#WomensWednesday: Princeton head coach Chris Ayres talks girls wrestling and why it matters so much
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
Photo of Princeton head coach Chris Ayres by Beverly Schaefer, Princeton University.
USA Wrestling had a recent interview with Princeton head coach Chris Ayres, which included a detailed discussion on why girls and women’s wrestling means so much to him. He discusses his daughter’s passion for the sport, and how his entire family got involved in seeking an official high school tournament for girls in New Jersey. He also talked about what it was like being a wrestling parent watching his daughter compete.
Q: You, your wife Lori and your daughter Chloe have been leaders in creating opportunities for women and girls to wrestle. Why is this so important for you?
Ayres: That whole women’s thing… all this stuff I’ve been through with Princeton, nothing will trump the women’s movement and what I felt doing that. The women’s thing was amazing to me. I’m guilty, totally guilty. I didn’t see it. I needed to have a child, a girl who chose wrestling and showed me what it could be.
Here’s the bottom line, what I got from it. She started wrestling and she was getting the same benefits that I got out of wrestling, which was everything to my life. And I saw that. I was like, “This is so stupid that we ever thought the other half of humanity couldn’t benefit from this sport like the men have benefitted from the sport.” It got me fired up a little bit, and my wife. Let’s be honest, my wife was more fired up than me and she is the driver of everything in my world. She wound me up, and she pointed me in the direction, and we started getting things done.
A lot of lucky stuff happened with the (New Jersey girls) state tournament. Bill Bruno (of the NJSIAA) had been doing the coaches clinic here for four years. He was the head of wrestling at the NJSIAA. He is an awesome individual, one of my favorite people on the face of this earth. We have worked together a lot now because of this girls thing. He is coming to do his clinic, and Bill says “let’s meet.”
Outside of that, I’m thinking in my head, and I said it to my wife, “To add women’s wrestling as a sport is going to take 10 years in Jersey. It is going to be so long. This process is going to be so hard.” So we get on a phone call with (USA Wrestling Girls High School Development Committee Co-Chair) Joan Fulp. I’m saying it will take forever. She says, “Look. You are not adding a whole sport. You are just adding a division to the state tournament.” That is when the light bulb for me. I said, “Holy Cow, that’s the way we do it.” I couldn’t believe how simple it became in my head. OK, so PA has AA and AAA. We are going to have men’s and women’s. That will be totally awesome. We can slow build it and it is going to be great. That was the kicker.
Once I knew that, I told Bill Bruno. We had a meeting down here. He was so amazing. He brought the guy who ran the state tournament Howie O’Neil, logistically to see how we could have it done. He asks, how is it possible? I said we are just going to add a division. I showed him the stats, that once there is a state tournament, most states double almost immediately. Sure enough, we got this thing passed. I could talk for hours about it. When we got it passed, it was a total unanimous vote in New Jersey. There are athletic directors, teachers and coaches in there. We gave a little speech about it, and why we should do it. Every hand in the room went up, so it was passed. That is kind of how it all went down.
Q: What is tougher for you, coaching your Tiger athletes or watching Chloe wrestle?
Ayers: It’s funny to me. It is all the same when the match starts. Actually, with her, I am a little less nervous. But when the match starts, I literally lose my mind. It’s ridiculous. Sometimes, I have to catch myself. I am pretty measured in our (Princeton) matches. I am usually calming down Joe Dubuque most of the time. I think it is a little harder coaching her.
Editor’s Note: In the first official New Jersey state girls high school championships, held in Atlantic City, N.J. in 2019, Chloe Ayres of Princeton High School was the 105-pound New Jersey state wrestling champion.
USA Wrestling had a recent interview with Princeton head coach Chris Ayres, which included a detailed discussion on why girls and women’s wrestling means so much to him. He discusses his daughter’s passion for the sport, and how his entire family got involved in seeking an official high school tournament for girls in New Jersey. He also talked about what it was like being a wrestling parent watching his daughter compete.
Q: You, your wife Lori and your daughter Chloe have been leaders in creating opportunities for women and girls to wrestle. Why is this so important for you?
Ayres: That whole women’s thing… all this stuff I’ve been through with Princeton, nothing will trump the women’s movement and what I felt doing that. The women’s thing was amazing to me. I’m guilty, totally guilty. I didn’t see it. I needed to have a child, a girl who chose wrestling and showed me what it could be.
Here’s the bottom line, what I got from it. She started wrestling and she was getting the same benefits that I got out of wrestling, which was everything to my life. And I saw that. I was like, “This is so stupid that we ever thought the other half of humanity couldn’t benefit from this sport like the men have benefitted from the sport.” It got me fired up a little bit, and my wife. Let’s be honest, my wife was more fired up than me and she is the driver of everything in my world. She wound me up, and she pointed me in the direction, and we started getting things done.
A lot of lucky stuff happened with the (New Jersey girls) state tournament. Bill Bruno (of the NJSIAA) had been doing the coaches clinic here for four years. He was the head of wrestling at the NJSIAA. He is an awesome individual, one of my favorite people on the face of this earth. We have worked together a lot now because of this girls thing. He is coming to do his clinic, and Bill says “let’s meet.”
Outside of that, I’m thinking in my head, and I said it to my wife, “To add women’s wrestling as a sport is going to take 10 years in Jersey. It is going to be so long. This process is going to be so hard.” So we get on a phone call with (USA Wrestling Girls High School Development Committee Co-Chair) Joan Fulp. I’m saying it will take forever. She says, “Look. You are not adding a whole sport. You are just adding a division to the state tournament.” That is when the light bulb for me. I said, “Holy Cow, that’s the way we do it.” I couldn’t believe how simple it became in my head. OK, so PA has AA and AAA. We are going to have men’s and women’s. That will be totally awesome. We can slow build it and it is going to be great. That was the kicker.
Once I knew that, I told Bill Bruno. We had a meeting down here. He was so amazing. He brought the guy who ran the state tournament Howie O’Neil, logistically to see how we could have it done. He asks, how is it possible? I said we are just going to add a division. I showed him the stats, that once there is a state tournament, most states double almost immediately. Sure enough, we got this thing passed. I could talk for hours about it. When we got it passed, it was a total unanimous vote in New Jersey. There are athletic directors, teachers and coaches in there. We gave a little speech about it, and why we should do it. Every hand in the room went up, so it was passed. That is kind of how it all went down.
Q: What is tougher for you, coaching your Tiger athletes or watching Chloe wrestle?
Ayers: It’s funny to me. It is all the same when the match starts. Actually, with her, I am a little less nervous. But when the match starts, I literally lose my mind. It’s ridiculous. Sometimes, I have to catch myself. I am pretty measured in our (Princeton) matches. I am usually calming down Joe Dubuque most of the time. I think it is a little harder coaching her.
Editor’s Note: In the first official New Jersey state girls high school championships, held in Atlantic City, N.J. in 2019, Chloe Ayres of Princeton High School was the 105-pound New Jersey state wrestling champion.
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