At the time we told them that, they were in elementary/jr high and we didn’t attend every tournament. It’s a no win situation for a boy, so we wanted them to know ahead of time that it’s ok to choose not to wrestle a girl. That’s what I meant by permission-we’d back them up if the coach got after them. Forgive me for writing in the present tense. Our youngest son hasn’t started wrestling yet (we wait until about 4th grade) so I was thinking of him in a couple of years.
Different situation as they got older-our son wrestles at 182/195 not many girls at that weight:).
My son wrestled for 11 years from first grade thru his senior year in high school. He wrestled the upper weights and only had to wrestle two girls in his career. One was tough but the other was a push over. It’s rare in Michigan to see a girl at the high school state finals actually place, but they are always the fan favorites.