Another day, another women’s wrestling shirt, but this one comes with a story. #Thread. I’ve been a youth coach for Princeton Wrestling Club for several years. I’m in the corners, it’s obvious I’m a coach. I deal with microaggressions regularly. Things like...

Referees looking to my corner to see what we’re choosing at the start of a period. I’ll signal we’re picking bottom, etc., only to have the ref totally ignore me and look for a male coach instead. Once, the ref looked at the only guy near me for the call, & the man was a parent..

NOT A COACH. This happened with different refs during different matches across the day. Thank god for people like @josephmjamison being there to tell me I wasn’t crazy, and that this was actually very obviously happening...

So, back to the shirt. At the end of dual match, we were all walking through to shake hands of the opposing team that PWC had just wrestled. I was in the line, since I’m one of the coaches and was in the corner for the matches. A child walked past me, shook my hand and said...

NICE JOB TEAM MOM. Again, I coached in the corner, was wearing a polo that matched the other coaches’ polo shirts, and the shirt literally said “Coach Jaimie.” Sexism starts young. Sometimes, ignorant statements like that are enough to push women/girls out of the sport.

Be intentional w/kids, especially young males, on your mats. Correct them when they make sexist comments. Hold them accountable. In the meantime, I’ll rock this shirt given to me by Coach Todd Green as a show of solidarity & support. Lucky to have guys like him in my own corner