{"id":32821,"date":"2016-02-25T20:21:13","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T02:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=32821"},"modified":"2016-02-26T21:11:07","modified_gmt":"2016-02-27T03:11:07","slug":"womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s wrestling takes a strong stance"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jasmine Cannon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Until two decades ago, a fan could go to a wrestling match and all of the athletes shared a common trait: they were male.<\/p>\n

Now the ladies have leagues of their own. Twelve years ago, women\u2019s wrestling became an Olympic sport. Today 28 colleges sponsor a varsity program and more than 11,000 girls participate in high school, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association. California, Tennessee, Washington, Texas, Alaska and Hawaii host girls-only high school state tournaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started wrestling in high school, there were no kids programs available or junior high programs available in Hawaii [for girls],\u201d said Clarissa Chun, the bronze medalist in the 2012 Olympic games in the 48 kg weight class. \u201cNow when I go back home and all across the country, I see little girls wearing little singlets.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Chun grew up practicing judo. At 16, she agreed to join the wrestling team after Hawaii, where she lived with her family, created a girls-only state tournament. Nearly two decades later, she is one of the most well-known athletes in a sport that was in danger of being dropped from the Olympics.<\/p>\n

[vimeo 156747078 w=474]
\nThe International Olympic Committee reinstated wrestling at least through the 2020 Games, in part because the sport’s governing body made the number of weight classes even for both women and men. This summer in Rio de Janeiro, women and men will each compete in six weight classes.<\/p>\n

Erin Vandiver, an assistant coach for the USA national team, got into the sport after watching her two older brothers practice and compete.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started when I was five, it wasn\u2019t even an Olympic sport, and now I\u2019m an Olympic team coach,\u201d said Vandiver, who wrestled at Lock Haven University as a member of the varsity men\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

Within the next couple of years, according to assistant national coach Emma Randall, USA Wrestling plans to file for NCAA \u201cemerging sport\u201d status, which requires at least 20 varsity or club teams on college campuses. Women\u2019s wrestling may also become an emerging sport in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, which represents the smaller four-year colleges with the majority of women\u2019s wrestling programs. Many also participate at junior colleges.<\/p>\n

\"USA
USA Wrestling coaches Erin Vandiver and Emma Randall prep Erin Golston during a break in a match. (Jasmine Cannon\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Female wrestlers currently compete for national championships through the Women\u2019s College Wrestling Association. The culminating tournament includes schools from different divisions and conferences where \u201cit\u2019s every man for himself,\u201d Randall said.<\/p>\n

More chances to wrestle in college mean girls can do what they love and further their education and athletic careers. For some of the trailblazers, it\u2019s about more than being the toughest athlete on the mat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunities that they have now are just tremendous, and [women\u2019s wrestling] has just grown so much,\u201d Vandiver said. \u201cIt\u2019s given them the opportunities to travel, to get education, to learn life skills, to be independent, to be strong, to be beautiful, all those things into one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Clarissa Chun battles Erin Golston at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. (Jasmine Cannon\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jasmine Cannon Until two decades ago, a fan could go to a wrestling match and all of the athletes shared a common trait: they were male. Now the ladies have leagues of their own. Twelve years ago, women\u2019s wrestling became an Olympic sport. Today 28 colleges sponsor a varsity program and more than 11,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":32827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,585],"tags":[1733,1761,993,192,1764,545,1763,1762,1722,1352,1151],"class_list":["post-32821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-winter-2016","tag-athletics","tag-clarissa-chun","tag-olympics","tag-promo","tag-rio-2016","tag-sports","tag-usa","tag-usa-sports","tag-usa-wrestling","tag-womens-wrestling","tag-wrestling"],"yoast_head":"\nWomen\u2019s wrestling takes a strong stance - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women\u2019s wrestling takes a strong stance - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jasmine Cannon Until two decades ago, a fan could go to a wrestling match and all of the athletes shared a common trait: they were male. Now the ladies have leagues of their own. Twelve years ago, women\u2019s wrestling became an Olympic sport. Today 28 colleges sponsor a varsity program and more than 11,000 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-26T02:21:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-27T03:11:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/womenswrestlingprogress.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jasminecannon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jasminecannon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jasminecannon\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/935d861c3bc1541fda26eb884fcda745\"},\"headline\":\"Women\u2019s wrestling takes a strong stance\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-26T02:21:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-27T03:11:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":538,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/womenswrestlingprogress.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"athletics\",\"clarissa chun\",\"Olympics\",\"promo\",\"Rio 2016\",\"sports\",\"USA\",\"USA sports\",\"USA Wrestling\",\"women's wrestling\",\"Wrestling\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\",\"Winter 2016\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/\",\"name\":\"Women\u2019s wrestling takes a strong stance - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/womenswrestlingprogress.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-26T02:21:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-27T03:11:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/935d861c3bc1541fda26eb884fcda745\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/womenswrestlingprogress.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/womenswrestlingprogress.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":733},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Women\u2019s wrestling takes a strong stance\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/935d861c3bc1541fda26eb884fcda745\",\"name\":\"jasminecannon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c68638d97986d0624094dbbdae0d62c111bc2bef0a94f47283788739ad47ec86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c68638d97986d0624094dbbdae0d62c111bc2bef0a94f47283788739ad47ec86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c68638d97986d0624094dbbdae0d62c111bc2bef0a94f47283788739ad47ec86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jasminecannon\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/author\\\/jasminecannon\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Women\u2019s wrestling takes a strong stance - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Women\u2019s wrestling takes a strong stance - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Jasmine Cannon Until two decades ago, a fan could go to a wrestling match and all of the athletes shared a common trait: they were male. Now the ladies have leagues of their own. Twelve years ago, women\u2019s wrestling became an Olympic sport. Today 28 colleges sponsor a varsity program and more than 11,000 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-02-26T02:21:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-02-27T03:11:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":733,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/womenswrestlingprogress.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jasminecannon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jasminecannon","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/"},"author":{"name":"jasminecannon","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/935d861c3bc1541fda26eb884fcda745"},"headline":"Women\u2019s wrestling takes a strong stance","datePublished":"2016-02-26T02:21:13+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-27T03:11:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/"},"wordCount":538,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/womenswrestlingprogress.jpg","keywords":["athletics","clarissa chun","Olympics","promo","Rio 2016","sports","USA","USA sports","USA Wrestling","women's wrestling","Wrestling"],"articleSection":["Sports","Winter 2016"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/","name":"Women\u2019s wrestling takes a strong stance - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/womenswrestlingprogress.jpg","datePublished":"2016-02-26T02:21:13+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-27T03:11:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/935d861c3bc1541fda26eb884fcda745"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/womenswrestlingprogress.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/womenswrestlingprogress.jpg","width":1100,"height":733},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/womens-wrestling-takes-a-strong-stance\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Women\u2019s wrestling takes a strong stance"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/935d861c3bc1541fda26eb884fcda745","name":"jasminecannon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c68638d97986d0624094dbbdae0d62c111bc2bef0a94f47283788739ad47ec86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c68638d97986d0624094dbbdae0d62c111bc2bef0a94f47283788739ad47ec86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c68638d97986d0624094dbbdae0d62c111bc2bef0a94f47283788739ad47ec86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jasminecannon"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/jasminecannon\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}