Re: Remember your first session?
My first session was before WB270 existed, before the internet, or, at least, before AOL. (The precise start of the internet, I'm not sure), but before everyone was on it. Back then, you found out about session girls (session women?) . . . well, we found out about them through the AmFem catalog, which was advertised here and there in wrestling magazines.
There weren't many wrestlers in NYC back then. There was Larissa, but I was never into body builders. There was Ziggy in NJ and there was Deena Zarra who had a wrestling club. I set up a match with Deena and the girl I ended up wrestling was Suzie Johnson.
I was about 27 and quite fit about 160 lbs, 5'10, and I had no idea what to expect, but I wanted to lose. I was hoping for that. When I arrived, Deena wanted to have a talk with me about my ego and how I might feel if the lady won. "I want to lose" I said, and that was pretty much the end of that conversation. So, Suzie walked in and while she was really pretty and athletic, I could tell by looking at here that I'd be able to beat her. I still had fun, and the session was over far too quick, but I hadn't realized, being young and athletic it would take me some looking to find a lady who'd beat me.
It was fun looking forward to it, not knowing what to expect. It was fun wrestling her. My only regret after was that I didn't suggest she put me in some of her best holds, just so I could feel the sense of being overpowered or losing, but I immediately wanted to session again, though at the time I was a college student so it was maybe 1 session every 6 months to a year back then.
Ziggy, who I later wrestled, was about a tie and Joanna Needham beat me a few years later. Michelle Falsetta did too and Helen Von Mott. (Helen was my favorite, this was before she learned Ju Jitsu, it was straight wrestling and she was surprisingly good). After the ladies started studying ju jitsu, a number of them were able to beat me, especially as I got a little older.
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