"... We Grapple."

Then in one swift blinding move, I was on the mat on all fours and before I could figure out what was happening, I was staring at the ceiling. My limbs were like an alien entity, detached of their need to function as a whole, 'defying' I reitirate. A kind of bodily perestroika was happening, if this was politics. It took a while before the brain registered, no doubt urged by a searing pain.

I had just been grappled into submission.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the experts go at it while my limbs cordially got re-acquainted. As I marveled at the different ways a body could be contorted, I realize grappling had always been a part of our lives. Growing up, most of us have probably wrestled for fun with our siblings or have seen the kids go at it the playground, settling juvenile disputes. We grapple with each other in a gym, with concepts in schools and with challenges that life presents every day.

We grapple.

Watching grown men engaging each other in various holds, out muscling out manouvering the other to get into that dominant position while at the same time taking precautions not to let their offensive enthusiasm shortchange their defense, my admiration for these modern day gladiators is undeniably second to none. The battle scars ( see - cauliflower ear etc ) are testimonies overshadowed only by sacrifices these warriors make, just to make it to trainings at times. At training sessions what awaits would make lesser men run with their tails tucked in between their legs.

The room that they'll end up in for those punishing sessions do not differ from the one I was in that afternoon. The walls echoes the painful grimace of every submission they succumbed to as much as they reverberate with joyous cries of a successful leglock. It doesn't end there, for the act repeats throughout the learning process for the duration of the session. When the day is done, most will go back to their lives outside of the gym for not all are fortunate enough to call this a profession but what binds them together is that they will all be back another day. That separates these men from the ordinary.

It's been a number if years since that afternoon, the day I was introduced to Submission Grappling but each time I'm back at the gym, I'm still learning. At times I would spot someone new, who would be sitting on the fringe, watching perhaps absorbing. I would smile and hope that they see what I saw then. I hope they listen to the walls.

Life can be hard at times but if we stick in there and fight, we will be alright because ...

We grapple.

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