Seeking advice for my daughter.

[Peterm]

Agreed Bobby,

Although I think there are outliers in this (Gabi Garcia, Kayla Harrison, etc) the elite female will probably not beat the elite male. However an Elite female can defeat most men within reason.

Now in the case of a girls vs. boys in wrestling. I do think there are ways to continue to have success through technique up until the collegiate level. I think alot of it has to do with strategy. Outside shot's, ankle picks, Low Singles, Duck unders/flyby's etc. I think anytime she can get most of her body to control a limb, or attack at an angle will give her success. Gabby Bella, Alexis Hamilton, Kyra Batara have had some great success for their respective wrestling teams. I think if her wrestling technique is crisp she will be successful in the grappling arts no matter what.

Sorry but you can change "the elite female will probably not beat the elite male" to cannot beat the elite male. Name me one international female wrestler who would give her male counterpart on the US team a run for his money.

By referring to Gabi Garcia and Kayla Harrison as "outliers" you presumably are suggesting that they could beat elite male competitors? At her weight of 220lbs I'd like to know which heavyweight competitor Garcia could beat.

I saw Harrison at the London Olympics and while she did well you cannot seriously believe that she would get anywhere near the men's podium.

An elite female can beat most men? Having been to judo practices attended by international women's teams and seen the training and competition of female international wrestling teams that is simply not the case.

[Neil Kiernan]

You might like to set out your position in case I have misunderstood it but it may be that your view is that:

There are physical differences betwen boys and girls especially after puberty but they can be overcome by a sufficiently high level of technique.

I seem to recall saying my daughter is 9. Puberty is not an issue here. Some of the boys she is wrestling are starting to show levels of muscle development that she is not getting for just being abnormally tall and therefore heavier.

If you think that girls should be able to compete with boys on principle then I can understand that although I am not sure that many women wrestlers would wish it or would be happy about not having the ability to compete in their own championships.

I have actually done quite a bit of looking into this issue. That said, of course girls would love to wrestle in girl's championships, when they are offered. And the fact is they are not in most countries. There is work being done to change that and proposals to get girls wrestling added to the high school curriculum but considering it's hard to get athletic departments to even keep their wrestling programs open in the first place most girls are forced to compete with boys regardless. The daughter of my daughter's coach Katrina Betts did quite well for herself in the boys division pinning 18 of her 24 opponents in her final year with a serious injury.

If on the other hand you think that women would be able to be competitive with men at the highest level given adequate technique then we part views. They have not done it in other sports where physical performance from running fast to lifting weight can be measured and the differences are obvious and insuperable. They cannot do it in more technical sports and they have absolutely no chance of doing it in a sport where a man’s physical attributes will be confronted directly, technical proficiency notwithstanding. I do not see what is “crass” about that.

No. I am not asking to help my 9 year old daughter to become an NCAA champion.

On another note I remain intrigued about the world's best "non wrestling" wrestling coach as it is a part of the conundrum about successful performers and unsuccessful coaches. In truth however I suspect that it will turn out to be an urban myth and you will be hard pressed to come up with a successful wrestling coach who has not competed let alone not wrestled.

And I told you I will get back to you. I am waiting to talk to the man who told me about it. Jake Herbert, US Olympic team member from 2012. I run into him in the local tournaments and he has trained my kids in the past. It is already well established that some people who did not succeed in their sports or even get beyond the bottom levels are able to coach. He mentioned one that had apparently not wrestled at all and gave a name that I do not recall.

[DocDan84]

It's pretty much already been said, but I'll reinforce the idea that she needs practice sitting out, hitting switches, and possibly adding Granbys. I couldn't help noticing she had several opportunities to sit out, and possibly hit a switch, but she needs to know that that's going to be her go to, and make it happen. Like any other grappling, if you can't match strength with strength, or speed with speed, then you have to fine tune your technique and timing. On the plus side, she doesn't quit, that's huge and it can't be taught. Good luck.