bodhitree
05-27-2008, 07:49 AM
Women Want to Wrestle; Small Colleges Oblige
By KATIE THOMAS
Published: May 27, 2008
Women’s wrestling teams are sprouting in the most unlikely places.
Oklahoma City University
In its first season, Oklahoma City University finished second at the women’s wrestling national championships with the help of Lacey Novinska, left.
Missouri Baptist University, a small Christian liberal arts institution, is starting a team this fall. Oklahoma City University, the alma mater of three Miss Americas, began a program in 2007. And Menlo College in San Francisco, which specializes in business management and where nearly two-thirds of the students are men, has had a women’s wrestling team since 2001.
The growth of such an unconventional women’s sport at these small, private institutions has little to do with the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX and everything to do with their bottom line. Officials at tuition-hungry colleges say women’s wrestling is an untapped market of prospective students, one that has curiously been all but ignored by bigger universities.
The inclusion of women’s wrestling in the Olympics beginning in 2004 provided a huge boost to the sport’s popularity and credibility. Five thousand girls nationwide wrestled in high school in the 2006-7 academic year, yet only eight colleges offer it as a varsity sport. Three of those eight programs are starting this fall.
The rest can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/sports/othersports/27wrestling.html?hp
By KATIE THOMAS
Published: May 27, 2008
Women’s wrestling teams are sprouting in the most unlikely places.
Oklahoma City University
In its first season, Oklahoma City University finished second at the women’s wrestling national championships with the help of Lacey Novinska, left.
Missouri Baptist University, a small Christian liberal arts institution, is starting a team this fall. Oklahoma City University, the alma mater of three Miss Americas, began a program in 2007. And Menlo College in San Francisco, which specializes in business management and where nearly two-thirds of the students are men, has had a women’s wrestling team since 2001.
The growth of such an unconventional women’s sport at these small, private institutions has little to do with the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX and everything to do with their bottom line. Officials at tuition-hungry colleges say women’s wrestling is an untapped market of prospective students, one that has curiously been all but ignored by bigger universities.
The inclusion of women’s wrestling in the Olympics beginning in 2004 provided a huge boost to the sport’s popularity and credibility. Five thousand girls nationwide wrestled in high school in the 2006-7 academic year, yet only eight colleges offer it as a varsity sport. Three of those eight programs are starting this fall.
The rest can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/sports/othersports/27wrestling.html?hp