Female Wrestling, There’s A Youth Movement That’s Catching On

fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com grapplingstars.com, pexels.com- Wendy Wei

Movements can be very powerful and inspiring affecting societies around the world.

In good company, celebrating its 15th year in 2017, Film Movement is a North American distributor of award-winning independent and foreign films, which is based in New York City.

Film Movement has released more than 250 feature films.

We absolutely love watching their films and you can subscribe to their channel as part of your cable package.

Confirmation that a female sport is growing in popularity is when it attracts a following among the young.

A vibrant youth movement so to speak.

That is extremely important because after all, the youth are the future.

Corroboration with the idea is when one feature film after another begins to appear on television and movie screens while garnering intense worldwide attention.

fciwomenswrestling.com, grapplingstars.com femcompertitor.com, Breaking Glass Films photo credit

Fight Valley is a 2016 action film directed by Rob Hawk. It stars Susie Celek, as well as mixed martial artists Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, and Cris Cyborg.

It is a violent MMA girl fight fest with all of the elements of the earlier Cynthia Rothrock MMA movies that fueled her to cult stardom in the 1980s along with the wildly popular Chuck Norris tough guy hero saves the day films, usually fought at night.

If you remember, Cynthia Rothrock is an American martial artist and actress specializing in martial arts films. Ms. Rothrock holds black belt rankings in seven styles of martial arts and was a high level competitor in martial arts before becoming an actress.

Cynthia was a five-time World Champion in forms and weapons between 1981 and 1985.

While these may be categorized as B movies, the important factor in their popularity is that they appealed to the young.

There was a youth movement that loved what was then called the Karate Movies.

The storyline in Fight Valley is twenty-two year old Tori Coro gets involved in an underground fighting ring in a rough section of Camden, New Jersey.

When her bruised and beaten body is found abandoned in the woods, rumors begin to swirl that Tori died in Fight Valley, an unofficial neighborhood where fighters go to make money. Tori’s sister Windsor moves to town to start her own investigation. Jabs, a respected fighter turned gym owner, agrees to train Windsor as she prepares to come face to face with Tori’s killer and fight for justice.

Now if that is not the script right out of a Cynthia Rothrock and Chuck Norris 1980’s special, we don’t know what is.

We love it.

While the film is limited on breaking new ground, if you are into young women fighting it out in gritty settings with a believable plot, this film is probably for you.

The youth movement among women’s grappling and wrestling is spreading across virtually all sectors of the industry.

In the conservative mainstream female freestyle world there is some very exciting breaking news.

As reported at jamestownsun.com on August 29, 2018, “Jamestown has been tabbed as a finalist to host the inaugural NAIA Women’s Wrestling National Invitational this winter. The tournament will be held March 15-16 at a site yet to be determined.”

The NAIA’s decision this year to adopt women’s wrestling as an invitational sport was a monumental move forward for women’s collegiate freestyle wrestling.

All 25 current NAIA women’s wrestling teams can have 12 athletes represented at the first national invite this winter, which would amount to at least 300 participants from the wrestling community.

So who is the NAIA?

At their educational site naia.org they explain, “The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., is a governing body of small athletics programs that are dedicated to character-driven intercollegiate athletics. Since 1937, the NAIA has administered programs dedicated to championships in balance with the overall college educational experience. Each year more than 65,000 NAIA student-athletes have the opportunity to play college sports, earn over $600 million in scholarships, and compete for a chance to participate in 26 national championships.”

That is outstanding. This is an organization to like, share and follow.

Previously they also shared on August 17, 2018, “The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) revealed the addition of women’s wrestling today as its newest varsity sport. This announcement takes the conference up to 23 varsity sports – 11 for men and 12 for women.”

As you can see, a female wrestling youth movement is underway.

“The power of youth is the common wealth for the entire world. The faces of young people are the faces of our past, our present and our future. No segment in the society can match with the power, idealism, enthusiasm and courage of the young people.”… Kailash Satyarthi

In the aggressive MMA world, a young 22 year old that is attracting a following is Ms. Nadia Kassem who as of this writing has a professional fight record of 3 wins, 0 losses and 0 draws.

Ms. Kassem was born in Wentworthville, New South Wales, Australia.

The influence of film played an important part in motivating this beautiful young woman to pursue this very tough sport.

She trained in Taekwondo and played rugby and softball when she was young. She was inspired by The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate TV series, but only started training MMA after watching her brother compete in grappling tournaments. Nadia started competing in amateur MMA not long after and turned pro. She had a record of 4–0 prior to signing with the UFC.

While it lasts, there is a nice interview featuring her on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3jfXwrZPBs

In the Lady Pro World there are two young beauties to keep an eye on.

Two years ago, Femcompetitor Magazine featured an article on a young Canadian princess named Maddison Miles who was making a name for herself in the ring as early as the tender age of sweet sixteen.

https://femcompetitor.com/maddison-miles-canadian-pro-wrestler-teen-queen-with-staying-power/

She is now 18 and still going strong as she works her magic in the squared circle.

Across the pond another very young star at the vibrant age of 18 is taking the professional wrestling world by storm and her name is Millie McKenzie.

She is one fit and gorgeous wrestler. She looks like a Fitness Model.

Millie is a British professional wrestler. We loved watching some of her videos online and she is a rising star in the Defiant Wrestling promotion where she shocked the previous women’s champion Kay Lee Ray.

While it lasts on YouTube please enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHqhGSxxAZU

Her signature move is the German Suplex. Her energy is contagious.

We are excited.

The female wrestling world is excited almost as much as she is exciting.

This female wrestling youth movement is inspiring so many of us.

Across the female grappling landscape and around the emerging world, the female youth are not only excited about competing, they are accomplishing incredible feats that thrilling action movies are made of.

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Opening photo via Telegraph Journal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_Valley

http://www.jamestownsun.com/sports/wrestling/4492399-just-us-uj-finalist-host-national-womens-wrestling-tourney

http://www.naia.org/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27900&SPID=190908&SPSID=1175929

http://www.naia.org/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=1175929&SPID=190908&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211661925&DB_OEM_ID=27900

http://www.naia.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27900&ATCLID=211686810

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Rothrock

https://www.facebook.com/nadia187kassem/

https://www.mixedmartialarts.com/fighter/Nadia-Kassem:A65324B65C6AC129

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Kassem

http://prowrestling.wikia.com/wiki/Millie_McKenzie

https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/youth 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmmovement.com 

https://www.filmmovement.com/