Girls wrestling is not only here to stay but it continues to grow as the young women made a great showing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
According to nbcolympics.com, “The United States’ first-ever gold medal in women’s wrestling belongs to Helen Maroulis. Maroulis knocked off Saori Yoshida, the three-time reigning gold medalist, in the final to claim the Olympic title in women’s 53kg freestyle wrestling.”
That was a great accomplishment by Helen and no doubt she is an inspiration to girls at all scholastic levels.
To place girl’s wrestling in perspective, here is a report by Max Preps back in 2010. “In its 2010-11 release, the NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey stats revealed there were 273,732 boys competing in wrestling, an increase of 842 wrestlers from the previous year (0.3 percent increase). Girl high school wrestlers grew to 7,351 athletes, an increase of 1,217 wrestlers from the previous year (a 19.8 percent increase).
Five states hold high school-sanctioned championships: Washington, Hawaii, California, Texas, and Massachusetts. The best high school girls wrestlers come from Texas and California. This year, Pennsylvania, one of the country’s top wrestling states, held its first USA Wrestling-sanctioned all-girls state championship. The event attracted 178 female wrestlers from middle school and high school the weekend of March 11 at Susquehanna Township High School (Harrisburg, Pa.), hosted by the Pennsylvania Amateur Wrestling Federation.”[adToAppearHere]
Now we move up the timeline and view the information at SoCalWrestlerGirl.com which updates, “Once again the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations) has released the results of its annual sports participation survey. And, once again, girls wrestling has great growth in its participation numbers over the previous academic year. With 13,496 participating wrestlers this year, girls wrestling had a 17.4% increase as compared to last season’s 11,496.”
Please look at the numbers. In 2016, the girls wrestling participation has risen to 13,496 compared to 7,351 in 2010-2011.
The Minnesota girls wrestling group has the right idea. At fox9.com we find, “Minnesota/USA wrestling is bringing a new meaning to the term “You fight like a girl.” The organization hosts an all-girls practice every week at Augsburg College to grow interest in the sport for girls around the state.[adToAppearHere]
The group is hoping to expand the sport, especially at the high school level. Many of the girls wrestle against boys in prep competition, and a main goal for the organization is to bring girls’ wrestling to high schools across Minnesota.”
The future of girl’s high school wrestling looks very bright.
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OPENING waroftheroseswrestling.com photo credit
Sources: brainyquote.com, Wikipedia, fciwomenswrestling2.com, FCI Elite Competitor, photos thank you Wikimedia Commons.
http://www.fox9.com/sports/100306733-story
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/helen-maroulis-wins-historic-wrestling-gold-team-usa
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