Thank you, Joel Northrup, for standing up both for your beliefs and out of respect for a girl.
Joel, a home-schooled sophomore, defaulted on his match with freshman Cassy Herkelman because he doesn’t think boys and girls should compete in the sport. Joel was a 35-4 wrestler for Linn-Mar High School in Iowa.
“Wrestling is a combat sport,” Joel said, “and it can get violent at times. As a matter of conscience and my 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.”
Joel is a hero in my book. A “titanic” hero. A 911 hero.
Cassie joins 6000 other girls competing in wrestling in 2009-10. Most states require girls to wrestle boys, but California, Hawaii, Washington, and Tennessee sponsor girls-only high school wrestling tournaments.
Girls can compete with boys in a “familiar,” body-slamming, and take-down sport; but, should they?
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