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Girl gets her chance on the mat
NATASHIA GREGOIRE of The Tampa Tribune
12/21/99 -- 11:49 AM
TAMPA - Robin Stafford, one of small number of female wrestlers, is raising eyebrows and interest as the only female wrestler at Armwood.
Armwood senior Robin Stafford doesn't liked to be asked dumb questions.
She's a girl and she wrestles on an all-male team. So what?
She's not the only one.
Stafford is one of a handful of women taking on male opponents this season.
``It's not a big deal,'' she said. ``It's just something that I wanted to do.''
It may not be a big deal to Stafford, but Armwood coach Don Hill couldn't be more proud. He produced a highlight tape, showcasing Stafford's talent. He recounts all of her matches in vivid detail.
Stafford has brought a new flavor to Armwood wrestling. The band major-turned-wrestler brings a host of curious onlookers to the gym on match night.
``The kids come out just to see her,`` Hill said. ``It's a shame she's a senior. She's got a heart this big.``
Stafford didn't know much about wrestling before she decided to join the team this season. She wasn't looking to make any statements or gain any great life experiences. She just wanted to wrestle.
And opponents who consider her an easy pin leave the mat surprised.
Just like her teammates, male contenders quickly learn to respect the 103-pounder.
``The guys think, `She's a girl, she'll be easy to pin,' but they have to wrestle hard to beat me,'' Stafford said.
She hasn't won any of her matches. Friday night at Leto, her match was forfeited. But in her last two meets she's gone three periods against her opponents, refusing to be pinned.
Hill recalls the day Stafford decided to join the team.
``After the first match, the guys saw how much effort she put forth and they embraced her,'' Hill said.
Stafford is grateful for the help and support she's received from her teammates.
``They've really helped me,'' she said. ``If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't know as much.''
Riverview coach William Sargable knows about Stafford.
He, too, has a female wrestler on his team. But unlike Hill, Sargable has reservations about women in wrestling.
``As a coach I encourage females to be athletic, but as a dad, I have problems with it.''
Sargable cites posture, the physical nature of the sport and adolescent hormones as potential problems for male and female wrestlers facing each other on the mat.
``The bodies are not designed for that kind of contact,'' Sargable said.
``The male posture gives female wrestlers a distinct disadvantage. Wrestling is a very physical sport with a lot of grappling and close contact. I don't think it's appropriate for guys and girls to be put in these situations,`` Sargable said.
Despite his personal views, Sargable said Riverview's junior varsity wrestler, Bridgette Davis, has his full support.
``She does a terrific job. I encourage her 100 percent,`` Sargable said.
Davis hasn't wrestled any opponents this season, due to forfeits.
Stafford was pleased to learn she had more female company in the sport when she saw another female wrestler on Leto's squad at their meet on Friday.
Robinson coach Tom Adams has had experience with female wrestlers and has mixed feelings about their participation in the sport.
``They scare me,`` Adams said.
``The boys get embarrassed when when they have to wrestle a girl and they're devastated if they [girls] beat them. I'm scared that the boys will try to hurt them,'' Adams said.
Adams said he's seen some dynamite female wrestlers and believes they make great athletes at the smaller weight classes.
Before accepting female wrestlers on the team, Adams says he talks with parents and the wrestler about what to expect.
``I'm concerned about them,'' Adams said. ``I feel like a big brother when it comes to my female wrestlers.''
But Armwood's Hill is not worried. He said he would accept any number of girls on his team in a hurry.
``I told Robin, `As long as you can protect yourself, I have no problems with it,' '' Hill said.
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Sam Houston wrestler has surprised coach, teammates with her progress
By Rick Mauch
Special to the Star-Telegram
ARLINGTON -- Laquienta Crenshaw of Sam Houston decided to try out for sports this year, but the senior ran into some tough choices.
She thought about basketball and volleyball, but decided against both, and she didn't want to be on the swim team.
"I didn't want to mess my hair up, so swimming was definitely out," Crenshaw said with a grin. "I wanted a rougher sport. I wanted to play football in junior high, but that didn't happen."
So she decided to give wrestling a chance. Now, the only question on wrestling coach Roy Shultz's mind is, "What took her so long to come out?"
Crenshaw has won eight of 10 matches this season, wrestling between 128 and 138 pounds. Her only two losses have been to teammate Brenda Malott, a defending state champion, and one of those was a close decision at the Tri-State tournament two weeks ago in Lake Highlands.
"I got Brenda to the mat, but I didn't know I was being pinned," Crenshaw said of the first match with Malott. "I just laid there trying to figure out what to do next and the next thing I know, I'm pinned. I knew better the second time."
Crenshaw has won two tournaments, including last weekend's Bryan Invitational. She came from five points down in the championship match to win at 138 pounds.
Crenshaw's nickname is Squeaky, because when she was little her mother used to call her "Pipsqueak," she said. On the wrestling mat, though, her opponents say there's nothing timid about her.
"She pushes me," the undefeated Malott said. "My hardest match of the season has been against her. She beats me up in practice. She's a great workout."
And Crenshaw came from out of nowhere. She knew absolutely nothing about wrestling until this season.
"I'd wrestled my brothers, playing around, and that's all," Crenshaw said of her experience. "But this is a natural thing and it's fun. It's fun to learn new moves."
And Shultz said Crenshaw is learning fast.
"She's learned a lot in a short amount of time," Shultz said. "If Crenshaw had been wrestling the last four years, she'd have national attention.
"If she wants to wrestle in college, she could."
Crenshaw would like to wrestle in college, she said. But first, there are some things she would like to accomplish in high school.
"I'd like to not get beat by anybody else," Crenshaw said. "I know that sounds like a lot, but I don't like losing. I'd also like to win district and go as far as I can in the postseason."
Shultz said he thinks that could be the state tournament.
"She has a natural athletic ability. She's tough mentally," Shultz said. "She still makes a lot of mistakes, but she's so strong and quick that she recovers well.
"I think there's a chance she could compete for a state championship. I know she certainly puts us back in the title hunt as a team."
Shultz said he was uncertain about Crenshaw's talent until he saw her in the Southern Assault tournament at Martin on Nov. 11-12. Then, he knew what he had to do.
"After the Martin tournament, I knew I had to get her in the lineup some way," Shultz said. "She simply has too much talent not to wrestle her somewhere in the lineup."
Crenshaw said her mother has yet to see her wrestle, though, because she works two jobs. She said she has her mother's full support, however.
"I told mom I was going to wrestle this season and she told me, `You go girl,' " Crenshaw said with a laugh. "It would mean a lot to me if she could make it out to one of my matches. She likes it that I wrestle because she can see that it makes me happy."
It's also making Shultz and the Sam Houston faithful happy.
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Coed wrestling club works to be recognized as RSO
By Jason Eiseman
Collegian Staff
Women who wish to wrestle are welcome to join the new wrestling club featuring coed wrestling, as student athletes work to have the club recognized as a Registered Student Organization (RSO).
Freshman biology major Olivia Cabrera, was inspired to create the wrestling club after she was not allowed to participate in an intramural wrestling tournament at Boyden Gym. There were no other girls wrestling and after weighing her in tournament officials would not allow her to wrestle with the men.
Cabrera wrestled her junior and senior year in high school.
"The coach was all for it. I think the coach was more enthusiastic than I was," Cabrera said.
She said wasn't trying to make a statement; she did it for the love of the sport.
"I wasn't out there to prove anything, I was just out there to wrestle," Cabrera said.
According to Cabrera, an opposing coach was not in favor of her wrestling against his team. However, after wrestling against one of his players, she earned respect.
"It's a fun sport, it teaches a lot," Cabrera said. "I think the interest is there. I don't think we're going to have a problem. People on campus wanted it, we're fulfilling what they want."
Frank Stryker, who is working with Cabrera to get the club started, thinks wrestling puts extra pressure on women who try to join a team.
Stryker encourages all women to join the club.
"It's harder for a girl, because a guy just tries to be more physical with a girl. But a girl can get bragging rights," Stryker said.
If a women is a good technical wrestler she has a good chance of beating a wrestler who tries to overpower her, he said.
Wrestling with other women involved in the club will be a new experience for Cabrera, who has only wrestled men.
However, getting their idea onto the mats is not cut and dry. In fact, the process of becoming an RSO can be a difficult one, as Cabrera and Stryker are finding out.
Heather Makes, a senior biology major, and the Secretary of the Registry of RSOs, said an application must be filed with the Student Government Association (SGA). If the SGA rejects an application, students can work on their application until it is approved.
Makes has the final word on whether an organization becomes an RSO; to approve an application, organizations submit mandatory information.
First, a list of members (all undergraduates) must be filed.
Makes said RSOs are allowed to have graduates and faculty as advisors, but those advisors are not allowed to vote and make executive decisions.
The club must also submit an organizational paragraph, which should describe the structure of the organization with its officers and their duties.
Next, organizations must submit a list of future goals and, finally, must submit a constitution.
The constitution forms the frame of the groups: dictates the name of the RSO, the structure and duty of its officers, how to make amendments and other issues which may effect the stability of the organization.
Once the RSO has the approval of both the SGA and Makes, it may petition to receive funding from the money raised from student activity fees. RSOs may also collect membership dues, instead of petitioning for money.
"If they can get the paperwork together, I'm all for it," Makes said of the wrestling club.
According to Makes, wrestling club members originally wanted to have a separate men's and women's club, but she persuaded the two groups to form one RSO.
Cabrera said they have formed a member list of about 40 names, and have to finish application procedures before they can become an official RSO.
"I think it would be one of the more prosperous clubs," Stryker said. "If you like wrestling, it's really pretty."
"We have the people, we have the talent, we're just trying to get the mat time," Cabrera said.
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Sport wrestles with health problems
NATASHIA GREGOIRE of The Tampa Tribune
12/14/99 -- 5:59 PM
TAMPA - Hillsborough County wrestlers and coaches are taking measures to battle excessive weight loss and skin disease.
King wrestling coach Will Eichler knows first-hand the many health issues that concern wrestlers and coaches.
From starvation and sweating in plastic bags to ringworm and cauliflower ears, Eichler has seen it all.
As a prep athlete, Eichler did what he thought was necessary to wrestle at certain weight classes.
``I starved myself, I ran in bags to sweat off weight,'' Eichler said. ``But I don't coach that. As a health teacher I don't approve.``
Because of the competition level in certain classes, wrestlers have been known to fluctuate weight during the season, some going to unhealthy lengths.
``It's something that generation after generation of wrestlers feel they have to do,'' Eichler said.
And it's something other wrestling coaches in Hillsborough County are familiar with.
``I've seen a kid go from 215 to 175 in one season,'' Plant City coach Mark Ackett said. ``Some kids end up hurting themselves.''
The coaches agree that being a team watchdog is a large part of their job.
``It's very important to have a coach who knows his team and knows their body weight,'' Durant coach Paul Burke said. ``A good coach can see his players and know whether they're healthy.''
Armwood coach Don Hill said he doesn't make weight recommendations and that takes some of the pressure off.
``I'll find a place to put you, no matter how much you weigh,'' Hill said.
Coaches also have received help from the Florida High School Activities Association. New rules prohibit wrestlers from using saunas, sweating in bags or dropping large amounts of weight during the season. An athlete must wrestle at least half of his regular-season matches at the same weight he wrestles at district matches.
``The state has done a good job of cutting down on a lot of guys who drop three classes,'' Ackett said.
But weight isn't the only health issue wrestlers face. Skin diseases such as ringworm have caused problems.
``It's a physical body-to-body sport with lots of sweating and cuts, so we try our best to keep everything clean,'' Burke said. ``When you have 40 sweating bodies, it's tough.''
Ringworm easily can be spread to other team members during practice, so coaches often let players see a doctor before returning to the mat. It becomes a choice between losing a good wrestler for a week or two or losing an entire team.
``I let them sit out before they wrestle five, six or seven guys and before it [infection] runs through the whole team,'' Burke said.
Eichler said his team has been fortunate; only two wrestlers in the last three years have had skin problems. He said disinfecting mats daily is key to preventing infections.
Compared to other more physical sports, wrestling is fairly safe, Ackett said.
``There are not as many blown-out knees. There are injuries, but it's not a real dangerous sport. The hardest part is to make sure everything is cleaned and that the kids stay healthy,'' Ackett said.
Athlete of the week: Tampa Prep guard Kyle Dalton is this week's Tampa Tribune/ WFLA-Channel 8 Athlete of the Week. The freshman scored 35 points in the Terrapins' girls basketball victory against Community School of Naples on Saturday. Chart
Problems and solutions
Most common injuries in high school wrestling:
-- Sprains: 29 percent
-- Strains: 22.5 percent
-- General Trauma: 19.9 percent
-- Skin disorders: 11.4 percent
(One in four high school wrestling teams is projected to be affected by some kind of skin condition, ringworm being the most common.)
Most common skin disorders transmitted through high school wrestlers:
-- Ringworm: 83.8 percent
-- Impetigo: 6.8 percent
-- Dermatitis: 3.4 percent
-- Skin infection: 3.4 percent
-- Herpes Zoster: 1.7 percent
Sanitation guidelines to prevent the transfer of skin conditions through wrestling:
-- Clean wrestling mats two to three hours before each practice.
-- Wipe all weight training equipment upholstery after each use, with decontamination spray.
-- Wear clean workout gear with each practice.
-- Do not share towels after showering or otherwise.
-- Report any unusual skin lesions to the coach.
-- Cover infected areas on the skin with a bioclusive dressing taped into place.
Source: Results of a three-year study performed by the National Athletics Trainers Association
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Tuesday, Dec. 21, 1999
OK to hit a girl?
Increase of females in high school contact sports brings problems, rewards
By Karen Thomas, USA TODAY
Nicole Stock, 13, once had her hockey gear shoved into a toilet.
Rebecca Perlmutter remembers hearing a high school wrestling coach cry out, "Don't get beat by a girl!"
After three years, Sandra Pontuso can't convince her mom to come to her football games. "She promises she'll come next year, when I play varsity."
Today's pioneering girls are stepping out into the sports arenas that long have been dominated by males. Full-body contact games are no longer a boys-only club, and players, parents and coaches are faced with a new set of problems as the sexes mix it up in the crashing, bashing, tackling, hit-somebody pastime traditionally known as boys' play.
The number of girls wrestling and playing hockey is skyrocketing, both in school programs and in community organizations. And while the number of female players on high school football teams is leveling off, more girls are reaching higher competitive levels and younger girls are getting involved with the game.
Final games are being played nationwide in the NFL's first season of its restructured youth program for 6-to-12-year-olds. Partly in response to the rising number of young girls who want to play football (about 40% of the 5 million kids in NFL youth programs nationwide are female) parents wanted a tamer sport, according to NFL research. So they took the tackle out this year.
But not everyone agrees that creating gentler, kinder versions of these dangerous sports is the way to incorporate the rising number of girls. The hockey world is in hot debate about whether co-ed competition should stop at age 12 or 13, as boys grow bigger and stronger. The wrestling community is scurrying to develop women-only clubs for the growing masses of females who eagerly take to the mat with an often-surprised male opponent.
"It's not like we're out there and getting completely mutilated or injured," says Perlmutter, 16, who has three female teammates on the Gunn High wrestling team in Palo Alto, Calif.
Co-ed play is the choice of Glenview (Ill.) Stars' goalie Stock, a four-year veteran of ice hockey, who says she's improving her skills because boys have harder shots.
Right now, official stances in these sports leave the decision to continue co-ed competition to the player. Experts say close attention during puberty is the key to making that decision.
"It matters a lot whether you are 150 pounds or 95. It's a simple law of physics, not gender," says Lisa Callahan, medical director at New York's Women's Sports Medicine Center. "There are girls and women who can play professional football, but there are girls and women who shouldn't be out there with someone who will potentially harm them."
She advocates upper-body weight training for females involved in co-ed contact sports to level the playing field.
Steve Stock, Nicole's dad, is keeping a close eye on the maturing boys who compete against his 100-pound daughter. She could "get killed," he fears.
"At the same time, I've got my 5-foot daughter playing goalie, and she was the game MVP the day she turned 13. We can't arbitrarily say, 'You're a girl. You're 13. You can't compete at this level anymore.'"
Stock's teammate, Gwen Coleman, plays a defensive position, which leaves her open to more physical pounding. "A lot of people think at (the 12-14 age bracket) a lot of girls get hurt. But what I've seen is if a girl gets hurt, it was from a cheap shot," Coleman says.
Wrestler proud of accomplishments
Currently in her third season wrestling for Gunn High in Palo Alto, Calif., Rebecca Perlmutter, 16, considers herself the "ultimate in femininity" and once won a modeling contest. In her first season wrestling, she pinned an opponent, and it is one of her most treasured memories. Here, she gives her insights:
By Rebecca Perlmutter
Special to USA TODAY
Grunts, groans and the sound of pain fill the air. It is humid and sticky and I am tired. Three more minutes of excruciating pain left and every second oozes by like honey dripping from a jar.
Finally the whistle blows and as I leave the hot, sweaty room, I begin to shake off my fatigue. Soon I am walking to the natural rhythm of my body.
It is these moments after practice that keep me doing what I do. It keeps me a wrestler.
Yes, I am female. Yes, I participate in a sport dominated by men.
Since freshman year, I have wrestled . When I signed up, I was terrified. I did it because it was the opposite of what was expected of me -- the scrawny girl who barely tipped the scales at 100 pounds in ninth grade. After all, I was the quiet girl in class, the one the teachers always liked. I was the one who hated PE with a passion and whose last team effort was T-ball .
I barely had anything resembling muscle on me when I started and now I am able to flex my arms proudly. I am no longer accused of being anorexic by ignorant schoolmates. I smile and am proud.
I may not be the superstar on the team.
But I am always there, pushing myself to do better.
I now feel more able to take chances.
I no longer rely on the opinions of others to lead my life and make my decisions.
I am a wrestler
Rough times
Coleman says what drives girls out of the co-ed leagues are "boys who get so nasty to you. You're a target, and they head for you."
But she believes it's the parents, not the youngsters, who drive that mentality.
Stock has heard the "horror stories" at the older levels when "coaches tell them to go out and take the dirty shot at the girl."
Educating coaches is something Dale Pleimann, director at the Missouri State High School Activities Association, does every August, when athletic directors deal with girls who want to go out for football and wrestling.
Some parents and coaches complain that putting girls on a traditionally all-boys team creates a distraction and creates more work. Male players need to be taught new attitudes, and the girls need to be trained to tie shoes and wear equipment that the boys have grown up with.
"Many coaches aren't willing to take the time," says Mike Duroe, national developmental coach at USA Wrestling.
United effort
Perlmutter says despite her friends' warnings, her teammates have "befriended and applauded" her. When one school's principal and parents refused to allow their boys to compete against the girls, her entire team stepped out of the tournament. "If they were going to be so closed-minded, then they didn't deserve to be in our gym," she says. "We are all a unified front. We are a team."
It's the same for Pontuso at Blue Hills Regional High in Canton, Mass. Pontuso says her teammates share with her one of her fondest football memories: her first tackle. "It was freshman year, and it felt really good. My team was really, really proud of me. I can't even describe it, but it was the best moment!"
That attitude will help change the atmosphere of co-ed competition. "It's not going away," Pleimann says.
Says Duroe: "I understand that boys are apprehensive to grab hold of a girl; the more the coaches indicate it's OK, the more it will happen."
There is no heavy padding in wrestling uniforms to disguise drastically different physiques, and Duroe says many coaches fear sexual harassment suits.
But Duroe assures them there are no such cases on record with USA Wrestling.
"Boys are quite uncomfortable dealing with the chest, both the hesitation and the risk. You can't overlook it, but I don't spend a lot of time overfocusing on it either," says Jim Thrall, the coach of Perlmutter's wrestling team.
Her teammate, Danny Knight, says he isn't hesitant. "You can't go easy on the girl assuming that you're better than her. That's not fair," he says, before adding: "In all honesty, if the girl was real beautiful, it might be harder to slam her on the ground."
It's not the slamming that had Perlmutter's dad taken aback. It was watching boys lying on top of his daughter. "He had a sense of humor about it, but he said there was a part of him that wanted to rip that boy off her body," says Sally Hayman, Perlmutter's mom.
Rewarding experience
Many coaches say training girls has its rewarding upside: They're more focused and determined than the boys and push themselves harder in practice.
Stock's first coach chose her early in the team-forming process. "He said, 'Any girl that's out there to play hockey, it's because she wants to play, not because Daddy and Mommy want her to play,'" Stock says.
And while female athletes long to be considered a "player" in their chosen sport instead of the "girl player," they still want to keep in touch with their gender, says Lori Schmid, vice president of The Female Athlete, a catalogue and Web site that provides gear designed to fit the female figure.
While football and wrestling aren't yet featured, ice hockey ranks among the company's fastest growing lines. "We find the girls like to be feminine as well."
That femininity also requires a mind-change when it comes to locker rooms. Newer sports facilities are making accommodations for co-ed teams. But for now, most girls find themselves searching for places to dress for games.
Pontuso changes into her gear with the cheerleaders.
Coleman and Stock once changed in a chicken-wire closet behind a roll of artificial turf, with the opposing team within earshot behind a thin wall.
A thin wall with a gaping gash. "We'd plug the hole with a sock, they'd pull out the sock. They were so obnoxious," Coleman snipes, before adding sadly: "It threw us off our game."
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Milan girl sets sights on berth in state meet at 112
Tuesday, December 21, 1999
By BILL CZAJA, RICH REZLER and KEVIN RYAN
NEWS SPORTS REPORTERS
Girls competing on prep wrestling teams have often been noticed strictly because of their gender. Several might gain notice because of their records this season.
Katrina Betts of Milan, a Division III regional qualifer at 112 pounds last season, has been wrestling since age 6, said her father, Milan coach Mike Betts. The junior has won six national women's titles and made a trip to the World Championships two years ago.
Her career - and life - were threatened by a back injury suffered in a car wreck seven months ago.
"She's still a little nervous about her back, because she's trying really hard to get to the state finals at 112," Mike Betts said. "(Doctors) believed what really saved her was her athletic ability and the strength that she had from wrestling."
The elder Betts is a veteran girls' coach. His Wolverine Wrestling youth program has produced 135-pounder Rosaria DeCola and 140-pounder Rosaria DeCola, both of Huron. The former DeCola won the 132-pound women's national title earlier this year.
"I think things are really going to happen for women's wrestling and I really think coaches should get involved with it, because it's the only way our sport is going to keep growing," Betts said. "It's a good sport for everyone."