Wrestler Northrup Declines Match with Girl in Iowa State Wrestling Tournament

Wrestling aficionados of several generations know the Iowa State wrestling championships are the gold cup for high school wrestling. Therefore, it comes as good news that Cassy Herkelman won her first match in the Class 3-A 112 lb. category against sophomore Joel Northrup.

Norththrup forfeited. He says he wasn't comfortable wrestling against a girl. Northrup's father is a minister in a Pentecostal church, and some speculate that religious influence may have played a part in his decision.

Would the forfeit have been less controversial if not for the specter of religious conservatism? Bill Randles, pastor of the church to which the Northrups belong, stumbled badly if he is accurately quoted in a "SignOnSanDiego" article.

Randles says it is a church belief that "young men and women shouldn't touch in a familiar way." Hello, Randles! When wrestling, male wrestlers touch each other in the "familiar way," too.

Discounting the religious argument, girl wrestlers, Megan Black and Cassy Herkelman, are to be admired for their accomplishments. Note that both young women have voiced respect for Northrup's decision to forfeit.

In his public statement, Joe Northrup mentions that "wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times."

Some would argue that Northrup was showing gender bias by not competing with Herkelman. After all, violence is not the objective of wrestling.

Such arguments are irrelevant. So long as the individual does no harm, the individual is more important than the collective groupthink of a dozen left-leaning websites. The Huffington Post headline puts Northrup's decision as a sexist refusal rather than an individual right.

If Northrup decided to wrestle the girls, or if he decided not to, both choices are the right choices for him. Kids need not be damaged by the culture wars of their parents' generation.

Wrestling is a 'sport' only because the objective has become to subdue rather than kill your opponent, as was the case in ancient times.

You subdue an opponent with superior strength and skill-and by causing pain. You can accomplish the objective with more or less pain but it's still pain. At the highest level, it's pain in heavy doses.

Consider boxing. What Northrup says about 'combat sport' and violence is clearer in boxing. The objective in boxing competition is to disable your opponent with punches.

Light punches cause pain; hard punches disconnect competitors from their senses. Competitive boxing is gender segregated.

For many years, I was an amateur boxing coach with USA Boxing. It took some adjustment when young girls more frequently began coming in to compete in women's boxing.

Boxing training is especially difficult for girls. With fewer female training partners, girl boxers have to spar with boys. Boxing coaches have to acquaint themselves with chest protectors and pregnancy tests.

Of the many female boxers I've encountered, only a few were standouts, and only one was exceptional-exceptional meaning she could compete with amateur boys. Any amateur boy who went into ring with Daneen thinking he was going to take it easy on her soon had another thought coming.

Daneen boxed with an anger-driven ferocity, neither asking for nor yielding quarter. In order for her male sparring partners to survive, they had to bring their A-game.

The culture wars that occur in the U.S. often proselytize for only one of two possible and mutually exclusive answers. But Cassie and Megan and Joe Northrup can all be right for themselves, and all at the same time.

The only harm done to anyone as a result of Northrup forfeiting his match against Herkelman will be the harm done by adults of his parents' generation.

Anthony Ventre is a freelance writer who has written for several weekly and daily newspapers, for Demand Studios, and for AOL Online. He is a former news director for radio station KPEN in Los Altos, Calif. He enjoys news and fiction writing .