Op-Ed: The Title IX Factor
An op-ed, short for opposite editorial, is an opinion piece written by a non-employee of A.W.W., in this case a member of the wrestling community. The views expressed in op-eds we publish are not necessarily those of American Women’s Wrestling.
by guest writer Shannyn Gillespie
IG: @coachshannyntalks
Twitter: @coachshannyn
Intro
Are Title IX and the strength factor directly related to success, winning, & injuries when it comes to females wrestling males?
Yes.
That single question is a major factor based on girl wrestlers having large amounts of success when females wrestle males and when it relates to injuries in wrestling.
Because of Title IX, which will be discussed later, high school girls have had the most success wrestling boys in the lighter weight classes.
Two factors (really one) give most high school girls an advantage in the lighter weight classes: puberty & testosterone. In other words, typically in the lighter weight classes, many high school boys either have not started nor finished puberty — this impacts their speed & strength. Or, a select few high school girl wrestlers, when compared to the masses, have success wrestling against boys due to puberty & testosterone.
Why do combat sports have weight classes?
The Strength Factor
The single most important reason it is a mistake for girls to wrestle boys after puberty is the strength & speed factor (or higher risk of injury due to the strength factor). Wrestling is a combat sport similar to boxing, judo, & mma and also a weigh-in sport which the aforementioned are too.
What does this mean?
Weigh-in sports are weigh-in sports to equalize strength and/or to reduce the risk of injury. Or, to increase fairness, smaller 100-pound competitors do not compete against a bigger 150-pound competitors due to the higher risk of injury because on average, heavier competitors are stronger than lighter opponents. This fact is more pronounced and easier to explain in weightlifting sports that also have weight classes.
Why are there weight classes in weightlifting sports?
To be certain, the injury risk of competing in weightlifting sports is not the same as hand-to-hand combat sports that pit athletes against each other. Or, weightlifters are not striking or controlling or lifting or fighting another competitor. Weightlifters are lifting and competing against the bar & the weighted plates.
So how is this similar?
The strength factor is similar because a heavier competitor, on average, is stronger than a lighter competitor. And, to make the weightlifting competitions more fair & equal, 100-pound competitors compete against 100-pound competitors. Smaller 100-pound athletes do not compete against bigger 150-pound athletes in weightlifting competitions due to the heavier opponent or athlete being stronger because of more physical weight (size) or body mass.
This seems logical, right? So why belabor the point?
Enter Title IX, puberty, & girls wrestling boys...
Puberty
For centuries, it has been a well known scientific & physiological fact that boys attain or gain more testosterone than girls during puberty. This gain of testosterone, which gives males a strength & speed advantage over females, is the reason most (if not all) sports that require dynamic movements or strength separate the genders after puberty.
So why is wrestling different?
The author believes Title IX is part of the culprit.
Title IX in a Nutshell
Historically, Title IX was used as a law to include the masses, drop men’s programs like wrestling, & add women’s programs like rowing to big colleges & universities (why not add women’s wrestling?).
But was this utility of Title IX effective, warranted, or necessary?
The Title IX Education Act of 1972 (Hawaii was the first state to sanction high school girls wrestling in 1998) explained that no public education institution will receive anymore funding if said school discriminated on the basis of sex. What does that really mean? This means, when a school receives federal funding from the government or the Department of Education, they must show & prove they are giving equal opportunities for both genders in all educational endeavors i.e. the classroom, facilities, activities, athletics, etc.
So, schools might not have a girls’ wrestling team — but, they may provide that girl (or girls) the opportunity to compete against boys. These same schools could also provide female wrestling college teams or sanction female high school wrestling teams (like female: swimming, track & field, tennis, gymnastics, etc.) via their respective high school state organization, college, or university.
At this writing, 21 states have a sanctioned high school state championships for girls-only wrestling and 76 colleges & universities have a women's wrestling collegiate team that competes in national collegiate championships.
High School & College Wrestling
The author believes there are two major differences between high school girls wrestling and women's collegiate wrestling: gender specificity & freestyle wrestling. For the sake of this article, we will only touch on the gender specificity factor (click freestyle vs. folksyle debate for more info on that topic). Quickly, high school girls wrestle high school boys, generally, because the majority of member states of the National Federation of High Schools do not have sanctioned high school girls wrestling yet. Again, Title IX states that federally funded schools can not discriminate on the basis of sex — so girls must be given the opportunity to wrestle (against boys).
College women wrestlers compete against college women primarily because the NAIA, WCWA, & NCAA have sanctioned women to wrestle women. The Title IX law is still in play — but, it might be more of a litigious (lawsuit) moment if a woman was injured by a man in a wrestling competition. This high risk injury factor is also impacted, again, by puberty. Said another way, most if not all, males have finished puberty and show greater strength & speed differences compared to women in college. This is why men compete against men in college and women compete against women in college...
Does the same principle of strength & speed apply itself in high school?
Yes & no…
The Short Answer
Strength & speed is a major factor in all sports & athletics and this is why sports & athletics are separated by gender after puberty.
The Long Answer
A few girls have had success when wrestling against boys (other sports too, i.e. Billie Jean King) and these few are the exceptions or anomalies instead of the rule; see third paragraph link above for evidence.
Title IX plays a huge role in giving females the opportunity to wrestle and wrestling will grow by leaps & bounds when more states sanction high school girls wrestling and more colleges add women’s wrestling teams. If either continues to happen, more parents will introduce their young daughters to our great sport.
Also because of Title IX, we run the risk of scarring many parents and young girls away from our sport if states continue to force females to wrestle males.
Ask yourself these questions:
Is your daughter (or any daughter) going to get a scholarship to wrestle for any men’s collegiate wrestling team?
Do other combat sports have young men competing against young women?
Do other sports have young men competing against young women?
Will wrestling grow if we sanction less high school girls-only wrestling state championships?
Will wrestling grow if we add less women’s collegiate wrestling teams?
Is it worth it for a girl to have chronic injuries from wrestling stronger boys?
The USOEC Experience
Sixteen years ago, the author coached at the U.S. Olympic Education Center and learned first hand how girls wrestling boys in high school impacted long term or chronic injuries in young women wrestlers.
Many of the best young women wrestlers at the USOEC had chronic neck, back, shoulder, hip, & knee injuries. The hip & knee injuries usually were sustained from long slow distance running — so, we eliminated long slow runs from our training and generally only ran sprints on soft surfaces like indoor tracks, artificial turf, or grass. Also, we eliminated wrestling stronger young men daily and added a strength program (weightlifting).
Some of those chronic back & shoulder injuries required surgery. This is unfortunate but goes with the territory. Or, when girls wrestle boys in high school for a career, they are more prone to chronic type of overuse joint injuries.
Are these injuries still happening now for high school girls who wrestle boys daily in training?
Yes.
Title IX gave & gives girl wrestlers way more opportunity in wrestling — and it unfortunately is also a reason many girls sustain injuries wrestling against boys in high school (it also is a major reason many young girls will never even try wrestling).
Solutions
Both college & high school administrators could revisit the way they are interpreting or enforcing Title IX plus sanction more girls-only high school state tournaments and add more women’s wrestling collegiate programs.
High school parents could speak directly to their principals & athletic directors to ensure the fairness & safety of girl wrestlers by requiring girls-only competitions & sanctioned girls-only wrestling state tournaments.
High school coaches could schedule girls-only competitions right alongside the traditional dual, quad, or tournaments. This additional “team” or division might replace many of the boy’s wrestling participants we have lost this last decade — boys wrestling participation numbers have declined about 30,000 since 2010.
Final Thoughts
While Title IX is a great idea for increasing female opportunities, it is similar to other laws that require attention to logic, application, & enforcement to be fully maximized.
The addition of female wrestling programs — sanctioned high school state championships & recognized national collegiate championships— will increase the safety of the sport and at the same time grow the sport.
It is the responsibility of us all to prudently, safely, & maximally include all in academics, activities, & athletics in the US educational institutions.