“Kick His Ass Nicole!”
I go to school in my wrestling clothes. Athletes should always be in athletic attire, but its not that I’m taking to a jock, it’s that I literally have no reason to wear anything else. I get up, go to class, go wrestle, go to sleep, the rest is just details. Today I wore my grappling shorts that I got at the NAGA submission wrestling tournament last year and a rash guard that everyone who trained at Erik Paulson’s Shootfighting Gym wore. It’s funny how I despise women’s form-fitting clothing but yet relish it when its in the form of men’s athletic attire (??).
Today we went over crossface cradles and half-nelsons. The guy I was drilling with was a walk-on like me, most of the people on the team are like me…walk-on’s I mean. So we’re talking and drilling and in the middle of running the half he asks “so what do you feel like being the only girl on the team and all?” I got flipped to my back and then threw my arm under his leg and flipped him over me, then said with ironic conviction as if I were contemplating how he sailed over me in much the same way that a refrigerator wouldn’t,
“I do not know. Guess I just kinda got used to it.”
“Yeah that’s the way it was in high school wasn’t it.”
“Yeah I forgot I was the only girl after my first season.”
I did good when I wrestled him live today. I beat him twice, he beat me twice. I might have beaten him once more but I let go of the hold. I was doing really good and in a way I was afraid that if I beat him he’d stop talking to me. I mean you don’t run through someone you want to keep talking to you. I sorta thought that if he kept getting beat by a girl, he’d pair up with me less because he wouldn’t want others in the room to see him get beat. So he beat me first, then I beat him twice in a row, then he beat me again. There were times where I was pinning him, but I was also in side-control, and man did I want to do an armbar so bad! It was right there, so easy to just sweep into, but this is wrestling, a little different style.
What I hated was when I had to wrestle Mario Bros. again. I’m the lightest walk-on (unfortunately), so coach puts him with me even though he’s like 175. Guess he can’t hang in his own weight. I was pissed, I didn’t want to wrestle this guy, I already kicked his ass in the mock tournament! I asked Coach if I could have a different partner, he asked me if I didn’t like wrestling that guy, I said no, and he said “then you’re going to love this next round.” Mario Bros. went to get some water.
“AIGHT LISTEN UP!” yelled coach, “I want you guys FIGHTING!” and he meant fighting. “I want to see you guys jammin’ elbows, slamming, strait-out dog-fighting, one knuckle punch isn’t going to kill anyone but try not to hurt each other.” The point was to leave everything we have on the mat and to not take it out of that room. Coach was ready to blow the whistle when whaddya know, partner dude was still over getting water.
Coach yelled at that guy big time to get his ass over here, and then he came over to me…
“Kick his ass Nicole, really beat him up.”
I wish I knew that coach meant actually beat him up. I would have gone strait up MMA on his ass. My problem is that its been hardwired in me from years of useless psychotherapy to “never fight” “fighting is wrong” “fighting get’s you in trouble” and the little kid in me doesn’t want to get in trouble. Dammit, I want to get in trouble.
Wrestle! I clubbed him, pushed him, suplexed him and jammed his head into the mat. I threw my hooks in and hipped-down hard cracking his back and I sunk a brazillian jiu jitsu rear-naked choke on him (very illegal in wrestling) and he just stopped wrestling! I had it in good, and he didn’t know how to tap, so his whole body just stopped moving and his arms even stopped flailing. If I would have had another 10 seconds, he would have been out cold. I hope that guy quits.
We went to get our running shoes on and we did a school loop, about 2 miles, for time. I did mine in 13:50, but some of the bigger guys were finishing faster than me, so I’m not sure if it’s exactly two miles or not because 13:13 was my best time for the two mile and I felt like I was running a lot slower today than I was when I ran those times.
I was spent though, today was a good practice.
