WRESTLING WOMEN

There's reason to believe that years from now the female wrestling landscape will look different. According to a New York Times article, a little more than a decade ago (1996-97) only 1,600 girls wrestled in high school. That number had increased more than threefold by 2006-07 to 5,000 girls. Why? Well, the difference almost certainly has something to do with the recent inclusion of women's wrestling in the Olympics (2004). In fact, since 2006-07 the amount of colleges that offer female wrestling as a varsity sport has also increased, albeit more slowly. Sure, the amount of colleges offering the sport for women is still painfully low, but as early as last year, USA Wrestling's women's national coach Terry Steiner was positive about recent developments.