didn't let that deter them from proceeding. Anytime you take on an endeavor, especially one that may be a bit out of the ordinary, support becomes important to your success as well.
Feelings from family and friends were mixed regarding the girls' choice to wrestle. Tonelli feels the split is about even in her camp while Novielli mentioned that her friends encourage her while her family is a bit reserved about the situation. Novielli finally was able to convince her mother to come out and see her wrestle on senior night last Friday.
It was also a bit of an adjustment for coach Lane Stone to come on board with having girls on the team. He's been involved in wrestling since getting into the sport back in the fourth grade, and he's seen girls on other teams, but this was his first experience with having girls on his team. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to accept at first, but looking back at it Stone said having the girls around has been a rewarding and eye-opening experience.
"I knew it was the change of an era," said Stone. "The first year it was kind of weird, and I was nervous, but that was about it. I don't do anything differently with them. They have to learn the same moves and do the same conditioning as the guys. The only thing that's different is they have a separate locker room. I yell at them just as much as I yell at the guys."
The girls wouldn't want to be treated any other way. They like being the only girls on the team and don't care much for wrestling other girls. Novielli and Tonelli are driven by the challenge of having to face boys because they feel that defeating another girl isn't that big of a deal. Novielli said she gets nervous wrestling girls because she'd be embarrassed to lose. That's what the guys would usually say about losing to a girl.
The duo has embarrassed a few boys in their time as Tonelli has won on six occasions and Novielli 11 matches. They had trouble finishing bouts at first. After being pinned normally in the first round, the girls decided to return the favor for their first victories during their freshman year. At the end of the bout, it was difficult to see if the girls or their defeated opponents were more surprised.
"I felt bad for the other kid," Novielli said. "I was shocked."
"I had no idea what I was doing so I looked at the coaches, did what they told me and ended up pinning him," Tonelli recalled. "I was surprised. He was crying, and I kind of found it funny."
They're development over the years has been amazing. They're no longer an easy pin and are finishing matches while sprinkling occasional wins into the mix. It's a far cry from where they began. All the losing at the beginning would have discouraged most people but after getting over the losses, their desire to get better and prove they belonged emboldened them to continue on no matter what anyone else thought. Tonelli remembers being mad from all the losing, and Novielli was just so disappointed from the lack of success.
Not only did they want to win, but they also wanted their opponents to take them seriously. Anyone who competes wants to win, but when others look down upon you and don't find you as a worthy competitor, that can really get to you.
"I hate when the opponent just messes with you," Novielli remarked. "I'd rather they try their hardest and beat me than mess with me."
"Some try to make a big joke out of it," said Tonelli.
Girls might be getting more respect on the mat soon as Glenbard North's Caitlyn Chase (103 pounds) became the first ever female to qualify for the state final tournament in Illinois last year. A story like that gives girls like Novielli and Tonelli hope and a goal for which to strive. More girls may be influenced to try wrestling when hearing about a fellow female succeeding in a male dominated world.
Stone has seen the changes in the girls not only in their wrestling abilities, but also in their personalities. The challenges they have taken on and the successes they have achieved have benefited them a great deal and have been satisfying for him to see.
"They're confidence has gone up a lot," said Stone. "Just from their work ethic their self esteem has improved. They're not as timid anymore, and they're more vocal than they were. They're just another group of guys on the team."
Considering all the issues regarding girls participating on a boys team in what is easily the ultimate contact sport, being considered one of the guys is a victory in itself.
-----------------------------------------------------