I sat in the Rockefeller Library yesterday for six hours, and instead of working on three papers that are due next week, I spent most of the time browsing the Internet. While perusing ESPN.com trying to decide whether I should start Chester Taylor or Kevin Jones on my fantasy football team this week, I came across an interesting article about high school football.
The story was about New York Jets offensive lineman Nick Mangold's younger sister, who is following in her brother's footsteps. Obviously, she's far from an NFL prospect, but she is a 5-foot 9-inch, 310-pound offensive lineman.
According to the article, she made history this season when she became the first woman to see action in an Ohio Division III football game. Prior to this year, she started as a guard on the school's freshman team. She told ESPN's Greg Garber that she hopes to earn an athletic scholarship to the Ohio State University to throw the shot-put.
The night before reading the article, I watched CNN's Larry King interview Katie Hnida, the first female to play in a Division I college football game. She kicked two extra points for the University of New Mexico in a 72-8 victory over Texas State University-San Marcos in 2003. In a new book about her experiences as a female athlete in a male-dominated sport, Hnida details the trying experiences she endured at her original school, the University of Colorado. Hnida alleges that she was raped by one of her team members while playing for the Buffaloes.
Both of these stories reminded me of a Nov. 16 Herald article on Michael Burch, an assistant wrestling coach who is locked in a legal battle with the regents of the University of California system ("Wrestling assistant Burch grapples with UC-Davis over Title IX"). According to a Nov. 21 press release from the American Association of University Women, an organization that is helping fund his lawsuit, Burch's case will go to trial next week.
Burch told The Herald there are thousands of women competing in contact sports across the country. California has its own wrestling league for women and holds female-only tournaments. According to a 2004 article on PBS.org, Texas has the most female wrestlers of any state with 1,500. Not to mention that female wrestling is now an Olympic sport in which the United States brought home silver and bronze medals from the 2004 Athens games.
The facts support Burch's claim that more and more women are getting involved in contact sports at the collegiate level. There are relatively few collegiate programs in America, but where they exist they seem to have strong support from the local community and their institutions.
Canada is the leader in women's wrestling. The majority of the best collegiate programs are north of the border: 14 of the top 20 teams in the North American Women's College Rankings hail from Canada.
Mike Jones is the head wrestling coach for both the men's and women's teams at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Jones wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that Simon Fraser, TheMat.com's top-ranked female program last year, first had female wrestlers in 1990.
"I did not think it would catch on mostly because I was always seeing it as women and men in the same competition," Jones wrote. "Once I actually viewed it, I instantly changed my mind and more importantly so did a number of junior high school and high school teacher/coaches in the area. From that point on, and again for some financial reasons, we never provincially or nationally offered a tournament without a women's division."
Later, Jones said the Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the country's governing body for collegiate athletics, officially recognized the sport.
"The biggest problem with the proliferation of the sport in (America) is a reluctance of coaches and administrations to endorse the sport," Jones wrote. "They recognize or believe that most administrations are not willing to offer additional resources, and thus to promote the sport they would in affect (sic) be cutting their men's programs. There is some truth to this feeling."
It is interesting to note, however, that at Missouri Valley College, one of the top programs in America, the women's squad has funding equal to the men's team, according to Head Coach Carl Murphree. He said his budget is around $60,000 and that the team usually drives everywhere by van so it can compete more frequently. The Vikings list 36 girls on their roster and finished third in a Canadian tournament last month.
Burch said he would be interested in starting a program at Brown if given the opportunity. He added that he could have a women's program established here in two to three years.
"I could definitely recruit women wrestlers to Brown," Burch said. "Brown is ... in a great position to be a Title IX leader in this instance."
Title IX, which was passed in 1972, requires universities receiving federal funding to provide equal opportunities for men and women. Starting a women's wrestling program at Brown would make it easier for the school to fulfill these equal funding requirements. This would provide additional roster spots for smaller male programs, such as water polo or swimming.
"I have always thought that it would be a great way to meet some of the goals of Title IX," Jones wrote. "(Women's wrestling) is not a NCAA sport at the moment, but as long as universities treated it like a varsity sport it would meet all compliance requirements."
Director of Athletics Michael Goldberger said he would be open to the idea of having women on the wrestling team, though he said it has never been a topic of discussion so he has no official position on the matter. He also said any suggestions involving women on the wrestling team might be vetoed by a University compliance officer.
Adding a women's program would also be in keeping with Brown's history of promoting female athletics. The University was one of the first schools to field a women's ice hockey team and crew, and two of its three endowed coaching chairs are held by women - Women's Basketball Head Coach Jean Marie Burr and Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Craig Lake.
It may not happen next year - or even in five years - but it is clear that female participation in contact sports is on the rise. It would benefit Brown to lead, rather than follow, this trend.
