I have a daughter that is in her 2nd yr of wrestling and she loves wrestling but when she goes to school the other girls give her a hard time and she is having second thoughts about wrestling next year. She is just a 1st grader. Does anyone have any ideas to help out! She is a good little wrestler!!!

Help! Thanks

It is hard to explain how to deal with it and even harder to deal with when you are that young. One of the best things that helped when I was little is going to tournaments and seeing that recognition through awards and success. That to a young person sometimes is so much more important than having to explain yourself to your fellow classmates. If you have something to show or can help her figure out how she feels sbout the sport. Ask her why she loves the sport and what makes her love the sport so much. those are the answers that she needs to explain. Some people will never understand and some people will take convincing to understand and she needs to know that. She needs to know how well she is doing everyday. There is a point where they should make the choice to buckle down, but you should always let your child or athlete know that as long as they devote themselves to wrestling during practice and tournaments at that age that you are proud of them. At that age no matter how much their friends affect their lives, their parents and superiors affect their lives more. At least that is how it was for me. If I did not have the constant sense of success, motivation, and praise that comes from competitions and parental or coaching recognition I would have died out before my true talent was born.

Normally at that age the kids are doing various types of projects in school where the teacher is doing things like identifying heroes. It would be great if you could talk to the teacher about the issue and have the teacher focus on one of the female Olympic athletes who are wrestling. The women on the team are fairly easy to track down and it is not even unthinkable to have the athlete send in a letter or poster for the class detailing their success. Coach Ed maybe could help you with this, if not I have a contact that knows most of the female athletes pretty well. At that point, the other students may recognize that here is someone special doing something that your daughter aspires to do. I know this sounds far fetched but one of the great things about this sport is the willingness and accessibility of those great female, or male wrestlers who have excelled at the next level and are willing to help out. If the teacher is unwilling to help out in a situation like this it don’t say much for the teacher, I honestly believe though, that if explaining the situation with the teacher, especially if presenting her with a signed poster or something of that nature to put up in the class room that they would be excited to assist.

Great posts from both very knowledgible people. Brooke Bogren will be at our Krusader practice this summer-see prev posts. Could you guys come so your daughter can see and meet other girl wrestlers? I can't help but think that may help and other girls of all ages might be able to address this issue personally. This you see, is what the Kansas Krusaders is all about. Helping the girls of Kansas and surrounding areas to further their endevours in wrestling.

Soap Box Down

Ms. Jenni

What a great time to learn a lesson in peer pressure. Bullying and pressuring kids starts earlier then we can imagine. You need to help her be an independent person not afraid of following her own goals and dreams. Trust me it doesn't get any easier when she gets older. If she caves now what will happen in 7th grade or 9th grade when the stakes are much higher??? Take her to girls state and let her see that she is one of many out there. Have her read about women and girls that followed their own dreams and bucked the system. The "Girl to the Rescue" series is good. It's girls that are put into situations where they are the hero and make a difference. I think they might be actual true stories and for your daughters age group, maybe a little older but the stories are short enough to read at bedtime. I wanted my daughter to grow up strong enough to make her own decisions and not follow the crowd. So far she is in 9th grade and is making great choices. Focused on her grades, doing well in the organizations she's joined. and not afraid to work hard. She actually lettered in wrestling as a freshmen, watch a hs wrestling practice and you will see that is not an easy feat. I can't believe the difference it has made in her confidence level in all areas of her life. Keep your daughter in it and don't let the "queen bees" keep her from doing what she wants. Read the book for yourself "Queen Bees and wanna bees" it's what the movie Mean Girls was based on and you will see how important it is for your daughter to not let those girls influence her. Sorry I tend to ramble.

My daughter has been at it since she was 7. She is now a Sophmore on the varsity squad, a 4.0 grade average and fears no competition, wrestler or bully. These are some of the things you can look forward to with your 1st grader. The ones who picked, as she was growing up, were usually jealous because Mom and Dad wouldnt let them wrestle.

I wanted you all to knoe that I was very proud of my daughter this weekend at Districts she ended up 6th out of 16 kids and wrestled 6 matches. She is going to wrestle as Mcpherson on the 19th. It seems that when I go to meets I always find myself cheer on other girls. Go Girls! Thanks for all the great advice you have giving me and I will try to get my daughter to a practice this summer. We are 3 hrs from topeka!
Thanks again!