When will session wrestling return in the UK?

[markuk1]

I dont see how sessions can resume until social distancing is stopped.

[TJWM90]

Believe me, sessions have resumed lads.

[markuk1]

Would love to hear from anyone in the UK who has had a recent session. Interested to hear about the safety hygiene precautions that are in place .

[Grapluc]

There are no imaginable hygiene precautions that make a live session anything else than a dumb idea at the moment.

[Fritz]

Monica cancelled her event and the mixed-wrestling-party which were scheduled for the 11th and 15th of July. Pippa´s wrestling-factory in Manchester is closed until further notice. Also Pippa-Londons submissionroom and Thunders oil-wrestling-parties havent announced anything about opening the business soon and Lisa King wrote on twitter that she wont do any wrestling until late summer. So MWM and their ladies and their "fans" and the "irish" Max-girls, who are already travelling around europe doing sessions, are, as usual, the only senseless people in the UK-session-wrestling-scene.

[Juvi]

Originally Posted by Fritz [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

So MWM and their ladies and their "fans" and the "irish" Max-girls, who are already travelling around europe doing sessions, are, as usual, the only senseless people in the UK-session-wrestling-scene.

Totally agree with you

[blockernz]

A difficult subject, and its notable that there are lots of different views. of People sit at different points on the spectrum on this, as is the case with the overall public perception to the virus and the use of restrictions as a tool to try to control it. At one end you have the 'Everyone should have the freedom to do what they like & we just need to push through it', at the other you have 'Everyone should be confined to their houses until there is zero cases'. The majority of us sit somewhere in between on this spectrum with our views on how much government applied controls there should be, versus individual risk and responsibility.

Wrestling by its nature is of course a huge level of physical contact with your opponent, heavy breathing, sweat, skin contact all over the body. Compared to just about any other activity its almost a guaranteed transmission if you have a carrier body, and a fresh body that is susceptible to receive the virus (note - some people will be lucky enough not to catch the virus, even if they get a good dose of it thrown at them - it just won't 'attach' to them).

When it comes to the virus risk, and applying it to session wrestling, i look at it as a three part formula:
1. The risk that you or your opponent are carrying virus when you meet.
2. The risk of transmitting the virus in the given activity.
3. The risk the virus will really screw you up. I.e. Death, or permanent/long term lung and tissue issues etc.

#1: A number of factors here. What is the current infection rate in your country? E.g. If 70,000 people in the UK currently have the virus (i think its quite a bit less right now), then approx 1/1000 people are carrying. A small % of these would be in hospital, maybe 50% would be cooped up in bed at home, but lets assume maybe half of infected are running about asymptomatic, or else symptoms not obvious enough for them yet to notice. So then 1/2000 people in the street are running about with it.
Depending on your circumstance, you can probably be moderately confident if you have it or not. E.g. I'm living on my own, Work from home, relatively light contact with other people for last few months. Am also probably the fittest i've been in a long time.. So fairly sure i'm not infected right now.
If a session wrestler is in a similar situation, and maybe only doing 1-2 sessions a week, and is fully healthy and well, then overlay this with the 1/2000 odds, and you would have to be very unlucky to have an infected party. A qualifier to this is the fact that 20s/early 30s females are a common asymptomatic carrier, so maybe the session wrestler could have it but be unaware, as physically fine. You can then maybe drive to session rather than public transport. Getting into a testing regime of each participant 1-3 days before each session seems overkill in a lower infection country, if both fit and well. It also still isn't guaranteed as you can pick it up immediately after your test, and still show up for session with it. Having a positive antibody test for having PREVIOUSLY had it would be useful along with now no longer being currently positive. One important behaviour is on postponements - if either party feels any symptoms, they should postpone session without wavering and this needs to be accepted.

#2 - Nature of activity. Walking past an infected person on the street, prob not going to catch it. Talk to them from 1 metre away for 5 mins, maybe a moderate chance you will get it. Full contact semi-competitive session wrestling for 60 mins. You will get it (if a susceptible receiver). Faffing around with face masks, or everyone showering before hand and disinfecting mats isn't going to make much difference when 60 mins of close all over body contact, sweaty heavy breathing and exertion. As someone else pointed out the 'viral load' you pick up will be huge to. Maybe something like a light scissors or face sitting only session there is a slightly lower risk. So this 'what safety precautions can we take' seems to me to be a bit pointless once you've both shown up on the mats. Sure disinfected mats ensures no residual from whoever has used previously. A good hand washing, or showering to ensure you don't bring in something off the street (but the odds on this are low). The key risk point to control really is 'Does the other person have it or not?'

# 3: How much is it going to screw you up? If you not had it yet, then you can't 100% know, but the statistics are pretty clear guide as to what will be the case for the majority of people. There are definite exceptions though which can't really be explained.
20s/early 30s fit healthy, athletic females - I.e. Most of the session wrestlers - Will be a mix of asymptomatic, mild cases, moderate cases. Very, very unlikely to lead to death or any permanent issues (but maybe it could happen)
20-40 males - similar to the girls above, although us men seem to on average get it a bit worse
40-60 males - If otherwise healthy, most likely to get a moderate-relatively strong hit, but still in majority of cases will just be a home recovery.. Low odds of hospital or worse. If very overweight, very unfit, other health issues then yeah expect that to be on the worse end of scale or hospitalised.
60+ males - Unless very fit and healthy, its much more likely going to hit you pretty damn hard. Combine this with overweight and other issues, and this is where it is getting really risky.
In summary this 'outcome' risk is massively higher for the clients than the session wrestlers.
Some wrestlers might have other income/assets or ways of supporting themselves including online, or have family commitments, will be quite cautious on a return. Others who might be less attached with family concerns and who are more dependent on session income will look at their own demographics low outcome risk and likely be bolder in getting started again.

A few side points:
- A key limiting factor on risk for a session is the '1 on 1' nature of the session. If you are meeting a local girl, and you are her first session for a few days, then the risk %s are much better than a touring wrestler who has seen 15 guys over the past 4 days. Or 2 wrestlers travelling and staying together who have seen 30 guys in 3 different cities.
- Events/Mixed wrestling parties - Again the risk %s pick up. Say 15 girls and 30 guys all at one, various sessions and people chatting and interacting. You have 45 people - all you need is 1 carrier to whack a bunch of the other attendees.

The government aren't going to legislate specifically on session wrestling. Gyms/leisure centres differ quite a bit in regard to social distancing and how much close contact you have with people. The closest comparable is martial arts/BJJ classes.. although in a way they are worse than a single session meet, as you have several people in a class, often swapping opponents.

There are definitely girls in Europe offering sessions now, and i'm pretty sure a few are quietly in the UK. It all comes down to your personal assessment of do you want to partake given the above risk %s.
My last session was March 8th, probably 2-3 days before the scale & impact of the first wave started to become properly apparent in the UK.
I've kept in contact over the last 3 months with some of the wrestlers i know a bit better, but haven't directly asked for a session.

I expect i will do a few wrestling sessions this year, but these will mostly be with girls i have a good connect with and i know and trust. Until more is understood about the virus or infection rates drop further, i probably won't be seeing any touring session wrestlers.

Added after 1 11 minutes:

Agencies are in a difficult place to as opposed to individual girls who might have access to suitable locations, and can be more discreet in one on one engagements.
For agencies, dty of care to both client and session wrestler comes into play. Also being a more established 'place of business' with leases and contracts, there is more onus on compliance with govt reg. The blurry line on 'business category' makes things a bit more difficult here.
Of course nobody wants a track n trace investigation or a bad outcome blowing back on them.
I expect this area will remain quiet for some time.

[Grapluc]

You're missing the point. The main risk isn't you suffering from the virus; it's you transmitting it to someone else, who'll transmit it to someone else, etc.

[blockernz]

Originally Posted by Grapluc [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

You're missing the point. The main risk isn't you suffering from the virus; it's you transmitting it to someone else, who'll transmit it to someone else, etc.

Valid point, i didn't specifically say this in my lengthy spiel, but i do refer to it indirectly a few times with the one to one versus one to many principles. (e.g. Single meet with local wrestler versus touring session wrestler who sees many guys in short period).
Again individual circumstances are a factor.
If i drive to session, meet one person to wrestle & go back and then work from home the following few days, not much room for further transmission my end. If someone rocks up for their session and then next day goes into their job at an old folks home then yeah, they might want to have a damn good extra think about the risk level they choose to take on personally, as the knock on effect can be enormous. (Same goes for the girl).

[Maitsek]

This is a very difficult time to judge people and activities, as things now change quickly and the situation varies greatly between countries.
I also personally think it is too soon to resume session wrestling, as there is still so much uncertainty about the virus and what the future will bring.
I do hope there will be more improvements globally during summer, to be able to look forward.