Marijo Alves

September 18 ,2014

English 1101 – D309

Assignment: 2nd draft

Determined, Better, Persistent Never Give up

I can do anything a man can do, if not better. There is a lot of things I feel women are capable of doing but they are always being placed as second best or only good enough for mens’ personal use rather than as equal.  As a woman I believe I can do anything a man can do, whether it be physical or mental.  For instance engaging in wrestling can be done well by women, though it comes with many challenges.  For me wrestling has involved choosing the sport, the stigma associated and the outlet provided.

I chose to be on the boys wrestling team because I am an aggressive woman.  There are a lot of things I feel women are capable of doing but still they are being put down.  Men are very egotistical.  They base majority of their energy or their strength. Strength is limited, but power isn’t. You can go above and beyond when it comes to power. As women on the boys wrestling team you become the underdog. People look at you like “what do you think you’re doing, those boys will hurt you.”  Well not me.  The way I trained myself mentally is if you put more time and effort into something you can be just as good as a boy if not better!

Strategy plays a huge role in wrestling as well as everything else you do.  Without strategy you can be the fastest person in the world who throws that heaviest most powerful punches, but if you have no strategy, what does that make you? A bull running into a red towel not thinking what could be behind that towel.  Every time I got on that mat to wrestle one of those  boys I kept in the back of my mind, he may be stronger than you so don’t wrestle off of strength, use strategy.  My thinking shows through my action which is why I was never an easy thirty seconds on that mat. Which is why my matches were not only won by majority points but by pinfall.

The stigma associated with wrestling is a got teased by the boys on the opposing team they would laugh and say things like I was an easy thirty seconds. That alone pushed me to work harder. It was difficult to even get a match nobody wanted to lose to a female or demolish one.  When I was put out to wrestle I either got touched in very uncomfortable ways or I got slammed and attacked very aggressively.  I would constantly hear “you should just give up” from the other teams or harassed because the boys were immature. Hearing all of those things makes you want to give up but living the life I lived I never believed in giving up.  I had a passion for wrestle since I was young. Being a female on the boys team complaining about pain wasn’t an option, there was no excuses, my couch would either say suck it up or his favorite lines excuses are like noses everybody has one.

Aside from me being aggressive and loving to wrestle there was other issues I had that wrestling played a huge role in.  Wrestling was not my first aggressive sport that was sexist.  I boxed and did mix martial arts as well.  All three sports were put in a category by society that only men are capable of handling it, but then there are women out there like me who challenges those stereotypes.

I began boxing because I was always angry and I needed something to tame my anger.  When you’re in the gym and continuously hitting sand bags and lifting heavy weight and doing aggressive work out it didn’t make me less angry in fact  it made me angrier.  Every time someone would even look at me wrong I felt as if I had something to prove.  Thats when I looked toward mixed martial arts.  It was a combination of boxing martial arts and wrestling.  I already learned the basics of boxing but now I needed something that would occupy my time and would help me control my anger issues.  On the mat when someone was better than me I got angry and began to box out of control.  My mother made me quit and I had to find a new path.  In high school I joined all of the sports no one else wanted to be on and brought it to life. Wrestling females were afraid to even be in the same room full of sweaty men but I loved it I didn’t feel like a out of place I felt equal.

Wrestling eventually started to help me tame my anger there was no punching no kicking we used other maneuvers and get the better of our opponent.  The teasing eventually became music to my ears.  Now I like being underestimated I’m not as angry as I use to be, and I definitely feel sorry for who ever decides to take a swing at me.  I am a woman who has been through many ups and downs and I am determined to continue to go down this road I am not afraid to challenge myself I am not afraid to do what men can do I want to influence other woman to stay determined, persistent and never give up , because if you ask me I would tell you I can do anything a man can do and I can definitely do it better.