PIAA approves making girls wrestling an official high school sport in Pennsylvania
WEXFORD, Pa. (KDKA) -- The PIAA sanctioned a new sport for the next school year. After years of pushing for it, girls wrestling will now be just like the boys.
"Once you step on the mat, it doesn't matter who you are, what you think the other person is. It's just you and the other person on the mat," North Allegheny junior girl wrestler Leyna Rumpler said.
Rumpler has been wrestling for three years, and last year became a state champion.
"I definitely want to win a second state title and become the first official PIAA girl state champion from North Allegheny," she said.
The PIAA voted unanimously to approve the sport. One hundred schools across the state have teams. NA has 12 girls on their wrestling team.
"There's no asterisk behind it anymore. It's a real state sport," NA girls wrestling coach Dan Heckert said.
Heckert said just a couple of years ago there were only about 200 girls wrestling in the state. Now it's up to 1,000.
"That proves the excitement behind it and we see no reason why it won't continue to grow," he said inside the NA wrestling room.
Heckert helped to get the sport sanctioned. He said this will allow for the girls to be treated just like the boys. They will have sanctioned matches and work their way to states. He and other coaches were working to get everything going so it can be a smooth transition.
"That way when we become a PIAA sport, it's not a shock. We're just going to keep rolling," Heckert said.
"Knowing that we all worked so hard for so long and we finally got it, we finally achieved our goal -- it's going to be amazing," Rumpler said.
According to her, this sport helps girls to have more confidence in themselves -- a skill they can use for the rest of their lives.
"It just shows you can be whoever you want to be and do whatever you want to do. It doesn't matter who you are," Rumpler told KDKA-TV.
The sport will start next school year, and there will be a tournament in March.