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Girls Who Want to Join the Team Find a Welcome Mat
A pair of Bethesda-Chevy Chase sophomores, Judy Bokingo, in black, and Patty Romaine are among the five girls on the team this year. "It's not a big deal anymore," said Kent Bailo, the director of the United States Girls' Wrestling Association. But some coaches have doubts about having girls on the boys' team.
(Photos By Toni L. Sandys -- The Washington Post)
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The issue for most girls who wrestle used to be fitting in on a daily basis, but that has become easier with time. Girls taking forfeits because a coach or boy was afraid of the embarrassment of losing to a girl was common even three years ago. Now it's almost unheard of. Lewd comments are rare, and headhunting to drive a girl off the mat isn't tolerated.
"For a long time, they were looked down upon. I don't see that anymore," said Robinson Coach Bryan Hazard. "Now they see they want to be part of a team. As long as the girl comes in and doesn't ask for any favors, if they don't expect anything and just train as hard as the other guys, that's when they get their respect."
Most girls report that their friends' jaws still drop when they hear that the girls are wrestling, but the wrestlers themselves are some of the more understanding ones. "I feel like I've gained 30 brothers," Treadway said.
That kinship is starting at younger ages, with many girls competing in youth leagues. The earlier they start to wrestle with boys, the more familiarity boys and girls have with each other in competition. And with girls gaining more experience, some are winning at the lower levels. And that, as Treadway found, is the best way to get respect.
"We don't even kid them anymore about losing to a girl," Sherwood Coach Scott Beattie said. "We tell them, 'You better go beat her, because she wants to beat you.' "
Beattie has a wrestling scrapbook that includes a newspaper article from Feb. 6, 1976. It was about a girl named Madeline Moose, who "marked the beginning of change in the Capital Area Junior Wrestling League."
That was the first female wrestler he could ever remember.
"Now it's commonplace, it's accepted," he said with a nostalgic grin. "It's kind of done."
