Girl Wrestlers Quilt Block. This month’s blog hop theme for #QuiltBlockMania is Sports. The sport that I follow the most is my granddaughter’s career as a girl wrestler. Be sure to visit the other designers at the bottom of this page to see their sports blocks.
When I saw the theme of this months #QuiltBlockMania, I knew exactly which sport I would pick! It’s the one that gives me a chance to brag about my granddaughter.
First, a little background
Ella was born with Cystic Fibrosis, an inherited disease that affects lungs and digestive systems. For a long, long time we were given no hope that she would survive, much less flourish. However, through the strong dedication of her mother and her doctors, she did just that. She began weightlifting as a method of strengthening her lungs as a young child along with her vest therapy machine which helped to loosen and clear mucus from her airways.
And then Trikafta came along. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call this a miracle drug and I would like to thank everyone who ever made a donation to CF research. Or ANY genetic based disease, actually, as they are all related. Occasionally the discovery that one line of research makes greatly benefits another disease entirely.
Girl Wrestling?
When Girls Wrestling was first introduced in Ellas school, she immediately signed up. Girls wrestling is one of the fastest-growing sports in the US. All 50 states now have high school girls wrestling programs and over 30 states offer separate girls state championships.
It’s a little different from boys wrestling in that weight classes are adjusted for females, and some techniques are modified for flexibility/strength differences. But the rules and scoring remain largely identical to boys wrestling. The main technical difference is that girls compete exclusively in freestyle at international/Olympic levels, while boys compete in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.
Girl Wrestling Techniques
Here is a picture of an opening move, called a stance. Ella is the one on the right. It’s a quick snapshot. Don’t use it for training!
The stance enables quick movement, defense against takedowns, and the ability to initiate offensive moves. Girls need to focus on maintaining proper position to maximize leverage despite weight or strength differences. She should keep her head up and her eyes forward.
More Details
Her feet should be shoulder-width apart, dominant foot slightly back. The wrestler should balance her weight on the balls of her feet so she can take smaller steps and make quick direction changes.
Knees should be bent, hips low, and back straight. This gives the wrestler a lower center of gravity which helps with leverage and stability.
Her elbows should be in, hands up around chest level. Hands are kept higher for head/neck protection but might also be lower to defend different attack zones.
Girl Wrestlers Quilt Block
So without further ado, I have two applique motifs for you.
To print these blocks, right click (or Cntrl-click on a Mac) and choose “open image in a new tab.” From there you can print them. For details on how to use these images, read the article on How to Applique using Fusible Web.