Joel Northrup, a high school wrestler, refused to fight against Cassy Herkelman in a state tournament because of his faith.

Joel, 112-pound wrestler, decided to lose by default. The decision was based on his conscience and faith.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy (and Megan) and their accomplishments. However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times,” Joel expressed.

“As a matter of conscience and my faith, I do not believe it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner,” Joel said through a statement released by Scott Mahmens, athletics director at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, Iowa.

The home-schooled student continued that “It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa.”

Joel’s father, Mr Jamie Northrup is a minister at Grace Fellowship, an independent Pentecostal church in Marion. The said church believes that young teens of opposite sex should not come in physical contact with each other in a ‘familiar way.’

The pastor of the church stated that they believe in the elevation and respect of woman and that they don’t think that wrestling a woman is the right thing to do. “Body slamming and takedowns, that full contact sport is not how to do that,” the pastor added.

The Northup family, according to his father, knew ahead of time that Joel would be up against a female wrestler in the tournament. The family left the decision up to him.

“There’s certainly no scriptures that address this and nothing doctrinal or church based,” Mr Jamie Northrup said. “I just believe this is a principled decision,” he added.

“Joel believes, based on his conscience and faith, that girls should be treated with dignity and respect – taking nothing away from those two female athletes – but wrestling is a combat sport,” he explained.

As for Cassy’s father, he said that “It’s nice to get the first win and have her be on the way to the medal round.”

"I sincerely respect the decision of the Northrup family especially since it was made on the biggest stage in wrestling. I have heard nothing but good things about the Northrup family and hope Joel does very well the remainder of the tourney" the girl’s father added.

Joel was allowed to compete in the consolation rounds. This gave him the chance for a third place win.

Sources:

http://www.christianpost.com/

http://www.cbn.com/

Written by :

John David O Moncada