Is there a place for girls in Tennessee high school wrestling?
“Let them play volleyball,” said one coach among 32 who responded to a survey by the Times Free Press.
“Field hockey would be more suitable,” wrote another.
For the first time in history, girls had a championship at Tennessee’s state wrestling duals this year.
“Girls’ wrestling creates opportunities for kids. If it is in our power to do so, then we ought to do it,” said Soddy-Daisy coach Steve Henry, whose team won that first girls’ state title.
Henry says many of his peers are scared of the concept and the social ramifications.
“They haven’t talked to me about it. Some of them are afraid of it,” he said. “With some, it’s the girl issue, but girls are no different.”
Four coaches didn’t answer the question about girls’ wrestling, and another seven said they were unsure. Fifteen said they favored it; six were against.
“I hope I don’t ever have to coach them,” said Father Ryan’s Pat Simpson, one of the state’s coaching veterans. “I guess I wouldn’t have as big a problem if was girls vs. girls. A girl vs. a guy, there’s too much contact. Sometimes in wrestling you grab what you can grab. I’m not against their right to wrestle, but there need to be certain parameters.”
Most coaches agreed with Simpson.
“I’m all for girls against girls, not girls against guys. Everybody kind of cringes,” Chattanooga Christian coach Doc Redd said. “If a girl beats a guy, the guy is humiliated. People who understand wrestling know that a girl with seven years of experience is likely to beat a guy in his first year. But when you wrestle, you have to grab people in places that aren’t socially acceptable in a girl-vs.-guy situation.”
Emily Gessler wrestled for the Tullahoma boys’ team this year at 125 pounds. She is part of a wrestling family; brothers Max, Jason and Jerrod have been to the state tournament. Her father is the middle school coach. She is a good student and a quality athlete, having attained all A’s and one B (by a point, she said) this year and having earned letters last year for softball, soccer, track, cross country, gymnastics, cheerleading and wrestling.
“I enjoy wrestling. I have wrestled since the sixth grade,” she said. “I feel like I get a better workout with the guys. If wrestling girls I probably have a chance to get further. Guys tend to be a little stronger, but I don’t want to be made to wrestle just against girls.”
She ignores the touching and grasping that goes with the sport.
“It’s something I don’t really pay attention to when I wrestle,” she said.
Another coach addressed the differences in strength beyond the age of 10 or 11.
Some coaches had reservations because of practice time. Others said they’d be for it if a female assistant or trainer were there for practices and meets.
Science Hill is moving ahead. The Johnson City school already has approved a girls’ wrestling coaching supplement for next year.
Several coaches felt girls’ wrestling might help with Title IX issues, and others mentioned a chance to broaden the sport’s fan base.
“We need it,” said Sale Creek coach Danny Gilbert, who has been involved in wrestling since he was a state champion at East Ridge in the 1970s. “Girls will do well in wrestling because of their work ethic and their intensity.”
Another of the veteran leaders, Bradley Central’s Steve Logsdon, is against it.
“Major sticking points are availability of facilities, qualified coaches and potential lawsuits,” he said. “There are probably hundreds of guys across the state that would love to play volleyball, but it is classified girls only. Why the double standard?”
If they have it, some coaches would like to see separate seasons similar to girls’ soccer in the fall and boys’ soccer in the spring. The likely standard may be to start the girls’ season a month later but have tournaments at the same time.
Like Gessler, Soddy-Daisy’s Brooke Hensley is a good athlete and student. She plays soccer and runs track and wrestled for the state championship team.
“I get a thrill when I play soccer, but I have never felt anything like it when I wrestle,” the sophomore said. “I love the adrenaline. Wrestling gets you going. I’ll be wrestling till I graduate, because I love it.”
She never tired of practice, either, but the Lady Trojans practiced for about a month to get ready for the state duals.
“I love practice. It was fun,” Hensley said. “You practice new moves, do bikes for conditioning. It’s pretty easy stuff.”
Her coach is one of those most familiar with girls’ wrestling.
“Girls are like sponges. They soak it up,” Henry said. “The thing that is so refreshing is that they don’t stall. It’s 100 percent from the first whistle to the last.”
He also found a whole new fan base that dates back to the first girls’ wrestling fundraiser in the early 1990s when Soddy-Daisy girls wrestled girls from Red Bank.
“It is one of our biggest fundraisers. Excluding concessions, that one match probably brings in $2,000 per year,” Henry said. “You see aunts and uncles and grandparents who had never seen a high school wrestling meet. It is more than a novelty, and people realize it after seeing a girls’ meet.”
The future of girls’ wrestling is in coaches’ hands, said TSSAA executive director Ronnie Carter.
“I saw the girls wrestle at the state duals and I was impressed,” Carter said. “It’s not just some silly thing. It’s important to them. I happened to be walking down the hall, and over in one corner one of the girls was crying. It hurts them when they lose just like the boys.
“Where it goes is pretty much up to our schools. It’s up to the coaches, but I can visualize a girls’ individual tournament running in conjunction with the boys. That isn’t a major step — probably 10 weight classes, although you might only have four in each weight class to start.
“We have to be attuned to the fact that girls’ wrestling is part of the summer programs. We want to see what’s happening and determine if the demand is there.”
