Charger Opinion

Girls are moving on up in the boys' world

Amber Dixon, Charger Staff

Female wrestling has never been the "in thing." As a former female wrestler I know what kind of looks and comments a girl who wrestles gets when she mentions what sport she is in. Only once in a blue moon does someone actually think a girl wrestler is cool, and think it really takes a lot of dedication for a woman to step out and do something challenging.

Many men do not like the idea of women stepping into their "territory" and competing against them. They want to be the king. Men think women are around for the cooking and cleaning and the only thing we should be carrying are babies. Of course, men are the ones who are the whining babies.

The two female wrestlers on the Cookeville High School wrestling team are senior Billy Kibler and freshman Hope Proctor. They have to work just as hard as the guys do. Even though the guys do everything they can to kick the girls off the team because boys think they own the mats and that girls interested in wrestling should be on the sidelines taping up wounds or getting water, or the girlfriend cheering them on.

This is both of the girls' first year on the high school level of wrestling. Hope, however, has been wrestling since the fourth grade. Her first match against another girl Hope said, "I knew what it was like for a guy to wrestle a girl for once. It was terrifying."

Wrestling against other guys did not make me feel more powerful, it made me feel like an equal. Which is what we women and men should feel like. There should be no discrimination in any area of life, including wrestling.

Female wrestling should be okay with everyone. We are not weak little girls. We may not have strong upper bodies, but we do have muscular lower bodies that are build to carry things, especially people. So, back up off us girls wrestlers. Just because you're afraid to be beaten by a woman at a male dominated sports means nothing to us females. It just makes us all that much stronger and more determined to take you to the mat.

Look out guys, girl power is coming through. Women wrestling is slowly becoming accepted. We need to learn how to take care of ourselves. I mean, how many of you girls can honestly say that you know and could defend yourself if a guy twice your size came after you? Probably not many. Wrestling may not be your answer, but it is mine.