HS wrestler wimps out, won't wrestle girl

[nevermore]

To each their own. You may not agree with his convictions, but in the end this young man did not back out from fear. Instead, he stayed true to his beliefs, in which he felt was honoring her. Her father was not offended, though we don't know what she personally felt. The boy lost a chance at the greatest honor in his sport to date, yet by doing so retains a sense of personal honor. That's rather refreshing in today's world of high school sports.

Bullshit. If his "honour" makes him disrespect other people, then his honour is nothing. I see he also cited his faith as a reason to default. Well, if his faith makes him treat women as inferior, then his faith is bullshit, too.

There are obvious physical differences between men and women, and I don't think it would be a good idea to have mixed-gender competitions for everything. But once you join a tournament that allows both genders to participate, you fight the opponent you are presented with, male of female. If you refuse, it makes you no better than someone who refuse to play against people of a different race.

I feel quite strongly about this, both as a practitioner of martial arts and as a supporter of equal rights. I would like to hear the opinion of some women about this, tho, since I've only seen guys commenting on it so far (me included...).

I'm female. I would be horribly offended were I to find myself in a situation where an opponent decided that his convictions about my inherent inferiority trumped my right to choose my path and to judge my own capacity to compete. It's condescending and selfish.

So he didn't want to wrestle a girl because of his personal beliefs. What's the big bloody deal? I say good for him for doing what he felt was right. Just because you would have wrestled her doesn't mean he was wrong to not do it.

The big bloody deal is that he's making the choice for her.

Would it really be any different if the issue was race and not gender? I seem to remember this being a problem after Jackie Robinson made the major leagues (at least one team threatened to strike over that). Would it have been so principled for opposing teams to refuse to play against a team which had a black player?

SO I guess you would be cool with a man fighting a woman in a 3round, 5 minute, cage fight UFC style?

Sure, if they're both equally qualified, consenting adults.

Basically what I'm getting here is that a bunch of people are in favor of watching men beat up women, am I wrong?

Why do you assume the man would win? Especially in an MMA fight, her skill set might outweigh his (assumed) size and weight advantage.

This certainly isn't "sparring" in karate or something, this is competitive combat sport. And if you are ok with wrestling than I assume you are ok with caged fights were people get concussed and broken bones frequently.

Women are not actually more fragile than men and can heal from injuries just as well. If they choose, without coersion, to put themselves in a competitive situation where they may be injured, that's their choice, same as men.

What I find extremely weird about all this is that people seem unable to think about wrestling without sexual overtones.

Yes, wrestling is different from other sports -- even other one-on-one combat sports like fencing or the martial arts. It consists of pretty much constant intimate physical contact. For young, healthy adolescents with raging hormones, I imagine it’s rather difficult to avoid sexual overtones.

What about gay males? Should they also be barred from wrestling? Is it OK for a straigt male to refuse to wrestle a gay male, or visa-versa?

The issue here is that the kid entered a mixed-gender competition, and then refused to engage one opponent because of her gender. Pretty simple.

No it's not. This is the first year EVER that girls had qualified for the event. I highly doubt that he was aware there was even a chance that he'd he facing any girls in the tournament. I bet the idea never even crossed his mind.

Your argument falls apart when the fact that this boy had been competing inter-scholastically all year, in a league that has female wrestlers, is taken into account. This girl had wrestled 33 other bouts, presumably against boys.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

I don't see why not wrestling a girl is such an issue when many sports are still divided based on gender. Every sport I've seen on TV has been either an all-guys or an all-girls league, or division or whatever you call it.

 

[nevermore]

^Because this sport isn't segregated and the girls have no alternative choice.

 

[Chaos Descending]

No one mentioned to this kid that he was in an organization that included girls, or is he just dumb?

This is the first time that girls have ever qualified to be in the tournament, so I would wager no one told him before now because it was a moot point.

And the Brooklyn Bridge is sold to the gentleman with the bird in his avatar!

No thanks, I've already got one of my own.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Unless the kid was living under a rock, he had to have known in advance who he would be wrestling. It's not like he just found out when he walked in the ring, right? I'm sure his coaches told him, at the very least.

 

[boobatuba]

Unless the kid was living under a rock, he had to have known in advance who he would be wrestling. It's not like he just found out when he walked in the ring, right? I'm sure his coaches told him, at the very least.

Yeah, the seedings are posted well in advance so he knew he was scheduled to wrestle a girl in the first round.

But I'm not sure what you're getting at. You still have to acknowledge the forfeit when the match is called. He made the decision to forfeit and try and come back through the losers bracket (which he failed to do, miserably).

What do you think he should have done instead of what he did?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

What do you think he should have done instead of what he did?

I think he should have wrestled who he was told to wrestle, and that should be the end of it. I already pointed out why his conscience should not be an issue.

 

[ST-One]

The kid showed humility, integrity, and respect for his opponent.

No, he really didn't.

I agree with the notion that he simply chickened out or is too stupid to understand the rules or that he is simply, by his upbringing (homeschooling), far too condescending towards girls/women.

 

[Chaos Descending]

The kid showed humility, integrity, and respect for his opponent.

No, he really didn't.

I agree with the notion that he simply chickened out or is too stupid to understand the rules or that he is simply, by his upbringing (homeschooling), far too condescending towards girls/women.

That's some of the stupidest, judgmental bullshit I've heard in awhile.

Get over yourselves.

 

[JarodRussell]

Where I come from, you don't beat girls.

And then again:

Since when are there mixed wrestling tournaments? Do we also have mixed boxing, martial arts and ultimate fighting?

 

[sonak]

There's another angle to this. What about the issue of lawsuits? With all of the potential intimate contact involved in wrestling, a boy wrestling a girl might have reason to fear some girl taking issue with the way he touched her.


Again, another reason why teen boys and girls really shouldn't be put in this position.

 

[ST-One]

Where I come from, you don't beat girls.

And this sport has what to do with beating up anyone?

 

[sonak]

Where I come from, you don't beat girls.

And this sport has what to do with beating up anyone?

Er, it is wrestling after all.

 

[ST-One]

Where I come from, you don't beat girls.

And this sport has what to do with beating up anyone?

Er, it is wrestling after all.

Yes, a millennia-old sport, that has nothing to do with 'beating up' or 'raising a hand' against anyone.

 

[TheBrew]

1) I think people have a misconception of what wrestling actually is (probably because they have watched too much WWE

2) I wrestled girls and there are ways to get that pesky boner to behave (such as clean the pipes beforehand).

3) The iguana is wise in all things.

 

[IndyJones]

This is the first time that girls have ever qualified to be in the tournament, so I would wager no one told him before now because it was a moot point.

I don't buy this.

That's like saying that because the Detroit Lions have never made it to the Superbowl it's a reasonable assumption for teams to not know that they might (in some parallel dimension) end up playing them in the playoffs.

These girls didn't just show up in the tournament, they'd been wrestling in the regular season.