HS Male wrestler forfits match vs Girl

[Nate Dogg]

I bet you all have seen the article by now. Religious reasonings? I think he didn't want to lose, but in the end it makes him look worse or sexist.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6136707

Remember the HS female soccer player who won it for her Football team earlier this year? She kicked the game winning field goal. She was regarded as a hero.

I just don't get why he just didn't wrestle and possibly lose. So, what he could redeem himself in another match. Sure he would be teased, but I don't know whats worse, him losing or forfiting.

 

[julius]

what was his reasoning? Is it against his religion to pop a boner while wrestling a girl he's not married to?

 

[PapaG]

His reasoning was violence against women, and not wanting to partake in it, even if it was "legal".

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

I wrestled one year in HS. Considering some of the wrestling moves (crotch move, just to name one) I would pass as well. Also, I saw a kid get a dislocated shoulder being slammed to the mat. It could be much worse for a girl. It's stupid and disrespectful to have a girl in this.

 

[Eastoff]

I wrestled one year in HS. Considering some of the wrestling moves (crotch move, just to name one) I would pass as well. Also, I saw a kid get a dislocated shoulder being slammed to the mat. It could be much worse for a girl. It's stupid and disrespectful to have a girl in this.

lul so grabbing a dudes' crouch is better than a chick. I never knew BP, I never knew.

 

[Mamba]

Are you seriously criticizing this guy because he didn't want to wrestle a girl? You think he was scared of losing? Typically men are a lot stronger than women...if he's a wrestler...I'm pretty damn sure he could easily over power her.

Some people are old-fashioned...maybe it really was religious reasons and he didn't want to harm her? Wrestling can get pretty physical.

There is no story here, nothing to see..nothing to criticize. He made a decision and dropped out of the tournament because of his beliefs. So what?

 

[MARIS61]

It's a no-win situation for him.

If he wrestles, he has to be very careful where he puts his hands or he'll be condemned for perverted groping.

She on the other hand would be admired for grabbing him between the legs and bodyslamming him.

 

[BrianFromWA]

he doesn't believe in harming women. Is that really something people are trashing him for?

 

[Nate Dogg]

I think his image is more trashed now. He should have taken the match regardless of the outcome.

How about the female soccer player who suited up on the football team and kicked the winning field goal for her HS. What happened if the other team knew about this and forfited the game if they knew if she suited up.

I think it goes beyond religious. The wrestling coach should have known this and picked an alternative or not have that HS boy be in the tournament if there was a female involved.

I think its chicken shit on his behalf.

P.S. Aren't they wearing jock straps on anyways? So who cares on grabbing who. Its obvious shes used it.
P.S.S. She looks buff, and she won against a few boys.

 

[Natebishop3]

I think his image is more trashed now. He should have taken the match regardless of the outcome.

How about the female soccer player who suited up on the football team and kicked the winning field goal for her HS. What happened if the other team knew about this and forfited the game if they knew if she suited up.

I think it goes beyond religious. The wrestling coach should have known this and picked an alternative or not have that HS boy be in the tournament if there was a female involved.

I think its chicken shit on his behalf.

P.S. Aren't they wearing jock straps on anyways? So who cares on grabbing who. Its obvious shes used it.
P.S.S. She looks buff, and she won against a few boys.

So if he wrestled her, and he went all out, and he seriously hurt her.... what then?

 

[Nate Dogg]

So then that's fine. She had won other matches against boys. I doubt she was going to bust home crying because she lost. She's a warrior and he's a cop-out and used religion as an excuse.

 

[MickZagger]

So if he wrestled her, and he went all out, and he seriously hurt her.... what then?

If he was that much better than her he wouldn't have to hurt her to win the match. Wrestling is hardly about hurting an opponent, it definitely can happen though.

I wrestled in high school and there was a story similar to this in our league. But, it wasn't at the state level and no one gives a shit about wrestling in the Northwest like they do in Iowa, so no one really made a deal about it.

 

[julius]

Are you seriously criticizing this guy because he didn't want to wrestle a girl? You think he was scared of losing? Typically men are a lot stronger than women...if he's a wrestler...I'm pretty damn sure he could easily over power her.

Some people are old-fashioned...maybe it really was religious reasons and he didn't want to harm her? Wrestling can get pretty physical.

There is no story here, nothing to see..nothing to criticize. He made a decision and dropped out of the tournament because of his beliefs. So what?

I guess that's why she hasn't won a single match all year against guys in her weight class.

 

[julius]

So if he wrestled her, and he went all out, and he seriously hurt her.... what then?

then she knew what was she was getting into. It's not like they put guys in pile drivers or suplexes. And it's not like she was wrestling someone who outweighed her by 100 pounds.

 

[Bob Dobalina]

My son just finished his first year of westling. Middle school. Several female wrestlers. What I noticed about the boy vs girl matches was that the boys seemed to naturally take a totally different approach. By that I mean they were VERY careful with where and how they placed their hands. Observing this it appeared to put them at a disadvantage, though most of the time the boys won easily. I did see a couple of boys lose though. My son never had to wrestle a girl and I'm glad he didn't.

BTW, that article is terribly written. I guess it's an "opinion" piece, but he slams on the kid, parents, god, religion pretty hard with no remorse or attempt to understand the kids and parents reasoning.

 

[Mamba]

I'd grab their titties non-stop. Free cop a feel!!!

 

[agoo]

Rather than posting a trashy opinion piece writing by a smarmy dumb-ass like Rick Reilly, consider the AP article ESPN posted more immediately after the event.

This was a religious conviction. Say what you want about religion, and most here (myself among them) have, but this is someone making a decision consistent with his beliefs. Can't fault him for that.

As for the suggestion that he was doing this to avoid losing to a girl, his record was 35-4, her's was 20-13. He won his next match and she didn't. While I have no expertise in Iowa HS wrestling, I would speculate that he would have won had they wrestled.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

he must have teh ghey. free finger bang for all too see!

 

[bodyman5001]

I think his image is more trashed now. He should have taken the match regardless of the outcome.

How about the female soccer player who suited up on the football team and kicked the winning field goal for her HS. What happened if the other team knew about this and forfited the game if they knew if she suited up.

I think it goes beyond religious. The wrestling coach should have known this and picked an alternative or not have that HS boy be in the tournament if there was a female involved.

I think its chicken shit on his behalf.

P.S. Aren't they wearing jock straps on anyways? So who cares on grabbing who. Its obvious shes used it.
P.S.S. She looks buff, and she won against a few boys.

This post is so completely different than the way I think that I literally wonder if you see a car coming and just want to run out in traffic and try and get hit.

Find me a 350 lb girl to wrestle and I will pick her up and throw her all over the place. I would prefer that she be tall so I can get my arms around her.

It would be like Kramer taking karate "Jerry, I am DOMINATING"

 

[maxiep]

I admire the kid and his parents for raising him right. He put his beliefs before winning; he's an honorable young man.

 

[julius]

I admire the kid and his parents for raising him right. He put his beliefs before winning; he's an honorable young man.

While I agree that it's good for someone to stick to their beliefs, what if their beliefs was that he refused to wrestle a gay male?

Or if the person was black? or Asian? or of a different religious background?

Would that still be "right" or honorable?

 

[PapaG]

While I agree that it's good for someone to stick to their beliefs, what if their beliefs was that he refused to wrestle a gay male?

Or if the person was black? or Asian? or of a different religious background?

Would that still be "right" or honorable?

None of the above are relevant to this discussion. They are neat hypotheticals, though.

 

[julius]

None of the above are relevant to this discussion. They are neat hypotheticals, though.

how do you figure? they're all personal beliefs. They're all reasons people do or don't do something. Why are some personal beliefs "honorable" and others aren't?

What makes not wrestling girls (due to "violence"...which usually is not something a person goes willingly into, and practices how to counter stuff, or inact it themselves) honorable? Because it's awkward? I'd rather stick my hand between a girls crotch than a boys. I'd rather grapple with a girl than a boy. To me, THAT'S awkward.

If your religion believes that being around homosexuals is wrong, would it be honorable? Not sure how that's any different (spare me the "choice" bs).

Why is it all the sudden honorable to not see a woman as an equal here? It's not like he was wrestling an untrained girl, who had absolutely no idea what she was doing. She obviously was stronger than some boys, as her record was not too bad.

If the match was one between a 150 pound boy, and a 90 pound girl who has no training in wrestling, I could see were the "violence against girls" argument could be made.

 

[PapaG]

how do you figure? they're all personal beliefs. They're all reasons people do or don't do something. Why are some personal beliefs "honorable" and others aren't?

What makes not wrestling girls (due to "violence"...which usually is not something a person goes willingly into, and practices how to counter stuff, or inact it themselves)?

If your religion believes that being around homosexuals is wrong, would it be honorable? Not sure how that's any different (spare me the "choice" bs).

Why is it all the sudden honorable to not see a woman as an equal here? It's not like he was wrestling an untrained girl, who had absolutely no idea what she was doing. She obviously was stronger than some boys, as her record was not too bad.

If the match was one between a 150 pound boy, and a 90 pound girl who has no training in wrestling, I could see were the "violence against girls" argument could be made.

I don't see anybody saying this is "honorable". I really don't care, and he lost the match due to forfeit

I also don't think that equating a HS student who doesn't want to lay a hand on a woman with also being a bigot or racist is fair.

Had he refused to wrestle a homosexual, or a minority, I'd have a different perspective and would be bashing the kid. I guess that is my own bias coming into play.

For the record, I'd have wrestled her, and I'd even pull out the six-pack move if that's what it would take to win the match.

 

[julius]

I don't see anybody saying this is "honorable". I really don't care, and he lost the match due to forfeit

I also don't think that equating a HS student who doesn't want to lay a hand on a woman with also being a bigot or racist is fair.

not equating, just wondering what makes a personal belief valid or not.

Had he refused to wrestle a homosexual, or a minority, I'd have a different perspective and would be bashing the kid. I guess that is my own bias coming into play.

For the record, I'd have wrestled her, and I'd even pull out the six-pack move if that's what it would take to win the match.

I would have wrestled her, but it's because I don't see gender. I only know I'm male because people tell me that I'm smart. (that's a Stephen Colbert inspired line).

In all honestly, I would've wrestled her. She was qualified to be an opponent, and I bet she would be nor more interested in putting her hand in strange places on me as I would be on her.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

There is a difference between gender and sexuality; in this case, gender was the issue, and it had nothing to do with sexuality, so all these comments about "groping" or "awkwardness" are off-base.

He said that wrestling is a combat (as opposed to contact) sport, and he doesn't feel it appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in such. In otherwords, he doesn't believe it's OK for him--a boy--to fight with (as opposed to touch or compete against) a girl. I was always told the same thing growing up, and I tell my son the same thing now. This is not a controversial opinion; it's only controversial because of its application in this situation.

It should be noted that the boy and his family never once indicated that the girl shouldn't be able to participate in the sport, that they didn't protest her inclusion in the tournament, that they didn't request any change in the seedings. His decision was not about her, but only about what he felt was OK for him to do.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

not equating, just wondering what makes a personal belief valid or not.

Context. Rather than analyzing hypotheticals for which we don't have the context, why not just focus on the situation at hand for which we do?

 

[bluefrog]

Why does mixed gender wrestling have to be either sexual or violent? It's an antiquated way of thinking.

 

[crandc]

Wrestling is not "violence" any more than football is. It's a sport. It's physical but it's voluntary and by rules. It is not assault.

Wrestling is by weight class so the girl would be about the same size and weight as the boy.

IMHO, bigots who cite religion are the worst. Some schmo who never met anyone openly gay and is prejudiced can learn better when he/she discovers his/her neighbors, coworkers, etc. are gay and no different from him/her. But someone who says god wants him/her to hate gays is not going to be persuaded by real life. This idiot says he can't compete against a girl because of his religion. Not because he thinks it may not be fair competition, which can be debated, but because his god does not want it. What about in business? School? Military?

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Wrestling is not "violence" any more than football is. It's a sport. It's physical but it's voluntary and by rules. It is not assault.

Wrestling is by weight class so the girl would be about the same size and weight as the boy.

IMHO, bigots who cite religion are the worst. Some schmo who never met anyone openly gay and is prejudiced can learn better when he/she discovers his/her neighbors, coworkers, etc. are gay and no different from him/her. But someone who says god wants him/her to hate gays is not going to be persuaded by real life. This idiot says he can't compete against a girl because of his religion. Not because he thinks it may not be fair competition, which can be debated, but because his god does not want it. What about in business? School? Military?

I love how the fact that this family has a different perspective than you makes them idiots, yet they're the closed-minded ones.