A girl wanted to wrestle, but high school opted to take forfeits at her weight class instead
A high school athletic department in Washington, D.C., was willing to take forfeits all season rather than allow a female student to compete on the wrestling team.
The female student, who was not named in the Washington Post story to protect her privacy, joined the team during preseason weightlifting sessions and attended around 90% of the workouts over the initial month. Michael Sprague, the St. John's College High School program's coach since November 2019, didn't see an issue.
But the administration did, according to the Post's feature story by Shane Connuck.
President Jeffrey Mancabelli and athletic director Dennis Hart told Sprague coed participation could cause issues in other school sports and it might negatively impact the program's ability "to recruit alpha males," per Sprague's notes cited in the Post.
The kicker: She would have competed at 106 pounds, the same weight class that St. John's had to forfeit all season because it didn't have a wrestler to compete.
Sprague pushes for female wrestler's inclusion
Sprague, 25, told the Post he "made it my mission to do everything I could to get [the decision] changed."
He wrote a letter to the president and athletic director asking them to reconsider and cited the school's values of diversity and inclusion. He spoke with the head of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WACA) and the director of the the D.C. wrestling championships, confirming with them girls were allowed to wrestle in-conference and the postseasons.
“In 2021, it seems incredibly short sighted to deny one of our SJC students to compete in the co-ed sport of wrestling simply because of their gender,” Sprague wrote in the last paragraph of the letter, via the Post. “That is not the type of program that I want to represent and be a part of. As far as I am concerned, any SJC student in good academic standing, that is willing to show up to our practices, learn, and work hard is accepted and considered a valuable member of the St. John’s College High School’s wrestling team.”
Sprague, a two-time NCAA qualifier at American University, researched times St. John's competed against programs with girls on the team, including against Helen Maroulis. She went on to become the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Rio Games. And he worked with Sally Roberts, a decorated Team USA star who started the organization Wrestle Like a Girl.
HS admin denies girl sports opportunity
The three had a conversation that Sprague told the Post was mostly the administration telling him they'd already made up their minds.
Sprague said the administrators conveyed that St. John’s already had a disadvantage in vying for top boys’ athletes against other D.C.-area schools such as DeMatha and Gonzaga because St. John’s is a coed school. Sprague considered that a “confusing and ridiculous claim” and said the wrestlers on his team do not feel this way.
The president and athletic director declined to comment to the Post, but the school confirmed the athletic director makes final decisions about team size, gender, class eligibility and other composition issues.
Title IX when there is not equal offerings
The school's claim that allowing coed participation in wrestling might cause issues in other sports is true to a certain extent, but it's not a negative. Students can already join sports if there is no specific offering for them.
Title IX, which turns 50 years old in June, promises equal access for all students and protects them against discrimination on the basis of sex. It applies largely to public educational institutions, but can apply to private schools if they accept "federal financial assistance" in any way. And beyond legalese, schools should want to provide equal opportunities to all of their students.
It is because of Title IX that girls participation in sport has skyrocketed since its passing in 1972 and there are equal offerings for sports such as basketball and soccer. Those are distinguished by "boys basketball" and "girls basketball." But sports such as wrestling, football or volleyball are not labeled in the same way because there is no equal offering. So if a girl wants to wrestle, she can join what is largely viewed as the "boys" team. And if a boy wants to play volleyball, he can join what is largely viewed as the "girls" team.
Wrestling might be one of the best sports for coed participation because it is divided by weight class and features one-on-one competition. Had St. John's allowed her to participate, she would have hit the mat against opponents around her size and would not have had to rely on teammates to be involved. And as Sprague noted, she committed to practices and gaining the skills to be on the team. As it is, wrestling teams often take forfeits in certain weight classes — often lower ones — because of small school sizes.
Girls wrestling teams grow
The claim it might negatively impact the ability to recruit "alpha males" is nonsensical and raises questions about the kind of culture they're fostering in the first place. There are many instances over the years of girls joining wrestling teams only to have male opponents forfeit. "Don't lose to a girl!" is inexplicably thrown around by coaches from the youth mats to high school levels.
Thankfully in certain areas of the country, girl-specific programs are sprouting up to properly support the increased interest by girls in wrestling.
The high school association in the state of Colorado held its first state girls wrestling championships in 2019. New York's association is working toward making it an "emerging" sport status en route to a sanctioned event. Sections within the state have already started an all-girls championship to give students opportunities.
And that all but forces change higher up the rungs. Colleges are beginning to add female-only teams and last fall Iowa announced it will begin competing in the 2023-24 season, making it the first Power Five school to add the sport. A high school girls state championship is coming to Iowa next year. And wrestlers at the Olympic level have prompted interest since 2004. Take Tamyra Mensah-Stock's exciting gold in Tokyo.
The St. John's administration suggested the wrestler start a club team that after operating "successfully" for three years could "become eligible" for varsity status. Sure, it's a leadership opportunity. But should it fall on a high schooler to recruit peers and start a program in order to simply play a sport she shows interest in when there's one already there?
