Meet Macyra Draper, Courtney Stewart, Maria Palma, Yulisa Carrera and Afonya Harges – all are members of the Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High and Middle School wrestling team. Yeah, you read it right. Wrestling team. And these girls had an admirable season this year despite many challenges.
I forgot to mention that Attucks’ wrestling team is co-ed and the majority of the opponents these young ladies face are male. Many wonder, of all the athletics offered at Attucks, why wrestling?
“I just wanted to try something new,” said Carrera, the sophomore known for her ever-present smile. Her feelings echo the sentiments of many of the girls who wanted to use their athletic talents for something unexpected and fun.
As friends of Carrera and Stewart, Palma (sophomore) and Draper (freshman) were inspired to join the team. Afonya Harges is on Attucks’ middle school team and is the only girl.
Many of their parents were not thrilled about their choice of sport and thought they only wanted to join the team to meet boys. They were partially right.
“You get to take them down,” said Stewart, who is a freshman, without batting an eye.
Wrestling may appear to be barbaric or graceless, but in all seriousness, the very essence of the sport is about individual skill and strategy – two characteristics that fuel these girls each time they get on the mat.
“I feel you have to have discipline first because if you don’t, everything else won’t matter,” said Barbara Harges, Attucks’ head middle school wrestling coach. “The physical strength will come later. We can develop that.”
Skill is important, but you can’t ignore strength. In wrestling, athletes battle against one another in specified weight classes. Some argue that despite gender, once both wrestlers get on the mat, they are equal. Jeff Richter, strength and conditioning coach for St. Vincent Sports Performance said that’s not necessarily true.
He said men and women have acceptable levels of body composition. On the surface girls and boys could be the same weight, but the two genders have varied levels of muscle and fat. Due to the way a male’s body is composed, they have more capabilities to produce muscle even if a female is extremely fit.
“At the end of the day, muscle only takes you so far. It’s possible for girls to succeed (when wrestling boys),” said Richter.
Despite biology, these young ladies don’t mind wrestling with boys and believe it provides better competition – more so than wrestling against their own gender. Being that they practice strategy “a million times” and the majority of their competition is male, they’ve gotten used to wrestling with boys.
And when they win matches, particularly against a disrespectful opponent, boy does it feel good!
Earning respect is probably one of the biggest hurdles the girls face. They said many of their teammates doubted their commitment to the sport. They also have to continuously prove themselves when wrestling against other schools.
“Some boys are very disappointed when we beat them,” said Palma.
Barbara Harges said she even had to get out on the mat and prove her agility in order to be the head coach. She also had to stay consistent and quickly learn what she didn’t know about wrestling in order to make the middle schoolers respect her.
This doesn’t surprise Dr. Chris Carr, sport and performance psychologist for St. Vincent Sports Performance. He said over the years female wrestling has become more acceptable. The challenge that others place onto women wrestlers is the social stigma of defining what is a masculine and feminine sport. He said this is also no different than when women began playing softball, ice hockey and other male-dominated sports.
“Wrestling is an individual sport but how it differs from other individual sports like golf, tennis and track and field, is that wrestling is unique because of its physical nature. If you look at the history of contact sports like tae kwon do, women have been doing this for years,” said Carr. “The problem exists for people who have a societal or gender bias for what is the ‘right’ sport for an athlete.”
During competition, all of that goes out the window with these lady folk-style wrestlers and all their mind is focused on is winning.
“Losing to a person you know isn’t better than you is overwhelming,” said Stewart. “It makes you want to rematch them,” added Carrera.
Prior to stepping foot on the mat, the young ladies said they face other hurdles. They agree that not only are they looked down upon because of their gender, but they are looked down upon by sports dominant schools within Indianapolis Public Schools and certainly looked down upon by financially and academically stable township, private and parochial schools.
Due to early exposure and more financial resources, many of Attucks and other IPS wrestlers’ competition are essentially more advanced than theirs.
The girls also have to have special accommodations when “weighing in” or determining weight class. Weighing in is done in one’s underwear.
The girls may have tremendous hurdles to overcome, but they all agree that the positives outweigh the negatives. On and off the mat, wrestling teaches self-discipline, healthy eating habits, mental focus and problem solving skills. Being on the team has also boosted their academics.
The high school girl wrestlers’ season is over and Draper, Stewart, Palma and Carrera are satisfied with their performances. Expect them on the team next year. In the meantime, they plan to spend their time improving their wrestling technique and doing the same things girls their age do to have fun.
