North Tama boys wrestling head coach Andrew Knaack coaches a member of his team from the sidelines last fall. This season, Knaack will be the head coach for both the Redhawk boys’ program and the newly-created girls’ program. –Photo by Ruby F. McAllister

As the first games of the fall season inch closer, winter sports might be the furthest thing from a lot of people’s minds but not for North Tama’s head wrestling coach Andrew Knaack who’s been working diligently to put together a brand new girls’ wrestling program.

The long-awaited and much-anticipated announcement that high school girls wrestling would be sanctioned in Iowa came this past January at the Iowa High School Girls Wrestling Championships in Coralville.

Since that time, schools all over the state – with school board approval – have been investing time, energy, and funds into starting their own program in time for Halloween, the first day high school female wrestlers in Iowa can officially begin practice.

As it stands today, Knaack is now the head coach of both the boys and girls teams with Brice Girkin and Rick Samuelson continuing in their roles as assistant coaches. The district is currently in the process of hiring a junior high girls coach.

“Right now the plan is to run the boys and girls simultaneously,” Knaack wrote in an email. “They will practice the same time as the [junior high] boys until it is time for high school [boys] to start.”

Knaack added that the start date could be pushed around a bit based on when North Tama volleyball finishes the season.

Fifteen individual competition dates will be allowed for varsity girls this year and may be in the form of scrambles, duals, or tournaments.

Interest in the Redhawk girls’ program has been picking up, Knaack said, especially from those hoping to try something new. During the month of August, Knaack scheduled an open mat night for interested girls with the help of former AGWSR wrestler and current Cedar Falls High School girls wrestling head coach Ali Gerhracht.

Knaack is hoping to field a girls’ team this inaugural season of at least six to eight wrestlers.

“A lot of the girls will be competing for the first time in the sport of wrestling,” Knaack wrote. “Many girls have wrestling in their background with their fathers or grandfathers.”

As experienced a high school wrestling coach as Knaack is – he took three North Tama wrestlers to state this past winter – he admitted coaching female wrestlers will be a change.

“I have not coached girls before in any sport,” Knaack wrote. “I have asked around to other [high school wrestling] coaches and got a lot of similar responses. … The girls want to learn the sport and are eager to learn. It will be a change for me, but I am looking forward to it.”

Knaack then emphasized the importance he is placing on expanding the sport of wrestling to girls in Iowa, citing his own young daughter as a motivating factor.

“I have spent almost all my life in the sport of wrestling. So, if there are ways for the sport of wrestling to grow and get a new group of people involved, it is awesome. I have a young daughter. I want her to have the opportunity to wrestle, to experience what it is about walking out on the mat and knowing you are the only one to look at for your wins or losses competing against other girls.”

In terms of the girls’ uniforms, Knaack is working to secure new singlets with a different design than the boys but the warmups for both teams will be the same in order to function as a cohesive unit of Redhawk wrestlers no matter the gender.

“[North Tama wrestlers] follow the motto of ‘Chop Wood Carry Water,'” Knaack wrote. “Meaning you need to do all the daily and little tasks to help you grow to be successful and be the competitor you want to be. If I had a daughter old enough to wrestle high school right now, I would give her that opportunity. The opportunity for her and many others are more than just teaching the sport. It is a life lesson, and passing that on to [both] boys and girls is awesome.”

The 2022-2023 Iowa High School Girls Wrestling season is set to begin on Halloween this year with the first official practice. The first date of competition is set for Monday, November 14 (Week 20). The postseason regional qualifier is scheduled for Friday, January 27, while the state tournament remains the first weekend in February at the Xtream Arena in Coralville.