Married to a wrestling coach and mom to a high school wrestler.
We’ve always told our boys that they have our permission to forfeit to a girl and when my husband was a high school coach he told his team the same thing (not an issue in college).
What I added to my sons was that if they chose to wrestle a girl then don’t hold back one bit. Be as rough and aggressive as you can be, if she wants to be there then make her know what it takes.
“they have our permission to forfeit to a girl...”
Have your permission? Seriously? If you kids were old enough to participate in sports, they should’t have needed your permission to win, lose, or quit.
I would not have told them to think about a forfeit but to wrestle on like they were against another guy. If the girls want to get in the ring, let it be a genuine experience for them.
It is really a no win for the guys:
You win, “Oh, big deal, you beat a girl.”
You lose, “Oh, you got beat by a girl? Ha Ha Ha, loser.”
My youngest wrestled in Junior High. We also told him it was OK to forfeit to a girl ... but ... as it turned out the girl wrestlers easily outweighed him so it ended up being a non-issue.