“Girls, Grappling, and Grit” Accepted to Artemis Film Festival; Premiere Set for April

Wombat Sports, in conjunction with Flairdog Productions, is proud to announce “Girls, Grappling, and Grit” will have its world premiere at the Artemis Film Festival April 28th at 12:40 p.m. at the Monica Film Center, 1332 2nd Street in Santa Monica, California.

Photo Gallery: WCWA 2018 National Final Matches

Saturday saw some exciting final bouts in the Women’s College Wrestling Association’s National Championships.

We were there matside for the final bouts of the tournament to capture the action.

Campbellsville Takes 2018 Team WCWA Crown; Miracle Gets 4th Title

It was a night of firsts and finals Saturday at the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association National Championships.

Campbellsville University takes home its first team title, with an exciting finish in the final match of the tournament. Kayla Miracle’s pin over Desiree Zavala of Gray Harbor College in the 136 final sealed the victory. They beat Simon Fraser University, who was leading after Friday’s session, by only 5 points.

WCWA Collegiate Championship Tournament Day 1

We are live in Oklahoma City as collegiate teams from across the US and Canada look to crown female wrestling champions.

10 weight divisions were represented with 626 overall wrestlers participating.  The four time team champions King University looked for their fifth straight title, but had stumbled in day 1 to landing in sixth place, 75 points the surprising leader in Canada’s Simon Fraiser. The favorite coming into the tournament, Campbellsville, is in  second place just 12.5 points behind.

Photo Gallery: Finals of Dave Schultz 2017

It was an exciting women’s championship final of the Dave Schultz International Wrestling Tournament with 6 Americans taking the top spots.

The highlight was  Kayla Miracle getting the only pin of the finals, earning her “Outstandlung Wrestler” for the women’s divisions.

2016 Olympic team member Adeline Gray made a triumphant return to the mat in the last match of the night, getting the points win over fellow Olympic teammate Tamayra Mensah.

Live Coverage of the Dave Schultz Women’s Wrestling Tournament

We are in world famous Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado for the 20th installment of the Dave Schultz International Wrestling tournament. Wrestlers from across the globe have some to earn championships in honor of the legendary wrestler.

The women have 10 divisions to gain titles with some familiar names and up and coming talent.

Here are the complete results.

You can find photos of the finals and awards here.

Video: Meet 3 of the Initial Lady Argos Wrestling Team

The growth of women’s wrestling from the kids to the collegiate level has been growing by leaps and bound the past few years.

The newest college to start a team has been the University of Providence in Great Falls, Montana. After the announcement early this year, Coach Tony DeAnda has assembled a solid team headed by All American Tatum Sparks, who already took third at the U23 World Team Trials a few weeks ago.

Wombat Sports and their media branch “Flairdog Productions” will be following the Lady Argos through their first season.

We will start by introducing you to three of the wrestling team members; the aforementioned Sparks; local Montana wrestler Austin Wortman; and Japan’s Yurie Yoneoka.

 

King University Women’s Wrestling Takes 4th Straight Title

The Queens of women’s collegiate wrestling once again comes from King University.

This past weekend the WCWA women’s college national wrestling tournament took place in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Teams from 32 universities and colleges from across the country were represented.

Kings University “Queens” of Wrestling for Third Straight Year

In what has become a dynasty in women’s collegiate wrestling, King’s University rolled to their third national team title, defeating  Oklahoma City University by 17.5 points.

King’s three individual champions, sophomore Marina Doi (101), senior Samantha Klingel (116) and junior Forrest Molinari (155), were first time winners.

King Univiersity Takes Another Women’s Wrestling Team Title

King University

For the second year in a row, King University stands atop of the collegiate women’s wrestling world.

The women’s wrestling powerhouse scored 269 points to take the team title. Campbellsville University, in only their second year as a program, takes the runner-up spot with 196 points, beating well established Oklahoma City University by a single point.

Four King wrestlers took home first place finishes, with three repeating their title; sophomore Haley Augello (116), senior Sarah Hildebrandt (123), and senior Julia Salata (155). Senior Amanda Hendey (143) would take home her first national title.

Marina Doi (101), Hanna Grisewood (123), and Jessi Kee (130) took home second place finishes.

King would also take “Academic Team of the Year”, and “Coach of the Year” in Jason Moorman.

The big story is Emily Webster of Oklahoma City University. The senior made history being the first four-time undefeated champion in Women’s College Wrestling Association history. She got her 118th win with her 10-0 technical fall over Doi at 101 pounds.

Webster was named “Wrestler of the Year” for that feat.

All ten #1 seeds won championships.

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Here are the complete results:

Team Standings

1. King, 269 pts.
2. Campbellsville, 196
3. Oklahoma City, 195
4. Simon Fraser, 172
5. Lindenwood, 145
6. McKendree, 114
7. Wayland Baptist, 113
8. Univ. of the Cumberlands, 98
9. Jamestown, 95
10. Missouri Baptist, 88
11. Missouri Valley College, 64
12. Menlo College, 61
13. Ottawa, 35
14. Southwestern Oregon CC, 32
15. Lyon College, 25
16. Waldorf College, 25
17. Lindenwood – Belleville, 17
18. Life, 16
19. Pacific Univ., 14
20. Warner Pacific College, 12
21. Midland, 3

Individual Tiles

101 pounds

• Championship Match: Emily Webster (Oklahoma City) tech. fall Marina Doi (King Univ.), 10-0
• Consultation Match: Darby Huckle (Simon Fraser) forfeit over Vanessa Smith (Wayland Baptist)

109 pounds

• Championship Match: Cody Pfau (Oklahoma City) pin Abby Lloyd (Simon Fraser), 2:50
• Consultation Match: Grace Paxton (Univ. of the Cumberlands) pin Breonnah Neal (King Univ.), 5:13

116 pounds

• Championship Match: Haley Augello (King Univ.) tech. fall Diaysha Moore (Lindenwood) , 12-2
• Consultation Match:  Amy Fearnside (Jamestown) dec. Shelby Morrison (Oklahoma City), 7-6

123 pounds

• Championship Match: Sarah Hildebrandt (King Univ.) dec. Hanna Grisewood (King Univ.), 8-0
• Consultation Match: Tarkyia Mensah (Wayland Baptist) tech. fall Bree Rapoza (Missouri Baptist), 12-1

130 pounds

• Championship Match: Jacarra Winchester (Missouri Valley) dec. Jessi Kee (King Univ.), 2-0
• Consultation Match:  Brieana Delgado (Oklahoma City) dec. Rosemary Flores (Campbellsville), 2-1

136 pounds

• Championship Match:  Kayla Miracle (Campbellsville) dec. Shai Mason (Jamestown), 4-0
• Consultation Match: Monica Ramirez (Lindenwood) dec. Forrest Molinari (King Univ.), 6-4

143 pounds

• Championship Match: Amanda Hendey (King Univ.) pin Kayla Aggio (Oklahoma City), 1:07
• Consultation Match: Cheyenne Youngblood (Missouri Baptist) dec. Hannah Gladden (Campbellsville), 6-3

155 pounds

• Championship Match: Julia Salata (King Univ.) tech. fall Hanna Hall (Campbellsville), 10-0
• Consultation Match: Bailey Halvorson (Simon Fraser) dec. Alexis Porter (McKendree), 7-3

170 pounds

• Championship Match: 1st- Victoria Francis (Lindenwood) pin Ashley Miles (McKendree), 2:07
• Consultation Match: Lorrie Ramos (King Univ.) pin Nahiela Magee (Wayland Baptist), 1:12

191 pounds

• Championship Match: Tiara Scott (Campbellsville) dec. Brandy Lowe (Ottawa), 11-8
• Consultation Match: Payton Smith (Simon Fraser) pin Jackie Williams (King Univ.), 1:24

Artemis Film Festival to Spotlight Women’s Fight Documentaries & Films

 

There has been many films that have covered female fighting in one form of another for the past fifty years; from documentaries to major motion pictures.

The new millennium and the increase of female participation in combat sports has saw growth in to many of these stories being told.

The Artemis Film Festival is looking to highlight these stories as they are currently working their first event for April 2015.

They have started an Indie Go Go campaign to help get the event going.

We talked to the organizers Sean Newcombe and Melanie Wise about their inspiration for the festival and how women’s combat sports have been a big part of it.

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Wombat Sports: How did the idea of the Artemis Film Festival come about?

Artemis Film Festival: The idea came about through inspiration, really. We have all been devoted to female action films from the standpoint of the sheer joy we have for physically strong female characters, but also from the standpoint of our passion for having a positive effect on the image of women in film and culture. We’ve all been completely focused on writing and creating female action films. We thought that having a film festival focused on female action heroes would allow for people who share our passion for strong female characters to celebrate this genre. We also felt it would be an opportunity to spotlight the power of women in our culture.

We wanted the festival to be a place where the legions of fans who love female action heroes could go and enjoy a array of great films in one place and at one time. (Female action films are a $3 billion industry, so this is not a niche.) The fact that such a festival had never been done before boggled our minds.

By showcasing such films, we could also draw attention to women as heroes, fighters and leaders, rather than as long-suffering wives, dutiful assistants and victims. We hope that we could help change the narrative of how women are portrayed in film.

Lastly, film often reflects and influences how we see ourselves, and celebrating these films, we hope, will help positively influence how women and girls perceive their power and status in culture.

Wombat: Can you tell us about the festival?

Artimis: We plan to show both classic female action films such as “Aliens” and “Kill Bill” and also showcase new films by unknown filmmakers in our festival competition. We want to be a venue that encourages new and unknown filmmakers to make female action films. If there’s an outlet for such films, they are more likely to be made.

We are also going to have an awards ceremony for films in competition and give awards to the women who are both pioneers and stars in female action films made by Hollywood. We have sent many invites to well-known female action stars and expect to hear from them soon. Also, we want to honor stuntwomen, athletes (women’s mma, of course) and female first-responders, such as military women.

W.S.: The culture has shifted in both entertainment and sports in term of female roles. What are you thoughts about the societal change?

AFF: There’s has been a shift in reality, in our everyday lives, but there has not necessarily been a shift in how that reality is portrayed in the media. While Hollywood has recently realized the power of the female action film market, they’ve been slow to broaden their portrayals of women to reflect the dynamism and power that can be seen in women in every aspect of our culture. We hope that our festival will help prod a faster shift to not only more roles for women in film (right now less than one out of every three speaking characters in a Hollywood movie, on average, is female), but to stronger, better roles for women.

W.S.: What kind of reaction have you seen among the female fight community?

AFF: The response from women, generally, has been extraordinary! The women we’ve heard from both in social media and in daily life has been completely positive, passionate and vocal.

With respect to the women’s mma community, we have not heard a lot, unfortunately. We’d love to hear more from them because we are huge supporters of womens mma! We love the sport and we’d love to celebrate it at our festival. Women’s mma is at the forefront of positively shifting societal images of female physical power. (Invicta FC and Tuf 20 are just two examples of that positive shift.) We want to honor that.

W.S.: You have an indie go-go started to make this event happen. What benefits can people expect for supporting the festival?

AFF: They can expect to see a festival which will properly honors the female action genre in a manner it deserves. We’d like our festival to have as broad a reach as possible so that we can include as many of the great films and as many of the women who are part of this cultural gender shift as possible.

Our crowdfunding is intended to allow us to show more classic films, more films from new, unknown filmmakers in the competition and offer a chance to honor the kind of women we mentioned above. We’d also like to make sure that the experience of the people who attend the festival is as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.

By crowdfunding we feel that we can offer a broader, bolder festival.

W.S.: Anything you want to add?

AFF: We want this festival to be fun, but we also want to open minds. The empowerment of women is at the center of what this festival is about. It’s the soul of it, in fact.

Also, we’d like to say that we love your blog and are big supporters of women’s combat sports!

Thank you for allowing us to talk with you about our festival!

Nichole Teering Talks “The Weigh” and Cutting for Fights

It has been the one complaint that will always linger in MMA.

Fighters not making weight is probably one of the most debated topics recently, as several just can’t make the drop to a promised weight class. Some may not be suited to go down further, but some have been unable to cut properly to be on weight and look and feel healthy doing it.

Dr. Nichole Teering is hoping to help in the latter case in her new book “The Weigh”. Teering’s background in nutrition and alternatrive medicine has found a more natural way of losing pounds so fighters can be their best and recover after hitting the scales. She has helped several fighters include WMMA prospect Erin McDougall make weight on a consistent basis.

We took some time talk to Teering about the book and issues we have seen in weight cutting.

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Wombat Sports: How did the book come about?

Dr. Nichole Teering: The reason for publishing this book was because as a nutritionist for athletes I could not stand to watch fighters put their bodies through such turmoil prior to battle. I began making programs to lessen the impact of starving and dehydrating. I became very busy customizing plans so I decided to make it accessible to the masses by publishing a book for purchase.

Wombat Sports: What is the most common mistake a fighter does when cutting weight?

Dr. Teering: The most common mistakes I see when fighters cut weight is that they are very extreme about the entire process. A) They believe they need to starve and dehydrate in order to make weight, and B) they are always in a rush to do it. They go from heavy training and eating accordingly then suddenly minimal training and drastically reducing calories. Then sweating too many pounds; or worse (laxatives) to finish off the cut.

W.S.: Is there any signs that a weight cut isn’t working?

Dr. T: Signs that a weight cut might not be working are that the athlete simply isn’t losing the required pounds, or things look like they are going in the right direction and then suddenly the fighter bloats at the wrong time.

W.S.: Can you talk about the complications in cutting with women versus men?

Dr. T: The biggest complication for women cutting weight as opposed to men is that there is a hormonal shift that happens once per month with females. Women can tend to retain more water at a certain time per month. If this happens to start during the weight cut then modifications are necessary.

W.S.: There are times when fighters never seem to make weight and aren’t even close. When do you feel there is a line between trying to cut and simply going up a weight class? 

Dr. T: Good Question! I personally feel if it is that hard to make weight and the fighter has attempted various ways of making weight with failed results then its time to go up a weight class. I truly believe that weight does not equal strength within a weight class. If the fighter knows how to access his or her true strength, that few extra pounds an opponent might have in the cage is not going to make a difference.

W.S.: People have different metabolisms and may have certain healthy conditions that causes them to lose weight slow or keep weight on. How important is it to know your body and what things in the book do you have to address it?  

Dr. T: This protocol helps the fighter to understand their oxidizer type which helps to understand how they can customize exact macro nutrients to suit their metabolism. Everyone is different so they need to find what works for them.

W.S.: What makes your techniques different than others?

Dr. T: The biggest difference in the technique you will find in The Weigh Protocol is that it is a more gradual process in comparison to other techniques. It is broken into 5 phases and gives the athlete a chance to experience how they respond to a more optimal way of making weight. It is designed with the athletes long term career in mind.

W.S.: What feedback have you been getting from your book and techniques?

Dr. T: The feedback thus far has been tremendous! Competitors are finding it easier and easier to make weight each time they attempt this protocol.

W.S.: Anything you want to add?

Dr. T: As with any new technique I highly recommend a practice cut before it is implemented prior to a fight. With slight modifications, I have also provided this technique to many other athletes with a weight cut component in their sport.

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You can find out more about Dr. Teering by going to NewPathHealth.ca or check her out on facebook.

 You can buy “The Weigh” here.