By Helen Maroulis
HelenMaroulis.com
I strongly believe all girls should wrestle, or at the very least give wrestling a try. I know what the sport did for me mentally, physically, and emotionally and I believe every girl can benefit from such experiences the sport gives you. However, I believe the biggest battle is not convincing girls why they should wrestle, but more so getting their parents on board. Almost all of my research papers in University were about women in sport or the Olympic movement. I've always been passionate about these topics. One semester I took class on marketing for social change. I chose to study girls in sports and the impact of role models.

Research taught me that from about 8-11 years old, a girl's main role model will be her parents. From 12-18 years of age it is generally her peers. With that said, for a girl to start wrestling it would be great for her mom and dad to support this. While I internally want to beg every mother and father to let their daughter experience wrestling, I understand there are still some arguments to be made. Yes,  wrestling isn't a girls state-sanctioned sport in every state yet, but we're getting there. Yes, it's not offered in NCAA Division 1 Universities (yet), but there are still many University scholarships available and the opportunity to travel the world wrestling for Team USA (which is not an unrealistic dream for womens wrestling since much of the competition is abroad). Before you write off wrestling for your daughter please consider it again from the perspective of the benefits it can give your child in the form of mental, emotional and physical development and fortitude.

My mom was once one of those parents who needed convincing. My deep love for the sport and the changes she could see it caused within me were the reasons she let me continue. So here is her reason why girls should wrestle.

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