The Stakes!
Sometimes I wish the HBO show “24/7″ would do a piece about our little world of naked wrestling. The show does a great job of depicting fighters (usually boxer) and as of recent, race car drivers, as hard working, hard training, fierce individuals. The show builds up the back ground of each opponent, how he trains, who trains them, what they do to prepare, what the stakes are for each fighter.
Recently I witnessed a fight that would have made such an outstanding 24/7 series. There was a beautiful, undefeated giant going up again a smaller, beautiful opponent with a not so perfect record who is well know for dominating in a ring which some people don’t take seriously. The stakes, The giant needs to keep her undefeated status and the little one has something to prove in order to be taken seriously.
I want to refer back to my blog about “the crutch”. On any given day, any wrestler can find a reason to give up. The smaller oponent, in this case, could easily say ” my opponent is so much bigger than I, she’s the champ, everyone expects me to lose” and give up and lose the fight. Let’s say the larger opponent is having a bad day, has worked out in a while, is just getting over a cold. All these can be crutches to lean on as an excuse for losing. It always comes down to “who wants this more”.
In the world of naked wrestling, fights are postponed because girls are having a bad day. They are not postponed if a girl was sick two weeks ago and recovering. Girls in the naked wrestling community have the choice to prepare or not for a fight. There is no training camp for us, we don’t have coaches. 99% of the fights the girls roll out of bed and say “oh yeah I’m wrestling today”. There are a handful of fighters who train for weeks and weeks to prepare for a certain fight that may be more important than others. When one fighter trains while the other stays static, the difference shows on the mats. All of us girls have personal lives. Some of us have kids, day jobs, families, health issues…the list goes on and on. Wrestling is not our life but for some of us it is a big part of our life. This is why i believe a 24/7 series on our work would be so interesting. To see what hardships, if any, the girls endure just to put food on our plates and work another day.
Let’s get back to the Stakes. I’d now like to refer back to another blog I wrote called “A Loss May be the Most Important “Win-*” for a Wrestler” where I talk about how when the stakes are high and pressure is on, a fighter can take a loss and either learn from it, and but motivated to work your ass off so it doesn’t happen again OR you can allow the lose to devastate you and force you to quit. I think the stakes can influence how each fighters allows a loss to affect them.
I’d like to ask you, the reader, who has more at stake. The one who is undefeated, or the one who has something to prove. Who do you think would be more inclined to be determined to fight harder so they don’t lose again and who do you think will give up after a loss and quit the business. No one wants to see a girl quit because she loses but it happens and it’s very sad :(. Let’s always encourage our fighters to persevere and keep us entertained.
xoxo
2/16/10
ArielX
Tags: 24/7, david vs. goliath, large against small, the crutch
Oh, Ariel, definitely the undefeated girl … or no 1 ranked athlete or player … always has MORE pressure on her … everyone’s expecting her to win … Speaking from experience in my own competitive days … it was sometimes harder being ranked top to win … having the crowds also against one … it takes real courage to focus and remain ‘hungry’ to win … One of the problems of staying so long on the top too is that one can lose a little one’s desire ‘to win’ … and that can favor the more motivated, eager to prove herself smaller girl … who has nothing really to lose … and everything to gain with an UPSET! Being the underdog also helps one not be nervous, and some of my biggest wins were also as an underdog … playing on the day out of my mind … and my higher ranked opponent just not at her best that day … it’s marvelous when it happens … but tough when the shoe is on the other foot …
Being a ‘giant’ in size myself, and pretty accomplished in my sport internationally, I too had some very painful losses, losing against lower ranked girls … but that’s part of sport … one has to accept losses, and LEARN from it! It’s real tough sometimes though when one is at the top & everyone is always gunning for you … the only way is down for you … there’s nothing further up to challenge & motivate one … and one can easily become despondent & lose interest after a loss … Believe you me, girl, I called QUITS numerous times after a painful loss… but then regrouped, found the resilience to regain my focus again, train hard, rekindle the desire & hungry, determined resolve to win again, and get to the top again!
Just look at men’s tennis, Federer as an example of one who’s bounced back brilliantly after he’d been toppled from no 1 position … but think of the agony of Nadal who’s been struggling with injuries & failing to get back to his winning form of before …
Thanks for your wonderful post, Ariel!
Sweet hugs & love
Jessie
P.S. I always used to say: “It’s lonely at the top, and the longer one stays there, the lonelier one becomes ..” … which is why nowadays as an older woman, I suppose, I’m a lot more at the ‘bottom’ so to speak … Tee hee!