http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/may/18/hchs-wrestling-is-down-on-mat/?gleaner=1/

HCHS wrestling is down on mat

By Kevin Patton

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Henderson County's wrestling program finds its shoulders on the mat.

Barring a change in direction from the school board, the high school team will be unable to compete in postseason meets.

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While the middle schools have offered wrestling for several years, the high school team has operated as a club sport for the past four years without the financial backing of the school system. With parents and coaches organizing fundraisers to pay expenses such as uniforms and practice facilities and providing their own transportation to and from matches, the high school club team was allowed to compete against other high school teams during the regular season and the postseason including the Kentucky High School Athletic Association's state tournament.

In February, officials from the KHSAA questioned HCHS athletic administrator Jody White about the status of the wrestling program. "(KHSAA assistant commissioner Julian Tackett) advised Mr. White that club sports do not exist in the eyes of the KHSAA," Superintendent Thomas Richey said, adding that club teams are not eligible to compete in KHSAA-sanctioned events.

Richey said he did not know why the club team was allowed to compete in the KHSAA regional and state meets in the past and will not be in the future. "I think they just now realized what we were doing," he said.

While the club team could continue, the only way the wrestlers could continue to compete in the postseason is if wrestling were recognized as a varsity sport by the school system. That's not likely to happen, Richey said.

"Wrestling was started as a club sport at the high school and at the time it was started I don't think there was any plan by the district to elevate it to varsity status," said Richey, who added the club program was started before he became superintendent. "There's no plan to elevate wrestling to a varsity sport at this time, not with the money crunch that we're in. It's not within the realm of possibility."

If the school system were to make wrestling a varsity sport, it would have to assume the costs of transportation and coaching salaries among the expenses.

"It's not just the immediate financial situation, even two or three years down the road, the economic picture does not look any better. It don't think the local district needs to take on another varsity sport," Richey said.

Dennis Daugherty, whose son Jackson is a graduating senior on the team, plans to address Monday's meeting of the school board. "It's my understanding from talking to Dr. Richey that wrestling won't be offered as a varsity sport. The only hope we have is for the school board to overrule his decision," he said.

Richey said the board could ask him to elevate the wrestling to a varsity sport. "The board has the authority to direct me to whatever it decides," he said.

Since starting the high school club team, Henderson County has sent wrestlers to the state meet every year since 2005 including an all-time high seven last year.

Daugherty said he has contacted other parents and area coaches to make them aware of the situation. "I look at this as a last ditch effort to save the program," he said.

"I do feel sympathy for our students who have competed in the past, have experienced state competition and are ranked in the state. Now they're not going to be able to compete in the state competition in the future," Richey said.

The status of the program at the high school could also effect the middle school programs. If the high school does not field a varsity program, the middle schools will also eliminate their wrestling program, South Middle School vice principal and athletic director Leo Peckenpaugh said. "It's not fair to our kids to offer a sport and then there's nothing for them to graduate to when they move on to the high school," he said.

This is an outrage. 

How can a school system take a program and not sponsor it?  The wrestling program already has the needed material to run it.  Why would it cost the school any $$$$.  If they are already supporting themselves allow them to do so further.  All the school must do is allow them to be recognized as a varsity sport. 

I'm not sure but is there a minimum amount of money that a sport must be allotted by the KHSAA?  If not give them a budget of $100.  Since they are already funding themselves at events I'm sure they can do so again. 

Many programs in the state are having the opposite problem.  They have the school recognizing them, and have given them an adequate budget, but they cannot raise interest in the program. Here they already have student interest. 

I know if I was one of the parents of a child who was wrestling and now will not be able to I would be seeking legal help. 

Is this not something that the KWCA should be looking into and helping them out?

  Thanks for expressing concern for the potential demise of  HCHS wrestling. I

along with several others addressed the school board and Dr. Richey on May 19.

    I was proud of the way everyone conducted themselves and the valid points

they made to the board about the benefits to student athletes of a wrestling team. I hope the school board will decide that a high school wrestling team can

reap many positive rewards. We now wait for their decision.

                                  Dennis Daugherty

If they aren't KHSAA sanctioned, then they can't compete against any KHSAA sanctioned team or any out of state program that is not sanctioned by their state athletic association.

This is huge news and we can only hope that the school board will make the right decision. Wrestling has left a positive influence on so many people HCHS!

This is unAmerican.

Lay this one on them......

Wrestling is Innate

The skies roared with thunder and the earth heaved,

Then came darkness and a stillness like death.

Lightening smashed the ground and fires blazed out;

Death flooded from the skies.

When the heat died and the fires went out,

The plains had turned to ash.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The ominous stanza was a dream.  In ancient times mankind wondered about his position, his place.  Were the gods aligned against him?  Life was not a simple task full of convenience.  Food, shelter, and security were never taken for granted.  Simply living was a constant struggle.

Upon receiving this dream Gilgamesh turned to his comrade and searched for meaning.  Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third man, the most feared and respected of man still did not know his place and was overcome with fear.  Enkidu, a wild-man from the forest, was once his rival, but now together they were on a great expedition. 

They were headed into the dark cedar-forest, a place full of fright shrouded in the unknown.  The forest was guarded by a demon named Humbaba.  No one dared to enter the forest. 

Nearly four thousand years after Gilgamesh and Enkidu approached the edge of the forest with trepidation, Ralph Waldo Emerson put a poetic spin on their attraction to the place. 

Can anyone give an update on Henderson's status? 

There is no real update to be given, we are simply waiting until the next school board meeting to hear their decision.

good luck - let us know what happens

The schoolboard recently voted not to elevate wrestling to varsity status, even though it was already a varsity sport, as our A.D. told Julian Tackett before the KHSAA tournament, or else we would not been able to compete in the tournament. And they didn't vote, they just told us without taking a vote that wrestling would no longer continue, apparently they had a meeting about wrestling behind closed doors and voted then to not let it continue, and the only reason anyone knew that the schoolboard would be announcing their decision at the meeting was because my father contacted our district schoolbaord rep and asked him when the decision would be made.

So, does Hendo have a team or not?

What a shame this school cant come thru for their kids!

How messed up is this situation that the so called educated and successful adults making up the school board cant find a way to make this work. It sounds like the kids and parents ran a great self sustaining program until the school go involved, what a shame!

Is there any support group for the sport (KWCA or USAW) that can get involved and petition the school and the state to find a way to help this team continue to compete.

I am a member of the both KWCA and USAW. I would be glad to help out Henderson County but I first need to get in touch with Julian Tackett. The school board is saying that it is a title IX issue. If Julian says yes it is...there is nothing we can do. Title IX strikes again. If it is not, we can look to move forward.

I fail to understand how this is a title 9 compliance issue in high school. Are females not permitted to wrestle on high school teams? I thought Title 9 is suppose to be about opportunity. College, that is a different story.

When I coached at public school we had to accept girls. At least give them the opportunity. I didn't like it.

Could Title IX be overcome by starting a low budget girls team in another sport to offset the addition of wrestling?

How bout a girls wrestling team or include the girls on the wrestling team?

I dont know enough about the legalities and and I know this has been a long fight for the sport, but isnt Title IX terribly outdated?

In many cases it has become more of a deterrent to opportunity than its original intent of being the great equalizer for boys and girls.

Sure if a school was blatantly favoring one gender over the other then a court should step in but this isnt the case at HCHS.

How do single sex schools get around it?

Should coed schools divide themselves into two single sex schools housed in the same building just to get around Title IX?

Im sure all of these issues have come up in the long running arguments of Title IX but it's frustrating to see common sense go out the window in situations that hurt our youth.

Could the support of sympathetic press help the cause?

How bout the Courier Journal/Henderson Gleaner ??/Sports Illustrated/USA Today?

  cmmcoy, any thing you can do to help save this wrestling team from becoming

history would be appreciated.You can contact HCHS AD Jody White @ 270-831-

5044.         

      If KWCA ever wanted to do anything for wrestling here is the place to do so.  On another post is mentioned that a child will lose his scholarship if he does not wrestle his senior year. 

    I hate to say this but here is a place for a lawsuit.  It seems that lawsuits are the only way in which you can get the attention of a school district, and the KWCA could and should help out in this avenue.

    As for the title IX garbage I am tired of hearing about it.  I would say that they could use Title IX to get the team at Henderson Co.  It states that there must me opportunity for all genders, and they are not giving a child his opportunity to wrestle.  That and they still do not consider cheerleading a sport unless it is co-ed.  (I totally don't understand this)

    I for one would be willing to send a couple of bucks toward a good lawyer to get this going. If we can get $5 from every wrestler and ex-wrestler we should be able to get a good start on lawyer costs.

    C'mon KY wrestling lets get this done.  Woodford nation we can use you here.  Larue nation, Trinity nation, Campbell nation, Ryle nation, Union nation and all the rest.  Lets band together against a common evil and push this through. 

You know its funny you say that.  Because Henderson does have a coed cheerleading team.  They have at least one boy doing somersaults and what not at each basketball game.  Ive seen it myself.  Im calling the schoolboard to see what we can do about an appeal.  But yeah, any monitary donations would be great.  We have consulted a lawyer, but the price to represent has not yet been determined.

You know the team was really looking to have there best year in a five year exhistense.  Henderson has many ranked wrestlers in the state, and has been ranked as high as 23rd in the state.  All coaches are volunteers, we have always provided our own practice, transportation budget, and tournament fees.  Going to a mid 20's ranking from almost the bottom of the list just a couple of years ago, is a big step.  We are asking for help from anyone who would like to see wrestling grow as a sport.

Thanks,

Coach Cole

No, as of right now, Henderson will not have a wrestling team. Title IX shouldn't be an issue, as girls are allowed to wrestle, thought our superintendent has said in the past that he wouldn't want any girls to be able to wrestle. That could by the one of the real reasons why he is so against wrestling, though we don't have any girls that want to wrestle for us anyway.