More than 100 wrestlers participated Saturday in a multi-team wrestling meet hosted by Jefferson Middle School. A large portion of the wrestling group is made up of female athletes, continuing the trend of women’s wrestling being the fastest growing women’s sport in the United States, PJ photo by Christopher Blakeslee
Women’s wrestling is the fastest growing women’s sport in the United States according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.
This trend is evident locally as more schools, colleges and universities continue to add women’s wrestling programs.
“I can’t believe how many girls are in this tournament,” said Joel Soback, head wrestling coach at Washington Middle School and a sixth-grade teacher, after a recent middle school wrestling tournament. “This is a good thing; it means our sport is healthy and thriving.”
The tournament Soback spoke about was held at Jefferson Middle School last Saturday, hosting 14 teams with more than 110 wrestlers competing, a somewhat large portion — compared to previous years — made up of female wrestlers.
“I’m not sure how many girls are in this group of wrestlers,” said Eric Sohl, a wrestling coach and teacher at Jefferson Middle School. “Every year we see more and more girls competing on the mat. Girls compete not only with other girls, but with boys as well. But this is the most girls I have ever seen in one tournament.
The National Federation of State High School Associations reports that the Wrestling Rules Committee has created separate weight classes, effective with the 2023-24 season for girls wrestling. The past five years of growth in participants and championships is greater than any other women’s sports team. The NFHS reports that girls’ participation in wrestling rose nationally from 4,975 participants in 2005 to 7,351 in 2010. The most recent NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey revealed that participation nearly tripled by 2018-19 with 21,124 girls participating.
As many as 28,447 participated during the 2019-20 season, according to data collected from the National Wrestling Coaches Association and state high school associations by the USA High School Development Commission. At the local and state levels, many schools are looking or are considering including all-girls wrestling teams. Furthermore, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association is scheduled to host its first-ever girls’ wrestling individual tournament at SRC Arena on the campus of Onondaga Community College on Friday, January 27th. The NYSPHSAA will bring together 208 girls from its member schools across the state to compete in 13 weight classes. Each weight class will consist of 16 girls wrestling to an individual championship or competing in backstroke to reach sixth place.
Currently, there are 11 sections in the NYSPHSAA membership that have girls participating in wrestling, six of which have girls-only teams within their sections, thus, creating a state championship on par with their male counterparts.
“This is an exciting time for us as we host our first state event for girls-only wrestlers to compete in a statewide invitational tournament,” said Dr. Robert Zayas, NYSPHSAA Executive Director.
Local support is high.
“It’s great to see girls participating in wrestling. Over the last couple of years, locally, the girls’ wrestling numbers have increased tremendously. From my personal experience in Washington, our girls are passionate about improving, extremely hard-working and great teammates,” Soback said. “I think girls (team) wrestling is coming soon and I can’t wait.”
Chautauqua Lake was one of three women’s wrestling teams in New York State and the only girls-only team in Section VI. There are now more than 35 girls wrestling programs across the state, with four teams in Section VI, including two in Chautauqua County this year.
Fredonia joins Chautauqua Lake this season, adding to a roster that includes Orchard Park and a Niagara-Frontier League team in Division VI. Furthermore, several other local school districts are adding girls-only wrestling programs.
When asked about adding an all-girls wrestling team to Jamestown High School, athletic director Ben Drake said it would all depend on interest from students.
“We’ve brought it up before, but once female wrestlers graduate from middle school, their interest seems to wane. If there was interest in an all-girls team, we would definitely look at it, but there hasn’t been any interest,” Drake said. “Our flagship programs are still “We have soccer and basketball teams, but I know girls’ wrestling is growing quickly nationally.”
“I come from a family of wrestlers, my brother wrestles for JHS,” said Olivia Little, an eighth-grader and wrestler at the school. “I plan to compete in high school with my brother.”