Brutal at times, and not exactly sensuous or erotic.
Two days before the February 8 regional meet at Arlington High School,
Warren summed up his team this way: "They're ready, but we've got quite a few who are banged up."
Groping? Sex? If you're wrestling for keeps, who has the time or the energy?
"Nobody has ever tried anything. Or if they have, I sure haven't been aware of it," Barnett says. "The way I see it, if you're thinking about sex, you're not really wrestling. That's not what this is about at all."
When Rai and Mike Barnett attend their daughter's matches, they usually sit alone. Sometimes the other team parents acknowledge them with a smile, but not often. Rai always takes a paperback along. She sits tall in the bleachers, usually about halfway back, reading in lieu of talking to other parents. "I know a lot of people are upset about what we're doing," she says. "They prefer not to talk to us."
Mike, a manager with SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceutical Company in Arlington, usually sits with Rai or stands at the top of the bleachers cheering Courtney on. They videotape everything. They have detailed every match their daughter has been allowed to wrestle--which has been only a handful. At a December 21 invitational in Coach Warren's hometown of Harrah, Oklahoma, "the crowd cheered her on and treated her very well," Rai Barnett says. "She wrestled right along with the boys. It made her feel good."
The fight in Texas continues, Rai Barnett says, because Courtney will not give up. "She's a normal teenager who just happens to be competitive. She does all the normal things. She goes on dates. She took piano and ballroom dancing when she was younger. But she was never one to accept why her brother could do things that she couldn't. She doesn't take no for an answer."
Nor does she take kindly to criticism of her motives. In the caste system governing who's who at her sprawling suburban high school, Barnett has been called an attention grabber, a dyke, and a bitch. She has been interviewed so many times now--with appearances on Nightline and 48 Hours, and in stories for The New York Times and The Guardian of London--she practically answers reporters' questions before they're formed.
"The guy from London, his first question was whether I was a lesbian. So now, before anyone can even get to that question, I go, 'I like guys. I really do. I go on dates.'
"Geez," she says. "It can get so weird."
The glare of the spotlight, the pressure of being the test case, is something she can seldom ignore. "I can never let up. I worry that as soon as I do, if I slag a little in practice or complain, everyone will say, 'See, we told you. She can't cut it. She has no business out there.'"
Her fear of crumbling under others' scrutiny carries over even to her appearance. At practice, while many of the boys wear T-shirts, skimpy jerseys, and shorts, Barnett always shows up in heavy layers--sweatpants, T-shirt, sweatshirt on top. Her body under all the bulk is almost formless. She pulls her hair into a tight ponytail on top of her head. She rarely cuts up with the guys. And unlike her teammates, she never spits in the trash can.
At practice, she seldom wins a scrimmage. Her male opponents almost always take her down first. Two days before the regional meet, Coach Warren, in an effort to produce results, was penalizing wrestlers who took the most time to floor their opponents by making them do extra push-ups or other grueling exercises. Barnett was singled out every time.
Her left arm in a sling for three weeks while her elbow mends, Barnett finished the 1996-'97 season watching her teammates practice for the state tournament. While they were grappling on the big black-and-red mat in the school cafeteria, with Warren barking out tips on wrestling holds, she sat on the sidelines.
It was an odd spot to see her in, there alongside the two "team girls" who keep statistics, untangle jump ropes, fetch ice packs, and coo over the injured boys. As she sat there watching, tapping her foot impatiently, calling out advice to her teammates, it was only too clear that Barnett's place is not with the girls who serve. She wanted to do.
It was going to be a long three weeks.
