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Submission hold or not Tuesday, Jun 3, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - The dispute is over the sport of wrestling instead of rasslin' so a cage match is out of the question. Too bad. A 10-foot high steel cage with a lock on the only entrance would be the perfect vehicle for settling Greg Hatcher vs. the Arkansas Activities Association Board of Directors. In one corner, Hatcher and tag team partner Pat Smith, a former NCAA wrestling champion. In the other corner, the nay voters on the 19-member board. No folding chairs to the head allowed. To Hatcher, this is a serious fight. For the second straight year, he will make a case that the AAA board should sanction wrestling in the state's high schools and his undoing might well be the often-despised quota. Last year, when Hatcher pitched wrestling to the AAA, he was told that the AAA board usually watches the evolution of a sport in high schools to gauge interest before it decides whether to sanction the competition. Hatcher pressed on, and asked for a specific number of schools that the AAA board would deem acceptable. The bargaining wasn't exactly Abraham interceding to save Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of five people, but there was some give and take before both sides settled on 40. Mike McSpadden of Alma, president of the board at the time, reminded Hatcher that 39 schools would be considered a failure and Hatcher agreed. McSpadden and others remember that 40 was the number for the 2007-08 school year. Apparently, 35 schools fielded teams last year and only 31 competed in the state championship. But, an e-mail Hatcher sent to the media says the AAA voted last year to sanction the sport if 40 high schools wrestled during the 2008-09 school year. The correspondence was a heads-up about Hatcher's presentation on Wednesday and it says he will report that Arkansas has 45 high schools ready to wrestle during 2008-09 and that "wrestling should become a sanctioned sport during this meeting." Even though Hatcher generously agreed to buy the mats for participating schools, this will be a hard sell. In a pinch like any consumer of gasoline, school districts are reluctant to budget for uniforms, travel and a coach's stipend. The buffet of high school sports varies from state to state - a reflection of the varied cultures. Wrestling is huge in the Midwest. Up North, ice hockey begins with the tiny tikes. That doesn't mean that either is a must in Arkansas. In recent years, participation outside of school helped facilitate the AAA's sanctioning of fast-pitch softball for girls and bowling for boys and girls. The AAA's governing body voted in 1994 to add girls softball after schools indicated on a survey initiated by the executive committee that they wanted the sport. Participants in summer leagues soon spoke out in favor of fast-pitch and it began in 1999 with schools competing in one classification. Now, slow-pitch has disappeared and there are seven classifications for fast-pitch. Sanctioned in 2005, more than 80 schools have bowling teams. Bowling alley proprietors appeared before the AAA a couple of times to provide progress updates before they received a favorable vote, but it also helped that the schools did not have to build any facilities. Hatcher's e-mail says his contingent will include 20 wrestlers, who are training in the Little Rock area. They could surround the cage to make certain no one escapes until there is a decision. ---- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
