Posted on 02/18/2011 2:36:18 PM PST by wmfights
A high school wrestler in Iowa refused to compete against a female opponent due to his Christian beliefs. Upon hearing that the match would be with a girl in the state tournament, Joel Northrup decided to lose by default rather than compete against Cassy Herkelman.
The 112-pound wrestler explained, "I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan and their accomplishments. However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times."
He continued, "As a matter of conscience and my faith I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa."
According to The Associated Press, the boy’s father is a minister at Believers in Grace Fellowship, an independent Pentecostal church in Marion. The church believes that young teens of opposite sex should not come in physical contact with each other in a “familiar way,” according to the church’s pastor.
Northrup’s pastor stated, "We believe in the elevation and respect of woman and we don't think that wrestling a woman is the right thing to do. Body slamming and takedowns, that full contact sport is not how to do that."
The girl’s father, Bill Herkelman, told The Associated press, "It's nice to get the first win and have her be on the way to the medal round.
"I sincerely respect the decision of the Northrup family especially since it was made on the biggest stage in wrestling. I have heard nothing but good things about the Northrup family and hope Joel does very well the remainder of the tourney."
Although the home-schooled sophomore was allowed to compete in the consolations round, due to default and not forfeit, it is possible for him and Herkelman to be matched up again if they both make it to the finals.
Wow, there are some real MEN being brought up still. Bravo
Not so much:
Although the home-schooled sophomore was allowed to compete in the consolations round, due to default and not forfeit, it is possible for him and Herkelman to be matched up again if they both make it to the finals.
I was thinking maybe JimRob added a "Repost" button or something like that... On a thread you really like, click the "Repost" button a get a fresh new thread to start again. It would also help when a thread gets horribly hijacked...
If so his son is a great Christian role model in my book.
Great point!
I disagree for a couple reasons. If a boy loses to a girl wrestling the boy faces all kinds of grief from his peers for the rest of his HS years. If a boy hurts a girl wrestling the boy faces all kinds of grief for "beating up a girl". Also, a precedent is set that can be used to carry over to other areas of life.
For example, women professional sports reporters now walk into locker rooms before all the men are dressed, since "we are all the same". I think this is offensive.
In my book the young man deserves the credit for recognizing that Boys and Girls are different and should not be doing certain things together.
I must have missed where she whined after her next match. Got a link?
He got beat in the consolations round and is going home. If he'd have wrestled her and won he'd still have a chance in the tournament.
That would be consolation finals, for third, and she is out of the tourney unless HS in Iowa go to 8th place.
Oh - he’s “home schooled”; everyone knows how THEY are. /s
The relentless, overwhelming prejudice against normal is a bit much these days.
The fact that the boy said his decision was based on his Christian faith should have been the end of the discussion. Your photos put a massive exclamation point at the end of the story.(see post #25- before you reply). Thank you.
I understand the young mans reasons to be quite sound. He’s a young Christian man and feels this is inappropriate contact and why should he be chastised for it? What happened to ‘’tolerance’’ and respect for someone’s beliefs? (excluding Muslims. I don’t give a damn what upsets the head-choppers.)
It requires a lot of maturity to take a principled stand in a competition like he did. Good on him, and congratulations to the parents and church who taught him well.
Well said.
Thank you.
I agree.
My boys wrestled in Wisconsin and there are more and more girls wrestling. I saw only one girl wrestler that was a real threat, the rest I’ve seen get handled, and it looks a lot like molestation.
As a father of a girl, I would never allow her to wrestle, even if she wanted to and was good. Why? Because I think it isn’t appropriate for maturing teenage girls to do that and it doesn’t train them for what God calls women to be.
What’s ridiculous is in Wisconsin there were two cases of boys trying to get on girls teams. One was trying to go out for gymnastics and the other one was trying to go out for volleyball. They were refused, the cases went up to the courts and years after they graduated, the ruling said that boys couldn’t be on girl teams. However, whenever a girl wants to wrestle or play football, these teams and coaches have to bend over backward to make it happen.
If girls want to wrestle, let them form their own, all girl teams. But even that would attract some strange people.
Now, having said all of that, I do respect the athleticism, discipline, and motivation that any person has to complete even one season of wrestling. I can respect girls who wrestle for their tenacity, but I still think it is wrong for them.
As a side note, I don’t think guys wrestling girls has any positive affect on the development of teenagers into men. Young boys can be stigmatized by being beat by a girl and beating a girl is really no real victory. Like others have posted on here, girls have a chance in the lower weights, but fail when it comes to brute strength. Physically, God didn’t make ‘em that way.
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