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ESPN Article on Iowa wrestler defaulting to girl at state!


Kleveland11

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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/highschool/news/story?id=6131909

 

Wow... very interesting and relevant given Indiana's recent SS qualifiers.

 

Moderator - pls move if in wrong forum / already posted.

 

 

 

Once our MS principal wanted to make this our policy, I told him I was no longer interested in continuing with the program. At least this kid made his own decision and it was not an administrator that wanted to make the decision.

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DES MOINES, Iowa -- An Iowa high school wrestler who was among the favorites to win his weight class has defaulted on his first-round state tournament match rather than face a girl.

 

Joel Northup, a home-schooled sophomore who was 35-4 wrestling for Linn-Mar High this season, said in a statement Thursday that he doesn't feel it would be right for him to wrestle Cedar Falls freshman Cassy Herkelman.

 

Herkelman and fellow 112-pounder Ottumwa sophomore Megan Black made history this year by being the first girls to qualify for the tournament. Black was pinned quickly in her opening match.

 

Northup said in a statement that he has "tremendous" respect for the girls' accomplishments, but doesn't feel it's appropriate for boys to engage girls in a combat sport.

 

 

 

I pulled this article off of ESPN Today.  All I can say is wow!  Thoughts?

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Wow... very interesting and relevant given Indiana's recent SS qualifiers.

 

 

Also, very interesting that Joel Northup is a home-schooled sophomore wrestling for Linn-Mar High School. Another recently developing hot topic in Indiana.

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It's funny cause as a soceity we don't care about someone until they are a winner.  Nobody cared about girls wrestling boys until they started winning then everyone started raising concerns. 

 

Even on the college level, nobody had a problem with a wrestling a person with one arm or leg.  Until the wrestler with one arm or leg "Robles" starts winning. 

 

I don't know how I feel about girls wrestling because I don't have a daughter.

 

If the wrestler was raised a certain way and didn't feel that wrestling a girl was appropriate then so be it.  But what did his parents teach him about forfeiting?  I disagree with him forfeiting, but then again I wasn't home schooled so I dunno. 

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My son had to wrestle 1 girl in his career.  After that my wife said he will never do that again.

He has sense forfeited a few matches.  I am not sure what we would do if this would happen at

at State.  All I know is that it makes us extremely uncomfortable.  With that said I would never

take away a girls right to compete.  It is our problem not theirs.

 

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Every wrestler knows the risk of the sport... I completely disagree with his decision and find it offensive as a former wrestle... He said he had respect for the two girls for putting in the work to get there, but I believe it was equally disrespectful to simply default the match away to her... At least thats how I feel about it

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Every wrestler knows the risk of the sport... I completely disagree with his decision and find it offensive as a former wrestle... He said he had respect for the two girls for putting in the work to get there, but I believe it was equally disrespectful to simply default the match away to her... At least thats how I feel about it

 

If this is a religious choice then there should be no offense taken to it. I know of a few people that forfeited matchs to girls because it was a religious choice.

 

On another note girls can wrestle boys but they should be treated the same. I only wrestled one girl in my career and I treated her like any other wrestler I walked on the mat with. I wrestled her as hard as I would of anyone, and her father actually thanked me after the match for truly wrestling her.

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I think we live in america that gives people the right to do what they wish. That includes both the girl and the boy. The girl has a right to wrestle boys until there is a separate division for the ladies. The boy has a right to forfeit if it is against his principles. However, there are consequences for our right to choose to wrestle or not wrestle. For the girl she may get felt up in ways that some may consider wrong whether it be intentional or unintentional. For the boy, it may mean not placing as high as he hoped.

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This is a young man that I would be happy to have dating/marrying my daughter (at least if the rest of his decisions are as mature and noble as this one).

 

Everything in my competitive body says, "Wrestle her like you would anyone else, and drop a few hard cross-faces on the bridge of her nose for good measure!"

 

But my mind knows this is garbage. I was born with the ability to reason, and so I can tell that there is a difference between girls and boys. Young ladies should be treated like young ladies, whether they act like it or not -- not just because it is best for them, but because it is best for the young man also.

 

This should never have been permitted, and it is a testament to our decline and confusion as a society that it is.  

 

 

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Someplace in the northwest US a few years back there was a state champ or state finalists from the previous year that did almost the exact same thing.  His next year he had a girl the first round of state and forfeited the match knowing he would have to wrestleback for placement instead of having a shot at a state title.

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Wasn't there are Female state champion last year or the year before....Yes I know it was Alaska, but given time Indiana will have our first female state champion. The girls are either catching up with the boys or the boys are getting lazy. We did have two female semi-state qualifiers this year, it's only a matter of time before one gets to conseco.

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So if I really enjoy volleyball could I play on the girls team since there is no guys volleyball in our area? I think this sexist thing only works one way.

 

On another note I have no problem with a young man keeping his principles above a state title.

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I would consider myself a man of faith, and I have many very conservative family members.  But I still somehow don't understand the 'religious' aspect.  What from Christianity or Mormonism or whatever he might be practicing says that he shouldn't wrestle a girl?  I'm not asking about the 'proper way of things.'  I get the chivalry and gender roles angle.  I'm asking for some concrete explanation from someone who agrees with this young man's decision from strictly a religious perspective.  Is it the thought that touching a girl could lead to lust?  Is it the thought that there could be improper touching?  I'm not at all trying to be sarcastic or degrading--I honestly am trying to understand this perspective.

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Wasn't there are Female state champion last year or the year before....Yes I know it was Alaska, but given time Indiana will have our first female state champion. The girls are either catching up with the boys or the boys are getting lazy. We did have two female semi-state qualifiers this year, it's only a matter of time before one gets to conseco.

 

Michaela Hutchison was a runner up as a Freshman, State champ as a Sophomore, 4th as a Junior, and 5th as a senior for Skyview High School. She made history in 2009 as the first female to wrestle a varsity college match against a male. even more so historically, she is the first female to ever win a college varsity match when she won a Major Decision against Tyler Kinslow of Bacone, 13-4. I am lucky to know the family, wrestling her brother, and watching her brothers and cousins win state titles , and even got to watch her wrestle when I was stationed in Alaska. She nearly set the Alaska Single Season pin record the year she won state.

 

just this past December, Hope Steffensen, a sophomore at Homer High School in Homer, AK won the  103 Lb State championship, beating the top seed who had pinned her in 1:59 earlier in the season, 2-0 in Over time

 

And as far as it "being Alaska", the state has come a long way. there are several Alaskans wrestling in college, with quite a few all americans the last few years.  

 

 

A

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And as far as it "being Alaska", the state has come a long way. there are several Alaskans wrestling in college, with quite a few all americans the last few years. 

 

I don't have any stats to back it up but when I first really started following college wrestling about 12 years ago it seemed like there were a number of Alaskans competing at high levels in the NCAA.

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The IHSAA ruled along time ago that boys can't play volleyball

 

I have always understood that the reason for this is the fact that men's and women's volleyball are played with different rules and specifications, unlike the sport of wrestling. I am not sure if they use this as a technicality or not, but I do know there are a bunch of men's volleyball teams across the state.

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I have always understood that the reason for this is the fact that men's and women's volleyball are played with different rules and specifications, unlike the sport of wrestling. I am not sure if they use this as a technicality or not, but I do know there are a bunch of men's volleyball teams across the state.

 

Same situation and same explanation about boys participating in gymnastics.

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