INITIATION

I would like to share with you my first experience in the world of mixed wrestling. I had stumbled across the phenomenon of mixed wrestling by accident via the internet and having visited various sites and downloaded some mpeg's with examples of these confrontations I was curious to undergo the experience myself.

I decided to arrange a session with Lethal Veronica to coincide with a business trip I was making to the Netherlands. We agreed to have this session on a Saturday morning in Rotterdam. I asked to have a semi-competitive session as I thought this was probably most suited to my level of fitness (not good) and wrestling experience (none at all).

I arrived at the location and I have to admit I was very nervous, I had no idea to what to expect. Veronica was very pleasant (and very attractive) and put me at ease straight away. Having gone through the formalities of discussing the session. We proceeded to a room where the battle was to take place.

I am 6 foot tall and weigh roughly 170 pounds. Veronica is a good deal smaller and weighs probably 40 pounds less than I do. It was however immediately clear when she had changed that she is very fit and powerful. Never the less I am not the kind of guy who just rolls over and says “I give up”. I was determined to give this my best effort.

We started and she asked me who should take the initiative. Not knowing really what to do, I let her take the initiative. It was the first of many mistakes. Within seconds she had me down on the mat in a headlock. She has very strong arms and much to my dismay I was to find out later her legs are even stronger.

In the first fifteen minutes of the session she put me in various holds ranging from head scissors, body scissors and headlocks. I am reasonably quick (I used to be able run the 100 in 12 seconds) but she is very quick too. However she was unable to pin me in a frontal attack. Most of her holds were via the side or my back. Some of my attempts to break the holds were successful. But the majority I just could not get out off. At the end of that first fifteen minute period. The net result was that I had tapped out several times and I was completely exhausted.

We paused quite often to drink and I needed to get my breath back anyway (Veronica hardly looked tired at all). The next fifteen minutes continued as the first. I was totally outclassed and spent most of the time in some hold or other. Once she had me in a hold, Veronica would press home her advantage. Her legs and arms would slowly but surely squeeze me until I thought it was probably better to tap out instead of passing out.

During one of the breaks I asked Veronica to demonstrate the various wrestling holds, which she did with pleasure.

The second half of the session differed to the first in that Veronica was quite happy to take it easy and let me take the initiative. On several occasions I would get into quite a good position on top of her but I just no longer had the strength or the energy to press home my attack. Veronica would taunt me by saying, "Is that the best you can do". Her legs were a constant frustration to any attack I made. Quite often I would find one of my arms or legs locked between her legs and in the process of trying to free myself she would use her arms to lock me into another hold. Unlike the first half hour, instead of pressing home a submission she was quite happy to relax her grip. However any attempt to get out of a hold was ruthlessly answered by an increase in pressure.

It was in this phase of the session that I was introduced to grapevine and various face-to-face holds. On one occasion she had me in a grapevine and told me that I had to "Beg for mercy", which I had to comply too after she had applied more pressure with her legs.

In what I could only describe as a smother hold in which we were both lying on our sides facing each other with her legs and arms were wrapped around me. She confidently said, "You are mine". When I tried to get out of the hold her legs squeezed; when I stopped she relaxed the pressure. At this stage my ribs were telling me, “We have had enough”.

Just before the session was about to end I did manage to get Veronica to tap out through a headlock. I had managed to get one submission; I could not keep count of the number of submissions Veronica had forced.

I showered and afterwards we talked briefly. She was complimentary about my fitness and my competitiveness (I think she was trying to cheer me up). Well hopefully in a rematch I will do something to deserve those complements.

Before I left to catch my flight back to the UK I asked her if she had any more sessions planned that day. She told me to my surprise that she was due at the GYM in an hour to work out.

All in all it was a terrific introduction and one that has stimulated me to go back for more. Veronica is very nice, fit and strong young lady who knows intuitively how to adapt to her opponent. I would definitely recommend her and hope to meet her in the not too distant future. Only this time I do intend to be fitter and hopefully give her a tougher contest.

D, Byrne
August 2002