In Need of a Reversal
By Brian Kaminski

Mention Title IX to any amateur wrestling fan and you're likely to get one of three responses: horrific disgust, extreme outrage or a call to arms.

Title IX, officially an amendment to the Education Acts of 1972, is a Congressional act that called for an equal amount of opportunities in collegiate sports and scholarship based on gender. In order to comply with this mandate, many colleges and universities naturally added more women's sports. However, if they still fell short of compliance, many athletic programs simply eliminated male sports programs in order to comply. In the process, Title IX became both an excuse to eliminate programs and a lightning rod for criticism by supporters of the sports getting cut. Traditionally not considered a moneymaker sport, wrestling was often and remains one of the first casualties that schools have eliminated to comply with the requirements.

What is concerning wrestling fans is that Title IX is no longer the only excuse to eliminate wrestling programs. High school coaches are worried. Vince Testa, coach of the 2006 WPIAL champion Penn-Trafford Warriors, is one of the coaches finding it more difficult to keep a positive outlook on the future of the sport he loves.

"That's what is scary. Schools say now were just going to cut you for a budget reason," Testa said. "It's really heartbreaking to see Slippery Rock, with a wrestling tradition like they have, lose their program."

Slippery Rock announced last February they were eliminating their Division I wrestling program along with seven other sports to save $350,000 on its athletic budget. This left many of the wrestlers with a feeling of abandonment.

"It felt like your best friend had turned his back on you," former Slippery Rock varsity 174-pounder Charlie Pienaar said. "I felt insulted and lied to and it made the uniforms we were wearing worth no more than the toilet paper in the stall."

Pienaar, along with his brother David, and teammate Cory Manusco have since transferred to Eastern Michigan University, where former Slippery Rock head coach Derek Delporto recently secured a head coaching position.

This unease regarding the future of wrestling is nothing new. Fans, coaches and wrestlers have been concerned about the survival of the sport for some time now.

"When my son was born 14 years ago, I was concerned that he would not even have an opportunity to be a high school wrestler," Testa said.

Opportunities for high school wrestlers, though, appear to still be abundant and could potentially lead to a revival. Traditional powerhouses from Washington and Greene Counties, like Canon-McMillan, Washington, Avella and Waynesburg, continue to field both strong teams and top individual wrestlers year in and year out.

Recently, other counties have had the public at large approach high schools about improving their wrestling programs. Knoch High School recently added wrestling to their varsity sports program, becoming the 83rd out of the 140 schools in the WPIAL to include wrestling. The support to start wrestling as a varsity sport came from the public.

"There was a really strong community program and the people running the group would come to board meetings," Knoch athletic director Josh Shoop said. "We started the middle school program last year and I can see it getting bigger at Knoch, so I think it's going to do well."

For the schools without wrestling programs, co-ops often are available with other programs, such as the one Greensburg Central Catholic announced it would join with Hempfield. Because of the co-op, Hempfield gains-perhaps unfairly-PIAA placewinner Rudy Chelednik and Nico Cortese, the 2006 PIAA runner-up at 103 pounds.

Even without a co-op program, individuals can find opportunities to wrestle and still do well in the process. Apollo-Ridge's Michael Coleman, Jr. trained with the Blairsville wrestling team during the regular season, but did not wrestle for them. In the postseason he wrestled, literally, as a one-man team from Apollo-Ridge. Coleman qualified for the PIAA Class AA tournament, but failed to place.

Western Pennsylvania has drawn a lot of attention nationally because of wrestling events like the annual Powerade wrestling tournament held between Christmas and New Year's Day. As recently as 2000, only 24 teams participated in the event, with 15 from the WPIAL. The 2006 tournament will include a record-setting 40 teams: 20 from the WPIAL, 10 from other districts in Pennsylvania and 10 from other states.

Another local event of national significance is the Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic. The Classic is two dual meets comprised of high school seniors; the first pits WPIAL all-stars against all-stars from another state (usually Ohio or Maryland) while the second matches PA all-stars against all-stars from the entire United States.

"Pennsylvania produces some of the greatest wrestlers in this country," Pienaar said. "More national champions and top contenders are from Pennsylvania."

Even with the sport thriving locally, the fear associated with a college program being cut will always linger in the minds of many wrestlers. Some, like Pienaar, have learned they now must always have one eye looking behind their backs.

"Some kids will now think 'What if our school turns its back on us?'" Pienaar said. "It's sad because kids without the most talent go to smaller schools, where wrestling gets cut, just to have an opportunity to compete in the greatest sport in the world."

Brian Kaminski is a former intern for PSR. He currently covers high school sports for the Valley News Dispatch.