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TheMat.com interview with Lauren Lamb, the 2002 U.S. Nationals women's freestyle champion at 59 kg
6/13/2002
Gary Abbott/TheMat.com
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Lauren Lamb is one of America’s most successful and experienced women wrestling stars. She won her first national title as a teenager in 1990, and added her sixth career U.S. Nationals title this year at 130 pounds. Three times, Lamb has placed fifth in the World Championships, and she was a member of the 1999 Women’s World Championship team.
Lamb has been an integral part of the development of women’s wrestling in the United States, and will be a contender for a spot on the first U.S. Women’s Olympic team. TheMat.com spoke with Lamb as she goes through her final preparations for the World Team Trials in Saint Paul, Minn.
TheMat.com: You won your first Senior national title as a 13-year-old a dozen years ago. What was it like to win at that age, and how has women’s wrestling changed since those early years?
Lamb: There have been incredible changes in women’s wrestling. We saw a little clipping in USA Wrestler about the women’s nationals. I had never seen women wrestle against women. We drove down to Toledo to enter the tournament. It didn’t sink in that I won a national title for a long time. The changes in the sport are amazing. It went from being a little side thing in the USA Wrestler, to competing alongside the men athletes in Las Vegas.
TheMat.com: Let’s talk about your performance at the U.S. Nationals in Las Vegas.
Lamb: I felt really good. I have been fighting an injury. For the first time, I was back, feeling strong and competing where I need to be.
TheMat.com: Has winning the nationals helped you to decide if you will be competing for the rest of this Olympic cycle?
Lamb: I’m still taking it one year at a time. I’m not at an Olympic weight class. My focus is on the World Championships and from there, I will go one year at a time.
TheMat.com: Did coming from behind to win the U.S. Nationals help your confidence?
Lamb: I was up, but I gave up some points before the break. I had to stay focused. Being behind was not where I wanted to be.
TheMat.com: How difficult is it to work full time and also train for international wrestling? What does your daily schedule look like when you are training?
Lamb: It has been pretty hard to juggle. During training, I try to get a workout in before work. After work, I’m getting on the mat or doing something for a workout in the evening. What’s good is that I have something in my life besides wrestling. When I have just focused on wrestling, it has put a lot of pressure on me. Having my family, my career and my life makes wrestling more fun for me.
TheMat.com: You have been involved with women’s wrestling for many years. How did you feel when you heard that the sport had been added to the Olympic Games?
Lamb: It was a long time coming. We had been hearing rumors for years. When it was announced, it was more like a relief. It definitely belongs in the Olympics. There was some disappointment in what they did with the weights for both the men and the women.
TheMat.com: What are you doing for training at this time?
Lamb: There is a club at Canandaigua High School. Some of the college guys come back and train there over the summer. Dale Oliver, a Greco-Roman wrestler, has been helping me as a coach. It is an open room, and whoever is there, I get to help me.
TheMat.com: Do the people that you work out with take pride in your winning the Nationals?
Lamb: When I started hanging around the high school room, they really didn’t understand the amount of experience that I have. Now that I have been there for a few years, they are understanding and appreciating my accomplishments.
TheMat.com: Have you decided what weight class you will compete in going into the Olympic year?
Lamb:I will wait and decide that later. I came down in weight to be where I am now. Part of that decision will be to see what happens with my weight as I continue my training.
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2002 World Team Trials preview for 59 kg in women's freestyle wrestling
6/13/2002
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
One of the big surprises at the 2002 U.S. Nationals, that really should not have been unexpected, was the gold-medal triumph of Lauren Lamb of the Michigan WC. Lamb, who won her first U.S. Nationals as a teenager, has competed on five U.S. World Teams, placing as high as fifth in the World. She has not been able to claim a No. 1 spot the last two years, but has seemed to revive her career this season. She won the Dave Schultz Memorial this winter, and came into the U.S. Nationals looking to make a statement.
Falling behind early in the championship match, Lamb battled back to win by one point in overtime against 2001 U.S. Nationals runner-up Erin Tomeo, who competed at last year’s World Championships. Tomeo won a Special Wrestle-off to make the 2001 U.S. World team when Tina George could not attend a delayed World Championships due to military commitments. Tomeo, a freshman at Lock Haven this year, has been second at the U.S. Nationals for two straight years. Both Lamb and Tomeo may be too big to drop down to 121 pounds to compete at the Olympic weight, but Lamb might consider moving up.
Tonya Evinger of Stars and Stripes placed third at the U.S. Nationals, and is a talented veteran who has been on Women’s Team USA in the past. Evinger captured the Missouri Valley and Dave Schultz Internationals earlier this season. An explosive athlete, Evinger is capable of winning the Challenge Tournament and battling for top honors.
Placing fourth in Las Vegas is high school sensation Brandy Rosenbrock of Shamrock, who was competing in her first Senior-level U.S. Nationals. Rosenbrock has won FILA Cadet and FILA Junior National titles and has been a dominating folkstyle wrestler out of Michigan. With another year left in high school, this young talent could be on the national scene for many more years to come.
A pair of wrestlers from Missouri Valley College, Kiersten Hyatt and Leigh Jaynes, placed fifth and sixth respectively. Both had strong college seasons heading into the U.S. Nationals, and both are expected to continue to improve in upcoming seasons. No seventh or eighth place were awarded at U.S. Nationals when both opponents failed to appear for the seventh-place match, losing the opportunity to participate in the World Team Trials.
Unattached Carrie Birge, who was a Team USA member with a No. 3 ranking last year, did not participate in Las Vegas but is eligible for the World Team Trials. Birge’s last event was the Women’s World Cup last fall in France. Another national placewinner from 2001 who is eligible for the Challenge Tournament is University Nationals champion Cathilee Albert of the Black Knight club. Both have proven talent, but it will be hard to predict their performance based upon their activity this season.
As a non-Olympic weight class, this division could see some defection for the World Team Trials. It would not be unexpected, however, if the athletes who placed in Las Vegas remain at this weight and battle once again. Lamb will have the advantage of skipping the Challenge Tournament, and with years of international success, will not be underestimated again. Should Tomeo get into the finals against Lamb this time, it will be a best-of-three series, rather than an overtime score like in Las Vegas, that would determine the champion
59 kg (130 lbs.) qualifiers
National champion - Lauren Lamb, Farmington, N.Y. (Michigan WC)
U.S. Nationals #2 - Erin Tomeo, Volant, Pa. (Sunkist Kids)
U.S. Nationals #3 - Tonya Evinger, Bates City, Mo. (Stars and Stripes)
U.S. Nationals #4 - Brandy Rosenbrock, Warren, Mich. (Shamrock)
U.S. Nationals #5 - Kiersten Hyatt, Carmichael, Calif. (Missouri Valley)
U.S. Nationals #6 - Leigh Jaynes, Burlington, N.J. (Missouri Valley)
Team USA member - Carrie Birge, Marshall, Mo. (unattached)
University Nationals champion - Cathilee Albert, Boulder, Colo. (Black Knight)
Women’s Freestyle criteria: 1. Top eight at the 2002 Senior National Championships; 2. Current National Team Member - Top three; 3. Top three Finisher in a FILA A Championship in the past three years, including the Pan Ams, but not Sunkist; 4. 2002 University National Champion; 5. Past World Team Member; 6. 2002 Regional Tournament Champion from the Northeast and Northern Plains Regionals; 7. Medalist at Junior World Championships in the past two years
Note 1: Some athletes qualified in more than one way, although just one is noted in this list.
Note 2: Other wrestlers who meet qualifying criterion may identify themselves, and will be added to this list leading up to the event. Some of the anticipated qualifiers may choose not to attend.
Starting on May 30, TheMat.com will feature a daily interview with one of the 2002 U.S. Nationals champions, as well as a preview of that weight class for the upcoming World Team Trials, set for Saint Paul, Minn., June 21-23. Visit TheMat.com daily to read about America’s best international athletes and learn about the exciting action expected at this year’s World Team Trials.
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Coaches must use caution with female players
Houston Chronicle; Houston, Tex.; Jun 9, 2002;
AMARILLO - The combination between a male coach/teacher and the girls'
program that he oversees sometimes can be too powerful to halt.
It's an environment where coaches and their girls are together for
hours during a week - in the gym, on the track, in the bus, on the road. It's
an atmosphere where emotions are on edge, and sexuality, intentionally or
not, often lurks.
The way most male high school coaches see it, there is a distinct line
- a line that should not be crossed. It's drawn by common sense, the
understanding of right and wrong, of morals, and on occasion,
protection from allegations.
Those who don't cross it will be fine and can coach for years. For some
who wiggle around the line, there could be trouble.
"You need to protect yourself," said Plainview girls' basketball coach
Danny Wrenn, whose teams have won consecutive Class 4A state championships.
"But like anything, the bottom line is using wisdom and sound judgment."
Johnny Cobb has taught wrestling at Tascosa 14 years, with two state
boys' titles and two runners-up. He was given the burgeoning girls' program
three years ago, and in February the Lady Rebels won a state title.
"The bottom line at Tascosa is the administration demands you use good
judgment," said Cobb, who has two grown daughters. "They leave it up to
you to conduct yourself as a professional. If not, it is a big deal at
Tascosa, and they will come down on you very hard, and they should. But at
Tascosa, I've seen nothing but professional conduct."
Jack Turner, head girls' track and cross country coach at Palo Duro for
the last four seasons, said a foundation needs to be set early, and with
that foundation comes an understanding of what his role with his team is.
"I treat them like my own daughter, and my daughter is 15," said
Turner, who coached football and boys' track for 11 years at PD. "I've never had a
problem with that, and I've never had an athlete misperceive any aspect
of our relationship. I am a teacher and a coach. I think they understand
that."But that's not always the case.
A study by the Chronicle in 2001 identified 64 Texas high school or
middle school coaches who lost their jobs through termination, resignation or
reassignment as a result of alleged sexual misconduct involving
students or other minors between December 1996 and February 2001.
Among the 64 were six head football coaches, 12 head basketball coaches
and five head baseball coaches. Many coached girls, but not all.
In the Panhandle, at least three incidents have led to criminal charges
or sanctions. In April 2000, an assistant football and boys' basketball
coach at Wheeler pleaded no contest to indecency with a child and received
five years probation after a 17-year-old in Graham said the coach touched
her inappropriately when she was a child.
In May 2000, a former River Road boys' track coach resigned after being
accused of inappropriate touching by a female seventh-grader in a choir
class taught by the coach. At the time, he was charged with misdemeanor
assault by contact. He resigned.
In November 1998, a Pampa assistant football coach resigned after
allegations he made inappropriate remarks to a female student, sent her
inappropriate notes and touched her hip.
The latest involved a coach at Farwell, who resigned in August after
school officials became aware of allegations of contact with a 14-year-old
student. The student said contact continued after the resignation, becoming more
sexual in November and December before he was arrested in January.
Last month, a Parmer County jury convicted former Farwell basketball
coach Brian James Goldsmith of sexual assault and sentenced him to 10 years
probation.
"Some coaches have this aura of accessibility," said Tim Estes,
Amarillo High boys' and girls' swimming coach and a coach in the AISD for 30
years. "They put this out there that they can have contact with you. It's not
really a single thing they do or say, but it's something you can pick
up from them. It's a feeling you get from them more than anything. I guess
I never had that or put out those signals."
Cobb is one of four male wrestling coaches in the Amarillo ISD who also
coach the girls' programs. Coaching boys' wrestling is much of the time
hands-on teaching: demonstrating holds, escapes and takedowns. To coach
girls properly, much of that can't change.
"I won't say there wasn't a little apprehension when I took it on,"
Cobb said. "You can do it, but you can't be stupid about it. There's no way
that you cannot be hands-on with them. I can't lie. I prefer to demonstrate
with them. But in a wrestling room with a roomful of girls in a professional
situation, that's not been a problem."
If Plainview girls' basketball coach Danny Wrenn has a conference with
a player, he makes sure there's another coach with them. When Johnny Cobb
was handed girls' wrestling to add to his boys' program, he felt it
necessary to have a female assistant.
Greg Slover, Panhandle principal and former girls' basketball coach,
doesn't recall ever putting his arm around a girl - for a reason. Amarillo High
swimming coach Tim Estes said it was several years before he even
hugged one of his swimmers, and, now, he says, "it's sideways and real quick."
And as far as the locker room, either avoid going in, or send a female
in first to make sure the environment is safe. Those are just some of the
precautions taken by high school male coaches responsible for girls'
programs.
"The main thing," Estes said, "is to not let anybody have the
opportunity to even think that something improper is going on."
Slover's father, Cecil, was a principal, and his mother, Marie, a
homemaking teacher. He followed their career paths, and he said he was taught to
do what is necessary to stay out of compromising situations.
"They prepared me for stuff like that from the time I was old enough to
understand," said Slover, now boys' basketball coach as well as
principal.
"You do not put yourself into a situation that can compromise your
character. If there was a one-on-one meeting with a female player, I
might have an assistant coach or another third party at the meeting. It
didn't matter if it was male or female - I just needed another third party."
Estes has been a coach of boys and girls in the Amarillo Independent
School District for 30 years. The experience has taught him some dos and
don'ts. He said he almost never has one-on-one discussions with his girls, and if
he absolutely has to, it's no longer than 10 minutes. He does not make bed
checks on road trips by himself.
"I make sure somebody else is making the check with me," Estes said. "I
don't walk into the girls' room without knocking. If the girls come to
my room, I make sure someone else is in there with me. If there is an
injury that needs taken care of, the whole team is there."
When Cobb took over girls' wrestling at Tascosa, he was able to get
Donna Welch as an assistant even though she was a wrestling novice.
"She did not know anything about wrestling," Cobb said, "but has
developed into an excellent coach."
Cobb said the nature of coaching wrestling means he has to come into
physical contact with girls - as he always does with boys - to show
them holds, escapes or takedowns, but he has other methods as well.
"What I'll do a lot of times is have a male wrestler as an aide and use
him to demonstrate," Cobb said.
Wrenn has won consecutive 4A state basketball titles at Plainview. His
three assistants are female, which he said was not necessarily by design,
although he wanted at least one female assistant.
"Absolutely, I use them as a buffer (as a third party or entering the
locker room first)," Wrenn said. "I don't think it's mandatory for a man to
have a emale assistant, but you definitely need one. Our situation just
happens to be all of them."
What coaches said needs to be avoided most of all is an allegation of
"he-said vs. she-said," or the appearance of wrongdoing.
"I may not have shown girls enough affection, but I was guarded against
that," Slover said. "The whole deal there is perception. People in the
stands just see your arm around a player. They don't know what you're
saying. If you give the wrong perception in a small community, it
doesn't take but a hint for a guy to get into trouble."
Wrenn, who is single, can't recall a confidential conversation with a
player when it was just the two of them. Usually, it's just the three of them.
"It's just good policy to have somebody with me. If it was a situation
where one of my assistants wasn't there, I would try to get the boys' coach
there," he said. "You always need someone there to confirm your story."
Or as Slover says, "Being a male, you're at the mercy of females
because, whether it's true or not, exaggerated or not, to most people, you're
really guilty unless another person is there."
What about instances where a young girl may have a teen-age crush on a
coach and may send signals herself that's she interested in more than playing
off-guard?
"I have seen some girls have crushes on younger male coaches," Cobb
said. "It would be a fallacy to think that doesn't happen. I'm too old, but
I've seen that, yes. It's up to that coach to get that straightened out and
deal directly with it while remembering the girls are fighting adolescence
and immaturity and try not to hurt their feelings. But it's going to
happen."
Slover said sometimes a crush may exist by the position the coach
holds, and if it happens, it's important to remember who is the person in charge.
"The coach needs to stop it," Slover said. "He doesn't need to
encourage it by flattering himself.
"A lot of times, the girl is infatuated with the fact that the guy's a
coach, an authority figure. It's not the guy himself."
Wrenn said it's important to know your players, and know which ones are
prone to exaggerate. Also, not being some new guy in town seems to
help, he said.
"I've been here for quite a while now, so I go down and work with kids
in junior high. We already know each other, so that aspect seems to help,"
Wrenn said. "To me, this doesn't come down to the position, but the
people. Like anything, it's people who make poor decisions."
And there have been enough coaches make regrettable decisions that have
cost them a job, a teaching license, or landed them in prison or on
probation.
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Kahuku Athletes Shine in Spring Sports
Elder Bob and Sylvia Olsen 2002-05-09
Never PAU! The victories just keep on coming home for Red Raider wrestlers: Shanel Vivas grabbed third place with a pin at the High School World Co-ed Competition held in Reno, Nevada.
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“All of the final competitors at the 105 lb weight were boys, except Vivas,” explained coach Reggie Torres. “She is a tough competitor.”
“Wrestling isn’t just for boys anymore,” Vivas replied.
Kahuku’s Barry Asberry, 130 lbs, also garnered fifth in the world high school competition. “It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done, but it was a fun year,” he said.
“Barry deserves that victory. He works really hard. He is our boy’s team captain, and he has taken third twice for us in state matches. He’s a team leader. Taking that national fifth place is awesome,” said Torres.
Kahuku accumulated more wrest-ling honors as four girls were named All Americans and five won medals in the girls national championships held in Michigan. The girls, who gave up their spring break to represent Hawai’i at the national event, included: Justine Swafford, 100-lb. class; Shanel Vivas, 105 lb.; Kapua Torres, 110 lb.; Leilani Relator, 126 lb.; and Anela Iseke, 152 lb. Vivas, Torres, Relator and Iseke were named All-Americans.
Torres
“Hawai’i placed third of the 50 U.S. states. We took 24 girls from Hawai’i high school wrestling teams, eight of them from Kahuku ,” said coach Torres. “There are teams with more talent than ours, but our girls work harder. There is no quit in our team.
“It shows on the mat. They win matches you would never expect to win. I can’t emphasize enough how hard they work: They work, work, work. After winning our state championship they just continued, carrying it over to the nationals and world championships,” Torres told Kaleo.
“We had an awesome time in Michigan, but it was cold,” he added.
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Title IX, child center show women's gains ; Equality: Enacted 30 years ago,
the law has changed a lot of practices. The day care facility at Towson
University is a part of that change.
The Sun; Baltimore, Md.; Jun 9, 2002; Mike Bowler;
ALMOST 40 YEARS ago, I got a job teaching high school English and
American history, beginning the third week of the fall term.
I replaced a pregnant teacher who, just starting to "show," had to take
a leave of absence until after she gave birth. Banishing her would make
it less likely the students would imagine how the pregnancy occurred.
So much time has passed that I don't remember if I gave as much thought
to the absurdity of the policy as to my good luck. Probably not. But my
entry into public education has been on my mind this month in light of two
30-year anniversaries that, on the face of them, might not seem related.
One is the anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972,
which bars sex discrimination in schools and colleges that receive
federal funds.
The other is the 30th birthday of one of the oldest university child
care centers in the nation, the Student Day Care Center at Towson
University.
The center at what was then Towson State College was inspired by
students, which is why it has kept "student" in its name for three decades.
It's an unusual operation. More than half of its 60 slots for preschool
kids go to the children of Towson students, many of whom are "young and
broke," says Harriet Ruckle Douthirt, center director.
Towson alumni have second priority, followed only then by faculty and
staff.
"That's as it should be," says Douthirt, who's been at the helm for 27
years. "This is a place for students to work and observe, to make
career and life choices and to have a safe and nurturing place for their children
while they're in class."
Title IX and the Towson center both rose on the swell of the civil
rights movement of the 1960s.
In the case of the center, a student approached Barry Frieman, a
professor of early childhood education. "I'm not going to survive" as a parent
and university student simultaneously, she told the professor.
That set wheels to turning, says Douthirt, but it took a couple of
years to get day care for Towson students' kids up and running.
At about the same time, progressives such as Rep. Edith Green of Ohio
sought to remove roadblocks encountered by girls and women at almost every
turn of their schooling.
College students weren't supposed to get pregnant and have children. In
high school? Forget about it. Pregnant students were usually expelled.
And then there were the separate entrances for male and female
students, the quotas restricting women's access to law and medical schools, the
segregation of girls to home economics instead of industrial arts,
lower tenure rates for women on college faculties, lower pay in elementary
and secondary schools and the almost total absence of athletic scholarships
for women - to name a few sins on a long laundry list.
Thirty years later, Title IX has changed a lot of practices, but not as
many attitudes.
"It took a long time, but progress has been particularly evident in the
last 10 years, though we still have to deal with some of the old guard who
didn't grow up with Title IX," says Nance Reed, senior associate director of
athletics at Towson.
There are numerous scholarships for female athletes. There's a girls
high school wrestling league in Maryland, and the St. Mary's College of
Maryland women's sailing team recently finished third in the 2002
Inter-Collegiate Sailing Championships in Hawaii. Women on college and university
faculties have increased from 18 percent to nearly 35 percent. More college and
university presidents are women, including several in Maryland.
Yet, a report last week noted that, in Maryland, females make up 99
percent of high school students in cosmetology and 84 percent in child-care
courses.
According to the report, boys still dominate in classes that lead to
traditionally male careers with higher pay.
Deep-seated attitudes are hard to change. Gail Lynn Goldberg, a
Maryland consultant and authority on gender issues, says teachers still favor
boys in the classroom, and often ignore differences in learning styles between
boys and girls.
Katharine M. Oliver, who heads career and technology programs for the
State Department of Education, says she prefers to see the glass as half
full.
The gender split in what we used to call vocational education is 50-50,
says Oliver. And, she adds, more students of both genders are migrating to
courses leading to nontraditional careers, hairdressers
notwithstanding.
I've often wondered what happened to the teacher I replaced. If that
baby was a daughter, she'd be about 38 now and would have had Title IX
protection since the third grade.
If she studied at Towson while her children were tiny, I hope they were
enrolled in the Student Day Care Center.
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Title IX on TV
I was watching some of the women's NCAA Div I basketball tournament on ESPN2, where I saw two Nike commercials concerning gender equity.
The first one was when three professional women's basketball players show up at the local basketball court and challenge average men's teams to pickup games. And while "they didn't win all the games," they supposedly did win some games. And supposedly this proves that "athletes are athletes and basketball is basketball."
To be honest, I don't see this. In fact, what this proves is that the current level of professional women basketball players is that of an average pickup men's team. I was surprised that they didn't win all of the games. After all, it is their full-time profession. Imagine a world-class female marathoner entering the local 10K race and beating average men recreational runners; so what? This is to be expected.
The second commercial is the "if you let me play" commercial, in which the little schoolgirls are uttering statistical abuse to the viewer. For instance, one girl says that if you let me play sports, I will be 60 percent less likely to get breast cancer. This is the statistical fallacy of association is causation. Just because sports participants have a lower incidence of breast cancer than nonparticipants, it does not mean that the sports participation caused the decrease in cancer. This is probably just self-selection: healthier girls are more successful at sports and therefore participate longer or at greater rates.
If a marginal girl, who would not ordinarily choose to participate in sports, is encouraged to do so, her incidence of breast cancer does not magically drop 60% because of that participation. In fact, if more parents and coaches encourage more marginal girls to participate, you are adding individuals with higher cancer incidence into the participant group. As a result, you may decrease the difference of cancer rates between the participant and nonparticipant groups.
Other claims are also made, such as a lower incidence of teenage pregnancy, self-esteem, drugs, success in grades, etc.. Basically, the message is parents/coaches: make your girls play sports, and all of their teen problems will go away. Misleading. Not so.
Finally, there was an episode of "King of the Hill," in which a girl wrestler with more interest and ability was cut from the wrestling team in favor of the unathletic Bobby. To me, this represents the mythical scenario that is typically presented, in which talented women athletes have no opportunity.
In my experience, reality is just the opposite. Many HS women's teams are filled with girls who are more concerned with how they look than how they perform.
UPDATE: 14May98: Comment on the Women's Sports Foundation Report: Sport and Teen Preganacy: The study determined that girls who played sports are: -- Less than half as likely to get pregnnant as girls who didn't. -- More likely to begin sex later in adoolescence. -- More likely to have fewer partners. -- More likely to use contraceptives. Again, these are associations, but the sport activity did not necessarily cause the differences. Girls who are more interested in sports than sexual activity choose to play sports, so it is self-selection.