A huge debate erupted amongst my FB pals about a story where a male wrestler refused to wrestle a girl. I’ve seen these before at times, since wrestling is a sport where females can compete against males. I think I have a unique perspective, being a girl and all. That’s a joke, I would be a hideous woman with my thick legs, sunken eyes and redneck Barry White voice.
When I was in high school, I joined the football team, before the ravages of puberty took over. My freshman year I was 130 pounds, by the start of my junior year, I was 185. Oh God, I would kill to be 185 pounds…seriously, I will actually kill someone. Just say who. Somewhere in between, I started powerlifting, which was a club sport. In the 165 pound group, my first meet, I went up against eight other guys…and one girl.
I was opening the meet with squat. This was my best lift, at my peak, I squatted 465 lbs. Well this day, I was doing my final warmup and with 275 lbs., I decided to do a form practice and thrust my hips forward. My spotters were looking elsewhere and I lost balance and bent straight backwards with the bar, bouncing off the rack in a backwards C. Why I didn’t let go of the bar or why I thrust my hips like a drunk bro on the club dance floor, I’ll never know. I was in some serious pain.
Of course, the gym in the mid 90’s didn’t exactly have a full medical team of experts, so I was given ice for an injury that probably cost me mobility in my 70’s. I managed to do a basic squat, then bench press, both under my best by a mile. Lastly was the deadlift, I did the warm-up at 315, but it hurt and I forgot to tell them to register that as my lift. Turns out I would have placed sixth with that warmup; as it stood, I placed tenth. Five pounds behind the young lady.
Of course, I didn’t know this until they gave out ribbons. They announced my name and I had to old man shuffle in front of the entire field and crowd to get my tenth place ribbon. Immediately after, while I was still on the floor, they announced her name and she passed me, while I purple faced raged holding an ice pack on my lower back. The second I got back to my team, I took a beating like no other. I got so mad, I actually ate my ribbon, gold foil trim and all, right there in the stands, to make sure it no longer existed. Of course the next two years, I got second in my weight class and finished top ten in the state both times, but it didn’t matter. I was the guy who lost to a girl for the rest of high school.
So my take really doesn’t matter, it’s the kid’s decision, along with his coach and parent’s advice. I think it’s a little goofy to forfeit, but I saw a very religious kid back out of the same scenario in the state tournament because his denomination forbade any violence against women, which in today’s world, is actually pretty cool overall. Principled that he made that sacrifice, in my opinion. As for the guy who doesn’t want to wrastle a girl, I say go for it man, as long as you can eat the record books and cell phones with the videos if you do lose. Erase that shit from history or you’re going to take a ribbing.