It’s 2024, Female Freestyle Wrestling Growth Phenomenon Continues
fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetititor.com grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com Vladimir-Vasiltvich-Shutterstock-photo-credit-Editorial-use-.
April 10, 2024,
The headlines are similar with all arrows pointing upwards.
At break neck speed.
On February 7, 2024, the NCAA shares, “Women’s wrestling on Wednesday took a big step toward becoming the 91st NCAA championship sport, with its projected first NCAA championship occurring in winter 2026.
The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics voted at its meeting Wednesday to recommend Divisions I, II and III sponsor legislation to add a national collegiate women’s wrestling championship. The Association-wide committee oversees the Emerging Sports for Women program, which includes women’s wrestling.”
They add, “Before a women’s wrestling national collegiate championship can be established, funding must be considered by the appropriate financial oversight committees among other competing priorities during the relevant annual budget development cycle.”
If approved by NCAA members, women’s wrestling will become the sixth sport to earn NCAA championship status through the Emerging Sports for Women program, established in 1994 based on a recommendation from the NCAA Gender Equity Task Force. It would join rowing (1996), ice hockey (2000), water polo (2000), bowling (2003) and beach volleyball (2015).
That is the kind of news we’ve been waiting for.
And we can always use more.
This seems like a good read, found at Amazon.
An Insider’s Guide to Wrestling (Sports Tips, Techniques, and Strategies) Library Binding – December 30, 2014
By Natalie Regis (Author), David Chiu (Author)
“This highly practical guide to wrestling begins with a brief history of the sport that traces its origins to ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Its account of the modern history of the sport and how it came to the United States is no less fascinating. The rules of wrestling are explained, including legal and illegal holds, and the most influential wrestlers are profiled. All the information that young athletes need in order to participate effectively in the sport is here, including nutrition, how to prepare your body for the rigors of the sport, and where to go for training.”
Good to know.
At usatoday.com they comment, “Over the past decade, participation figures in girls’ and women’s wrestling have grown at an eye-popping rate as the perceptions and infrastructure around the sport have changed. According to statistics compiled by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the number of high school girls who competed in wrestling has quintupled since 2013. It nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023, the most recent year for which data is available.”
For those of you in online and television land, you should keep your antenna up for the phenomenon that is women’s freestyle wrestling.
If you want to look at a focus point, it is probably Iowa, a power five school that has a women’s wrestling program.
On October 28, 2021, here is what FCI reported.
Iowa is making history again. In the sports world.
As reported at hawkeyesports.com, “The University of Iowa Athletics Department is adding women’s wrestling as an intercollegiate program, becoming the first NCAA Division I, Power Five conference institution to offer the sport.”
That is amazing historical news.
The Power Five conferences are five athletic conferences which are considered to be the elite in college football in the United States.
They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, the highest level of collegiate football in the nation.
The conferences are the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference, and Southeastern Conference (SEC).
The NCAA adds, “The Iowa wrestling room inspires a special kind of determination. Hawkeye Wrestling Club wrestler Victoria Francis describes a “we’re going to work hard, we’re going to bang heads” kind of mentality — that grit. This culture produced NCAA and Olympic wrestling champions and helped Iowa become known as one of the most premier wrestling institutions in the country.”
Iowa’s most successful team is men’s wrestling, which has won 24 of the school’s 26 NCAA championships. Fifteen of those championships occurred during Dan Gable’s 21-year tenure as head coach (1977-1997). It has 35 Big Ten titles, 81 individual NCAA Titles, and has graduated 17 Olympians.
This premier brand is now going to get even better.
The powerful NCAA recognized women’s wrestling as an emerging sport in 2020 for all three divisions.
An Emerging Sport status means that women’s wrestling is on the path to becoming an NCAA championship sport in Division One, if 40 schools add teams in the next 10 years.
At present, there are 45 intercollegiate women’s wrestling programs, including five in the state of Iowa.
In addition, 32 states have a sanctioned high school girl’s wrestling state championships.
In Iowa, the state tournament is sponsored by the Iowa Coaches Association and over 600 girls participated in high school wrestling a year ago.
This is how you make history.
And today they continue to make history.
On April 4, 2024 dailyiowan.com posted, “A remarkable debut season for the Iowa women’s wrestling program continues to get better. Iowa redshirt first-years Brianna Gonzalez and Nyla Valencia qualified for the US Olympic Team Trials on Saturday at the Last Chance Olympic Team Trial Qualifier in Fairfax, Virginia. Valencia and Gonzalez join seven other Hawkeyes who will compete at the 2024 Olympic Trials on April 19-20.”
Very impressive.
And the recent news gets even better. Huge news.
Check it out.
As posted on April 3, 2024, “Gov. Kim Reynolds declares April 3rd, 2024 to be University of Iowa Women’s Wrestling day in honor of successful inaugural season.”
From the governor. We have never heard a proclamation like that before.
Having said that, we do keep reading reports like this.
On September 5, 2023, westliberty.edu smiled, “West Liberty University President Dr. Tim Borchers announced today that the university is adding the sport of women’s wrestling to its list of intercollegiate athletic offerings. The Hilltoppers expect to begin competition in the 2024-25 season.”
They continue.
“Adding women’s wrestling will build on the national reputation of the West Liberty wrestling program,” Dr. Borchers said. “With the growing popularity of the sport, this new program will provide additional opportunities for students throughout the region to continue their education.”
One more.
On July 19, 2022 the leadership at jcu.edu they posted “For the first time in a decade, John Carroll University Athletics is adding a varsity sport. Women’s Wrestling will become the 24th varsity sport at John Carroll, with competition anticipated to begin with the 2023-24 academic year. John Carroll is the first Jesuit university in the United States to offer women’s wrestling.”
We seem to be at the beginning of a major societal shift. That is wonderful.
If you love the idea of women competing in wrestling and more important, having greater opportunities to do so, this is a fantastic time to be alive.
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OPENING PHOTO Vladimir-Vasiltvich-Shutterstock-photo-credit-Editorial-use fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetititor.com grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com
https://westliberty.edu/news/news/west-liberty-adds-womens-wrestling-as-varsity-sport/
https://www.jcu.edu/news-center/john-carroll-university-adds-womens-wrestling-varsity-sport
https://www.fciwomenswrestling2.com
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