Only Girl On The Mat: The Brave, Bold Journey of Julia Salata

Only Girl on The Mat: The Brave, Bold Journey of Julia Salata Julia Salata was the lone female on her high school wrestling team and it was incredibly difficult to find a female wrestler on any team. Fast forward to today and the 2021 Olympic Games hopeful has watched women’s wrestling skyrocket across the country, with some indications that roughly 10 percent of all U.S. high school wrestlers are female. It is an astonishing rate of growth and empowerment, and mirrors the massive surges we are also seeing as girls and women train in other combat sports such as jiu jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and Muay Thai. In this 2-hour conversation, Julia and I explore how to build a higher-performance mindset; the sacrifices that are made in pursuit of a worthy goal, and how we have navigated and conquered injuries. Julia also also happens to be a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I was one of the first 3,000 or so Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belts in the world, and over the years I have been fortunate to both train with, and coach, many extremely talented female grapplers. They work just as hard as their male counterparts, express just as much fighting spirit, and deserve a much bigger stage and spotlight on their major contributions toward the skyrocketing growth of Jiu Jitsu, wrestling and MMA (interesting and somewhat mind-blowing stat: Today more than 10 percent of all high school wrestlers are female, and that percentage continues to climb). Julia and I tackle many thought-provoking topics, such as: -- What percentage of male training partners does Julia think go really rough? -- Fear of losing vs. natural high of winning: Which motivates top performers more? -- Is the average female grappler a better technician than the average male? -- Do female athletes have egos as big as their male counterparts? If not, why not? -- How extraordinary is the achievement of Heaven Fitch, a high schooler in North Carolina, beating boys to claim her state title? -- Is the thrill of domination simply in our DNA? -- The Zen and tremendous satisfaction that you feel after a really hard practice, where you're sitting there dripping sweat, exhausted and relaxed and thinking, "It feels so good to have given everything and worked that hard." -- How do we grow women's sports and create more opportunities for them? -- Lessons from the mat that carry over to life beyond; -- Why women usually make great training partners; -- The mental toughness and work ethic that wrestling uploads into its athletes. Julia is an assistant coach at King’s University, one of the premiere women’s wrestling programs in the nation. Frank is a philosopher, journalist, artist and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt who teaches martial arts, spiritual, mental and nutritional fitness. How to reach Frank and Julia on social media: Facebook: Juila Salata Twitter: @jsalata Instagram: @jsalata Email: jsalata@king.edu Instagram: frank_forza Facebook:Frank Forza website: frankie@frankieforza.com Email: frankie@frankieforza.com