At a Iowa High School State Championship Wrestling Tournament there was a controversy over a male student that forfeited his match against a female student. Joel Northrup said this about why he chose not to wrestle Cassey Herkleman, "As a matter of conscience and my faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner.” Joel’s father who is a pastor said, “We believe in the elevation and respect of women, and we don't think that wrestling a woman is the right thing to do. Body slamming and takedowns -- full contact sport is not how to do that." And Cassey’s father Bill Herkleman had this to say, "I sincerely respect the decision of the Northrup family especially since it was made on the biggest stage in wrestling. I have heard nothing but good things about the Northrup family and hope Joel does very well the remainder of the tourney."
It seems the only people who had a problem with the decision were the media and sports writers like Rick Reilly. Reilly wrote that Joel was “wrong” and “If the Northrups really wanted to ‘respect’ women, they should've encouraged their son to face her.” As a former wrestler I never had to face a decision like this. I’m not sure what I would have done in the same situation.
But the fact is this was a personal matter of faith for Joel. Joel shouldn’t be persecuted for doing what he felt was right. He made his decision based on a respect that he has for women. In our society where women are objectified, it is nice to see a young man show respect for a young woman. Joel didn’t complain that it was unfair that he had to wrestler a girl. Instead he made the decision that winning was not as important as being true to his values.
As for Cassey, I hope she was successful in wrestling. But no matter how many victories she has, she showed her class by not lashing out at Joel for his personal values. I’m sure both of these two young people will go far in life. They both showed true sportsmanship.
