In a place like Iowa, sports are everything. No matter who you are or where you come from, sports are what unify the state, unless you are supporting the rival team. One of those sports is wrestling. You could even say that Iowa has a unique position in the wrestling community.
One school in particular, the University of Iowa, produces some of the best wrestling athletes in the world. And on September 23, the school announced the addition of a Division I women’s wrestling program, making Hawkeyes the first Power 5 school to do so. The team will begin the competition in the 2023-24 season.
This landmark announcement will benefit many girls and young women as they advance in their wrestling careers. Adding women to the accomplished Hawkeyes program is a step in the right direction toward representation and success for female athletes participating in non-traditional women’s sports.
Joseph Cress / Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA Today Network
“Three years ago we had 100 girls,” says former college wrestler and coach Jim Miller when talking about the number of wrestlers in his home state of Iowa. “Then we had 225, and last year we had 357 in the state tournament, unauthorized. You grow a lot “.
In the 2018-19 school year, 21,124 girls in the U.S. struggled at the high school level, a 22.9% increase from the previous year. As women’s wrestling continues to grow, an effort has recently been made to give it an emerging sporting status.
The history of female college wrestling dates back to the mid-1990s, when the University of Minnesota-Morris brought together women’s first team in the 1993-1994 season. A handful of schools followed in his footsteps, and at the end of the season, coaches were calling for an end-of-the-year tournament for women only.
However, that tournament didn’t come for a decade. With the support of USA Wrestling, Missouri Valley College organized and won the championship in 2004. Four years later, a governing body emerged: the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association.
Since the inception of WCWA, there have been championship tournaments organized each year for women’s wrestling. He has helped create a channel on USA Wrestling and has exposed female wrestlers, giving them the opportunity to compete in events as high as the Olympics. WCWA is leading the campaign to apply for emerging sports status from the NCAA.
“Dan Gable” [former Iowa coach] she loves that we’ve given a boost to the women’s fight, ”says Miller. “Women’s wrestling probably saved our sport from staying in the Olympics when [wrestling] it was almost canceled a few years ago. “
Today, there are 45 interuniversity wrestling programs for women. More and more schools are looking to add programs to a rapidly growing sport. One of the newer schools to highlight women’s struggle is Sacred Heart University in Connecticut; this will be its inaugural season. Like another young and emerging program, coach Paulina Biega has the utmost confidence in her team.
“I am here for my athletes and I want to help them improve,” says Biega, who brings knowledge as an athlete and coach to her new team.
Biega also points out how wonderful it is for the sport that Iowa is starting its own program soon.
“Just adding a program will lead us to see an increase in programs for women that are added in other large schools,” says Biega.
Iowa is considered one of the best places for men’s college wrestling in terms of success, history, facilities, and culture. Therefore, it seems the best place to expose the sport to women who have never seen or tried it. Now, a new fan base and appreciation has the power to grow, develop and initiate the movement for a new NCAA approved women’s sport.
Mackenzie Meaney is a contributor to Good sport, a media company dedicated to increasing the visibility of women and girls in sport.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.