Open Mat

As wrestling season came to an official close this month, high schools and colleges around the state are concentrating on off-season practice: open mat. A variety of teams will be competing in post-season tournaments and wrestling camps galore to prepare for next November. The time, the dedication, the strength, the fortitude…it all comes to play in this 110+ degree weather here in Arizona as these wrestlers fight to be the next best champion. A list of summer camps can be found on TheMat.com for all over the nation.

A good wrestler WILL have a summer job this season…and it’s called practice.

Congrats Ms. Campbell!

So she’s did it again! Kelsey Campbell (ASU/Sunkist) took home a silver medal at the Pan American Women’s Wrestling Championship last week in Venezuela. Her victory, along with two other women’s, brought the USA team to the top as far as team points are concerned. Kelsey’s coach made a statement to TheMat.com mentioning that Kelsey is “realizing she belongs at this level,” and I think that couldn’t be more perfectly stated.

Picture from TheMat.com

Kelsey is a friend gained (if you haven’t already read my previous post on her) through our time at American Pankration (an MMA program at ASU). She is a dedicated, young and spiritual athlete who definitely deserves all the blessings God is throwing at her.

This once again just goes to prove…you put your mind to it and anything is possible!

Meet MMA Fighter Jeff Paulson…

Meet Jeff Paulson, Siege MMA Co-Owner, Wrestler, MMA Fighter/Instructor and all around one of the greatest guys I’ve ever met! I was introduced to Jeff about two years ago when beginning MMA training at American Pankration located in Peoria, AZ. He was a terrific instructor and a great help towards making my experience within this sport amazingly rewarding. Now, Jeff is still co-owning an MMA center in Peoria, but has changed the overall experience into Siege MMA Center and offers a variety of Judo, Jui-Jistsu, Muay Tai Kickboxing, Boxing, Cardio Fight Fitness, Grappling and Submission Wrestling classes. He by far has one of the greatest occupations, in my opinion, and although the next three minutes your going to watch does not do Jeff the justice he deserves as a Coach and Owner, it will entice you, satisfy you and make you want to get up and kick some MMA butt! Jeff and I actually talked [interviewed] for almost 20 minutes on HIS story and where this profession came from, however, as required for my JMC 425 class there is only about 1/6 of the interview below. Enjoy!

“MMA Fighter and Center Owner, Jeff Paulson”

Mentality Over Strength

While reading an article entitled Pinning the Issues of Girls Wrestling in High School , I was astonished by an idea that had really never crossed my mind. The author of the article made mention to women, although many are physically strong, may indeed be more mentally strong than others when it comes to stepping on the mats.

Women deal with a variety of issues outside the intensity of the sport and, although men may too, the stress and pressure of the surrounding world, physiology and anatomy of a women and daily speculations are far more mind consuming than that of our male counter parts.

And it’s really never-ending.

Women are strong and women who wrestle are even stronger mentally. It’s a difficult decision to say, “Hey, I want to wrestle,” when you’re the only female going out for it, the only one there in practice and the only one dealing with unfortunate, yet realistic chauvinistic attitudes of male coaches, etc.

See it’s like that commercial for the Army–
“You make them strong. We’ll make them Women Wrestler strong.” 🙂

The American Way

It’s interesting how so many Americans think America is such a savage place with little opportunity, little advantages and little to gain; When on the contrary, we are truly the best damn nation in this world.

Our freedoms go way beyond those expected or anticipated by any human being. Specifically, in regards to women-we offer the right to vote, the right to speak your mind, hold a high-end executive position at a top notch business, hell, we even get them so close to presidency they can taste it, and best yet, we still have many opportunities to provide, including the topic of choice-wrestling.

See other countries are recognizing this growing popularity for women and this sport and unfortunately, it’s still not as simple to begin a team, an opportunity beyond grade and high school. About a year ago some Canadians believed it was time to give women the opportunity to compete in Greco-Roman wrestling outside of the Olympics (which was just added in 2004). They dedicated a website to getting people to sign a petition to begin this new era of women wrestling in the country…and as far as I’m aware, they’re still waiting for results.

See I think we sometimes take for granted the opportunities we really have as Americans and focus primarily on the negative, but hey, what can you really do when you have the media constantly shoving these repugnant ideas on you and calling it news.

I think it’s time to focus on the brighter side of things and realize, even with something as small as this petition for female wrestling, that our opportunities and endless here and it’s time we take the initiative to make them worth our lifetime.

Picture from www.jodysledge.blogspot.com