There’s a great scene in the 1980s coming-of-age movie “The Breakfast Club” where two of the characters argue about the proper dress code for a wrestling match.
One of the movie’s antagonists is played by Judd Nelson, who taunts the jock character played by Emilio Estevez by claiming that he wears tights to wrestle.
Estevez vehemently responds, “I don’t wear tights! I wear the required uniform!” “Yeah, tights,” chimes in the nerdy student played by Anthony Michael Hall.
The singlet has long been the uniform wrestlers of all levels have worn. Unlike uniforms with padding built in, the singlet is unforgiving and exposes every flaw on the human body. Some people think it’s so revealing that it borders on pornographic.
The Missouri State High School Activities Association produces a quarterly publication, the Journal, that informs the public about everything from rules changes to participation surveys.
Jason West, communications director for MSHSAA, said a photo he chose about six years ago of two four-time state champion wrestlers for the cover of the Journal elicited a phone call.
“There was an instance where I used those two wrestling shots on the cover not thinking anything of it,” West said, “and I got a letter back from a librarian saying she couldn’t put any of our publications on the shelf because we had degraded to Playboy.”
Charles Newhouse of Cedar Hill has coached and refereed wrestling matches for years. Newhouse has five children, and his son, Cannon, is an up-and-coming freshman on Northwest’s wrestling team.
“Once you’ve worn a singlet, you don’t think about it,” Charles Newhouse said. “Your friends say, ‘There’s no way I’d wear one of those things.’”
Peer pressure might be the reason Charles Newhouse said he’s seen a decline in little league participation at Northwest. In May 2017, the National Federation of State High School Associations revised its rule to allow wrestlers around the country to choose between wearing a singlet or a two-piece uniform. Compression shorts and shirts can now be worn, but the shorts must have at least a 4-inch inseam that does not extend below the knee, and shirts cannot extend below the elbow and have a tail at least 3 inches long.
West said MSHSAA adopted the national rule this school year. West said schools are responsible for supplying both styles of uniforms but wrestlers can’t buy their own.
There hasn’t been a drastic drop-off in the number of member schools competing in wrestling, nor a steady or sharp decline in individual wrestlers, West said. But MSHSAA was interested in seeing what kind of response a change in uniform might prompt.
“We’ve had a discussion point to increase participation and one of the negative comments schools have gotten is a modesty quotient,” West said. “Those singlets are not very forgiving. We wondered what we could do to help with the self-confidence of the individual who wears it.”
Let’s face it. For those wrestlers lucky enough to have the physical attributes to confidently don a singlet, the question of “How do I look in this thing?” is moot.
Windsor senior Ryan Yarnell has no problem wearing his singlet at 182 pounds. Yarnell finished third in Class 3 at 182 last season.
“I’m more of a singlet guy, but introducing a two-piece outfit isn’t a bad thing and it makes more people comfortable,” Yarnell said. “I find the singlet more comfortable and don’t find it to be a problem.
“Wearing a singlet, I feel like nothing is hanging off of me or distracting me. You can’t get your hands caught in a singlet.”
Landon Porter wrestles at heavyweight for De Soto. Porter, a state qualifier in Class 3 as a freshman last year, said he knows people at his school who won’t go out for wrestling because they think wearing the singlet is embarrassing. Porter likes wearing the singlet but says if the school offers a two-piece uniform he’d wear it.
For more than two decades, Kevin Stoffey has coached the Windsor grapplers. Stoffey said as long as he’s coach, you won’t see the Owls wearing a two-piece uniform. Stoffey said he noticed wrestlers for Francis Howell and St. Mary’s adopting the new look.
“The whole idea is they think it’s going to get more kids out for wrestling,” Stoffey said. “When kids quit or don’t come out, they say they don’t want to wear a singlet. The old-timers like me tell the young guys that’s just an excuse.”
One thing Stoffey said might complicate the sport’s dress code in the future is that little league wrestlers are starting to wear the two-piece uniform and might balk at switching to a singlet for high school. Newhouse said he coached the Junior Lions for five years and wearing a singlet is a big issue with younger wrestlers and their parents.
Northwest head coach Ron Wilhelm said none of the Lions are wearing a two-piece uniform, but that could change in the future. Wilhelm said he placed the uniform order for his team last year before the rule change was announced.
“I’m not opposed to the change and agree we should do whatever we can to increase our numbers,” Wilhelm said. “I don’t know if the two-piece is the fix, but some kids felt uncomfortable wearing the one-piece.”
Wilhelm said he had about 100 wrestlers, freshman through varsity, in the early 2000s but that number today has dropped by half.
“If I had to say under oath it’s because of a singlet, I’d say no,” Wilhelm said. “There might be a kid or two who is body self-conscious but I’ve never had a complaint.”