Women in wrestling

Hitting “like a girl” doesn’t necessary have a negative connotation that it once did-especially when a group of Northgate girls are training just as hard as the boys in a traditionally male dominated sport like wrestling.

The number of girls in wrestling has dramatically increased in recent years, especially at Northgate. One rainy afternoon in January, the female wrestlers were stretching, running laps indoors, and training hard with the others.

Noe Passmore, a freshman on the 37-member wrestling team and new to the sport, said that it’s different than other sports in which she has participated. She has observed the strengths and weaknesses she has as a girl in the sport.

“An advantage is being smaller. A disadvantage is that we aren’t built the same. But the guys on the team are very welcoming and give us tips,” Passmore explained.

The increasing representation of girls is very apparent on Northgate’s team. With seven active girls on the team this year, interest has grown and what was previously believed has changed. So far, the wrestling team is training hard and has had two tournaments this season.

Most people previously thought that wrestling was strictly a man sport, but the National Wrestling Coaches Association states that since 1994, the number of females who wrestle in high school has grown from 804 to over 11,496.

Passmore explained what kind of hard work she has to endure mentally.

“You need a lot of focus and you need to be one step ahead of the game, like chess,” she said. “You have to be just as good as the guys and have a good attitude and stay positive.”

On the other hand, Passmore conditions to stay in shape in order to dominate her competition.

“We do a lot of sprawling,” she said. “You need hand control so you don’t get pinned and there are a lot of rules too. We run a lot for endurance, do rolls, crabwalks, sprawls, tripod stand ups, and cartwheels.”

Britney Chen, also a freshman and new addition to the team, said that it can at times be difficult to be a woman in a mostly male sport.

“Lots of people look at the girls differently and expect less of you. On the plus side, it keeps you motivated,” said Chen.

While there are disadvantages to being a girl in the sport, Chen explained that there are more advantages.

“We show people that it’s okay to be a girl, they don’t look down at us, and hanging out with the team is a lot of fun,” shared Chen. She puts in as much work as the team does, which is an extremely hard workout.

“The conditioning involved in wrestling is really intense,” Chen stated.

Chen enjoys that it is, “one big team. We all work together and practice. But at tournaments, we are individually wrestling.”

Team captain Ian Morford also shared his thoughts about the addition of girls to this sport.

“It’s good to see wrestling expand to more people,” said Morford, a four-year varsity and all-state champion. Although he has never competed against a girl, Morford has drilled against one and told us he approached it no differently than he would a guy. Girls in wrestling can easily be just as good as boys, Morford said.

“There can be people that are stronger than you, but if you technically know what to do then you’re in a much better position,” he said. “So focusing on technique would be how they can improve and get to the point where they can start beating a lot of good guys.”

Morford explained that there are no official rules for who the girls’ opponents are, but the coaches and organizers try to have girls face each other as much as possible. If there are no other girls to face, girls will most likely face off with boys.

Head varsity coach Mike Wenzell has coached at Northgate since 2008. He explained that he has previously worked with some pretty experienced girls, so he knows what works well and what doesn’t, what girls have to do in wrestling, and how to play on their strengths.

“I don’t see any disadvantages [of being a girl in wrestling]. The girls practice with the guys and the practice is beneficial for both,” Wenzell said.

Wenzell has noticed the increase in female participation in wrestling over the last five or six years.

“There are more and more opportunities for girls to compete. At one tournament in Pittsburg, there were 195 girls wrestling,” Wenzell noted.

Collectively, Northgate is proud of the outstanding stats the wrestling team has.

“So far, we’ve been doing really well. In the three tournaments we’ve participated in, we’ve gotten two first places and one second place, in tournaments with 12 to 40 other teams.”

Rising stars on the team include Evan Carter, Cormick Hamilton, Harry Cursi, Gage Mettler, and Sofia Skaric.