Pets up for adoption
.JPG)
2008 Browns season
.jpg)
2008 Bengals season
PREP WRESTLING INSIDER
Girls gain success, respect on the mat
Five area female wrestlers say the sport has allowed them to meet challenges and gain self-esteem.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
SPRINGFIELD — It was not a pretty scene.
During Tuesday's dual meet between Northeastern and Northwestern, Jets junior Emily Fishbough, one of five area girls wrestling against boys this season, was on the mat trying to escape from her opponent when suddenly she let out a shrieking yell of pain and grabbed her right hamstring.
Northeastern's Emily Fishbough (top) gets ready to pin London's James Johnson during their 119-pound match during a meet last week at Kenton Ridge.As she lay writhing and screaming in agony for several minutes, her senior sister and teammate Katie was beside herself, fighting back tears (and losing the battle), as she looked on. They had been wrestling together for over a decade and now their worst fears were being realized.
As it turned out, Emily had just a severe pull and should be back in action in the next two weeks. But it may have made some onlookers wonder if girls really did belong on the mat with boys.
To that, the answer is a resounding yes.
"The girls have built enough of a reputation for themselves that they get the respect of coaches in the area," said Northeastern coach Ben Obee, who first welcomed a girl (Megan Rousculp) into his program six years ago. "Fortunately for us, the girls have had great success for us in the program.
"Both Katie and Emily have had 30-win seasons for us in their careers and they've earned the respect of the coaches."
They surprise some folks, though.
"My parents didn't really think I'd stay with it very long because I was the girly girl. I was into frills and everything," said Emily. "I think that it's the challenge that really made me stick with it."
Katie stays with it for different reasons.
"I love the physical activity," said Katie. "I love being pushed, so that's definitely what I like about it.
"I started powerlifting and (wrestling) has helped me out tremendously with that. I'm very glad I stuck with it."
Suzanna Garvey, Urbana's senior starting 103-pounder and a fourth-year wrestler, hit on another reason.
"It has helped my self-esteem," she said. "I know if I work hard at something, I know I can get it."
Garvey has gotten some strange responses, though.
"While I'm waiting to wrestle, a lot of guys will just kind of stare, not knowing if I'm a wrestler or not," she said. "A lot of guys think I'm a stats girl until they actually see me put my wrestling gear on."
Drawbacks don't bother North junior and first-year wrestler Chrissie Watson. She knows her teammates have "got her back."
"If a guy would do something sexually to me, they would stick up for me," said Watson. "I don't like hiding my sexuality because I'm a girl. I always have to put my hair up (in a cap required by the OHSAA), but I understand why at the same time."
Obee laughs at some of the wrestlers' reactions he's seen.
"They can't believe it was a girl that they had just wrestled," he said. "One kid swore up and down it wasn't a girl he just wrestled. I said, 'No, it wasn't a girl, it was a wrestler.' "
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0364 or krowe@coxohio.com.
