Layton middle schooler wants to prove she can wrestle with the boys


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LAYTON — Getting told you can’t do something because you’re a girl isn’t something that Kathleen Janis wanted to hear.

The eighth grader at Central Davis Junior High School is out to prove she can hang with the boys even though her school forbade it.

This past season, Kathleen picked up wrestling as a way to heal from her past, which included domestic violence.

"When I moved to Utah, I was broken from what happened,” she said. “Wrestling has helped me a lot.”

The sport that has helped her to move on isn’t as easy to join as she had hoped, though. Kathleen went to join her junior high school’s wrestling team but was turned away — simply because she’s a girl.

Kathleen Janis, left, wrestles with Sabrina Atherton at Layton High School in Layton, Tuesday, March 1, 2016. (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)
Kathleen Janis, left, wrestles with Sabrina Atherton at Layton High School in Layton, Tuesday, March 1, 2016. (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)

"I was mad at the coaches; some of them wanted me on the team,” Kathleen said. “But some of the guys are going to think weird things if we pin them and they get made fun of, or if they pin us they would feel bad.”

Kathleen’s mother, Kelly, said she hopes her daughter doesn’t feel limited by her gender. And that’s why the family is speaking out.

"I don't want my daughter to feel like she is limited because she is a girl,” Kelly Janis said. “Why would you want to limit a child's mindset, that you can't do that because you are a girl? What is that teaching her later on in life?”

Kathleen’s parents researched Title IX, and that’s when they got in contact with Jennifer Slade, an anti-discrimination specialist at the Utah Department of Education, to determine if the Davis School District is allowed to keep their daughter off the mat.

Title 34 of the federal athletics code states, “Where a recipient operates or sponsors a team in a particular sport for members of one sex but operates or sponsors no such team for members of the other sex and athletic opportunities for members of that sex have previously been limited, members of the excluded sex must be allowed to try out for the team offered unless the sport involved is a contact sport.”

Contact sports, for the purposes of Title 34, include boxing, wrestling, rugby, ice hockey, football, basketball and other sports "for which the purpose or major activity involves bodily contact."

“The schools can say, ‘You know, I know that is something you really want to do but because of Title 34 we are going to follow those regulations so we don’t have to allow you to participate,” Slade said.

Still, the fight continues — and there is a precedent, Kathleen’s stepfather, Lee Garcia, said. In 2015-16, there were 14 girls who participated on high school wrestling teams in the state of Utah — including two at Layton High.


When we look at our daughters they are all princesses. But not every princess wears a glass slipper; mine just happens to wear wrestling shoes.

–Lee Garcia, Kathleen's stepfather


Nearly 20,000 women are registered wrestlers at various levels in the United States, including 28 NCAA-sanctioned women's wrestling programs in college.

“We’ve already crossed that barrier — we have girls playing football, we have girls that are in rugby, wrestling,” Garcia added. “So why do we stop at junior high?”

Of course, Kathleen could join two other girls on the Lancers' wrestling team — beginning next year. But that doesn’t take away the disadvantage of not participating in the sport at the junior high level.

“Title 34 would relate to high school as well, but our high school association in Utah has made the decision to include girls in wrestling,” Slade said. “So the district goes ahead and allows it, and they follow the high school regulation.”

The Utah High School Activities Association holds that teenage girls can compete in wrestling because the sport is not offered except as a coed option in the state. Still, even in high school, there are exceptions — boys cannot play girls-only sanctioned sports like volleyball, for example. Those sports exist where different rules and regulations, like the height of a volleyball net, make coed teams impossible.

“We’ve erred on the side of flexibility,” UHSAA executive director Rob Cuff told the Deseret News. “Boys just have more opportunities.”

Kathleen isn’t going down without a fight. The family has filed a grievance with the school and are prepared to take their case to court.

In the meantime, Kathleen will continue to hone her skills at Crusher Wrestling Club in Layton.

“When we look at our daughters they are all princesses,” Garcia said. “But not every princess wears a glass slipper; mine just happens to wear wrestling shoes.”

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