Mack BeggsMack Beggs, a 17-year-old transgender wrestler transitioning from female to male who won the Texas Class 6A 110-pound girls' state championship one month ago, must wrestle boys at USA Wrestling events, the Dallas Morning News reported.
The USA Wrestling policy, enacted earlier this month, states that any wrestler who has yet to reach puberty can choose to wrestle as the gender he or she identified with.
However, those who have undergone puberty and are transitioning from female to male, like Beggs, are required to wrestle in the boys' division if they self-identify as male.
For those transitioning from male to female, to wrestle as a female the person must self-identify as a female and keep testosterone levels under a certain threshold, which may be monitored by testing.
This is the first transgender policy from USA Wrestling, according to a spokesman for the organization which governs freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling -- but not high school or collegiate wrestling -- in the U.S.
Beggs, a junior, plans to wrestle in USA Wrestling's Greco-Roman competition this spring.
Nancy Beggs, Mack's grandmother, said USA Wrestling contacted the family, and has been working with them to make sure Mack is following the rules.
"We didn't call them, they called us and said, 'We need to make sure Mack is compliant. Having watched everything we realize how important this is to Mack,'" Nancy Beggs said.
The USA Wrestling decision would not have an impact on Beggs' senior season at Euless Trinity High School outside Dallas-Fort Worth, meaning that Beggs will return to wrestling girls next season.
High school (and college) wrestling in the state of Texas is governed by the University-Interscholastic League, which last year passed a rule requiring transgender wrestlers to compete against opponents of the same sex as on the transgender individual's birth certificate.
Texas is one of seven states to have separate high school wrestling competitions for boys and for girls.
It appears unlikely that the UIL will change its rules regarding transgender wrestlers such as Mack Beggs. Last August, the organization put what has become known as the "birth certificate rule" to a vote of school district superintendents across the state. It overwhelmingly passed 586-32.
The UIL's decision went opposite of the NCAA, which in 2011 set transgender policy as requiring a trans male athlete who is receiving testosterone treatment, such as Beggs, to compete on a men's team, while prohibiting the athlete from competing on a women's team, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
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