In the Iowa high school state wrestling tournament last month, Joel Northrup, who finished his season with one of the best records in the state at 35-4, forfeited his first match and gave away his dream of winning the state tournament because he refused to face a girl.
Cassy Herkelman was one of the first two girls to qualify for the tournament in its 85-year history, but Northrup said it was against his beliefs to wrestle a girl.
“Wrestling is a combat sport, and it can get violent at times,” Northrup said in a statement released by his high school. “As a matter of conscience and my faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner.”
Northrup is right. Wrestling is one of the most physical sports out there, and most of the guys wrestling will not feel comfortable wrestling a female opponent. But wrestling isn’t the only sport where males and females compete.
Right here on our campuses, our flag football and basketball league intramurals are coed. Girls who score a field goal in basketball receive three points instead of two, and a touchdown in football is worth nine points instead of six. That’s silly. That’s really silly.
Most of the girls competing in the intramurals are athletic and hold their own in the games, so is it fair that in a close flag football game, a team can get down to the one-yard line and just hand it to a girl to score nine points instead of six? In several instances last semester, male players made 50-yard-or-so catches and were wide open to score the touchdown. Instead, they ran out of bounds, so their teams could hand the ball to a girl on the next play.
Is it time to revisit coed rules for all sports, including TCC intramurals?
Yes, Iowa state wrestling just needs to get rid of coed wrestling all together and perhaps follow in the footsteps of Texas, which has separate male and female wrestling competitions. In intramurals, all scores should be equal whether a male or female scores them, not because it gives the teams with a girl a competitive advantage. It’s because most of the girls playing are on the same level as the boys.
