TAKING DOWN THE STIGMA: Female Wrestlers Excelling at Clarion-Based Club

CLARION, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Kara Shaffer isn’t quite sure what all the fuss is about.

To the 10-year-old girl from Rimersburg, putting on a wrestling singlet and getting on the mat is completely natural.

(Above, Kara Shaffer warms up before a bout on the wrestling mat/submitted photo)

It’s just another way to compete.

And make no mistake about it, Kara likes to do well, no matter the stakes.

As a member of the Partner Trained Wrestling Club in Clarion for the last year, Kara has already accomplished a great deal. She placed fifth in the 56-pound girls weight class at the Keystone State Games in Erie last March.

But her favorite part about wrestling? Well, that’s easy.

“Beating the boys,” she said.

Kara is one of many young girls who are getting involved in wrestling, a sport that has traditionally been heavily male-dominated.

That is beginning to change.

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Partner Trained Wrestling Club has approximately 15 girls among its ranks. Girls wrestling is one of the fastest growing sports in the country.

“We’re really trying to change the culture in this town when it comes to wrestling,” said club coach Ashby Diaz. “I still feel like we could add a lot more girls. I feel parents’ minds just need to open up to it.”

Kara’s mother, Monica Shaffer, didn’t need much persuading when Kara decided she wanted to give the sport a try.

For Kara, wrestling is also therapeutic.

Kara has ADHD and wrestling helps her focus both on the mat and off of it.

“We’ve noticed that wrestling is her outlet to get out all of this energy,” Monica said. “It really helps her focus. When she comes home, she can better put her mind on one thing.”

Kara, who also does cheerleading and is hoping to begin gymnastics again, is relentless on the mat.

She wears a singlet that says, “Wrestle Like a Girl.”

(From left, Blake Brothers, 9, of New Bethlehem, Kara Shaffer, 10, of Rimersburg, and Kynlee Boozer, 9, of New Bethlehem, pose at the Partner Trained Wrestling Club in Clarion. They are three of approximately 15 female wrestlers in the club/submitted photo)

Kara sold roughly 200 chocolate-covered strawberries that she and Monica made at home to pay for those singlets so she and her teammates could wear them at the Keystone Games.

Kara is dedicated. She never backs down.

“At states, all the other girls had like five pounds on her,” Monica said. “Her goal this year is she wants to go back and win first place.”

Kara doesn’t take her newfound craft lightly.

She watches wrestling videos. Practices two nights a week. Attends girls wrestling tournaments and sits near the mat and studies the older girls wrestling intently.

“She’s doing very well,” Monica said. “And she loves it. She made a comment that she wants to go to college on a wrestling scholarship.”

Diaz is proud of how all of his wrestlers are doing. But performance isn’t his sole measure of success, especially with the younger wrestlers like Kara in his room.

He wants to teach the basics and the fundamentals above all else. The focus on the wins and losses will come later.

“You want to start off with a good base of wrestling,” said Diaz, who wrestled at Clarion University. “Then you start to teach more. I think people tend to over exaggerate what advanced wrestling is. I just think there’s certain things you can teach a youth wrestler that will teach them how to win now, like how to throw someone, but when they get to high school, they’re not going to be able to do that anymore. We’re teaching them what will work in the future, in high school and hopefully beyond.”

Diaz said he believes the stigma surrounding girls wrestling is fading.

As more and more females take to the mat, it becomes increasingly mainstream.

Female college wrestling programs are popping up and growing all over the nation. High school girls wrestling teams are also on a rapid rise.

Increased opportunities have caused increased participation.

Wrestlers like Kara and 9-year-old New Bethlehem native Kynlee Boozer, are getting in on the ground floor at an early age.

“Some parents think girls shouldn’t wrestle,” Diaz said. “I think my job as a coach is to challenge that and that can be a hard thing. I’m going to take it upon myself to continue to promote and get the most girls that we can in the area.”

(Kynlee Boozer, right, at the start of a bout/submitted photo)

Kynlee is one of the newest female wrestler’s in Diaz’s room. She decided to join the team last April.
It wasn’t a big leap for her to try. She’s already an athlete, competing in soccer, cheerleading and gymnastics. Her father was also a wrestler in high school.

“She really enjoyed it,” Sarah said. “She’s gotten better since she started, for sure.”

There’s something about wrestling that gives Kynlee, Kara and other female grapplers something that most other sports can’t.

The desire, perhaps, to show people that wrestling doesn’t belong to only one gender. To show that anyone can try and succeed, no matter who the opponent is in front of her.

“She says she wants to keep wrestling,” Sarah said. “She likes beating the boys.