By Heather Wiederstein (courtesy of WFighter.com)
I recently attended a Women’s MMA training event in Las Vegas, NV called the G2 Summit. It changed my life. Really. That is not one of my usual, I’m-prone-to-exaggerate statements. It really changed my life. At least my fighting life, which is a considerable part of my week when work does not get in the way. For the first time I realized that everyday real women all over this country are doing what I do. They are grinding it out day after day, week after week. They are adapting their grappling game and tightening their technique because they get smashed rolling with the guys. They are bobbing and weaving and slipping and eating a punch or two while sparring with the boys. They go to real jobs, tend to real families, and hold down real lives, while sweating, bleeding and breathing MMA.
Until the G2 Summit I kind of suspected that other real women were doing this. But I only saw those who were “famous”—on YouTube, in the (sparse) WMMA media, the bigger names. And those women seemed to live lives as professional fighters with sponsors and jobs that were conducive rather than hindering their training. I couldn’t have been more wrong, of course, but it’s so easy to fall prey to what the media filters to us. Shame on me. I confused visibility for numbers.
I just didn’t know that there were so darn many of us out there. And finding my people in such numbers changed me. I was half-heartedly seeking out local amateur fights. I wholeheartedly wanted to fight. But I expected to be disappointed. Would I ever even get a fight? Could I really compete? See, I’m getting to be an old lady. At least (in my prior mindset) for competitive contact sports. And the state of Ohio’s Athletic Commission agrees. Because of my age, they require me to get CT-Scans before I can fight. Just because of my age. But when I got to Las Vegas, I realized that I’m a lot closer in age to women training and fighting than I could have imagined as one of the oldest people (much less women) in my entire home gym. There were women with a lot of experience, with a little experience, who were younger than I, who were older than I. But they all had one thing in common—heart.
I went knowing that I’d learn skills. I didn’t know how inspired I would be. I was inspired by the support that everyone showed to each other. I think that was really a little unexpected gem. I knew everyone would be nice at the least. But there was genuine compassion and camaraderie among these women from all walks of life. Some knew each other from other events or from the cage, but many were strangers when we arrived to the gym on Friday. But this group was beyond nice. They were sincere as training partners. They were encouraging of every woman there, regardless of perceived skills or experience. It was like being home with the guys I’ve trained with for the last year and a half, but I had just met them that day. It felt a little like family. Or at least a sorority of sorts.
I’m still not quite sure how I ended up at G2. It was a stroke of fate, I suppose, if you believe in that sort of thing. I do. I found it kind of accidentally while following rabbit holes deeper and deeper in articles about some of the female fighters whose careers I like to follow. An embedded link in an article led me to the G2 website. I thought, “I should check this out. “ Then I saw the dates. I was reading this article on a Friday. The summit started the next Friday. I’m not one to throw caution to the wind and make an impulsive decision without thinking through the details. But I immediately went to Expedia to price flights to Vegas. By Sunday I was booked, registered and had a hotel room. I couldn’t chicken out if I even wanted to. While I was very nervous about what to expect in terms of skill levels, age, ego and friendliness, I packed my gear and headed out on Thursday.
I hate to perseverate on the age thing, but at 36, I couldn’t find/see any female fighters around me working at an amateur level on the uphill side of thirty-five. Especially not any without a real fight under her belt. So in addition to being intimidated by the idea that all the women there would be young, resilient and in their mid-twenties, I was worried about people sizing each other up and needing to prove something to the top-level fighters and coaches leading the workshops. I couldn’t have been more off the mark and I saw that immediately. What I found instead of jealousy and backbiting was a community of women passionate about the sport, who push themselves every day, and who work and aspire to put Women’s MMA on radar.
What I didn’t know before I went because it’s not visible to every girl or woman across the country putting in days in small gyms filled with supportive, brotherly teammates is that there is a place for WMMA. I’m not alone in my dreams to fight, just because I’m the only female fighter in my gym, town, city, etc. Other women sweat and bleed everyday to step into the ring or cage. It’s never too late to start. Being competitive or aggressive is ok. We have to teach each other and lift each other up in order for all the little girls watching us to know that fighting like a girl is a good thing. |
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