When winners of the Zone 1 Qualifier girls wrestling tournament were denied medals this past February in Bristol, Grayson County High School coach Jay Coman offered to buy hardware himself and send it to the proper recipients.
There was confusion and frustration about the event, which forced the Virginia High School League to issue a clarifying statement. Girls wrestling was classified as an 鈥渆merging sport,鈥 not an official one, so providing medals was not necessary.
That policy is now a thing of the past, as the VHSL executive committee voted Wednesday to sanction girls wrestling as an official sport. The move came after a three-year probationary period that saw participation numbers skyrocket.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 surprised, because girls wrestling has just exploded,鈥 Coman told The 色多多. 鈥淚 was happy for the girls on our team, just to get proper recognition, and hopefully they鈥檒l be able to compete in the normal state tournament environment in front of a big crowd, and get the same awards and accolades that male athletes get in wrestling.鈥
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Coman said he has had a surge of female wrestlers in his program, hosting around half a dozen varsity grapplers and around 10 in the middle school ranks. Senior Isabella Hill won the school鈥檚 first-ever girls state championship at the Girls Open, an unofficial event hosted by the VHSL, and repeated this winter. Freshman teammate Alliya Walker claimed the Region 1B/1C championship, defeating male wrestlers along the way.
Grayson County senior Isabella Hill won the school鈥檚 first-ever girls state championship at the girls open and repeated this winter.
Virginia became the 47th state to sanction girls wrestling, a long way off from neighboring state Tennessee, which approved its inclusion back in 2015.
鈥淲e鈥檙e way behind the curve on that,鈥 Coman said. 鈥淭ennessee has had girls sanctioned wrestling and girls division tournaments for years. I think Virginia was way behind on this. I鈥檓 not sure why, because a lot of girls participate in wrestling in Virginia, but no need to dwell on the past. The bright spot is things are moving in the right direction for the future.鈥
Girls wrestling was first designated an 鈥渆merging sport鈥 by the VHSL three years ago, as per policy for the sanctioning of a new sport, which meant its growth needed to be closely monitored and needed to clear several hurdles for the executive committee to vote on approving it. More than half of the 317 member schools now have a female wrestler, and this past season there was a reported 631 total female wrestlers, an increase of more than 350 from 2022.
Radford High School wrestling coach Dwayne Martin said the sport鈥檚 sanctioning in Virginia will serve as a pipeline through the highest ranks of the sport.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important because college wrestling has happened, and we have Olympic wrestling for women and women have been winning gold, silver and bronze medals at the Olympics,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut Virginia didn鈥檛 endorse girls wrestling, so it鈥檚 going to be a feeder program all the way up through college and the Olympics, which is really exciting.鈥
VHSL Executive Director Billy Haun said details surrounding its setup will still need to be worked out, but the expectation is girls wrestling will have its own district and region tournaments in addition to state tournaments. Classes 1-3 are slated to be held at the Salem Civic Center.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to continue to expand,鈥 Martin said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take a few years for it to get to the level where boys are wrestling, because it鈥檚 not nearly as large, but my hope is that eventually we will have six different championships like we do in boys wrestling. It would be great to be able to have all those championships with enough girls and participation.鈥
Because of its sanctioning, the popularity of the sport will only rise, Coman said. Not only due to its legitimacy, but for the removal of personal reservations about taking up a sport that forced girls to wrestle boys on a regular basis.
鈥淚 think it will lead to a huge explosion in more girls participating in wrestling, because in the past a lot of girls liked wrestling, they like to be active and physical in nature, but parents may not want them wrestling boys or have a fear of injury,鈥 Coman said. 鈥淪o I think that was an inhibiting thing for girls to join the sport of wrestling. That stigma is going to be removed.鈥
For Martin, who coached senior Maggie Page to a third-place finish at this year鈥檚 girls open state championships, it鈥檚 a signal of acceptance for the female wrestlers past and present in Virginia who helped grow the sport and lead it to sanctioning.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a huge amount of validation, that they have fought for this opportunity to be recognized and equal in the wrestling field,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd now Virginia is catching up to where everybody else is and it鈥檚 wonderful.鈥
