What are your thoughts about this situation
- Thread starter fanpujols5
- Start date
That is dumb rule to have in place for starters. But despite that, any coach who would recruit female wrestlers to exploit the rule needs to adjust his moral compass.
thats a sad situation but the newspaper reporter who wrote the story isnt prone to presenting the real story. The recruiting for the Catholic school has really hurt the local teams so yes there is a lot of animosity...being that its new to this area. and a first year team with all of that firepower is being met with some resistance but the public school who is involved with this situation....was one of the better recruiters in the area before the catholic school ever started their program and the formation of the program was in direct response to the public school having used a CO OP program to funnel catholic school wrestlers onto their team. I dont give much value to this reporters one sided style.
You are kind of slanting this story yourself. The wrestlers at Bishop McCort have been attending Bishop McCort their entire career. They were wrestling at Westmont-Hilltop under a PIAA cooperative because McCort did not have a wrestling team. Last year, McCort wanted to start their own wrestling team, but Westmont-Hilltop blocked it (the cooperative had been approved for a 2-year cycle) because they did not want to lose the wrestlers (that were already attending McCort), so McCort had to wait an extra year.
In the spring McCort hired a pretty good coach who will recruit well and now everyone in the area is worried about losing their kids to McCort. Everybody is worried about McCort athletics in general.
So basically you have a HS coach who is p'o'd about losing kids that didn't attend his school anyway who is aware of the archdiocese position on wrestling girls and recruited 12 girls to put on his roster for this one match. They won't wrestle another match this season, if they wrestle or practice at all.
I've got no skin in the game, the high school I'm associated with is on the eastern side of the state, but I'm aware of the details as both schools have communicated with us about our tournament in the past two years. But it's pretty clear that the reporter has hit the nail on the head with this one.
I didn't read anywhere in the article that the coach indicated he planned on exploiting the rule or had exploted the rule before. The reporter centered an entire article around a made up story line.
I think this is about right. Hard to be outraged over something that is not only stupid but self-inflicted.
Interesting that the church put that rule in. My daughter wrestled for a catholic high school. If the coach employs this tactic it is a pretty sad event. The entire 'gaming' of lineups is silly. To move kids around to get forfeits and avoid matches is horrible. Kids don't enjoy or get better walking out and raising their hand. I don't have as much of an issue with trying to get better matchups because matches will still occur.
I don't understand why a team would want to win that way. This robs kids on both sides of the opportunity to get better.
So you're of a mind that the Westmont coach suddenly got involved in the female wrestling movement? Let's revisit this at the end of the year and see how the 12 female wrestlers fare this year (if they fare at all) and if they are wrestling and practicing, you'll have a point. Not likely.
It's unfortunate that the PIAA doesn't recognize and support female wrestling. More unfortunate that the Altoona-Johnstown archdiocese has taken this stance. Philadelphia had a similar stance that the rescinded in the postseason last year so the Philly catholic schools were able to have their wrestlers compete against females (and were able to advance to regionals).
I'd support this if it was to further the cause of female wrestling as a statement or if Westmont-Hilltop was legitimately trying to develop twelve female wrestlers. I find either unlikely.
I may have mssed where there interest is sudden. It doesn't take 12 ffs to win the dual. If those girls' only purpose is this dual then with 14 hs weights it would at most take 7 of them but likely less than that. No need for 12 of em.
It's a story if that tactic is used or if someone in the public school's program suggests it may be used. It may be a story tonight... or not.
Agree that at this point its a non-story since it hasn't happened. and may not happen.
If the girls are the best at their weight for their team, that's not their problem or their coaches problem, that's the problem of the Catholic school that refuses to wrestle them.
If the girls aren't any good and are just inserted to secure the team win, then I would say that is unethical (not against the rules, but not something I would want my coach doing if I was the AD or a parent).
I coached HS wrestling, I always wanted to win. But I also wanted to do things the right way and to me, this would not be the right way.
If the girls are the best at their weight for their team, that's not their problem or their coaches problem, that's the problem of the Catholic school that refuses to wrestle them.
If the girls aren't any good and are just inserted to secure the team win, then I would say that is unethical (not against the rules, but not something I would want my coach doing if I was the AD or a parent).
I coached HS wrestling, I always wanted to win. But I also wanted to do things the right way and to me, this would not be the right way.
I disagree that it's not a story yet. The team had zero girls on the squad at the beginning of the season, and just before a match against a Catholic school they add 12 girls. Clearly this isn't coincidence. The coach either intends to use those girls strategically in order to take advantage of the rule, or he's trying to get into their heads. Either way it's a story, and a pretty good one at that.
In a similar vein, in the PIAA District 3 dual playoffs a coach employed a similar strategy against Bishop McDevitt (I think) a couple of years ago. Had two girls on his JV squad and presented them for the last two matches when his team was losing by less than 12. McDevitt had to forfeit the last two matches and lost the match. The coach was either suspended or removed from coaching by his high school - I forget which.
This was my point..it never said that WESTMONT had used the girls to win...or even SAID he planned on doing so. It just led you to believe that was what was occurring. I also thought it was quite IRONIC that the Catholic schools were allowed to recruit and do what they needed to build their team to win...YET the same catholic schools had to abide by the rule that WAS IN FACT PUT IN PLACE BY THEIR OWN DIOCESE. so when the public school had females on the team...... it may cause the Catholic team to lose and somehow....this would be the fault of the public schools????? I dont have a dog in this fight but as a local who has watched this evolve...what some so called "experts" see as whats good for wrestling ....isnt always whats best for the kids. I CANT WAIT for you to see how some of these parents act...or even try to get along...there arent enough backs around for these folks to stick knives into. I guess we all wait and watch the newest juggernaut in wrestling flourish as Knopsnider provides us with his keen cutting edge reporting style and insight.
I hoped we would get to a point where girls would have their own team and this problem would resolve itself. I respect the choice not to allow boys to wrestle girls. For me it's not an equality issue it's a respect issue. Boys aren't allowed to dive in girls diving teams and we don't have boys diving in Iowa. Kind of ironic how the system leans toward sensationalism.
Am I the only one who thinks that coach is a genius?
If the supposition of the story is true, I am appalled. As someone who works for the growth of girls wrestling, I am disheartened by a practice that cheapens the efforts of the girls legitimately committed to following the path of Adeline Grey and Helen Maroulis.
Pure coincidence that 12 girls joined the roster. For not having a dog in the fight you seem pretty opinionated about it.
I do NOT have a dog in the fight...ALTHOUGH i see this same reporter CONSTANTLY stir up trouble and report only 1 sided facts...I am local and see how he operates. the match was cancelled last night due to inclement weather......in reality...The Catholic school contacted the Big Guy in the sky and he caused the temps to drop so we could push the whole issue aside until a later date....whew!!! Thank God
Hopefully the 12 girls continue to practice hard and get some matches in. Do you see the girls getting some jv matches at least?
There were several girls on the high school team (freestyle rules) in Japan, two starters at 101 and 115. The 101lber gave us lots of points for forfeits due to the other team not filling the weight, but she also took her lumps hard when she had to wrestle. She is back on the team this year despite never winning a competed match and never making it to the second period. We also had a 180lber. She started at over 200lbs and lost more than 25lbs just from the regular activity. I would prefer boys wrestling boys and girls wrestling girls, but nonetheless I am very proud of them!
Freestyle can be less brutish than folkstyle and has the mercy of TFs ending matches very quickly for over matched opponents. I also prefer girls and boys wrestling their own gender but am ok if a girl wants to wrestle and her only option is the boys team... at the lighter weights. No way I allow my daughter to compete against 180 lb young men.
Thankfully the 180lber wasn't varsity so she was able to compete against girls (except in practice of course).
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