Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
One hundred twelve pound Cassie Herkelman is a historic figure in Iowa high school sports. Though Iowa has allowed girls to compete against boys in wrestling for two decades, Cassie is the first to win a match in Iowa’s legendary state wrestling tourney. The problem, for some, is that she won by forfeit.
Her opponent Joel Northrup, a home schooler who wrestles for Linn-Mar High School, cited his religious faith as the reason for the decision not to answer the referee’s call to “wrestle.” In a curiously polished statement for a 16-year-old, Northrup said: “As a matter of conscience and faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa.”
Northrup prefaced his remarks by saying, “‘I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan [another female wrestler who qualified] and their accomplishments. However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times.”
Northrup may continue in the double elimination tourney through consolation round matches but can finish no higher than third. Henkleman advances.
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, slightly over 6,000 girls competed in wrestling in 2009-10 – compared with nearly 275,000 boys. California, Texas and Hawaii have girls-only wrestling while most other states allow combined competition.
The incident raises several issues: Would it have been fair to ban Northrup from future matches under notions of sportsmanship for forfeiting with no medical reason? Should home-schoolers have the benefit of participating in public school sporting events? Is Northrup a prisoner of conscience or a vestige of Victorian attitudes of chivarly that women are somehow physically and emotionally unworthy of competing against men in physical sports? Should girls and women’s sports be “separate but equal”?
The episode calls to mind the poignant and fact-based film, Chariots of Fire, set during the 1924 Olympics when UK runner Eric Liddell refused a scheduled heat because it fell on Sunday. The strictly religious Liddell was portrayed as heroic in the movie. What are your feelings about Northrup?
Source: Mail Online
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Mike S,
True enough! Most emoticons are translated to smielys by the blog software
😉 (semicolon)(dash)(close paren)
😛 (colon)(dash)(capital P)
😀 (colon)(dash) (capital D)
:bashful: (colon)’bashful'(colon)
I’m not sure if all of these will work, but we’ll see…
Slarti,
We can’t agree about everything and I’d put in a smiley face if someone told me how.
Mike S,
I am in the unaccustomed position of disagreeing with you (at least in part). Unless there were rules (that were violated) as to the allowable reasons for forfeiting a match, it would be unfair to punish Mr. Northrup further (in my opinion). I would hope that the school, his coaches, and his teammates would consider his behavior conduct detrimental to the team and give him the option of wrestling a girl (if he is matched against one) or not being a part of the team, but I think that this should be entirely up to the team, the coaches, and the school.
By the way, it’s great to have you (and your new ticker) back (even when I disagree with you… :-P)
Czech80,
He had the right to do what he did. As much as I disagree with his actions I can credit him with standing up for his convictions, wrong as they were. However, rather than allowing him another match
he should have been immediately disqualified from further competition.
Some posters here use the profound tactics of referring to home-schooled kids like they are inbreds. And by Zeus’ nipples! He actually cites religious beliefs as his reasons for not competing! What a mongoloid!
Kid has some principles he has chosen to live his life by. He felt wrestling a girl (if I am not mistaken, it was the close contact) went against those beliefs and made him uncomfortable.
The girl and her family respected those beliefs and held him no ill-will. She was able to advance and wrestle someone else so what’s the big whoop?
If someone did not want to wrestle on a given day because of religious beliefs would you mock them?
Would people here be happier if he claimed he was not well? Instead of forfeiting, he gave an honest reason. Unless you want to strap everyone to a lie detector, people could BS why they don’t participate. Or he could’bv shown up and thrown the match. To be fair, some of you want want to start an investigative bureau as to why people lose so guess it wouldn’t matter.
He lost the match. That was the punishment. That and a bunch of morally superior people poo-pooing his choices via the internet. If your sensibilities are offended, no one involved in the actual story seems to care but if it makes you feel better to cast aspersions on others, go nuts.
The quote, “Though Iowa has allowed girls to compete against boys in wrestling for two decades…” is slightly misleading. According to the AP article(2-17-11) “Iowa High School Wrestler Defaults Match So He Wouldn’t Face Girl”
“Cedar Falls freshman Cassy Herkelman and Ottumwa sophomore Megan Black (who) became the first two girls to make the state wrestling tournament in its 85 year history.”
Two girls made the tournament in two decades of eligibility. Their combined tournament record is 1 win(by default) and 4 losses. Not a very competitive record for twenty years of co-ed wrestling.
I wrestled intramurals in college for 4 years and finished 2nd in my senior year. I won about half of my matches because I was stronger than my opponents. When I wrestled anyone with any wrestling skills, I lost, because I had none. Either Cassy Herkelman or Megan Black would have kicked my ass in spite of the weight disadvantage because they both know how to wrestle.
tomdarch- the “HenMan” character is in touch with both his masculine and feminine sides. Insecurities? We ain’t got no insecurities. We don’t need no insecurities. I don’t have to show you any stinking insecurities!
I am left slack-jawed at the public display of stupidity here. Show some respect to these girls/young women – they can choose to compete or not compete. Plenty of boys have entered wrestling matches with stronger and/or more skilled opponents and been creamed in the process. There’s no reason to treat these girls any differently.
Does this “HenMan” character actually not realize how much he(?) is projecting about him(?)self? I find it way more plausible that this is some sort of Colbert-esque parody character than someone who is THAT wildly out of touch with his own insecurities.
Specifically to this case – of course, there should be no law forcing this boy to wrestle against girls. That said, there should be consequences for his bad sportsmanship. The rules say that his opponent was qualified, and he refused to compete citing some characteristic of his opponent as an excuse. I say he should be treated the same as if he said that he wouldn’t wrestle against an opponent of a different “race” (with or without some theology-babble thrown in). The consequence of that action is obvious vis a vis his future participation in school sports. It’s just that simple.
then again…
[quote]Though Iowa has allowed girls to compete against boys in wrestling for two decades, [/quote]
seems I am being overly pessimistic. If there hasn’t been a problem in the last 20 years, seems there isn’t much to worry about.
mwapo727272
a better analogy would be single men being harassed or outright refused to be able to accompany a child on a plane. Another would be a teenage boy facing criminal charges because he helped a lost child find his parents by walking her around a mall. Both examples happen all the time in the name of “better safe than sorry”.
I am talking about false claims of assault. Many wrestling moves involves quite a bit of contact. Once some girl claims the contact was inappropriate the boy, his family, coaches, and the school will face a storm of problems not to mention civil lawsuits.
They may be able to avoid criminal charges since it would be difficult to prove sexual intent. But as we’ve seen you don’t need to prove anything. A mere accusation will cause tremendous problems. The coaches, referees, and fans wouldn’t be of any help in that sort of situation.
Not saying that is a reason to disallow girls and boys competing in wrestling. Just saying it will happen. Innocents will suffer.
Jeff:
“The biggest problem with allowing females and males to compete in wrestling is the inevitability of possible criminal and/or civil penalties when one party claims that the other party committed sexual assault.”
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That would be like banning dating because of date rape. You deal with the problem as it arises and punish the perpetrator. Shouldn’t be too hard since the mats are surrounded by coaches, referees and fans.
The biggest problem with allowing females and males to compete in wrestling is the inevitability of possible criminal and/or civil penalties when one party claims that the other party committed sexual assault.
Look at the recent hoopla over the wrestling move which involves the finger entering or nearly entering the anus.
You can bet anything that eventually – probably much sooner than later a claim of assault will be made, lawsuits against the school, student, coach and everyone will shortly follow.
HenMen,
This isn’t an abstract discussion about the Olympics though—there are a few women good enough to compete at the state level of this sport. The question is: do you want to ban them from competing because of some patronizing belief that they won’t win?
Don’t confuse what is true on average with ordained truth about what must always be true.
To me, high school sports is just one more established religion.
Brian is cryin’.
Buddha-
In events where there are quantifiable results such as times(track or swimming events,speed skating), or distances(shotput,javelin,broad jump,high jump,pole vault,ski jumping), the men are going to have better results 99+%. In judged events like gymnastics or figure skating, men and women can compete on a fairly even basis with the edge toward the men because of greater strength.
Men and women going head to head in physical sports results in an unfair contest.
HenMan,
Actually you’re kinda right: we are built differently. In grappling women have a naturally lower center of gravity because of the way their pelvis and hips are shaped. A low center of gravity is an advantage for things like wrestling or judo. Woman actually have the advantage in just about anything other than boxing – which relies heavily on upper body strength where men have the advantage. Kick boxing or tradition MA kick techniques are a wash for both sexes. Joint manipulation, like you see in jujitsu or MMA, is also a wash as they are less strength dependent and more technique dependent. As long as it’s not a martial sport like boxing? Really there is little issue from a technical perspective with women competing as long as there is parity in weight class.
Lottakatz-
“Cultural artifacts” they may be, but they exist, and violating them is deadly for a high school kid. Would you send your son to high school wearing a dress to make a point about gender equality? Trust me, he wouldn’t thank you for it.
Do you know of any other physical sport, at any level, where men and women compete together? I don’t, and there’s a reason for it. On average, men are taller, heavier, and more muscular. Wanting men and women to compete together in physical sports is wishful thinking.
I, too want equality for women in all aspects of life, but women trying to compete with men in physical sports on an equal basis doesn’t work. We’re built differently.
Slarti:
“I’d have to say that I’m leaning towards the ‘only because they do’ camp…”
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Me too, but this is a special case in my view because, as Carol presceintly notes,the young man’s stand was not victimless and his actions reflected negatively on his opponent.
Kid:
“Did she earn her spot? was this a final round or a first round?”
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This was the first round match of the state tourney. Wrestlers must qualify for the tourney and Cassie did by beating other male wrestlers. Cassie lost the next two matches and was eliminated.
Carol:
“That isn’t fair to her. He did her a great wrong by refusing to compete.”
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I’ve intentionally tried to stay neutral on this story to get reactions from everyone. We even drew in Blouise who had the same first reaction I did until I gave it more thought. It’s a close call for me.
That said, I am in your camp here Carol. The young man’s refusal to compete took the light off a young woman who obviously earned her spot by qualifying. I accept his decision but I saw no remorse in his words for tainting her victory or denying her the opportunity.
Implicit in every competition is the ethical duty to compete against all comers within the rules unless unforeseen circumstances or bona fide strategy make competition impractical. Cassie completely followed the rules and waived any claim of favoritism or protection based on her gender. While Joel might have sincerely believed this was inappropriate, I am aware of no religious tenet forbidding the practice and one was never cited. Not everything claimed as religious is truly based on dogma or scriptural teachings. Some of it is plain subjective interpretation or, at worse, bigotry.
I would have given the young man the choice to wrestle Cassie or be disqualified for the balance of the tourney. Imagine a Caucasian refusing to wrestle an African-American, or a Muslim athlete refusing to wrestle a Jew … as a matter of principle? Would we so readily defer to Joel’s decision of conscience in those circumstances?
We are either melting pot or (in an)Irish Stew.
HenMan, the downsides you list are all cultural artifacts that speak to the fact that ‘girls’ are considered inferior to boys. The way to correct that is by having more sex-neutral sports, not fewer. More girls wrestling and competing with and against boys would be a good step to correcting the stereotypes.
eniobob,
you are correct. 50 is way too young. He was a very popular player with the Bears.
If you like boy-girl wrestling, you’re going to love the exhibition football game between the Lombardi Middle School and the Green Bay Packers. Ambulances are standing by. Hospitals have been alerted to expect multiple casualties. May the better team emerge triumphant!