Gold Dome Live is moving!
Our new spot will allow us to get the news to you even faster and make commenting easier. Please bookmark the new site and sign up for our rss feed:
http://blogs.ajc.com/gold-dome-live/
AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > March > 01 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USHouse wrestles with women sports programs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Rep. James Mills made an unusual admission on the House floor this morning. “I hope I never have to wrestle a woman,” Mills (R-Gainesville) declared, prompting laughter from fellow House members.
He made those comment while talking about his resolution urging Georgia’s university system to start up intercollegiate wrestling programs.
Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Atlanta) rose on the House floor and reminded Mills that females wrestle, too.
“This is gender-neutral,” Mills responded about House Resolution 246. “It would be my hope that any athlete who wants to excel in this area would have the same opportunity. At the same time, I hope I would never have to wrestle a woman.”
None of the 35 institutions in the state’s university system offer competitive wrestling programs, the resolution says.
“Georgia is blessed with a number of outstanding high school wrestling programs which produce extraordinarily talented young wrestlers,” the resolution says.
“The lack of opportunity for competition in intercollegiate wrestling and the lack of scholarship opportunities result in talented student-athletes leaving the State of Georgia to pursue their sport in colleges and universities in other states.”
The House passed the resolution without a fight.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Miscellaneous
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Andy
March 1, 2007 1:47 PM | Link to this
While the comments made by Representative Mills about wrestling a woman may have been in bad taste he does have a valid point about the need for a wrestling program at at least one of Georgia’s universities. Title IX has been wonderful for women’s athletics, but it has come at the cost of the loss of programs for men’s athletics. For all intients and purposes there is no such thing as men’s collegiate gymanstics any more. With a few notable exceptions (UT Chattanooga, Cumberland College, etc.) ther are almost no college wrestling programs in the southeast. All you have to do is spend one day (of a four day tournament) in the Gwinnett Arena and you can’t miss the desire of those young men (and women) that would LOVE the opportunity to excel at the next level.