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HomeVIEWPOINTSTIME TO GO TO THE MAT, RESTORE WRESTLING FOR MEN AND WOMEN

TIME TO GO TO THE MAT, RESTORE WRESTLING FOR MEN AND WOMEN

By Han Psalma

A Perspective

Wrestling is the oldest sport known to humanity and popular in every corner of the world in its many forms. Greco-Roman grapplers from antiquity are celebrated in statues, Asian martial artists in paintings and Native Americans in sandstone. Wrestling is everywhere…

…except Southwestern College.

Wrestling had the mat pulled away prior to 1978 when it stopped making appearances in SC’s student newspaper then called The Athapascan. While this misconstrues wrestling as a sport of the past, the opposite is true. There are more than 400 university men’s wrestling programs and countless more in community colleges.

Here is why SC should bring back wrestling:

It would make SC more popular

More than 75 percent of the high schools that feed into Southwestern College have wrestling programs. There is no data, but it seems a reasonable presumption that many young men and women who enroll at other colleges to continue wrestling might attend SC instead given the option. Wrestling would make SC more of a destination college.

Kayla Tolentino, a former varsity wrestler at Otay Ranch High School, said she would love to see a team at SC.

“Having a San Diego (County) college wrestling team would be amazing,” she said. “I think the sport is (growing in popularity), so why not be involved and open the opportunity for students?”

There are currently only 15 wrestling teams registered on the California Community College website and only one in San Diego County — at Palomar College, an hour away on a good traffic day.

A wrestling team would give SC a unique selling point for student athletes and bring luster to the athletic department. It would own most of San Diego County.

Community college sports support equity, diversity and inclusion

Most student-athletes look to transfer and many hope to compete at the university level on athletic scholarships.

SC athletic department data backs this.

“At least 73 percent of the current 22,000 student-athletes in the California Community College system emanate from disproportionately impacted groups.”

SC can play a leading role in helping minority students find inclusion in collegiate sports. South County high school wrestlers are predominantly minority as opposed to the national wrestling demographic that it predominantly white. A 2021-22 NCAA survey indicated that college wrestlers where 62 percent White, 16 percent Black and 7 percent Latino. Southwestern College could flip those numbers.

Wrestling would make the football team better

Football head coach Dionicio Monarrez said a wrestling team would yield great benefits for the gridiron program.

“I wrestled for seven years, so I know there’s a crossover in technical things,” he said. “I have always believed there’s a crossover with the grappling of a wrestler and the strength required for football.”

Wrestling would help with recruiting, Monarrez said.

“I have had recruits ask if we had a wrestling team,” he said. “They would love the chance to (participate in) wrestling as well as football.”

Wrestling aligns with Title IX

Title IX of the Higher Education Act requires that women and men are provided equitable opportunities to participate in sports. Title IX does not require institutions to offer identical sports but an equal opportunity to participate.

Women did not wrestle much in the 20th century, but that has changed. Women’s wrestling is the NCAA’s fastest growing sport. USA Wrestling estimates that there are about 120 collegiate women’s programs and a growth rate of 50 percent since the pandemic.

Helping women also helps men, according to data. Research by Wrestle Like a Girl shows that colleges that add women’s wrestling enjoy a corresponding increase in men’s wrestling.  

Southwestern would benefit from a wrestling program and so would the community. We should go to the mat for this ancient sport that is more popular than ever.

Photos Courtesy of SC Library

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