It's weird how this hobby had become her source of income. She had been doing wrestling in some form or other for many years. Not the fake TV bullshit, but the form where two people fight and try to make the other person submit using just their body without punching or kicking or in any way trying to hurt the opponent.
Of course, you also got points in various situations. But making someone submit was just so much more fun. Especially defeating bigger and stronger opponents. And that feeling of making people submit to her will gave her an incentive to keep doing her workout. A regular, balanced workout routine had shaped her body the way she wanted. It might not technically be ideal for wrestling, but her goal had always been alround strength. And also girls with slight muscle definition are HOT!
She had realized that competitive wrestling was a no go. It took too much effort, paid too little. So for fun, she had posted an ad for 101 self-defense/wrestling lessons.
Soon after, the application had started pouring in. Most of them were guys trying to prove they were stronger than women. She, in particular. Most of them were, in fact, not stronger than women. Especially not she, in particular. And those who were were generally not good at anything else. Suffering from a bad balance or had some other weak spot she found and exploited.
With time she got tired of the ones only looking to prove themselves. It was nice money and all, but only wanting to prove your masculinity was a bad way to start a training relationship. But, of course, beating those testosterone-filled/sexist guys was a fun thing to do once in a while. Most of her lasting students, though, were girls. The majority of which just wanted the exercise or to learn to defend themselves. It was always rewarding to watch each of them grow from a clumsy, uncoordinated person to someone who could actually put up a great fight.
Being a physical sport with a lot of body contact, wrestling, at least non-competitive wrestling, can become rather intimate. Quite a few of her first students had tried using it as an opportunity to touch her in inappropriate places.
At first, she gave them a stern warning, but that was rarely successful, so then she twisted their arms painfully on their backs and made it very clear if they did that again, she would throw them out. No matter how rough she was, it never seemed to be enough. Always being true to her words, she always threw them out if they didn't listen. It wasn't the sexuality of it that bothered her, but the fact that she had never consented to be touched like that. The fact that they didn't listen made it even worse.
That doesn't mean things never got sexual though, just that the main focus always was the wrestling... for the most part. Some were just platonic lessons, all about the wrestling. Others were more in the platonic-ish box. They mostly revolved around the wrestling, but you never knew, sometimes a hand would wander, or they ended up in a certain position...
Every now and then someone quit and she accepted a new student, and so today was her first lesson with Jay. For the first time in a long while, she had accepted a new male student. He generally didn't seem like any of the others, though. The application was unusually well written, the person had actually put some effort into it. Reading it had made her smile and want to meet this person.
She had some trepidations, though. First lessons where always the hardest, wrestling was quite new to him and the letter hadn't given her the impression he was a fighter. Though at the same time that's what had caught her interest in the first place. Why would a person who didn't particularly like fighting pay for fighting lessons with her?
"Hello Jay, happy you could come!" She reached her arm out but instead of shaking it as normal people do, she grabbed onto it. Now, a handshake is awfully formal, and almost creates more distance between the two than anything else. It establishes a formal relationship, rendering them mere acquaintances rather than friends. And she had always been a physical person, so instead of just doing a normal handshake, she held his arm in a tight grip and pulled him towards her, giving him a nice hug with her arms wrapped around him.
This seemed to take him by surprise so it took a few seconds before he wrapped his arms around her. An average hug is said to last 3 seconds, but 'average' is boring so she usually aimed for at least 5. This hug probably lasted a good 6 seconds before she released him and he did the same.
"Good! Hugs are how we say hello and goodbye here." Her tone was enthusiastic. "It's important that we're not shy about body contact. Wrestling IS physical after all!"
"Yeah.." was all he had to say. Oh well, he said he was a bit shy so that was expected.
"So since it's your first time, let's get some formalities out of the way. I'm here to teach you to reach your goals. But the most important thing for me is that YOU get something out of this, whatever that is. You're NOT here for me, you're here for YOU. If there is anything I can do to change it, or make it more rewarding for you, you need to tell me, okay?"
"Okay, yeah.." was all he replied.
"No, see, that's what all you shy little nerds do when I say that. You say 'okay' because you know I'm expecting you to say something to that effect. One of my goals is to break you out of those habits. Which might push you out of your comfort zone. But as the great sage Austin Kutcher once said 'as long as you're uncomfortable, it means you are growing'... Or something like that. But anyways..."
She kept her enthusiastic, friendly tone, getting a slight chuckle out of him at the Ashton Kutcher part. Grabbing his collar, she gently yet firmly pulled him closer. With the same gentleness, she put her hand under his chin and force his head up slowly. "I want you to look in my eyes and say you will tell me if you want me to change anything. No matter how small, silly irrelevant, or whatever you think. Tell. Me. Okay?"
He glanced quickly into her eyes and said "yes" before looking back down.
"Once more, this time in a full sentence and with as much eye contact as you can spare for scary little me."
He looked back into her eyes and quickly said "y-yes. I will tell you."
"Awesome!" she cheered and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead while at the same time thinking 'oh boy, this will be a challenge.' Since she knew she could come off as intense and demanding she continued; "Just FYI I might come off as a bit intense or firm at times. But I'm only doing it out of love. Albeit quite tough love at times. But still love!" The tough, in-your-face, and pushy personality had proven to be more effective than a more careful approach, so that's what she tended to default to.
"It's okay," he began "I kinda like that. I think... I need it. Eye contact is just hard for me"
That made her chuckle and smile back at him "you won't believe how many people I've seen struggle with it. Some do it because they're busy looking at my boobs. Although I don't see why, they're not much to look at" she joked, lifting them up as if she were examining them. "But many just look down because eye contact makes them uncomfortable. I think some get a feeling that they're inferior in some way." she continued.
"Yeah, I can relate to that. It's just become a habit."
Nodding understandably she smiled and noted how his eyes would look up into hers for the briefest moments. "I aim to beat that out of you" she replied, putting a slight emphasis on the word 'beat'.
"So what are your goals?"
"Well I wanted to try wrestling, it seems like a lot of fun, though I'm not the overly violent type. And I need the exercise, don't get a lot of physical exercise, and I don't really have any motivation for doing it either..." The words came out in a slow, hesitant mumble.
"Oh, I can definitely help you with that! I can even make you an exercise routine that you can do in your own home if you want. Anything else?" Somehow she expected there was more to it than what he just said.
"Nah... Or... I just realized I needed to go out more and not just sit at home all day" he admitted.
"Good, I think I'll do you good on that part too! Now I hope you brought clothes for wrestling?" He nodded and held up his bag. "Good girl! You can change in that room over there."
Shortly after he returned and she led him to the wrestling mat. "So what do you know about wrestling?"
"Not a lot. No punches or kicks. No touching ... Uhm weak spots..." The last part made him blush a little.
"No touching twats, balls or boobs, yeah" she shot in. The choice of words made him chuckle slightly. She continued "Do you know any moves or techniques?"
He admitted he didn't, so she continued "Okay. That's good, because then I don't have to unlearn you anything, which is waaaaay harder. So the basic goal is to pin your opponent to the mat and have the shoulders touch the floor for 2 seconds. At that point, the match is over. That's the gist of it. There are other rules and points and stuff but we'll just be focusing on pinning for now. Sound good?"
"Yeah" a very terse and, frankly, a bit boring reply. But at least he seemed motivated.
"Alright. So let's start with a basic stance." She showed him the stance and ordered him to mirror it. "Okay, keep that stance. Now I'll come at you and force you on the back. Just stand like that or try to stop me if you want. It doesn't really matter, I'll get you on your ass either way. Ready?"
"Yeah"
As soon as he spoke, she ran at her, putting her hand behind the knee of his foot and forced him back to the side and onto his back. "See, that was fun, wasn't it?" she looked over at him, making sure he was okay. He looked up just past her with a big grin on his face.
"Yeah! Not sure I can do that, though."
"Oh you can, but I'll do it to you a few more times. Slower this time. I just like to start with a bang. It's a lot of fun taking people by surprise like that. Most people think I'll start out slow, but that's no fun!" She got up and reached out a hand to him.
