Diane's Coterie
By Wrestlefan
The story of how four determined young men mold a single mom into a wrestling champ. 


"Yes, she's got her, now!"
"She's yours, now, baby!"
"C'mon, Diane, don't let up, you've got her!"
"Nail, it, Diane! Lock those ankles, lock those ankles!"
"Yes, there it is! She's done it! Squeeze her! Squeeeeezzze!"

The inevitable happens quickly, as Pam desperately tapes the mat 
twice to get relief from the excruciating pressure of Diane's 
powerful head scissors.

In a startling turn-about the larger woman in the purple one-piece 
suit drops her attack and begins to try in vain to pry apart 
Diane's ferocious head scissors that seemed to come out of nowhere.  
The words above are from Diane's "coterie", her brain-trust of 
trainers and handlers who have joined together to help make this 
extraordinary woman into an awesome wrestler.  They know Diane's 
moves well enough to anticipate when - despite appearances to the 
contrary - their woman has her opponent in a position which is very 
likely to end in a quick submission.  In this case, Pam taps out 
shortly after Diane was able to cross her ankles clamping Pam's 
head between those lean and taut thighs.  Even though Diane is in 
an awkward position and Pam still has her gripped in her own 
submission hold, the four men who have handled her career  share in 
the certain knowledge that another victory is just moments away for 
Diane's anguished victim.  At the tap-out, the referee yells 
"break!" to the two women and there is a simultaneous burst of 
exuberance from the "gang of four" as well as the 10 other men and 
women at matside.  Their champion has once again pulled off a fall 
by submission, and they are ecstatic.

Let me introduce the four men who have taken on the unusual hobby 
of guiding Diane's wrestling development.  First there is George, 
who first began teaching Diane basic freestyle wrestling moves when 
she came to him with her unusual request.  George and Diane had 
been buddies for years. George had placed in State for his high 
school wrestling squad.  He handles the technical side of the 
training.  Then there is Brad who also coaches Diane's son, who is 
now in Junior High.  Brad handles the tactical and motivational 
aspects of the training.  He shouts encouragement and instruction 
during her matches.  Then there is Steve, a conditioning coach who 
has Diane on an ambitious program of swimming, running, and weight 
training. Finally, there is Gary, who handles all the details from 
setting up her matches to outfitting the "arena", which was 
formerly a storehouse for an apple orchard.  Gary doesn't know much 
about wrestling, but he is very devoted to advancing the career of 
our single mom.  Under the tutelage of the "gang of four", as they 
jokingly call themselves, Diane has grown from an uncertain 
competitor who was losing matches into a dynamo who has pretty much 
destroyed all comers for the past six months.

Diane's venture into submission wrestling was Gary's idea at first 
since he had a collection of videotapes of women wrestling to 
submission.  Brad OK-ed the plan after they had attended a public 
submissions contest  downstate and talked it over with Diane.  
Diane had already become an accomplished pinning specialist, but 
after watching a few tapes, she agreed to give it a go.  What 
surprised everyone was Diane's awesome squeeze power.  Her legs 
were lean like a runner's, but showed good muscle separation.  Once 
she learned a little technique, her scissors holds were ending the 
matches quickly.  If the ankles were ever locked together, it 
almost always meant doom for her hapless opponents.  And Diane was 
really enjoying hearing her adversaries give up.  Somehow, it was 
more decisive than just pinning shoulders to the mat.

Tonight's matchup was pins or submissions, and was even at one fall 
apiece.  Diane had won the first fall by pin, but submitted to 
Pam's body scissors in the second fall.  The third and deciding 
fall was not going very well for Diane at all, until - almost out 
of nowhere - came the surprising end with the skill-numbing head 
scissors.  Pam had come by train the night before with her husband, 
and was not very accustomed to losing either.  Her reputation had 
preceded her, and everyone knew that Diane would be in for a pretty 
stiff test.  Now, Pam was still on the mat, holding her aching head 
as her husband comforts her.  Diane even went over to offer her a 
hug and a glass of water.  "You are one helluva wrestler, lady!  I 
really thought you had me in that third fall!" offers Diane as she 
slips her robe over her favorite black two-piece. 


That night the seven of them all went out to dinner (that is, Diane 
and her handlers and Pam and her husband) where a good time was had 
by all. Yes, Pam was up to a rematch some time in the future, and 
also Pam promised to tell her own network of lady wrestlers that 
they could find a good fair match against Diane.  Gary was doing 
his job of always keeping on the alert for expanding their network 
of opponents for Miss Diane.  Finally, everyone jumped in the van 
and drove Pam and hubby to the train station, where warm good-byes 
were exchanged and promises were made to "do this again some time".

The next night everyone was over a George's house reviewing the 
videotape of the match of the previous night.  "See there where Pam 
grabs your ankle" says George as they re-wind the tape.  "You 
should never have had your foot in that position."  And Brad offers 
a little later "See where you could have brought her over if you 
had gone for the far elbow instead of always going the the nelson.  
You let her escape."  And on it goes, as they critique the match 
while the experience is still fresh.  At one point, Diane got a 
little defensive with their criticism and just had to chime in 
"Yeah, but still not too bad for a 37-year-old broad!"  And the 
group had to admit "No, Diane, you're still the champ!"

And then they went to the mats, where George and Brad were ready to 
put Diane through a very light workout, considering that she was 
still very sore from last night's struggle.  This time, the 
emphasis was on collegiate style, because Diane's next match was a 
pins contest against a 43 year old male who wanted a challege.  
Gary had checked him out and OK-ed the match.  Diane actually 
enjoyed wrestling against guys because it was good competition and 
there was almost always the shock of disbelief when the amazed guy 
realizes that he is going to get pinned by a girl!  And Steve's 
conditioning program has guaranteed that the guy will probably run 
out of gas before his prot'g' does.

George is drilling Diane tonight on escapes, turning holds, and 
pinning combinations.  They are  going at about half speed as Brad 
barks instructions.  At 5-10 and 154 pounds, Diane actually has a 
couple of inches and a few pounds on George, so she is able to  
maneuver him around at will.  Now Diane has George in her favorite 
cross-body press with her feet spread wide apart as she goes up on 
her toes in those blacks ASICS wrestling boots.  Steve and Gary are 
shouting encouragement to their champion and filling Diane with 
positive re-inforcement, as George's attempt to bridge out of the 
pinning hold proves  futile.  The Wrestling Queen  claims another 
victim!

As so it goes.  Four young men who share a common vision of 
developing their woman into an awesome wrestler, and a thirty-
something single mom who enjoys dominating her opponents.  
Amazingly, everyone seems to get along, and share in the dedication 
to the project.  Even the son is proud of his mom, the Wrestling 
Queen.  And all of this is strictly amateur!  Part of the agreement 
is that nothing is ever done for money, just the love of the sport 
which is the "Sport of Kings"!

More on the wrestling adventures of Miss Diane, the Wrestling 
Queen, and the Gang of Four to follow.