Folkstyle vs Freestyle for High School Girls???

It has been 368 days since girls' wrestling was sanctioned in Pennsylvania. 

I grew up in wrestling where girls' wrestling was unheard of. If girls wrestled it was short lived and they fizzled out. Deep down my girl pride loved seeing a girl step on the mat and beat one of the boys even if the girl was from a different team, I was still rooting for her every step of the way. 

This past year I had the opportunity to coach girls wrestling at the junior high and high school level. I had an interesting conversation with one of my athletes at the beginning of the season, and we ended up revisiting this conversation multiple times throughout the PIAA season. Unfortunately, she had a poor experience in freestyle, and she never looked back.  She has stuck to folkstyle ever since. She is comfortable when the time comes after her senior year of high school to hang up her shoes. She wants nothing to do with freestyle. Now, on the other hand, I have two to three athletes who are in love with freestyle. I have grown into a new appreciation for freestyle and Greco (shoutout to Olympic Team Trials and SJ from USA Wrestling for that). 

Folkstyle wrestling has me up, jumping around and screaming at the wrestler, ref, or even television depending on where I am watching from. I am shaking with anxiety the entire time I am watching a folkstyle match especially when it comes to watching my friends or team competing). I have slowly dipped my toes into freestyle and Greco this summer, and I fell in love. I also just love wrestling in general.

BUT, I will say these two styles are not fair for the girls to learn both. I know, the boys learn both. Is it fair for the boys to have to learn both? It’s not about the boys right now, it’s usually always about the boys so don’t even go there with me. It makes ZERO sense for girls to grow up competing folkstyle K-12 just to get accepted into a college and then only compete freestyle. I understand there is a reffing issue and that’s why the girls do not compete freestyle K-12. There is also a coaching issue with coaches only knowing folkstyle or lacking enough freestyle knowledge to coach it. I am said, coach. If the girls are competing freestyle in college then let’s transition to freestyle K-12. If girls are competing in folkstyle K-12 then let’s transition to folkstyle in college. 

Here is a brief overview of the disputed history of female wrestling styles:

• The first Women's World Wrestling Championships were held in 1987 in Lørenskog, Norway.
• In 2004, women's freestyle wrestling debuted at the Olympic Games in Athens with four weight classes: 48 kg, 55 kg, 63 kg, and 72 kg. 
• Helen Maroulis won the first Olympic gold medal for Team USA in women’s wrestling in 2016. 
• The number of high school girls wrestling quintupled to over 50,000 last year. 

In the past, men have made most of the decisions in women's sports, from establishing policies and guidelines to occupying executive roles in athletic associations. The sports that women could play, the tournaments that were open to them, and the financial and material support given to women's sports have all been shaped by men. Female athletes were frequently marginalized and had fewer prospects for advancement and recognition as a result of this control, which also extended to coaching positions and media exposure. Though inequalities and difficulties persist, there has been a surge in support for gender equality in sports over the past few decades, which has resulted in more women holding leadership roles, more equitable funding, and more chances for female athletes.

 I asked some experts in the sport who just happen to be only women what style the high school girls should be wrestling.

Skie Roulo, wrestler at Emory & Henry College - “Girls wrestling in high school don’t typically get the opportunities to wrestle freestyle unless it’s post-season/off-season. However, I think it’s most beneficial to wrestle freestyle. Especially if you could start in high school, you’d have a bigger advantage in college. Once you hit college, unless you go to a “club” school, you will rarely use folkstyle. It’s strictly freestyle. Even when you go to the national stage, you’re wrestling freestyle. If you dream big enough and go to the Olympics, it’s freestyle as well for women. I believe once you hit high school, it really should only be freestyle because your future in wrestling is going to be freestyle. Personally for me, once I did freestyle I never looked back. I love it so much more than folkstyle.”

Ashley Campbell, wrestler at General McLane High School - “I reasonate with folkstyle more because there aren’t girls my weight for freestyle in my area and I was forced to wrestle girls 20+ pounds heavier. I wasn’t given a fair chance when I started freestyle. 

Lily Sherer, wrestler at Lock Haven University - “I prefer freestyle. I think it would be beneficial for the girls (and even boys) to be wrestling freestyle in high school because I believe that it will help better their chances at competing at a higher level. realistically you won’t, whether you’re a boy or girl,  wrestle folkstyle past your scholastic career. with that, I understand the difficulty in making the switch financially and culturally.”

Katherine Shai, 7x U.S. National Team Member - “Girls wrestling should be whichever style gives the girls the most opportunity to compete in high school. We have to remember that our desires around females competing in college and then in a Senior-level career are not the trajectory for most girls who will wrestle in high school. If a state shifting to freestyle means it is more difficult to find coaching (it already is), attend tournaments, and create separate events, then are we doing right by these athletes? And by all means, it’s exciting to see states try out a freestyle sport for the girls. Maybe it IS the future for girls' high school wrestling. There could be some states that lead the way and then everyone follows after because we see more girls attending college to wrestle. That’s a great thing for our sport. I like innovation, but I also want to see these girls on the mat in the first place. That comes with working with what you have until a better option comes along. Baby steps!”

Ashley Flavin, Head Women’s Wrestling Coach at Life University - “As a country we have more resources for folkstyle- both coaches and officials. What’s important is to introduce athletes to the sport, and increase accessibility at the high school level, and for now, folkstyle does that. I’d rather have an athlete with a good folkstyle background and transition her to freestyle in college than have an athlete who thinks they have a good understanding of freestyle, but they don’t. A sprawl, a single leg, a stance, these fundamentals are the same across the board. Let’s focus on inclusion and base fundamentals in high school.” 

Skylar Grote, Beaver Dam RTC/Titan Mercury Wrestling Club - “I think that high school girls wrestling should be freestyle for one main reason. That reason is that women compete freestyle on the collegiate and world level, so it would make sense for our girls to get a head start. No other countries wrestle folkstyle and I think their freestyle wrestling IQ is better for it. The only valid argument to keep the folkstyle for girls on the high school level would be because of coaching. Most high school coaches do not know freestyle, and there would therefore be a huge learning curve for those coaches. In my opinion, the change needs to happen sometime- so why not now? Don’t we want the best world and Olympic teams in freestyle to represent our country?”

Ana Malovich, Grand Valley State Wrestling commit - “I love, love, love freestyle. It’s so much more fun, from the amazing throws, the point system, the push-out point, especially no top and bottom, and I feel like it’s a fair style when it comes to scoring with passivity.” 

Jenna Burkert, 2021 World Bronze Medalist, 4x U.S. World Team Member, 9x U.S. National Team Member, U.S. Olympic Team Alternate, Associate Head Wrestling Coach at Bixby High School - “I believe that high school wrestling for females should transition to freestyle. While I understand the value of folkstyle, I think it's important to recognize that freestyle is the dominant style worldwide. By embracing freestyle, female wrestlers can better prepare for college and international competition, ultimately leading to greater success on the world stage. Admittedly, there are challenges to overcome, such as getting referees familiar with the different styles, but the potential benefits far outweigh these hurdles. I'm passionate about seeing Team USA dominate the Olympics and world championships, and I believe that making this adjustment could put American wrestlers on top. It may require changes to rules and an effort to familiarize referees with freestyle, but the long-term payoff will be worth it.”