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August 25, 2000,The Washington Post

It had to happen sooner or later.

After years of girls breaking onto all-boy teams in baseball, football and
even wrestling, boys are beginning to demand places on teams in all-girl
sports.

This summer, five 16-year-old boys triggered an uproar at the Little League
Softball World Series. The boys showed up with the Arizona team, in uniform.
The Senior League Softball World Series has always been all girls, but these
boys came to play and everybody had to let them. It's the law.

Still, some teams refused to play the coed team, charging that the bigger,
stronger boys gave the Arizona team an unfair advantage. In fact, the
Arizona team won the tournament by forfeit. An all-girl team from the
Philippines refused to play the Arizona team in the final game even though
they had beaten the coed team, 3-2, earlier in the tournament.

I don't think that the boys should have been allowed to play. Coed teams are
fine when kids are younger, but high school boys unfairly change the game of
softball. They are bigger and stronger than high school girls.

There is a simple solution to all this hubbub. Boys should have the chance
to play softball on all-boy teams. Likewise, girls should have the chance to
play on all-girl baseball teams.

The problem is that people keep thinking of softball as "girls baseball." As
early as elementary school, we start getting boys to think baseball and
girls to think softball.

Softball is not girls baseball. It is a whole separate sport.

Think of it: In softball, the ball is bigger. The dimensions of the field,
the equipment, the uniforms and even some of the rules are different. It
takes different strategies to win at softball.

I am not saying that softball is better or worse than baseball. Just
different. Anyone who has seen a tournament-level fast-pitch softball game
knows it is a tough and hard-nosed sport.

Check out the softball competition in the Olympics next month. U.S. pitcher
Lisa Fernandez is as overpowering as Pedro Martinez on his best day.

So, let's open up softball to boys and get some all-girl baseball leagues.

In the end, more kids will be playing the sports they really want to play.
And, after all, isn't that the point?

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Mo. Valley College adds women’s wrestling

Craig Hull,6/25/1999
Globe Staff Writer

In this day and age of colleges and universities dropping men’s athletic programs in order to comply with Title IX, it is a refreshing to see one school add a women’s program en route to compliance.

Missouri Valley College in Marshall announced in June the formation of a varsity program for women’s wrestling.

The program will start this fall and is believed to be only the fourth women’s wrestling program in the nation.

Missouri Valley wrestling coach Mike Machholz, who has coached the Viking men to two NAIA titles, a runner-up and fifth place finish in the last four years, will coach both teams after six years of coaching just a men’s program.

Machholz will be assisted by former Chillicothe High School coach Kent Sherrow.

Machholz said in a press release that there is a push to have women’s wrestling added as a sport in the 2004 Olympic games.

Right now, 968 girls wrestle nationwide at the high school level, most against boys and as part of boys varsity programs.

That’s Machholz’s first challenge in establishing the new program, recruiting. While the number of women’s wrestling programs is small, Machholz said northeast United States, Hawaii, Canada and Europe are areas where the number of girls wrestling in high school is higher.

The second hurdle Machholz will face is the scheduling of opponents. The team will have to travel across the country to compete with other women’s programs.

“Some will ask why get involved in a pioneer effort to bring women’s wrestling to the forefront?

“You really need to see the determination in these women athletes to get the true answer,” Machholz said.

Women’s wrestling has seven weight classes between 105 and 157 pounds. Machholz is looking for 15-20 athletes for the first season of competition.

Scholarships are available and women interested should contact Machholz at MVC, (660) 831-4119.