Girls wrestling a go for FDSH
Trending
It's official: Fort Dodge will have a girls wrestling team for the 2022-23 school year.
The Fort Dodge Community School District board voted unanimously on Monday night to approve the addition of the sport.
"We went to the school board to get their blessing and approval for girls wrestling,'' said FDSH activities director Josh Porter. "Now we will begin the process of starting to look for a coach to lead this program.
"In the next couple of days, we will be putting out an application form for a coach and then move forward."
Porter is looking for someone to guide the program and build from the Dodger wrestling tradition.
"We want someone who will navigate the program and uphold the Fort Dodge wrestling tradition,'' Porter said. "They are going to have to be fair and equitable and retain wrestlers starting from scratch.
"The numbers are going to grow. We will see the desire for girls wrestling take off now that it's official."
Dodger junior Alexis Ross became part of history this past season, winning the IWCOA 135-pound title and becoming Fort Dodge's first female state champ in the process.
"It feels great to know that this will happen going into my senior year,'' Ross said. "I get to experience the sport finally being sanctioned. It's great to know the future generations of girl wrestlers will not have to go through some of the uncertainty I had to face."
Ross has been a staple and trailblazer for the Dodgers, finishing third as a freshman and second as a sophomore.
"It's a great thing for the sport,'' Ross said. "It's growing fast. I love it."
During the final round of the IWCOA girls state wrestling championships, Jean Berger and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union announced the IGHSAU would sanction girls wrestling, beginning in 2022-23.
According to IGHSAU Assistant Director Jason Eslinger, Fort Dodge is one of several schools that recently made the girls programs official.
There are still a lot of details to be ironed out as far as scheduling, weights and other rules, but next year, female wrestlers will compete strictly against each other.
"At first it will most likely be tournament-based and not a lot of team-orientated events,'' Porter said. "The only definitive new aspect will be that girls can only wrestle girls now. They won't be on the boys teams."
For the past four seasons, Fort Dodge has held a girls bracket at the Don Miller Invitational, with their kids tournament featured the night before. That's a tradition Porter -- a former Dodger state champion himself -- wants to see continue.
"We've been wanting to keep that weekend growing and this helps,'' Porter said. "We also have the junior varsity tournament (the next Monday), which will be icing on the cake."
Porter said there is no timeline on the hiring of a coach.
"We will wait out the process and see who the applicants are that apply,'' Porter said. "Fort Dodge is a huge wrestling community, so I'm sure we will have some interest -- especially if we have some new teachers moving into town.
"It's going to be a great opportunity for a young male or female coach."