Takedown Report

Women Wrestling’s Exponential Growth

By Bill Poehler, Statesman Journal
A decade before Kiera Gabaldon was a college All-American wrestler, she was an elementary school student competing in a male sport.
When a high school near her home in Salem held a wrestling camp, she went. Among the other participants was a high school girl who had made a name for herself as a wrestler.
Gabaldon didn’t approve.
“When I was younger I had the same mindset boys did: Girls shouldn’t be here, not realizing what I was,” said Gabaldon, now a sophomore at Warner Pacific.
The 10-year-old version of Gabaldon matched up with that comparatively sized high school girl in the practice room, took her down with ease and threw her around the room.
“Wrestling with (her) and beating up on her, I’m like, is that wrestling like a girl?” Gabaldon said. “I don’t want to wrestle like a girl.
“Obviously, that mindset has changed. It’s something to be proud of to wrestle like a girl today, but back then it wasn’t. I guess I was ashamed of myself as a kid to be a women’s wrestler.”
Rest of the Story at http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/sports/high-school/2016/05/28/womens-wrestling-experiencing-exponential-growth/84501908/

July 22, 2016 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized