A sad day for wrestling in Florida
Below is the email I have sent to the FHSAA Board of Directors regarding their decision to table the already-approved sanctioning of girls wrestling until September. I encourage you to share your own thoughts with the board. Contact information for the individual board members is at the bottom of this email.
Dear (INSERT NAME),
A few weeks ago, I was in Jacksonville to watch some of the best schoolboy/schoolgirl, cadet, and juniors compete in USA Wrestling Southeast Regionals. Wrestlers from all over the nation — including many from the Southeast — fought to finish in the top four in each weight class in order to qualify for the national tournament.
One athlete stood out to me (for several reasons): Kyla Oliver of Attack Wrestling Club in Kissimmee. Kyla is one of the best 14U (Schoolgirl division) wrestlers in the country. She pinned one of Alabama’s best, Aenaya Vines, in just 21 seconds in the final at 119 lbs. She followed up the next day by going 4-0 for the Wrestle Like a Girl National team. Kyla has all of the tools to make some significant waves over the next four years, however the FHSAA’s inability to keep its word will almost certainly undermine her future opportunities.
In case you are unaware, the FHSAA has spent more than 20 years working on the issue of sanctioning girls wrestling. This week’s decision to backpedal on this effort deals a significant blow for girls in the state. Let’s tick through the last 12 months to see how we got to today.
Headline for June 9, 2020 in the Orlando Sentinel
FHSAA approves girls wrestling for 2021-2022 season
Girls wrestling will become a sanctioned state championship sport beginning in the 2021-22 season, making Florida the 24th state in the nation to adopt it.
The Florida High School Athletic Association board of directors heard the final proposal to sanction girls wrestling Tuesday and made the decision by a unanimous 13-0 vote.
Word that Florida had finally come around to sanctioning girls wrestling spread far and wide. Intermat, NWCA, USA Wrestling, and other national outlets lauded the decision.
Florida officially sanctions girls wrestling for 2021-2022
by Mark Palmer - Intermat Senior Writer. Competitive opportunities just became brighter for young women wrestlers in the Sunshine State, as the board of directors of the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) voted to officially sanction girls wrestling as a state championship sport on Tuesday.
The vote was unanimous: 13-0.
Unfortunately, it looks as if the board began to second guess its decision and the wheels began to turn in the wrong direction several months ago. The initial discussion centered around whether the FHSAA was creating a new division or a new sport. That, in turn, cast some doubt about the timeline the FHSAA had already approved. That discussion was tabled until the June 8th meeting, the last meeting of the 2020-2021 year. The discussion then pivoted to whether dual state championship opportunities for boys would violate Title IX requirements because there won’t immediately be a sufficient number of girls teams to stage a dual state championship. We’ve been here before. Florida has had sanctioned boys wrestling since 1965, but for most of those years it didn’t have a duals state championship because there weren’t enough boys teams to compete. As more schools opened across the state and the FHSAA expanded classifications, the push for a boys duals state championship started, but the first dual state championship wasn’t held until 2018. Three years ago. In fact, some states (Texas, being notable) don’t have a sanctioned duals state tournament and neither does the NCAA. You need to give the girls teams time to build their ranks before worrying about duals.
Don’t be fooled. We have seen this shell game before as it relates to sanctioning girls wrestling. From 1999 to 2002 I had the great fortune of coaching the outstanding wrestling team at Gateway High School in Kissimmee. We had a full team for both boys and girls and hosted an unofficial girls state tournament at the end of the season. Girls from all over the state came to compete and many of them went on to wrestle in college outside of Florida, despite never having the opportunity to wrestle for an official state title. Over the following two decades we’ve seen girls wrestling grow from being sanctioned in five states to now more than 30. All the while, the FHSAA has fought it at every turn.
One of the biggest supporters of the girls program at Gateway High School when I was there was our boys program. They recognized how hard the girls worked and were in their corner, coaching them every step of the way. One of those wrestlers was Ray Oliver - Kyla’s dad. It blows my mind that we have allowed a generation of young women to compete in wrestling — encouraged them to wrestle in college, make the Olympic ladder, and now coach — and yet the FHSAA still finds a way to block sanctioning of the sport at every turn. I understand that the board has not rescinded their earlier decision - they have simply postponed making a decision (one that was already decided unanimously more than a year ago); but that effectively kills any chance of putting together a season for 2021-2022.
(Mr./Ms. Last Name) — I implore you, as a member of the FHSAA board of directors, to call a special meeting to resolve this issue once and for all. Don’t be party to taking away opportunities for the next generation of young women.
Sincerely,
Jason Fulmore
The FHSAA is looking to take away opportunities for young women. Please don’t let that happen. Please consider sending an email to each of the following:
George Tomyn - executivedirector@fhsaa.org
Justin Harrison - jharrison@fhsaa.org
Douglas Dodd - doddd@citrus.k12.fl.us
Corey Sobers - csobers@fhsaa.org
Richard Finlayson - rfinlayson@aucilla.org
Tim Forson - tim.forson@stjohns.k12.fl.us
John Gerdes - jgerdes@ccchs.org
Ben Hanks - Bhanks1911@gmail.com
Bobby Johns - coachbjohns1@gmail.com
Brenda Longshore - longshob@highlands.k12.fl.us
Randy McDaniel - randy.mcdaniel@tvcs.org
Jeff McLean - mclean.jeff@brevardschools.org
Carlos Ochoa - 186443@dadeschools.net
Jacob Oliva - Jacob.oliva@fldoe.org
Lauren Otero - Lauren.Otero@hcps.net
Chris Patricca - chrisnp@leeschools.net
Mark Schusterman - markschusterman@rivieraschools.com
Chalmus Thomas - Thomas.farm@yahoo.com
Susan Tortora - sue.tortora@montverde.org
Something simple as …
I recently became aware that the FHSAA has scheduled a meeting for September to continue discussing girls wrestling in the state. The board unanimously approved sanctioning girls wrestling more than a year ago. I do not understand why this conversation continued and strongly urge you to abide by the June 2020 decision.