Wrestle Like a Girl

Wrestling is one of the most popular sports in Montana, but it isn’t the most gender inclusive. “People say, ‘Oh well that’s not important - they’re fine wrestling the boys’ - cause I’ve heard all of that,” said former Conrad superintendent Sharyl Allen. “I said okay, well if that’s the case, then why don’t we then allow boys to play girls volleyball? And the answer I got is because the boys hit the ball harder than girls, and they might get hurt.” For girls like Kara and McKenna Jones, wrestling boys not only is tough physically, but mentally as well. Often they are told girls don’t belong in wrestling, or they’re not good enough to compete. “It kinda makes me feel like, it’s like awkward but at the same time kinda like, not very kind to say,” said Kara, a young wrestler in Conrad. “When they talk to me like, ‘You’re a girl, so you’re probably very easy,’ and ‘You’re gonna lose in five seconds,’ or something like that,” added her older sister, McKenna. You see, wrestling is technically a boys sport in the Treasure State, at least at the high school level. So if girls want to compete, they have to wrestle against the guys. As you can imagine, it can be overwhelming for everyone. “I think some of the challenges girls face besides the initial fit in, besides the physical differences and stuff they deal with is just having that home and feeling welcomed, first of all, and having old coaches like myself understand that times change,” said Argos head men’s wrestling coach Steve Komac. But - that might not be the case in the future . “An ad-hoc committee was formed by our board, to look into adding girls wrestling,” said MHSA board executive Mark Beckman. “But it had to go through the procedures that are in place through our MHSA handbook. They then came back with a recommendation to our Executive Board to actually add girls wrestling. So they will put up a proposal to the annual meeting for them to vote on. And then the schools will determine whether they want to add girls wrestling or not.” “It’s been interested as different superintendants have shared their story, they talk about ‘We would have girls wrestling if they didn’t have to wrestle boys, and when they find they have to wrestle boys, we have zero.’ So they’re talking about how they think girls wrestling may help keep the sport alive and well,” added Allen. So the big question - would adding girls wrestling be beneficial? Let’s look at the numbers: According to the National Wrestling Coaches Association, “the number of girls who wrestle at the high school level has grown from 804 in 1994 to a whopping 16 thousand, five hundred 62 last year.” Additionally, 15 states now offer girls high school wrestling - and 46 colleges and universities also offer it. “We hold a youth state tournament in the spring every year here in Great Falls, and last year we had a very high number of girls - we had over 100-some young youth girls wrestlers, so I think that shows that in the young grades, more girls are wrestling,” said Komac Daniel Jones, a youth wrestling instructor in Conrad notes another big reason the sport is growing. “In the past five years, there’s been a lot more participation, and I know one of the reasons is just the University of Providence,” said Jones. “Them adding a girls wrestling team is a real-world example that there is an opportunity to continue and get scholarships and be able to travel the world.” Second-year head women’s wrestling coach Carlene Sluberski said she just wantd to make sure all girls have a chance to compete. “I really hope it’s presenting an opportunity so girls can figure out there is women’s wrestling in college, and maybe they don’t want to stay here, they want to go somewhere else - at least they know there’s a place where they can go. I really want girls to experience wrestling in college and competing,” said Argos Head Women’s Wrestling Coach Carlene Sluberski. Like anything new, adding the sport will be challenging at first, especially for girls like Cascade sophomore Lily Grismer, who’s spent her entire life on the mats with the boys. “I think it’s really benefited me a lot. I went to the Montana open recently and I took first place in the girls bracket cause I’ve been wrestling boys my whole life, so I’m just naturally used to getting pounded on constantly and I think it’s just made me a lot better in the past years,” Grismer said. “It’s gonna be kind a weird cause I don’t wrestle many girls, and it’s weird wrestling a girl, but it would be good for anyone really - I mean, guys would probably like it, too.” “I think it’s opponents, whether schools maybe not starting up with a girls program right away, so in that area, they might not have had as many female opponents as some other areas may, and so it may take a year or two to grow those numbers, but I think once that happens, then like in the other states, it’s gone very well,” added Beckman. There are a few other factors the MHSA Executive Board is weighing. One of those involves the Ridgeway case, which was passed back in may of 1982 to ensure there is an equal opportunity for boys and girls to play high school sports, very similar to Title IX for college athletics. That being said, some schools will look into adding boys power lifting the offset the addition of girls wrestling. The Board will meet again in January to vote on the addition, and if passed, you could see girls wrestling as early as the 2020 season.