We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to speak to wrestling's unsung heroes around the world. Coach Maryam was introduced to us through our friend, Hooman Tavakolian of Tavak Partners, a sport diplomacy company. Hooman was kind enough to make the introduce us to Coach Maryam to get to know her better and spread her story. 

A month after becoming the 2016 Olympic Trials Runner-up, I was home and injured. I discovered I had a herniated disc in my low back and the symptoms were so intense, it hurt to sit or carry my laundry. It was scary not knowing anything about the recovery process, or if it was even possible. I was eager to return to training and thus worsened my situation. Fortunately, I was able to recover from this injury with the help of my family and medical staff, and was able to continue my competitive wrestling career. This is how I overcame the biggest injury of my career, and how you can hopefully avoid the the same fate.

If you are approaching college or already in school, you may have heard from coaches or teammates about the option to redshirt a college year. But what does this mean for you as a student and as an athlete? How does it change the coarse of your college career? Through advice of Cliff Cushard, current head women's wrestling coach for Adrian College, this blog aims to give you the best tools to make an educated decision. 

Once upon a time, before girls and women were competing on the mat, women were behind the scenes supporting and organizing wrestling events in roles such as paring master. This person was responsible for hand writing the brackets, recording the wins/loses, determining who would wrestling who in consolations, wrote out the bout sheets, and sent them to the assigned mats. This was a coveted role before technology like TrackWrestling took over that job entirely. The idea of women being on the mat was a different story entirely... as competitors or as referees. Today however, the avenues and opportunities for women within the wrestling world are expanding rapidly. The women who were once behind the scenes pairing at tournaments, are taking front and center roles. One of those women, referee Toska Adams, has been a part of changing the mind set of a women’s role within wrestling. Today, it is no longer rare to see a female referee on the mat. Toska sees her role as an important opportunity to show other young women the possibility of raising the hands of our sports future greats.

There have been major breakthroughs in the knowledge of how the brain works and our ability to study that process. For years philosophers, psychologists and the medical community believed that the body and its brain functioned like a machine. With the advancement of the computer many said “that is it, that is how the brain works!”

There is always time when you prioritize your academics. It may not be conveniently blocked off at one time, but it's there. Weekends are always good to catch up on work, but once the season starts, weekends are usually spent traveling. Stay organized with a planner so you know which assignment must be prioritized first. Use the small pockets of time in between training and classes (or working) to handle tasks. That may look like heading directly to a library or quiet study area to work in order to stay on top of your demanding academic schedule.

For the past decade, I have been coaching boys and girls high school wrestling. It has been easier enrolling girls to wrestle than boys because I myself am a woman, and wrestled for the high school where I am currently coaching. Feedback from the athletes has been vital in order to encourage boys and girls to wrestle for the first time. It helps me understand how I can best support their goals and keep them coming back to the mat. Typically, I ask a new athlete why they want to join the sport. There are various reasons to why a young teen wants to join wrestling: getting into shape, being more confident, but my favorite is to be a part of a family. Over the last five years I have reiterated to high school athletes that wrestling isn't just a team, but a family and a culture to help shape and support becoming a better individual all around.

Preparing for a national tournament takes focus, and if you have more than one major tournament each year, you will have to have a good training plan. A training plan is comprised of phases that take you through increases and decreases in volume and intensity to help an athlete peak their conditioning. Each phase below is about two weeks, but allows you to customize the time.

Attending the US Marine Corps Folkstyle Nationals in Oklahoma City was the first time in quite a while I was able to watch a national high school wrestling event. It was a great opportunity to get the know the wrestlers, have them get to know me, and ask what kinds of content they would like to see on LuchaFIT. After all, this website is all about creating fun and valuable content for the wrestlers, coaches, and their supporters! As with most national tournaments, I saw a lot of excitement, a lot of heartbreak, and a lot of desire to become better wrestlers. Here are a few key pointers I saw that those attending (and even those wrestlers not in attendance) could learn from.

When injuries push your goals up against the wall, how do you keep from giving in to the disappointment? How do you make proper decisions about your health when you’re not sure which path to take? It felt like the wind was taken out my sails when I went from being the previous year’s University World Champion, to ending my first match at the qualifying national tournament due to an elbow injury. However, with the support of high level medical teams, family, and teammates, I got through a tough part of my career and was able to continue wrestling. This is my story about the first major injury of my wrestling career.

It is a common misnomer that we need to treat athletes different based on their gender. Emma Randall, the first female in the U.S. to earn her gold-level coaching certification through USA Wrestling, has some insight and advice for those new to coaching females. Randall has her M.S. in Sports Psychology, and is able to give additional perspective on a mindset that has been all too common in the wrestling and female sport world.  

Our wrestling technique will take us far when we are working expanding our arsenal. But what about when we need to simplify our steps and create the most speed and efficiency with our movements? Surprisingly enough, in order to go fast, it means you need to start slow. By simplifying where your hands and feet need to go, you are putting yourself in the best possible position to quickly execute.

Mallory Velte started her wrestling journey in California. Despite first being told she could not join the team, she has pushed past obstacles to become a 3x college national champion, a junior and senior world team member, and one of the top wrestlers in the country. Read about her decision making for wrestling in college, and how the lessons she learned can help make your search more simple.

Food is typically a contentious topic in wrestling. There's the team that believes you should wrestle at your natural weight, and the other team which believes that cutting weight is more advantageous. However, cutting extreme amounts of weight will not provide a healthy athlete in the long run. Eventually, the body breaks down and what could have been a long healthy career is cut short.

We all want to learn technique and do it fast. I often have to tell athletes to slow it down so I can help them work on very specific areas. When you are challenged by technique, you need to break it up into its equal parts. Breaking down technique requires a major slow down and simplification of an area.

In 2012, shortly after qualifying for my first Olympic team, I began to feel a pop in my collar bone area while wrestling. Training at that point was specific and tailored to the olympic team. I was constantly aware of this injury, but didn't have the luxury of taking time to address the problem. It eventually went from discomfort to sharp pain. I would drill with someone much lighter than me, and just grabbing my normal standing single, I would literally see red. It wasn’t really a time to panic and true to my nature, I really didn’t discuss it outside of Terry Steiner, Kim Martori of Sunkist, and my physical trainers at the Training Center.

Kelsey Campbell has been a pillar in the sport of women's wrestling. From famously beginning her wrestling career late in high school, becoming ASU's first female wrestler ever, and making the 2012 Olympic team in historic fashion, Kelsey has had a long and full career. But it hasn't been without setbacks. She has continued to find a way to make it look easy to someone on the outside, but is able to reveal the hard work and resiliency that is the backbone of her career. Kelsey brings us up close and personal with her injuries in sport and how they have made her tougher.

When it comes to fully taking advantage of your training, there can be different scenarios. Sometimes we are new to sport and don't have the tools yet to know how to have our needs met. Sometimes we are the only girl on our wrestling team and may feel intimidated by an all male room. And other times we realize advocating for ourselves is a skill that can take a long time to master. Here are some great tips so you can start practicing now.

Basic nutrition is no longer common place in our world, especially in the US. When it comes to making good decisions, we've unfortunately never been given the right tools. As we live our lives on the go, we reach more for alternatives than for whole foods. Even as athletes, we are still faced with the misconceptions that society instills. How do we educate ourselves to rise above the ideas that most of our peers and the people around us believe to be true about nutrition? We've brought back world medalist Othella Feroleto to help us address common misconceptions and to give us helpful tips.

As wrestlers, there's a few basic motions that translate into the variations of movement needed for wrestling technique. Focusing on a few basic body weight exercises can make a huge difference in your wrestling game. Not having any gym equipment isn't any excuse! Use your body, get outside, and sharpen up your skills off the mat.