It seems as if girls have always been a step behind the boys. Not because they really are behind, but rather because equal opportunity has not always been there. More specifically, girls are always two steps behind the boys in sports. When it comes to wrestling, girls are not given the equal opportunity to compete at the level that boys get to compete at. The already male dominated sport of wrestling does not widely offer equal opportunity to compete for the girls like the boys.

At the NCAA division one level, there is only one female team for girls to compete at. Most colleges that do offer female wrestling programs compete only at the NAIA, division II or division III levels. Girls are stripped of the opportunity of competing at a higher level, and not only that, but they fight to compete in the male dominated sport to begin with. For some stuck in their old ways, girls simply should not wrestle. However, the girls that do, will not let you tell them otherwise.

The movement to “wrestle the gap” was launched on NCAA national signing day by the Wrestle Like A Girl organization. The campaign is bringing light to the lack of opportunities for women to wrestle at the collegiate level. The day the campaign was launched, a video was uploaded to twitter where it went viral gaining over 4.5 million views. In the video, two girls are shown wrestling in a high school wrestling room with the voiceover of a girl saying “Female wrestling is one of the fastest growing sports in high school yet at the NCAA division 1 level there is only one team for girls, only one.” Professional athletes, olympians, politicians, and most importantly female wrestlers are joining the movement and signing the petition to “wrestle the gap” on change.org.