Girl Wrestlers: Kicking Butts and Breaking Hearts

Cassy Herkelman is my hero. Heroine. Whatever. She’s the athlete I most admire at this particular point in time. Why? Several reasons, actually. She is one of the first girls to ever qualify for the Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament. This, in itself, is a huge accomplishment. It is very difficult to make it to state wrestling and even more so if you are female. Female wrestlers can be quite competitive until they reach puberty (Josie certainly was), using their flexibility and coordination to their advantage. It’s when they start “developing” that they generally lose their competitive edge. When the hips start rounding, the center of gravity shifts, making it much more difficult to maintain the balance necessary to be a dominating wrestler. So, for Cassy to have this much success as a high schooler is an admirable feat in and of itself.

Cassy was also the first girl to win a match at the state tournament. She handled this unusual win with grace and class. Unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere, you probably know that Cassy’s win came because her male opponent Joel Northrup refused to wrestle a girl and defaulted the match. The fifteen-year-old boy wrestles for Linn-Mar (where I did my student teaching), but is actually homeschooled. He said that he refused to wrestle Cassy—or any other girl for that matter—because the Bible told him so. “There’s no specific scripture or verse in the Bible that condemns wrestling girls,“ Joel told “Fox & Friends” co-anchors Steve Doocy and Gretchen Carlson. “It’s more of a Biblical principle of treating the opposite gender with respect… I don’t think wrestling should be a coed sport because of all the compromising holds and everything.”

There is so much there to argue against it is hard to know where to start. First of all, how is refusing to wrestle an opponent treating them with respect? Treating them with chauvinism is more like it. Secondly, if a girl chooses to wrestle—she knows what goes into it—including some of the—shall we say—uncomfortable holds and positions that happen during a typical match. If she can deal with it, I say that the opposing athlete needs to learn to deal with it as well.

That being said, part of me admires Joel Northrup, too. I am a big fan of accepting the logical consequences that come from a decision and also a big fan of standing up for what you believe in. Joel certainly stood up and was willing to accept the logical consequences of his decision. Joel had a 36-4 record going into the state tourney and with his default, gave up any chance he had to win the title. That’s an awful big thing to give up just to prove a point.

I’m betting this run-in with Joel is not the first time Cassy has had to deal with a boy (or his parents) not wanting to compete against a girl. I have at least some idea of the crap she has probably taken for choosing to compete in a male-dominated sport. The fact that Cassy didn’t leave the mat years ago is another reason I admire her so. I have personally seen adults behave abhorrently in regards to Josie wrestling (and often beating) their sons. I remember one dad in particular that refused to shake Josie’s 6-year-old hand after she pinned his son. One mother confronted me at the medal stand to tell me that she was “disgusted” I let my kindergartener be “fondled” by boys that way. I pointed out that she probably wouldn’t be quite so disgusted if her son wasn’t in fourth place, while my daughter was at the top of the podium. Touche’.

Josie and I sent Cassy flowers last week. We figure even a kick-butt wrestler deserves roses after competing under a nation-wide microscope. There are many more issues that could be examine in this column including why home-school parents think schools are such horrible places they refuse to send their children to them, but have absolutely no problem with the same children competing on the horrible places’ sports teams. We could also discuss if Iowa high schools need girl-only wrestling teams. Those issues, and more, will have to wait for another day—and perhaps for another state wrestling tournament. I am thinking that more girls will join Cassy and Megan Black (the other female qualifier) at state—particularly in the lower weights. Maybe one of these grapplers will come from SWG—we have a couple junior high girl wrestler that are tearing up the mat this year. Now—wouldn’t that be something??

subscribe to this blog via email

if you click on here, you can subscribe to coffee break via email--give it a shot

Subscribe to Coffee Break--online by Email

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE: DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL AND WINTER SPORTS WRAP UP

        

I am torn this week about whether I should write my long-promised column about the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in the military or if I should write on SWG winter sports, which are coming now to an end.  Since my deadline approaches and I can’t make up mind—I decided to write about BOTH!

            The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was enacted under the Clinton administration in 1993 as a compromise between the liberal Democrats who wanted to assure that gay men and women could serve in the military if they agreed to certain conditions and conservative Republicans who wanted absolutely no homosexuals in the military in any way shape or form.    Basically, it said that the military would not actively research a person’s sexual orientation or even ask them if they were gay.  However, it the soldier admitted to being homosexual or was caught red-handed, they were discharged.

 At the time, many conservatives preached that DADT would absolutely RUIN the military and perhaps cause Armageddon.  “Why, a homo could just keep it hidden from people and go to war and get shot and be a regular hero.  That just ain’t right!” many said with derision.  Okay—maybe I’m paraphrasing there, but you get the point.  Many people in 1993 thought that even closeted gays were a danger to our armed forces. .  As unnecessary as I think the policy is now, at the time it was pretty darn groundbreaking.

Well, it’s been almost twenty years and nothing much has come from the dreaded legislation.   The military hasn’t broken down, there aren’t gay pride parades in the streets of military bases and Generals aren’t dressing in drag.  Now, it is time to take the next step and repeal DADT—letting servicemen and woman who are gay serve openly and proudly.   I (of course) agree with President Obama that a person should be able to “serve the country they love because (regardless) of who they love. It's the right thing to do.”

President Clinton learned that he would have to compromise to make some progress on his agenda and I am thinking President Obama has learned the same thing.   Social change takes time—and sometimes baby steps are better than no steps at all.

Now, for winter sports.    As happy as I am that this is the “cusp of the season” between basketball and spring sports and I am not spending every single weekend and evening sitting on a hard bleacher somewhere, I am going to miss watching Josie and Paddy’s teams play.  Both were very good. Patrick’s fifth grade team—coach by Mark Clausen—had a winning season—even winning their own SWG Booster Tournament last weekend.    Paddy isn’t a starter, but his coach makes sure all the kids get good playing time.  My son even made a basket and once had over a dozen steals in one game.  It was a fun season for us all.

Josie’s junior high teams have garnered a great deal of attention lately—probably because they are awesome.  The seventh grade team only lost two games all season and the eighth grade team is darn good too.    I wrote a column two years ago about how fun these girls were to watch and predicted we might see them at the state tournament. I stand by this prediction.   Just think:  when Josie and gang are freshmen and sophomores, Anna Coder will be a senior—how much fun will that be to watch???

Finally, Cody finished his junior year of wrestling with a bang, finishing third at a very tough sectionals.   Cody had a few strikes against him going into this meet: he hadn’t wrestled much for a month and was nursing a pretty severe back injury, You can imagine just how proud we were of him when he pinned his first guy and won by technical fall with his third guy.     The photos of him on the podium are going to be featured prominently on our mantel.

I guess now is the time to move onto new seasons (spring is in the air) and new hot topics.  See you in a couple weeks.

Kendra’s Annual Rant about Standardized Testing

When I first took the GRE (Graduate Record Examination—a standardized test used before a student can enter graduate school) in 1989, I scored off the chart. Seriously, I was in top 2% of the entire country in GRE test scores. When I retook the test 4 years ago, my scores were less impressive. Does this mean that at forty, I was less prepared for grad school than when I was 25? Does it mean that I was less smart? What exactly do my two GRE scores mean? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Well—at least nothing important, that is.

My GRE score drop means that the first time I took the exam, I was a recent college graduate and still spoke the language of academia. I was no less intelligent in my forties and I was actually better prepared for grad school, as age had taught me to appreciate education more. In case you haven’t figure out yet where this is going—it is time for Kendra’s annual “Why Standardized Tests are a Waste of Time and Money” column.

What sparked this spate of vitriol? My fifth grader brought a note home inviting parents to school for a discussion on the importance of the ITBS and instruction on how to make sure students are adequately prepared to take the exam. The letter even offered the bribe of pizza for parents who come. So let me get this straight: I am expected to take a day off from work to learn how to prepare my child for an exam that every single knowledgeable person in the entire universe says is worthless (and my knowledgeable I mean EDUCATORS—not POLITICIANS)?

To be clear: I am not blaming Patrick’s school for this, but the entire culture in education that has decided that standardized test scores are not only the BEST, but the ONLY way to evaluate the effectiveness of a school. This attitude comes from the top. Starting with the hated “No Child Left Behind” policy, implemented by President Bush and continued by President Obama, standardized tests have become THE way to evaluate and then punish schools for their performance. There are few rewards in this system. As a matter of fact, under the current policy a school that does really super duper well one year can be punished in subsequent years if their scores slip. So—schools want to do a little bit better each year on the test—but not so much better that they can’t replicate or even best the results in the following years. Insanity.

I have many friends that teach in Iowa’s public schools that are being told openly that if it “isn’t on the test, don’t teach it.” My friends know this is wrong and I daresay the administrators that issue edicts such as these know it is wrong—but they have no choice, but to do as told. School funding, accreditation, and even teachers’ jobs depend on how well students do on standardized tests.

As a college instructor, I want my students to be able to THINK, not fill in little circles with a number two pencil. I want them to be able to decipher abstract problems and use their creativity to find unique solutions. I’m thinking employers value these skills as well. None of these skills are tested on the ITEDs.

I realize that “accountability” is the big buzzword in education these days, but standardized tests should never be the ONLY way to judge a school’s effectiveness as they pretty much are now. I know Paddy’s teachers are doing a great job—whether he scores 95% on his Basic Skills test or if he decides to play connect-the-dots and scores 15%. Kids are unpredictable in many different ways and to judge their school’s effectiveness solely on a standardized test is ridiculous. It’s about time the Department of Education figures this out and makes some changes.