One of the fastest growing youth sports in Kentucky is set for its showcase event this weekend in Lexington, with the potential for KHSAA sanctioning in the near future.
The fourth edition of the Kentucky Girls’ State Wrestling Championships will take place Saturday at Tates Creek High School, and this year’s tournament represents continued growth for girls’ wrestling in the commonwealth.
Scotty Teater — the organizer of the girls’ wrestling state championships, the president of the Kentucky Wrestling Coaches Association and the head wrestling coach at Tates Creek — told the Herald-Leader there are about 315 girls on high school wrestling rosters across Kentucky.
Teater said these 315 girls represent about 75 schools, out of the about 130 that have wrestling programs.
Teater said more than 200 girls are registered to take part in Saturday’s state championships.
“I really attribute (the growth of girls’ wrestling in Kentucky) to making girls’ state and having them have something to work for and having a team title and state champions. It makes coaches buy in on that,” Teater explained. “I think the coaches bought in and really promoted it and have recruited girls well.”
For comparison, the first Kentucky Girls’ State Championship event in 2019 featured 105 wrestlers from 33 schools.
Teater said the growth of women’s wrestling at the college level has helped create an interest in wrestling at the high school level.
According to the NCAA as of October, there are three Division I schools, 13 Division II schools, 22 Division III schools and 36 NAIA schools that have women’s wrestling programs that compete in national tournaments each year.
Several colleges and universities have announced the planned addition of women’s wrestling even more recently, such as Bluefield State College, a Historically Black College in Bluefield, West Virginia.
In December, Bluefield State became the first Historically Black College to add women’s wrestling, as well as the first Division II school in West Virginia to add the sport.
Since 2020, women’s wrestling has been classified as an NCAA emerging sport. This designation means that women’s wrestling would become an NCAA championship sport in Division I if 40 schools add teams by 2030.
More than 30 states currently have sanctioned girls’ wrestling state championships at the high school level.
While girls’ wrestling isn’t a KHSAA-sanctioned sport, it may become one soon.
Teater said positive conversations are ongoing with KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett and KHSAA Assistant Commissioner Joe Angolia, who oversees wrestling.
“I think there’s a really good chance we get there next year,” Teater said of KHSAA sanctioning for girls’ wrestling. “We’ve been waiting on a survey from schools, a triennial survey that kind of guides them on sports that they want to see happen. I think we really have the numbers now and the push to get that. So we have our fingers crossed that we’ll get it sanctioned next year.”
What does Teater think KHSAA sanctioning will do for girls’ wrestling in Kentucky?
“I think the numbers will really shoot up. There’s several school systems that don’t want to fund and have a separate coach … or buy the singlets and equipment because right now it’s not technically sanctioned,” Teater said. “I think once they get that sanctioned, you’re going to see the school systems buy in and say, ‘OK, we’re going to fund a coach. We’re going to fund travel, we’re going to fund tournaments and stuff like this.’ It’ll just legitimize it and I think then that brings a legitimacy to the kids.”
One of the best indicators for the momentum for girls’ wrestling in Kentucky is the way participation numbers recovered after a decrease following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After 105 wrestlers took part in the inaugural girls’ state championship event in 2019, there were 171 entrants for the 2020 event, held less than two months before the pandemic shut down sports worldwide.
Last year’s girls’ state event had 90 participants, Teater said.
“With COVID, we definitely saw a numbers drop overall, men’s and women’s. This year, we’ve seen a big jump back on both ends,” Teater said.
One of the reasons Teater works to increase exposure for girls’ wrestling in Kentucky is Jaine Stephens, a former wrestler at Whitley County High School who is now on the women’s wrestling team at the University of the Cumberlands, both located in Williamsburg.
Teater remembers watching Stephens wrestle at the high school level and noted that she was a “tough, gritty girl.”
Stephens’ father, Donnie, is now in his ninth season as the head coach of the Cumberlands women’s wrestling team.
Stephens’ parents were both involved in helping grow girls’ wrestling in California, and Teater talked with them about how to achieve similar growth for the sport in Kentucky.
“We’ve been kind of stagnant, kind of a plateau for a while and I feel like it would help not only the girls, but the guys as well,” Teater said of wrestling in Kentucky. “I’m just all about promoting wrestling. Wrestling is the greatest sport for kids to learn, discipline and all that stuff. It carries over to girls just as well as it does to boys. I hate that (girls) were missing the opportunity on that.”
With women’s and girls’ wrestling expanding at both the college and high school levels, Teater said opportunities in the sport will increase.
An example cited by Teater is the Cumberlands women’s wrestling program, which currently has at least eight women on the roster that went to high school in Kentucky.
“I think sports is so important for kids developing and any other sports that we can get gives more opportunities for more kids to learn from sports, and then further their education also for college and going to universities and stuff,” Teater said. “Those opportunities are opening up more now. So if we can build Kentucky wrestling for the girls now, we can get these girls to college to do wrestling.”