Wrestling is one of the few co-ed sports offered at MHS, with both girls wrestling and boys wrestling seen as two different sports on the Central Coast Section, wrestling coach Roberto Clemente said.
The main reason the sport was deemed as a co-ed sport by the school was because of budget issues, Clemente said. There was also a concern of not having enough space for girls and boys to wrestle separately, he added.
Still, “the girls wrestle the girls,” Clemente said. “They have their own tournaments, they have their own matches, they have their own dual meets.”
During practice, sometimes a girl wrestles against a boy, but there is no advantage one gender has over another, Clemente added.
“Wrestling is wrestling. Matches are matches. The more you have, the better you are,” Clemente said.
However, wrestling with boys can help girls improve their skills, senior wrestler Tuongvi Le, currently ranked top eight in the state for girls wrestling, said. It pushes them physically and can help them get better, she added.
“It’s definitely tougher, and that physically prepared me to wrestle,” Le said. “Just being able to be tough mentally, and practices are always beating you up. I know at the end all my results will be better and I’ll be a better wrestler.”
When it comes to wrestling, the weight is the equalizer, not the gender, Clemente said.
“If you’re at 132 pounds, you’re going against someone who’s 132 pounds,” Clemente said. “They may be taller, they may be wider, they may be shorter – it doesn’t matter. The weight’s the weight, the wrestling’s the wrestling.”
Having wrestling remain as a co-ed sport benefits all the wrestlers, as it can help all them improve their own skills, Clemente said.
“When they get to grill and work out with the boys, it’s a different pace, and it shows how good they are,” he said.
Even if there was enough budgeting to get girls their own wrestling team, practices should be held together for girls and boys, senior wrestler Tovie Pascual said.
“During practice, it’s good as co-ed because you get to work with different people with different skills, perspectives, and body types,” he added.
Despite wrestling currently being a co-ed sport, it may not remain like that for much longer, Pascual said. Though this hasn’t been confirmed, it is a possibility, he added.
“The popularity for women’s wrestling is going up so much,” Pascual said. “Our coach was talking about how girls could have their own dual meets with girl-only teams.”
Out of both wrestling teams, the girls’ wrestling team is more successful despite being so small, Clemente said.
“It is the fastest growing sport in the country,” Clemente said. “For girls, it is the newest sport that comes to high school sports.”