Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted from the June 2023 issue, where it was cut off due to a printing error.
They deserve it.” That was Coach Parker’s response to the question of why it is so important to him to get a girls’ wrestling team at IHS. Girls deserve as many opportunities as their male counterparts are given. Many of the schools in our section have created their own girls’ wrestling teams in recent years. Girls’ wrestling is one the fastest growing high school sports in the United States, having thirty-seven states sanction it, many of which did so recently. With flag football and girls’ wrestling becoming popular, Coach Parker is excited about opportunities for young women in sports. He would hate to see an opportunity pass by to get students into wrestling, especially girls. Parker is the head coach for the boys’ wrestling team, and this year for the girls as well. Not too long ago, if a female wanted to wrestle chances are, she would have to compete against boys. This was true for the sole female wrestler who competed in 2009 for Ithaca High School. In the 2022-2023 wrestling season I only ever competed against girls. And Coach Parker made sure I had every opportunity to do so, from going to all-girls tournaments to bringing the boys to tournaments he knew would have a girls’ section. It wasn’t easy for Coach to get us to wrestle. Because of our gender we had to be approved and certified to be able to practice with the guys. We had to be cleared by the school doctor to compete, something that incurred a lot of delays. Lyn Reitenbach, our school social worker, an advocate for young women in sports, and an athlete herself, successfully pushed for us to be certified just in time for our first tournament.
A high school wrestling match is normally six minutes, broken into three equal parts, unless you get pinned by (or pin) your opponent. For those two minutes, not getting pinned and gaining the advantageous position is all that matters. If you can fight for those two minutes you can do the majority of things for that long.
I didn’t wrestle for that long. I didn’t know it was an option until my senior year. But even just that one winter taught me so much. I learned to trust my body and know that I will have the strength to get back up when I am inevitably knocked down. I became disciplined by showing up even when I didn’t want to, I put in the effort and was able to see my progression. I could feel it become easier to withstand a six-minute match and I knew I was getting stronger. I became more resilient than I thought I ever could be.
Showing up will get you far, I am proof of that. Coach Parker brought me to so many tournaments and I won just enough matches to qualify for the Southern Tier Athletic Conference (STAC) championship, where I came in fourth, and Sectionals, where I came in sixth. I am proud of what I accomplished this year, I can say for certain that every time I stepped onto that mat, I gave it my all. Win or lose, I put up a fight and gave girls way more experienced than me a run for their money. I would have liked the opportunity to wrestle on a girls’ team for longer than just one season during my high school career. There was a sense of community with all the girls I met at tournaments and an understanding that we were doing something that at one point many thought girls couldn’t do.
Many opportunities come when you wrestle as a female. Scholarships and college interests are high on that list. Female freestyle wrestling is an Olympic sport and the best way to have an Olympic team that is competitive, is to start young or at least have high schools offer it.
In addition to being the assistant varsity coach at IHS, Coach Antoine coaches the youth wrestling program. In that program there are girls but there is no team for them when they get to high school or even middle school. However, because of Coach Parker’s tireless efforts and Samantha Little’s commitment to equity for Ithaca scholars, there is a girls’ wrestling coach position set up for the 2023-2024 school year.
In the future, Coach Parker envisions an all-girls team at IHS. One with a coach that has experience wrestling as a girl or experiences coaching girls’ wrestling. This future is a possibility with many surrounding schools already having it.
I am grateful for wrestling and all it has done for me. It made me more confident. At the beginning of the season, I felt like I didn’t belong and was concerned about proving myself because of my gender. Now I see myself as part of the group of high school girls who are changing the narrative of who wrestling is for.