Guess what? I got punched in the face at school*. I was so surprised. I definitely didn’t see that coming. Plus, I got in-school suspension for getting punched. TBH, I flicked his balsa wood airplane out of his hand and it broke, but geez, I never expected to get punched out for that. This all happened at my new school. I left the school where I was bullied from 1st grade to 5th grade. I know I am bullied because I am different. I have an IEP at school and I hate being pulled out of class to go. The kids are all looking at me and laughing. I have a brain problem so my teachers say I have to keep going.
Kids MMA is going good. Austen told me “Claire, don’t ever let someone sucker punch you again!” Austen is a striking coach at his gym, Brass Boxing. He coaches UFC fighter James Krause and Titan FC fighter Tyler Stinson. We haven’t worked on striking yet because you have to be 18 years old to fight in the cage.
Anyway, I am supposed to be updating you on my progress. I am feeling so good about myself. I am getting really good at submitting people. We were warming up at my last tournament. Another kid who knew my training partner Maxx came over to say hi. They wrestled and Maxx told him to wrestle me. He was bragging and acting like I couldn’t win because I am a girl and a white belt but he decided to wrestle me anyway. I don’t have a slow speed. You know how sometimes when the fights start, the fighters kind of circle around looking for a way to take their opponent down. That’s not really my style. I rush right at my opponent and put them on their back. I hit that guy so fast and hard he went “ooof!”. My godfather, Shane Rudman, says “Claire makes them feeeeel the word go”. Lol, I think I want that on a t-shirt.
Every tournament, I meet the nicest people. There aren’t a lot of girls in my age and weight bracket, so I end up fighting boys. I feel really bad when I beat girls because they always cry. I entered a “Take Down” tournament and I didn’t even know what that was all about. I do now, of course but back then it was new to me. I had to fight a 15 year old girl and she was really good. I must have looked sad because all of the older girls came over and were really nice to me and gave me pointers. One of the girls was named Cici. I remembered her because people aren’t always that nice. When you look at cage fighting on tv, you just don’t think “Hey! I’ll bet he’s a really sweet guy!” But so far that’s been my experience.
I see kids coming and going at our gym. I asked my dad why they come one time and never come back and he told me they can’t afford it. That makes me feel so bad! I came up with the idea to make a video and try and raise money for kids who can’t afford gym memberships and kids who are bullied like me. I thank God everyday for the gym and MMA because it saved my life.
Hope you like my videos. We made two, one long one and one short one. If you really like it, think about donating some money because there are a lot of kids out there who can’t afford to go to the gym. It could literally save a life. How would that make you feel?
Peace out homies!
XO, Claire
*We are now friends, he’s really nice to me and we ride the bus to school together.