July 5, 2023,
While we wouldn’t describe it as the perfect storm, many great things are happening in the collegiate female wrestling world.
We know that our focus is on fully competitive female submission wrestling, but still, our life experience has taught us to broaden our scope, especially to things peripheral to industries we love.
Here is some of the news that has been going on.
On May 5, 2023, at uwosh.edu they educate, “The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh is adding women’s wrestling to its athletic roster, becoming the second school in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to add the sport.
Women’s wrestling will be the 20th sport added to the Titans’ lineup, which includes several national championships in the last five years and repeated appearances at NCAA events. This is the first sport to be added to the Titans’ roster since women’s golf was added in the 1996-97 season.”
What wonderful news. Glad to hear it.
On May 16, 2023, the insiders at teamusa.org posted, “Newberry College will add women's wrestling as an intercollegiate sport beginning in the 2024-25 academic year. The addition was approved unanimously by the college's Board of Trustees.”
On March 27, 2023, Manchester University added women’s wrestling as a varsity sport. The respected leaders at teamusa.org added, “Manchester University will offer women's wrestling as a varsity intercollegiate sport starting in the 2024-25 academic year, making it the 50th NCAA Division III women’s team in the nation.
In addition to noting the DIII milestone, National Wrestling Coaches Association Executive Director Mike Moyer said this announcement represents the 154th new women’s intercollegiate wrestling program to be added across all divisions and governing bodies since 2000.”
We desire more good news.
The theintelligencer.net educates, “The fastest-growing sport in the nation has reached the Ohio Valley. It was recently announced that Steubenville High School will field a girls’ wrestling team for the 2020-21 school year. The team will be led by Big Red boys’ coach Mike Blackburn and Tommie Goff, an Akron Copley graduate who led the junior high program last season at Harding Middle School.”
Let’s keep it coming.
As reported by ESPN, “87 girls from 55 high schools found their way to the mats for North Carolina's first official high school girls' wrestling invitational contest.
The state is one of many experiencing a boom in female wrestlers. For years, girls around the country were folded into boys' programs. But since 2001, the number of girls in high school wrestling has soared from 3,405 to nearly 17,000, buoyed by the introduction of women to Olympic wrestling in 2004 and the rise of MMA.”
True. The popularity of MMA has had a huge impact.
There is a new dawn arising. It’s called NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) and while boy’s football has primarily benefited from it, women’s collegiate wrestling is poised to benefit as well.
Let’s make a love connection.
What is the connection to NIL?
Major players, like the UFC and WWE are offering NIL deals.
As reported by teamusa.org, “UFC®, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization, today announced the signing of Bella Mir, University of Iowa freshman and member of the women’s wrestling team, as the brand’s first NIL ambassador. Mir, the daughter of two-time UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, joined the women’s Hawkeyes wrestling team after capturing four consecutive Nevada state high school wrestling titles.”
More on NIL.
On January 26, 2023, at wwe.com, they share, “WWE today revealed the third class of 15 college athletes who will join the company’s award-winning NIL (Name, Image & Likeness) program – “Next In Line™” – that provides a clear pathway from collegiate athletics to WWE.”
Female collegiate wrestlers are poised to greatly benefit from this.
grapplingstars.com fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com Tumar-Shutterstock-photo-credit-Editorial-use-
Of particular interest on the WWE list is Peyton Prussin, a female wrestler at Life University.
The female wrestling insiders at teamusa.org educate, “Peyton Prussin (Las Vegas, Nev./Life University) has been selected as USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week on Nov. 24, 2021.
Prussin won an individual title at the Missouri Valley Open, which featured a strong field of athletes across all weight classes. Wrestling at 109 pounds, Prussin collected five wins en route to the title, including three technical falls to open her tournament.”
The great news for Peyton and other female grapplers is that NIL money is in addition to their scholarship and they can receive more than one deal.
At this time, there is no limit on how much money you can make with NIL deals.
Yes, plural.
If the athlete involved is receiving income based financial aid packages, that could affect their benefits, but most of the female wrestlers are stars who have received scholarships, so that shouldn’t apply.
The great news is that female athletes across the spectrum are benefiting. The informative news and information source cnbc.com posted, “Since the enactment of the NIL (name, image and likeness) structure to allow amateur athletes to seek endorsement deals, which came in July 2021 after a landmark Supreme Court decision, the hope was that female athletes would significantly benefit.”
Time is on their side. The benefits are coming.
Let’s have the mighty NCAA have the last word.
At ncaa.org they share, “Women's wrestling has rapidly grown since becoming an emerging sport in 2020-21, when 30 schools reported sponsoring it. In 2021-22, 39 schools sponsored women's wrestling, with more than 550 student-athletes competing among them. Of the schools reporting women's wrestling in 2021-22, 22 were from Division III, 15 from Division II and two from Division I.
The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin became the first Division III conference to host a women's wrestling championship in January. Conference Carolinas and the South Atlantic Conference in Division II plan to host their first combined women's wrestling championship in 2023-24.”
Well, all of the above is welcome news and we do feel that, even though Grappling Stars Magazine primarily focuses on the fully competitive female submission wrestling industry, it is important to know what is going on in the feeder programs nearby.
In terms of female collegiate wrestling, while it is not yet the perfect storm, given the phenomenal news that keeps raining down?
Please bring an umbrella.
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OPENING PHOTO Editorial-credit-Evgeniia-Shikhaleeva-Shutterstock.com-photo-credit fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com
https://uwosh.edu/today/115490/uw-oshkosh-athletics-to-launch-womens-wrestling-program/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin%E2%80%93Oshkosh
https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2023/May/16/Newberry-adds-womens-wrestling
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newberry_College
https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2023/March/27/Manchester-adds-womens-wrestling
https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2023/March/27/Manchester-adds-womens-wrestling
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_University_(Indiana)
https://www.modbee.com/sports/high-school/article239847413.html
https://athleticdirectoru.com/articles/how-much-is-nil-really-worth-to-student-athletes/
https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2023/January/27/Bella-Mir-UFC-Ambassador
https://www.wwe.com/article/wwe-adds-15-athletes-to-award-winning-nil-program
https://www.fciwomenswrestling2.com
