Quakertown Community High School is starting a club team for girls wrestling. Boys coaches Kurt Handel and Dan Ziegler have been working with a handful of girls in recent weeks following the Panther Clubs and Sports Fair, where nearly 20 girls showed interest in the program.
“We’re trying to get this thing rolling,” Coach Handel said. “It’s the fastest-growing sport in America and we want to give our girls a chance to be part of it.”
Participation in girls wrestling has been on the rise since the 1990s. Things really took off when the sport was added to the Olympics in 2004. In 1994, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association, there were 804 high school girls wrestlers. That’s grown to more than 20,000 today.
Locally, Quakertown Youth Wrestling has girls in its program. Girls wrestling is a varsity sport at Souderton High School, and Delaware Valley University has a women’s wrestling program.
“There’s a real opportunity out there with scholarships at all levels of college,” Coach Handel said. “At this point, there aren’t enough girls to take advantage of the scholarships out there.”
Coach Handel said he’s looking for a coach for the girls club team. He can be reached at
[email protected].