darkside

Girl Pins Boy in High School Wrestling

Matches from this era show a wide variety of results, some very positive and some very negative. In this example from my home state of California from the 2000’s, the boy’s frustration is evident for the entire match and he pushes his girl opponent likely out of hostility because he is unable to even get close to take a shot. Some may argue that he already knows his opponent is stronger and a better wrestler than he is, so he is only prolonging the inevitable. He will lose this match and there is no way to escape it…

The Dark Side of Girls Wrestling

On our very first tournament, we were coached by two of our friends on the boy’s JV team. It felt like we weren’t important enough to even have a coach in our corner. The next week we were asked to clean the boy’s mats because the “girls had to do it.” I had no problem doing so, but it felt wrong. We couldn’t even have a practice without being looked at disgustingly and we had to help clean. I wanted to quit so bad because I didn’t feel welcomed. Just fighting to be on the team, was mentally and emotionally draining.