By Marty Gordon
Women’s wrestling is one of the fastest-growing sports at the scholastic and collegiate level, and this past year, the Virginia High School League issued a mandate to create a whole separate level for female wrestlers.
According to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, opportunities for girls and women to wrestling began in the late 1980’s, when the international wrestling federation United World Wrestling began hosting competitions. But only recently has the sport really taken off.
As of January, 32 states including Virginia have some form of female wrestling. In September, the VHSL Executive Committee voted to designate girls wrestling as an “emerging sport” starting with the 2022-23 season.
Separate tournaments specifically for girls, like the Virginia Girls Wrestling Championship, exist and are sanctioned by the Virginia High School League.
The exact number of females that participated in VHSL wrestling this past season is not known, but Radford High School had two girls wrestle and several others inquire about joining the team.
In anticipation of this increase, the RHS wrestling program has launched a fundraising effort for monies to buy wrestling singlets for the girls.
Radford athletic director Greg Wade points to the fact it is an emerging sport here in southwest Virginia.
“We are hoping to expand the sport. We had two girls this past year, and in the future, we hope to have two teams,” he said.
The exact amount of the fundraising goal is not known, but Radford is hoping to gather enough to serve as the foundation for the separate sports team.
