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Hawaii’s Clarissa Chun was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame for her wrestling achievements on Saturday in Seattle, and she is thankful and grateful for the opportunities given to her as a high schooler.
At a pre-ceremony news conference and in a videotaped interview, Chun reflected back on her time as an athlete at Roosevelt and how that led to an amazing wrestling journey in college and with Team USA at the Olympics and other international competitions. But the main idea she got across had to do with the FUTURE OF WOMEN’S WRESTLING.
“I absolutely feel the responsibility to grow the sport,” said Chun, who is now the head coach of the University of Iowa women’s wrestling team. “I don’t want to be the only Power 5 conference head coach of a women’s wrestling program. I definitely want to (see) other Power 5 schools offering it.”
While chuckling, she added, “I do want that head start, so I’ll take that.”
Yes, Iowa is the first Power 5 conference (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC) to offer women’s wrestling. The Hawkeyes begin competition in the 2023-24 school year.
Chun appealed to those in attendance: “If you know any other colleges that want to start a women’s wrestling program, it’s a good time to do it.”
And she gave some unofficial numbers to back it up.
“Within the last year, there has been an exponential growth of about 16,000 more girls participating (in high school) from the year before and it’s up to about 52,000,” she said. “In the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was still a man’s sport. Within the last six to 10 years, it has been growing and now it’s growing more rapidly than it ever has.”
Chun was the first Hawaii girls state champion in 1998 and she won another state title in 1999.
After high school, she wrestled for Missouri Valley College before qualifying for the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Aside from being a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Games, Chun is a four-time U.S. Open champion, four-time Pan-American Games champion and a one-time winner of the World Championships (in 2008).
In addition, she is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame — with Distinguished Member honors.
“I treasure the high school memories and the connections with my teammates,” Chun said. “I don’t remember wins and losses. I remember the hard workouts because that sticks in my head. I remember coaches’ words to push me and motivate our whole team more than what we could see and beyond what we felt was in us. Those are the things I cherish that takes me into what I do today. Had that not been an opportunity for me at a young age in high school, I don’t know, I probably would not be sitting in this seat next to Tamika (Catchings, of WNBA fame who was also being inducted).”
And she’s enjoying her role as the Iowa coach.
“I love being able to work with each and every one of them and learn and grow every day, Chun said. “(Pursuing excellence is) still my journey as a coach, not only for our team, our whole program, for the university, for each and every one of them to pursue their own excellence.”
It’s a clear case of Chun wanting females to have the same kind of opportunities that she feels she was extra fortunate to have.
“I am so grateful Hawaii made wrestling a girls sport,” she added. “At the time, I didn’t really know how progressive Hawaii was by sanctioning it. I want to believe Hawaii sanctioned it as a sport because really truly Hawaii is such a special place that loves sports and athletics and women in athletics. They’re very passionate and supportive of all sports, whether for man or female. I urge other states that haven’t sanctioned it as a girls sport to do it because it does provide opportunities whether it’s providing them future education and allowing them to wrestle and get a college degree, or a scholarship, and just the character building from what girls learn from the sport.
“When I won the state title in 1998, I never thought I was the first girls state champion in the nation. That (realization) only came about when I heard about it recently. That’s wild.”
In the news conference, Chun made sure to give kudos to her high school coach, who she said treated the girls no differently than the boys on the Roosevelt team, and to her family members, who were always there for her with support at practices and competitions.
About Saturday’s induction, Chun said, “I’m very honored to be inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame because I’m representing wrestling, representing Hawaii, representing Roosevelt High School. I love Punahou, but we gotta throw it up for the public schools every once in a while. It’s an honor and I’m so grateful for the recognition.”
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