From Eddie Goldman’s ADCC News
DO THE RIGHT THING, GET SUSPENDED — IT HAPPENED TO WRESTLING COACH STEVE NELSON
Submitted by: E.Goldman/Boxing & Wrestling Editor
Posted On 01/24/2005
Going to school and competing in sports like wrestling are all supposed to enhance the sense of fair play and honor of their participants. Athletics itself is included in a school’s program not simply for the athletes to win, but, more importantly, for them to learn valuable life lessons from these competitions.
So here is what has recently happened to a well-known wrestling coach: He took his team to a tournament. They competed, tried their best, and abided by the rules of the tournament. And when they returned home, because they had competed, tried their best, and abided by the rules of the tournament, their coach was suspended for a week.
No, the above scenario did not happen under Saddam Hussein or in some police state somewhere. It did occur to Steve Nelson, the head coach of the Palo Duro High School Dons boys’ wrestling team and the Lady Dons girls’ wrestling team of Amarillo, Texas.
Nelson is quite an experienced coach. In his 18th season at Palo Duro, he led his girls’ teams to Texas state titles in 2001 and 2003, winning a national title in 2001. He competed for Oklahoma State in his college days, and later won national championships and two world silver medals in sombo wrestling, as well as a world title in the shootfighting league he set up, the now-defunct and sorely-missed USWF (Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation). Nelson also competed in mixed martial arts in Canada and in Japan. So he knows a thing or two about competition in the combat sports, and about standing up for what he believes in.
On Dec. 10, Nelson took some of his young wrestlers to compete at the Santa Fe Invitational Tournament in Santa Fe, New Mexico. All reports agree that he and his wrestlers did everything expected of them at this tournament. During the tournament, one of Nelson’s wrestlers, a young man in the 119-pound weight class, was paired off in a consolation match with a young woman from Espanola, NM. Nelson’s charge wrestled, pinned this opponent, and won, all fair and square. And it was this match that landed Nelson in hot water.
In the state of Texas, there is a rule on the books of the University Interscholastic League (UIL), by which the Amarillo school district must abide, prohibiting athletic contests between boys and girls in certain sports. Wrestling is one of those sports. To provide equal opportunity for the girls, teams are set up in those sports just for them. Texas and Hawaii have such rules prohibiting boys and girls wrestling each other, and are also the only two states which have girls’ state wrestling championships.
However, in New Mexico, as in 48 states, there are not yet separate girls’ state wrestling championships, and often girls who want to wrestle can only do so by competing against boys. This, in fact, is the way many of America’s world-class women wrestlers got their start, by wrestling boys. These include four-time world champion in women’s wrestling Tricia Saunders, two-time world champion Kristie Marano, and two-time world silver medalist and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Patricia Miranda, who also started at 125 pounds in her senior year for the men’s Div. I wrestling team at Stanford, to name but a few. Simply put, if they did not have the opportunity to wrestle boys, these women would not have had the opportunity to wrestle at all. And that situation continues to exist in most of the U.S.
So Nelson was in a spot. He could abide by this state of Texas rule in the state of New Mexico, which would have deprived his wrestler of a chance to compete, possibly cost his team valuable points by forfeiting a winnable match, and also deprived the young woman from New Mexico of her right to compete, win, lose, or draw. Instead, he sent his wrestler out on the mat with his blessing, and to compete honestly, again be it to win, lose, or draw.
When word that Nelson had abided by the rules of this tournament in New Mexico, and also the obligation which states have to provide equal athletic facilities for women, reached home, a district executive committee from three schools in the Amarillo Independent School District (AISD) — Amarillo High, Tascosa, and Caprock — met to consider the situation. They ruled that even though Nelson was abiding by the New Mexico tournament’s rules, he had violated Texas’ University Interscholastic League rule prohibiting boys from wrestling girls. They did not even take into account what might have happened if Nelson had his boy forfeit to the girl, such as sanctions against his team at the tournament, and even the possibility of being accused of discrimination against girls by such an action. No, a rule is a rule, they ruled, and he was thus given what is known as a ‘private reprimand’ as well as a one-week suspension from his coaching duties. He was not suspended from his teaching duties or docked any pay.
‘With respect to the AISD school district, my suspension had nothing to do with me making a bad decision concerning what’s best for my kids,’ Nelson said in response. ‘When people break rules there are consequences and they must be accepted,’ he noted.
But, he went on, ‘The rule that a Texas high school boy may not wrestle a high school girl anywhere in the U.S. is a bad rule. In 48 states outside of Texas and Hawaii girls have to wrestle the boys’ division. This UIL rule should not extend over Texas state lines. In different states, no matter what the sport is, you abide by that state’s rules and that should apply to wrestling also. When other states wrestle in Texas they must abide by Texas UIL rules without any exception. When a New Mexico girl comes to Texas, she doesn’t get to wrestle boys just because they allow it in New Mexico.’
For Nelson, ignoring the UIL rule meant adhering to more important rules.
‘I did not follow the rule because I believe it is a direct violation of my wrestler’s rights to compete and a full and total example of discrimination against the New Mexico girl to refuse to wrestle her,’ he explained.
‘I will always do what’s right for my kids regardless of the consequences I may have to suffer myself,’ he continued. ‘There may be coaches out there that are willing to force their wrestlers to lose but I am not one of those coaches. I don’t consider my wrestlers Amarillo’s kids, I don’t consider my wrestlers PD’s kids, I consider my wrestlers my kids and I could never nor will ever tell my own kids they have to lose.’
He added, ‘I am not a rule breaker and I would never do anything to embarrass Palo Duro or my district but my ethical responsibility is to serve my kids first so I stand strong by my decision.’
And he concluded, ‘I have already begun the official process of trying to get the rule changed to only apply in Texas and other states that have a girls’ division. I will never tell my kids they have to lose even if it forces me to never take my wrestlers outside the state of Texas again.’
The states, of course, which allow boys and girls to wrestle each other have not been destroyed by lightning bolts from the heavens. The wrestlers involved have not been confined to insane asylums or maximum security prisons. In fact, as we alluded to above, quite a few elite wrestlers have emerged from this set-up.
Whatever the ideal situation may be, it is impossible to make the case that suspending someone like Steve Nelson for what he did will teach the kids anything about justice — except that government and education bureaucrats often put their own interests ahead of the kids. And how suspending Nelson and the insistence that the Texas rule must be applied in New Mexico helps the kids involved, which should be the main objective, has, of course, never been explained by these bureaucrats.
High school is an often traumatic time for its impressionable students. It is a time of life whose stamp is often carried for an entire lifetime. The students and wrestlers of Palo Duro High School in Amarillo, Texas, have just gone through an ordeal, which received local and national media attention, which they will remember in the years to come when they recall what are supposed to be nostalgic times.
But you can bet one of Amarillo’s famous five-pound steaks that when most of them recount this incident in the future, that they will preface their remarks by saying something like, ‘You may not believe this story, but ….’
Here are the full statements issued by Steve Nelson:
The rule I violated was (No high school boy shall wrestle a high school girl and vice versa).
Mark Cousins of the UIL, his interpretation of this rule is that it is to be abided by even over state lines, not just in Texas. Our Texas boys will forfeit to girls in all the other states.
1. With respect to the AISD school district, my suspension had nothing to do with me making a bad decision concerning what’s best for my kids. It was nothing to do with the rule being a good rule or bad rule; they gave me a week suspension strictly because I broke a UIL rule. When people break rules there are consequences and they must be accepted. The district took appropriate action in this matter. The district can give suspension all the way to termination. So in retrospect, the week suspension was a light reprimand considering what the other end of the scale could have been. It was the most miserable experience I have had in my career not being with my teams when they are competing. The only thing that put my mind at ease knew my teams were in good hands with my assistant coaches Jeff Hutton and Caleb Holt. They have been with me two years now and fully understood what needed to be done. They are great coaches and did an outstanding job for the girls and boys without me. I am lucky to have both of them.
2. The rule that a Texas high school boy may not wrestle a high school girl anywhere in the U.S. is a bad rule. In 48 states outside of Texas and Hawaii girls have to wrestle the boys division. This UIL rule should not extend over Texas state lines. In different states, no matter what the sport is, you abide by that state’s rules and that should apply to wrestling also. When other states wrestle in Texas they must abide by Texas UIL rules without any exception. When a New Mexico girl comes to Texas, she doesn’t get to wrestle boys just because they allow it in New Mexico.
3. I did not follow the rule because I believe it is a direct violation of my wrestler’s rights to compete and a full and total example of discrimination against the New Mexico girl to refuse to wrestle her. I will always do what’s right for my kids regardless of the consequences I may have to suffer myself. There may be coaches out there that are willing to force their wrestlers to lose but I am not one of those coaches. I don’t consider my wrestlers Amarillo’s kids, I don’t consider my wrestlers PD’s kids, I consider my wrestlers my kids and I could never nor will ever tell my own kids they have to lose.
Forcing boy wrestlers to forfeit to girls in other states does not affect just his placement and self respect; the forfeit affects the team also. If a team was to lose 1st place by one point it would be due to the mandatory forfeit. This would be to say the individual wrestler loses, the team loses the championship and the coach loses. This rule affects everyone associated with Texas teams when leaving the state.
4. Another issue is the UIL does allow our wrestlers to enter the national championships as one of our tournaments with school funds. The national championships will allow girls in the boys’ division if they were to qualify. The way this rule is interpreted now is that any Texas boy would have to forfeit and automatically lose the national tournament if he were to draw a girl.
This AISD school district raised me as a student and then after hiring me has allowed me to excel as a teacher, coach, and even as a professional athlete. I am not a rule breaker and I would never do anything to embarrass Palo Duro or my district but my ethical responsibility is to serve my kids first so I stand strong by my decision.
I have already begun the official process of trying to get the rule changed to only apply in Texas and other states that have a girls’ division. I will never tell my kids they have to lose even if it forces me to never take my wrestlers outside the state of Texas again.
Administrators
This letter is to address the UIL rule that states (No high school boy shall wrestle against a high school girl and vice versa). In Texas this rule is reasonable and understandable due to the fact Texas has a sanctioned UIL girls’ wrestling division separate from the boys. Hawaii also has this separation. The issue at hand is that 48 other states do not have this separation. In 48 states a girl that wants to be a wrestler must be on a boy’s team and compete against boys from other teams. This is to say if our Texas boy wrestlers go to any of these 48 states there is a possibility of drawing a girl to compete against. Mark Cousins of the UIL has interpreted this rule as saying, our Texas boy wrestlers must forfeit to a girl even out of the state of Texas. I am asking this rule be discussed very seriously and be reinterpreted to read (Texas boy wrestlers will not wrestle girls in the state of Texas). In my opinion plus every coach (even non-wrestling coaches), wrestling officials, parents, and wrestling enthusiast that I have discussed this with, believe this is a violation of boy wrestlers’ rights to go to a tournament and be forced to lose without even competing. This rule also discriminates against the girl wrestler who steps out to compete and is not given the opportunity because Texas boys must refuse to wrestle her even though the rules of 48 states allow that girl to wrestle boys.
There is not one rule in the National Federation Rule Book guidelines that does not allow girls to wrestle boys. Another issue is the UIL does allow our wrestlers to enter the national championships as one of our eight tournaments with school funds. The national championships allow girls in the boys division. The way this rule is interpreted now is that any Texas boy would have to automatically lose the national tournament if he were to draw a girl. I believe if all the terrible consequences for our boys from losing minor tournaments to getting scholarships from winning big out of state tournaments were looked at carefully, the current interpretation to this rule would be changed to give our boys equal opportunity when competing out of state. I wish for the administrators of the UIL to seriously reconsider this interpretation. Please make sure this letter is evaluated and given to the proper administration.
Respectfully,
Steve Nelson
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