When was the last to do so and how many have?

I know Campbell Co had one a few years back. 

Priscella Brownfield of Campbell 2006, lost in blood rd. That' last one I know of. 

Jaine Stephens for whitley is making the drop to 106, I think she can qualify this year. 

9 minutes ago, coachteater said:

Priscella Brownfield of Campbell 2006, lost in blood rd. That' last one I know of. 

Jaine Stephens for whitley is making the drop to 106, I think she can qualify this year. 

I knew Priscella. She was TOUGH.

I see the ranks growing in youth. Middle and high school are also. I think it is time Kentucky starts thinking about this side of wrestling. A lot of very good female wrestlers don't continue into high school. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that are pushing and trying to grow this side but help is needed by all. I hope my daughter will see the day, before she graduates, when Kentucky has it's first state all female tournament. 

1 minute ago, Wrestledad said:

I see the ranks growing in youth. Middle and high school are also. I think it is time Kentucky starts thinking about this side of wrestling. A lot of very good female wrestlers don't continue into high school. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that are pushing and trying to grow this side but help is needed by all. I hope my daughter will see the day, before she graduates, when Kentucky has it's first state all female tournament. 

Trust me..... I am pushing it like crazy from me. I have spoken to Danny Upchurch on numerous occasions to get this pushed through to get it in front of the right people.  

There are people around the state working hard to make it happen. I think this off season will present some interesting opportunities.

1 hour ago, halfhalfhalf said:

I knew Priscella. She was TOUGH.

Jared knew her pretty well too haha

I hope it does Not happen. I have twins wrestling Ms. They take a beating but both are All Americans. When we go to all girl national tournaments they dominate. Just my 2 cents.

2 hours ago, GentleBeard said:

There are people around the state working hard to make it happen. I think this off season will present some interesting opportunities.

I definitely think it will present some opportunities. 

I know there is something chatter about it now. 

The Spatola Classic has added a girls division this year. Youth - adult open. So girls bring your Moms and get on the mat. Seriously,  this tournament has gotten much better since he moved to UC.

For KY state girls information, tournaments, camp dates etc.  There is a facebook page "Kentucky Female wrestling" We plan on attending the major off season tournaments and are putting teams together for some of the more local ones. There will also be 4 Spring mini-camps held at Cumberlands.

On 1/25/2018 at 2:26 PM, Braves coach said:

I hope it does Not happen. I have twins wrestling Ms. They take a beating but both are All Americans. When we go to all girl national tournaments they dominate. Just my 2 cents.

I agree to an extent. Wrestling the boys has it's up side for a certain amount of time. The big difference occurs when going from the middle school level to the high school level. Muscle bound boys are the norm. This is my daughter's freshman year and she just came back from about 3 weeks off for a concussion. We are getting ready for our nationals season right now and the things she has experienced this year have helped her grow. All angles need to be debated and decisions agreed to in order for this sport to grow.

On 1/25/2018 at 11:17 AM, coachteater said:

Priscella Brownfield of Campbell 2006, lost in blood rd. That' last one I know of. 

Jaine Stephens for whitley is making the drop to 106, I think she can qualify this year. 

Jaine won't be dropping this year--injury and the flu got us

On 1/29/2018 at 10:05 PM, Wrestledad said:

I agree to an extent. Wrestling the boys has it's up side for a certain amount of time. The big difference occurs when going from the middle school level to the high school level. Muscle bound boys are the norm. This is my daughter's freshman year and she just came back from about 3 weeks off for a concussion. We are getting ready for our nationals season right now and the things she has experienced this year have helped her grow. All angles need to be debated and decisions agreed to in order for this sport to grow.

That's why my daughter quit this year...3X YOUTH back to back to back regional champion. .. She said she prefer to wrestle girls and retired on me..... She said if she looks cute in the singlet she will wrestle next year smh. . Not sure if KY is big enough for a girls team but I'd like to try.

We are working on it!  Go to the Kentucky Female wrestling facebook page for information on camps and what all girls tournaments we will be attending

50 minutes ago, Bond James Bond said:

That's why my daughter quit this year...3X YOUTH back to back to back regional champion. .. She said she prefer to wrestle girls and retired on me..... She said if she looks cute in the singlet she will wrestle next year smh. . Not sure if KY is big enough for a girls team but I'd like to try.

Fighting for it now. Hopefully something can be put together soon!

52 minutes ago, halfhalfhalf said:

Fighting for it now. Hopefully something can be put together soon!

If KENTUCKY put together Female teams? I guarantee that the female wrestling numbers would go thru the roof. I know parents who don't want a boy wrestling their daughter. ..

Every other sport has a male and female team... Why shouldn't wrestling! 

I agree!  I hope you all can get this idea to become a reality! 

1 minute ago, Bond James Bond said:

Every other sport has a male and female team... Why shouldn't wrestling! 

Football still has females playing. 

21 minutes ago, grappler-of-old said:

Football still has females 

22 minutes ago, grappler-of-old said:

Football still has females playing. 

Probably less females in football than in wrestling.  You got me there ... No female football teams, that I know of....

I still think KY Wrestling should have a female division. 

I have a daughter, so my opinion on this issue won't change. 

I understand that wrestling boys make them better. 

But numbers wise? If we had ALL Female wrestling teams? I believe the number of female wrestlers would go thru the roof. ... I bet KY would be shocked at how many females would participate,  if we had all female wrestling teams.

What do you think Grappler of old?

Pros vs Cons of ALL female Wrestling teams?

Does anybody know how many teams wrestled in the first boys state tournament?

And was it sanctioned by the KHSAA?

I'm a supporter of all female teams, and think it could take off, but I also see challenges from the coaching side. 

Although it may not be the case in all programs,  there is a shortage in coaches already. I know myself and others have had difficulty finding coaches for all levels. When you add female teams, you are going to find it difficult to find coaches. 

I think you're going to see difficulties in coordinating practice times and sharing facilities.  Although coaches like myself are flexible,  many are not. Many are already splittng time between hs, middle, and youth in one space. While not impossible,  it is a difficulty.  

Think it will also take time to create new events and scheduling. With low numbers to begin I think you will see few events for all female teams. And I think most current high school events are already too large to add female division to their tournaments.  

Another challenge I feel will be male coaches with female wrestlers. As we all know, coaching wrestling is very hands on. I know personally I'm on the mats everyday working with kids. I think many coaches will be very reluctant to coach females in fear of being accused of any improper activies. 

These are just a few difficulties I see as we move forward. Again I'm all for it and supportive, but I think these are a few things that will make us see slow movement in this direction.  

13 minutes ago, ccbcdeke said:

Does anybody know how many teams wrestled in the first boys state tournament?

And was it sanctioned by the KHSAA?

 

1965- 17 teams listed at state- khsaa sport. 

This is on khsaa website records

6 minutes ago, coachteater said:

1965- 17 teams listed at state- khsaa sport. 

This is on khsaa website records

Thanks.  I was just too lazy to look it up.  tbh.

To your other point, with the number of women graduating college and going into the teaching field, a girls high school team may be just the opportunity they are looking for to coach other girls.  Your post sounded like you would be counting on men to fill those coaching positions.

1964 was the 1st state tourney.  I don't have the complete records for that one.  In 1965 there were 17 teams.  Neither of these years was it sanctioned. 

The 1st sanctioned state tourney was 1966. The number of teams per year through the 60-70s

64-- ?---------------------70--27

65-- 17-------------------71--40

66-- 16-------------------72--42

67--22--------------------73--46

68--23--------------------74--49

69--24--------------------75--49

1976 had 59. was the most till

2002 with 64 teams  

03 and 04 with 66, 

06 with 69 

2007 with 73,

2009 with 74,

2010, with 77

2011 with 80

2012 with 82

2014 with 88

2015 with 89

2017 with 93 teams 

7 minutes ago, ccbcdeke said:

Thanks.  I was just too lazy to look it up.  tbh.

To your other point, with the number of women graduating college and going into the teaching field, a girls high school team may be just the opportunity they are looking for to coach other girls.  Your post sounded like you would be counting on men to fill those coaching positions.

Definitely a good opportunity for them, but still are very limited numbers of them out there. Numbers may come, but it will be slow.

All we have to do is look south Tenn. has a female state tourney. 

52 minutes ago, grappler-of-old said:

All we have to do is look south Tenn. has a female state tourney. 

and I have watched it go from 2007 being non-sanctioned to the invitational. Now to a sanctioned sport. 

I am telling you... If you build it, they (more wrestlers) will come.

Next, the #s will continue to grow. It is a fact. I spent a good amount of time digging through trackwrestling to put together weight's based upon track results.

Following TN plan of when they started the invitational to where we are comparably to TN. 

On the coaching shortage. That's on us to get the college kids and high school kids to help run your youth programs. Have the HS team volunteer time to help with practices and etc. That's how your staff for the future. 

Build female wrestling in KY.... The Campbellsville and UCumberland women that go into teaching have an opportunity to stay here in KY and coach. 

Will there be growing pains; absolutely. However, the #'s are growing drastically and will continue to grow as the MS/Youth move up.

I am glad to see this conversation being had on this forum. One problem that there has been is the fact that a lot of girls don't realize how many other girls are wrestling in the state or even around the country. Northern Kentucky doesn't see southern, western Kentucky doesn't see eastern. This is something that is trying to be remedied by starting a Facebook page as well as a Facebook group so that everyone can have a site to go to for info and to know others are out there. A lady keeps reminding me small steps to our goal and this conversation is another one of those steps.

I think it will be great when it happens.  The only real problem I see is what has already been mentioned. Coaching, ky does not have enough coaches for high/middle/youth programs already.  But its a problem that is worth having. 

One thing I've thought of before to help with lack of coaches is to have the female division in a different season. Thoughts?

Fall will conflict with Volleyball, Cross Country, Soccer, and Golf

Spring will conflict with Softball, Track, and Tennis. 

While Winter only conflicts with basketball and Swimming. 

However I like the idea of Spring because you could have the high school boys help out while also getting off season training. 

4 minutes ago, grappler-of-old said:

Fall will conflict with Volleyball, Cross Country, Soccer, and Golf

Spring will conflict with Softball, Track, and Tennis. 

While Winter only conflicts with basketball and Swimming. 

But I think a positive if you did spring, you would not be competing for gym time for tournaments.  

Also we are at a shortage for refs. If you had it in a different season, you would have plenty of refs and it would also allow them more mat time to improve as well. 

I like spring but ultimately KHSAA will make it a winter sport because it is wrestling. 

23 hours ago, grappler-of-old said:

All we have to do is look south Tenn. has a female state tourney. 

Looks like Tennessee would be a great model to follow too.  They have several girls  (more than they do boys) listed in the latest national high school rankings. 

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2018/January/31/National-Girls-High-School-rankings-of-Jan-31-released

Coming from a state where we started just where Kentucky is now and developed into a powerhouse, they started by having the girls team be like another level on the wrestling team.  We had Boys varsity, girls varsity, JV and Frosh and eventually girls JV as well.  A lot of tournaments just added a girls bracket to their boys tournament (kind of like how we do middle school and high school here).  The numbers grew and grew.  We had an unofficial Girls Invitational (they wouldn't let us use the word state) that eventually developed into the official state tournament.  

It's going to happen.  Patience and pushing will be needed.  Old school coaches are going to be stubborn until they meet some little girl who just wants to wrestle and they can't help but soften (I know because I watch it happen year after year).  Women's college programs and off season tournaments will continue to provide opportunities for girls of all ages.  Cumberlands is already hosting really cheap camps to get the girls in an all female room, and for some girls and parents this will be eye opening.  We are blessed to have a great USAW board that is pushing for representation.  

KHSAA will push back as long as they can, not because they don't want women to wrestle, but because its change.  

I'm excited about the growth and the direction of wrestling in the state

Shirley Stephens

KY USAW Women's director

I have three daughters currently involved in wrestling from 4th grade to a Junior. I would love to see a girls division started in the state. I know this would affect the numbers of the boys team at their school as my two older girls are 2nd year wrestlers (1 freshman, 1 junior). All of my girls enjoy the competition, but I see them getting frustrated when they are physically outclassed by the older boys. I look forward to progress on this. 

Mrs.Powers I would encourage you to become a member of the Kentucky Female Wrestling page on Facebook and request to become a member of the Kentucky Female Wrestling Group also on Facebook. The group is geared more for information and a place for parents to get together. Your girls and our girls and us parents have to be the ones to encourage change. Encourage the younger girls that we see they can be a wrestler. Change begins with one.

I've joined the Kentucky Female Wrestling Page. I didn't know about the group though. I encourage my girls and enjoy watching them compete. They are also good at encouraging one another. The two older ones work with my nine year old and my two year old, so I may have a 4th girl competing before too long. I also currently have one middle school boy wrestling. I find it interesting that I have so many children wrestling, since I was a defensive tackle in a school without a wrestling program. Having seen the conditioning benefits of wrestling, I wish they had. 

There is a group link on the Facebook page. 

Shannon Powers where are you located?

Western Kentucky. Kids go to Calloway

There will be one less girl trying to qualify for state. My 106 is not cleared to wrestle regionals because of a shoulder injury.

I hate to hear that. She’s a solid wrestler. Our girl at fort Campbell is out as well. 

On 1/31/2018 at 9:32 AM, grappler-of-old said:

I like spring but ultimately KHSAA will make it a winter sport because it is wrestling. 

Spring would actually hurt girls wrestling (at least as far as mine are concerned). My two older girls are high school varsity softball players and I would hate for them to have to choose between softball and wrestling. My girls actually quit basketball to join wrestling, and the conditioning makes them better athletes on the softball field. I'm not sure the answer, but I think the state needs to add a girls division. My girls are tough and like to compete, but as second year wrestlers, they are at a skills disadvantage and in most cases a physical disadvantage. 

1 hour ago, halfhalfhalf said:

I hate to hear that. She’s a solid wrestler. Our girl at fort Campbell is out as well. 

Sorry to hear that. I've gotten to enjoy watching wrestling, and as a father with six of my nine being girls, I have a tendency to cheer for any girl I see wrestling no matter their opponent.