The sport of wrestling has always been popular in the state of Iowa. That popularity continues to grow thanks to the increase in female participation in the sport, including right here in Perry. The visibility of the woman wrestler continues to grow from the World Wrestling championships in Budapest to the NCAA competition. As a result, more and more young ladies are becoming interested in the sport. Mike Peterson is heavily involved with making sure girls have an equal chance to wrestle at Perry High School.
“The state of Iowa female participation has grown from 94 last year to 174 this year. Locally here in Perry, past Junior Jay presidents Jay and Chris Nelson, current Junior Jay leaders Jeremy atwell and TJ Mahlum, along with the high school coaches have all been very supportive of the girls. You don’t see a negative attitude at all with the female participants in the room. Everybody has been very respectful. I think the next big wave in the state of Iowa will be female wrestling.”
Recently, Iowa held a girls state wrestling championship in eastern Iowa where athletes could enroll to compete.