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Expecting success on the mat

By blake timm 1/24/07

The Forest Grove News-Times

When Scott Miller hired three-time All-American Stacey Pelster to help him coach the Pacific women’s wrestling program, he sure didn’t expect her to just sit on the sidelines.

As the Boxers move into the meat of their competitive season, Pelster observes her former teammates from the sides of Pacific’s wrestling room, doing much more observing than demonstrating. No active wrestling. None of the gut wrenching moves typical of the full-contact sport.

“It’s been a little different than expected,” Pelster said. “I never expected to be pregnant and help coach.”

Then again, her entire athletic career was a little different than expected. Pelster (whose maiden name was Martell) capped her Pacific women’s wrestling career in March 2006 with her third All-American trophy in as many years at the 72-kilogram weight class.

She went 22-10 in her senior season and was ranked eighth in North America among wrestlers in her weight class.

That’s not a bad resume for a woman who had never competed in sports before coming to Pacific, let alone wrestled.

Pelster’s mother gave her teenager a choice: sports or drama. She chose drama at Glencoe High, and the closest she came to sports, she said, was tap dancing.

She decided to wrestle, beginning in her sophomore year, because she was bored. “I was living in the dorms for the first time. I was only taking 15 credits and had time on my hands.”

Teammate Teresa Ayala convinced Pelster to come out for the team. She did and earned a promise from coach Scott Miller that, if she stuck it out for a year, he would buy her wrestling shoes.

Now, she helps coach technique and moves to Ayala and seven other former teammates along with six newcomers to the Pacific program.

Pelster was quite active when the Boxers began practices in September, demonstrating technique and occasionally sparring lightly with partners. It wasn’t long before she moved to simply explaining.

That’s because Pelster, who graduated in May and got married to husband Ben in June is pregnant with her first child.

Miller said Pelster’s pregnancy has been anything but a distraction. Outside of not being able to actively wrestle, the little Pelster has had no impact on her coaching ability. “We do have a little fun with her, which she takes in good spirit,” Miller said. “Stacey can give as good as she gets.”

While Pelster can’t wrestle or demonstrate moves as full speed, the knowledge that she gained as part of Miller’s program makes her just as valuable on the sidelines.

“She is so familiar with our program that it allows her to teach right away, where if we had brought somebody in from the outside, we would have to teach them our philosophy and style,” Miller said.

Pelster, who works as music coordinator at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, will be on hand for the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships, which Pacific hosts on Mar. 10. She plans to be on the sidelines, helping to make another Boxer an All-American like she was.

She just hopes that the littlest Pelster won’t come early. The child is due March 15.

The week could go a little differently than expected.

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Elderton, Kittanning welcome female wrestlers

By Brian Graham
For the Leader Times
Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Elderton's Mary Gross has different aspirations than most wrestlers.
The only girl on the Bobcats wrestling team would love to improve on the mat, but there's another goal that would be just as satisfying.

"I think it'd be cool to make a boy cry," the 112-pounder junior said, with a chuckle. "OK, make that I want to win while making a boy cry."

Her goals may be enough to make you laugh, but Gross' approach to the male-dominated sport is serious. Her quest to compete with the guys started after soccer season when she conditioned with the wrestling team to stay in shape.

"She was hanging around running with us during conditioning," Elderton coach Larry Reefer said. "Then, she asked if she could wrestle, and I told her if she could make it through conditioning, then we'd find a spot for her."

Reefer said he was surprised at how she handled herself during workouts and even more surprised at how she adapted to being around the boys. Gross wasn't surprised by her new surroundings. Instead, she is pleased to be accepted and respected by her teammates.

"I just hoped the coach would like me," she said. "I didn't care about how the guys would treat me. I think I actually gained their respect quickly because I'm a girl and I did everything they did in practice."

Gross is 2-7 this season - both wins coming by forfeit - but she isn't discouraged by her inability to win a dual match. The support she's gained from her classmates makes her one of the most popular wrestlers during Elderton home matches, and she's dedicated to winning a match for her fan club.

"A lot of people in my school say, 'Wow, I wish I could do that,' " Gross said. "I think they're jealous because what I'm doing takes a lot of guts. I think it'd be cool for my friends to come out and see me win a match."

It may take some time for her to get a pin or decision. Reefer said her attention to details and technique will be crucial in her development.

"Mechanically, she wants to know everything, and she pays close attention to her technique," he said. "Technique will have to override what she gives up in strength."

Gross won't be the only girl on the mat tonight when Elderton meets visiting Kittanning in a Section 3-AA match. Kittanning's 103-pound sophomore Alyssa Krozely is another first-year female wrestler learning the basics of the sport.

Krozely has four victories by forfeit and two losses. Kittanning coach Jeff Putt has handled Krozely's progression in a different fashion than Reefer has with Gross.

"We put her out there when there's another girl to wrestle," Putt said. "She's brand new, so we have to teach her at an elementary level. We're teaching her the basics, so hopefully in the future she'll feel comfortable wrestling a guy. The guys are receptive to that, and they don't give her a hard time, because she's part of the team."

Krozely understands the steps being taken toward her development and believes that eventually they will be beneficial. She is committed to improving her skills and is proud that she was able to conquer some fears by stepping onto the mat.

The paths that Gross and Krozely are traveling are different, but an effort to stand out among their peers is a common goal that both have achieved.

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USOEC athletes in action

The Mining Journal 1/24/07

MARQUETTE — The United States Olympic Education Center women’s freestyle wrestling team competed at the Guelph Open last Saturday in Ontario, Canada.

The USOEC women faced Olympic champions and world medalists.

First-year resident athlete Erin Clodgo (Richmond, Vt.) took fifth in the tournament’s 67- kilogram weight class.

The Marquette Senior High School junior defeated Jessica Fitzgerald (Western, Ont.) 1-0, 0-1, 3-0 in the first round of competition.

Clodgo won two matches later in the tournament to tie Fitzgerald’s 3-3 tournament record for fifth place.

Northern Michigan University freshman Nicole Darrow (Lanesboro, Mass.) returned to the mat for her second competition since shoulder surgery last spring. She finished 1-2 in the 55-kg weight class.

NMU senior Liz Short (Lombard, Ill.) also posted a 1-2 record in the 48-kg class.

NMU senior Amy Borgnini (Terre Haute, Ind.), MSHS senior Paige Rife (Fowlerville) and NMU freshman Dallas Monreal-Berner (Niles, Ill.) finished with 2-2 records in respective 55-, 67- and 72-kg weight classes.

NMU junior Sadie Kaneda (Honolulu, Hawaii) and graduate student Kiersten Hyatt (Carmichael, Calif.) finished 0-2 at 48 kg and 63 kg, respectively.

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Kanto league to consider changes after complaint of gender discrimination

By Dave Ornauer, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, January 26, 2007

A parent’s complaint about gender equity in sports has challenged the validity of a Tokyo-area high school league’s designation of wrestling as boys-only and prompted that league to consider restricting venues and teams that are invited to its tournaments.

The issue arose after a Kanto Plain Association of Secondary School Principals-sanctioned wrestling meet at Yokota High School on Dec. 9.

A female from Robert D. Edgren High School at Misawa Air Base was forced under KPASSP rules to forfeit a bout to a male wrestler from St. Mary’s International School.

The league, which consists of international private, missionary and U.S. military schools, prohibits girls from wrestling in events that it sanctions.

Edgren and E.J. King High School at Sasebo Naval Base are not members of the Kanto league but were invited to particiapte in the tournament as exhibition teams. Tournament organizers said all particpants were made aware of the league rules beforehand.

But Jeanine Steele, mother of one of Edgren’s female wrestlers, Heather Steele, cried foul when 108-pounder Chanel Doinoff had to forfeit after wrestling her way to the third-place bout.

Steele, a tech sergeant assigned as a ground radio communications technician at Misawa, filed a letter of complaint Jan. 4 with the Department of Education, the Women’s Sports Foundation and New York senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer, each Democrats.

In her letter, Steele contends Doinoff’s forfeiture is a violation of federal Title IX regulations.

“I don’t think it’s fair that she was forced to give up a chance to compete … for the sole fact that she is female,” Steele stated in her letter.

As of Wednesday, DODDS officials and Steele said they had not received a response about Steele’s letter.

Enacted in 1974 as education amendments to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX mandates gender equity in sports at U.S. schools receiving federal assistance.

“This [KPASSP] constitution should not exist in a DODDS world. It’s federally run,” said Steele.

She said she believes KPASSP’s designation of wrestling as a boys-only sport “stifles” girls wanting to wrestle at the three DODDS schools that are members of the Kanto league — Yokota, Zama American and Kinnick. “That in itself discourages girls from even wanting to try out” for wrestling, she said.

None of the three schools has ever had a female wrestler on the varsity squad.

DODDS-Pacific spokesman Charles Steitz said the DODDS schools were not violating Title IX by participating.

“We adhere to all the guidelines and regulations which apply to an organization which receives federal funds. We have never discouraged female wrestlers,” he said.

“Unfortunately, when there is a KPASSP wrestling meet, other [non-DODDS] schools … may independently choose not to compete because some of these international schools have designated that sport ‘Boys Wrestling,’ ” he said.

Belonging to the association, Steitz said, gives DODDS-Japan athletes more diversified competition with a wider range of schools.

“We try our best to provide our students with the very best in … extracurricular activities. Therefore, we have co-curricular activities allowing our students to compete against the international schools, providing them with additional experience,” he said.

Edgren principal Michael Johnson wanted additional experience for his school’s wrestlers and said “we understood that we would be there as exhibition only, we understood that the tournament was run under KPASSP rules and that females facing wrestlers other than DODDS would have to forfeit.”

Steitz, administrators and athletic directors say everyone knew the gender rules before particiapting in the Dec. 9 event.

DODDS-Pacific officials contacted Edgren and E.J. King to clarify the event was a KPASSP event wrestled under that league’s rules: “Specifically, that the international schools would not wrestle a female,” Steitz said.

“All of us seemed to understand, it was communicated and accepted that this was how the tournament would go,” said Bonnie Seeley, athletic director at Yokota High School on Yokota Air Base.

Doinoff’s 108-pound bracket was arranged so that she would come up against DODDS competitors in the first two rounds. She never even stepped to the mat for the next bout.

“We knew that the third match would be a tossup as to who she would wrestle — DODDS or international school,” Steitz said. “This gave her a chance to participate, thereby gaining additional experience.”

Steele wasn’t satisfied. She said she’d voiced her disagreement to Edgren coach Justin Edmonds. She said he told her she was “not going to solve anything” by challenging the KPASSP constitution and its validity “in this kind of environment.”

“I told him that I planned to bring it up and make people aware that this was happening,” Steele said she told Edmonds.

Attempts to reach Edmonds for comment have not been successful.

As to Steele’s assertion that the rule “stifles” female participation in the DODDS schools, Steitz said it is difficult to answer without surveying all seventh- and eighth-grade girls to see what they would do when they become freshmen.

“I can’t get inside their heads,” Steitz said. “(But) we always encourage our students, both male and female, to compete at every level and in all extracurricular activities and events.”

The result of the dispute, Steitz said, might be that future KPASSP wrestling tournaments will be at international schools and designated for boys only.

Such steps are to be discussed when officials with Kanto Plain Association of Secondary School Principals meet next month, according to KPASSP league and DODDS-Pacific officials.

“Tournaments at DODDS-Japan high schools [would] be invitational and open to girls; an international school boy who refuses to wrestle a girl [would] forfeit the match to her.”

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Joshua making name for herself

By Mark Foyer--[ markf@hmbreview.com ] 1/24/07

Rebecka Joshua will admit she is not the perfect wrestler.

"I do have a lazy side," Joshua said. "I eat some food that I shouldn't eat."

Other than that, the Half Moon Bay High School freshman is on her way to being a solid wrestler.

Ranked fourth in the state, Joshua has placed in all five tournaments she has participated in this year. She's won in Vallejo and Santa Clara, finished third in Manteca and Napa and finished fourth her first high school tournament, the Peninsula Invitational held at Half Moon Bay.

She was second at last weekend's California Interscholastic Federation Northern Regional Tournament, qualifying for this weekend's California Girls' Wrestling Invitational, taking place in Hanford.

Always active, Joshua didn't start wrestling until she was in seventh grade at Cunha Intermediate School.

"I was too shy to wrestle in sixth grade," Joshua said. "I would only be wrestling guys. I didn't know if other girls were going out."

Wrestling is a demanding sport, both physically and mentally.

The physical part is easy to see. The mental challenge is more subtle.

The wrestler must not only go over the game plan, but could also spend a lot of time sitting and waiting at tournaments.

Joshua wrestled just twice Saturday on the second day of the two-day tournament. Her first match with Ari Aspelin of Montgomery, a semifinal, lasted just 36 seconds.

Joshua quickly brought down Aspelin, threw her on her back, and that was it.

Nearly five hours later, Joshua was battling Haylee Childs for the title.

In between matches, Joshua watched other matches, ate and worked out a bit.

Her passion for wrestling is obvious. She got it from her father.

"When I was younger, I would wrestle dad," Joshua said.

She used to play basketball as well, but those days are gone as she is devoted entirely to wrestling now.

"It's a very hard sport," Joshua said.

Though girls' wrestling is still a relatively new sport, Half Moon Bay has a tradition. Both Sara Fulp-Allen and Katherine Fulp-Allen were two highly regarded wrestlers before moving on to Menlo College.

"I look up to them," Joshua said. "I consider them super women."

She knows she can't worry about accomplishing everything those two accomplished.

"I want to be the best that I can be," Joshua said.

Between her dad and her coaches, she knows that can happen.

"I have a lot of nice people who tell what I did wrong, and how to improve," Joshua said. "Besides, there's always something to improve on."

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Joshua finishes second in NorCal girls' wrestling

By Mark Foyer--[ markf@hmbreview.com ] 1/24/07

Half Moon Bay's Rebecka Joshua, right, had control of Scotts Valley's Haylee Childs early in the third round. Childs was able gain control to win the Northern California Regional title.

No more chicken wings for Half Moon Bay High School's Rebecka Joshua.

It's not about a change in diet but rather a new wrestling technique.

Up 4-2 with a minute to go, Joshua held the top position against Scotts Valley's Haylee Childs when she tried for the arm bar move known as a chicken wing.

Childs was able to reverse Joshua, then get a pin, winning the 122-pound title at the California Interscholastic Federation Northern Regional title Saturday in Brentwood.

The two qualified for the state tournament, taking place this weekend in the Central Valley community of Hanford.

Joshua, a freshman who is ranked fourth in the state, made quick work of her first three opponents, taking each match by pin. She finished off Ari Aspelin of Montgomery in 36 seconds in her semifinal match.

Childs also made quick work of her opponents in her preliminary matches.

The two met once before, with Childs prevailing in a match in Manteca.

"She is an amazing wrestler," Childs said. "She has improved a lot since we first met. She has a great stance and some great coaching. This was one of the best matches I have had all year."

Joshua held the lead with a minute to go in the third round when she went for the chicken wing move.

It backfired.

"I was able to get into a half and reversed her," Childs said. "I tried to roll her on her back," Joshua said. "I should have stayed in the same position."

The results were similar to the first time the two met last month.

"I was leading her by three with about 30 seconds left in the match," Joshua said. "She reversed me and pinned me."

The two are freshmen and expect to battle each other for years to come.

"I have to keep practicing my technique and get stronger," Joshua said. "I have to get better than her. I am going to take what I learned from this match and move on."

Morgan Davis was the only other Half Moon Bay participant in the tournament. She lost both of her matches at 103 pounds.