#pub101

In the first essay, I reasoned that blogging is indeed publishing. Since this post, new course readings have been distributed, some of which argued against this claim. Clay Shirky specifically states, “Publishing is going away…that’s not a job anymore. That’s a button. There’s a button that says “publish,” and when you press it, it’s done.” (Shirky, 2006). I disagree with this, however. Publishing is not going away. Publishing is indeed a job—the job title may not always be called “publisher” anymore, but it is still there. For the past thirteen weeks of this PUB101 course, I have learned how to be a creator, writer, editor, manager, analyst, and publisher. My job title, though, is student-athlete. The beauty about publishing in today’s Web 2.0 connected world is that any individual has the potential to run a website, and thus do all of the jobs listed above. Even though it is easy for anyone to publish work online now, it would be highly recommended to study publishing in order to know how to better successfully create admirable works. As a result of the course, my initial views and ideas about this project, my website, and publishing have changed.

  Two things specifically stand out as being the most helpful part of learning how to better publish: establishing an online “voice” and identifying the target audience. Defining and then working through these two components, when creating the Warrioress Nation website, was difficult but tremendously valuable. “’Who are you? How would we know? What is your ‘voice’? Do you recognize it? Would others recognize it?” (Maxwell, Norman, 2013). This was asked at the beginning of the second week of class, but it seems to be a question that must always be asked and then re-asked when keeping a blog up and running. There were several habits that I had as a publisher when posting to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook that conflicted with myself as a blogger. These habits were generally posting my thoughts sporadically as they come, typing in the same sarcastic tone that I would speak in. Through trial and error, it was discovered that the key as a blog publisher, however, would be to mix a more professional academic writing style with remarks or elements that would reflect the writer, myself, as a unique individual.

              John Suler states, “The self interacts with the environment in which it is expressed… It is not independent of that environment,” (Suler, 2013, para. 35). Since the blog is part of the overall Warrioress Nation website, that serves to promote myself and another teammate, the goal was to get the public to identify with each athlete as an individual. This meant establishing my online “voice”. Before I could define my “voice”, though, I had to define myself. Who am I that my publishing may be considered worthy or interesting? What can I bring to the table? Typing the “About Me” section helped with answering these self-addressed questions. From writing this section, three dominant answers emerged: I am an athlete; I like to inspire and encourage others, and my faith in God is important to me. By identifying myself as a person, and choosing a writing style that can be professional while also showcasing my personality, I was able to find my online “voice”. Of course, identifying the voice and writing with it were two different things. A blog post on David Ogilvy’s writing tips was very useful in helping to develop the skill to do so. I personally found some of Oligvy’s most useful tips for writing to be:

“1. Write the way you talk. Naturally.

2.Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

3.Never use jargon words. They are hallmarks of a pretentious a**.

4.  Never write more than two pages on any subject.” (Oligvy, 1986). 

              Initially difficult at first, with practice and repetition, writing blog posts became easier. Looking back through my archive, I notice my blog posts are shorter now than they were at first. This shows improvement in my writing because I normally have a hard time “getting to the point”.  Of course, guest speaker, Shannon Semmerson also provided valuable insights into ways to improve one’s blog. Semmerson (2013) recommended posting fresh and engaging content, creating an editorial calendar, and looking at Google or other search engine trends as tools to help with continuing to publish content. I used Yahoo to discover that the Stephanie Gilmore topic was trending; this led to a really fun and unique (different from wrestling) blog post. Also, the course served as an editorial calendar since weekly posts were required. If I wouldn’t have taken this course, I don’t know if I would have posted once a week. Having deadlines, though, helped me to understand that designated time and thought must be put into each post. Adding to all these techniques and strategies I learned, another key factor in my publishing was identifying whom I was writing to.

   Knowing my target audience was the second concept continually emphasized in this course. In his presentation on the Internet as reviving the human social unit of tribes, Seth Godin gave great advice in this particular area of targeting an audience. He stated, “Who are you leading? Because focusing on that part of it -- not the mechanics of what you're building, but the who, and the leading part -- is where change comes.” (Godin, 2009). It makes sense that identifying the target audience should be done before the creation of the publication, so that blog posts topics would be relevant to the chosen demographic, but this was not the case for me. Originally the goal for the blog was to inspire young girls in the sport. This is still a goal, but it is not the goal. Relying on the advice of Maria Popova, who stated, “Don’t try to anticipate an ideal reader — or any reader. He/she might exist — but is reading someone else.”, it became apparent that posts about Stephanie Gilmore and the progressiveness of Azerbaijan did not really cater to the desires of an audience of young girls, but I enjoyed writing them (Popova, 2012). This led to determining a new audience, ultimately broadening it, to people inside and outside the wrestling community that may be interested in reading about unique experiences and lessons simply from a female in a male dominated sport. Noticing that my experiences as a wrestler have been referenced in all my blogs posts, it became apparent that the target audience should be broadened. Since the plan is to continue to run this website and blog after the end of this course, identifying the audience and broadening this audience is very important, and may help bring more traffic to the site. On the topic of traffic and continuing this website, analytics was also a key tool in monitoring and determining what topics to continue writing about or not. Analyzing the Ipage viewer statistics, and getting feedback from classmates in the tutorials helped to further shape the direction of the website.

Overall the course was extremely valuable in helping to set-up, understand, create and run a blog and website.

  References:

  Clay Shirky. 2012. “How We Will Read: Clay Shirky”. Findings. April 5, 2012. http://blog.findings.com/post/20527246081/how-we-will-read-clay-shirky

  Norman, S., & Maxwell, J. (n.d.). How do publishers establish voice & identity?. The Publication of Self. Retrieved November 26, 2013, from http://posiel.com/2013/11/benkler-shirky-bridle/#more-316

  Ogilvy, D. (1986). The Unpublished David Ogilvy: a selection of his writings from the files of his partners : presented to him on his 75th birthday, June 23, 1986. New York?: Ogilvy Group?].

  Popova, M. (2012, June 18). Brain Pickings. Famous Advice From Writers. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/03/advice-on-writing/

  Semmerson, S. (Director) (2013, October 2). Multi-Platform Brand Publishing. Publishing101. Lecture conducted from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver.

So right now we are in Baku, Azerbaijan for the Golden Grand Prix tournament. Any tournament that is a Grand Prix means that it will be a tough one. 

 I've heard a lot of great things about Baku and how wrestling is one of the most popular sports here (as it is most Eastern European, MIddle Eastern, and Asian countries). Our translator was very proud to tell us how progressive Azerbaijan is. From what I saw on the hour long drive it took to get from the airport to the Registration building and then to our hotel, the city seemed very modern. Lots of lights, big buildings, and highways...yup, sounds modern to me. 

Maybe our translator was referring to only the city life, though, because we quickly found out that not everything was progressive. We discovered this realization the next morning when we were talking with the US men's coach, Zeke Jones, about Azerbaijan's training center here. Apparently, it is one of the biggest wrestling facilities in the world, boasting 16 wrestling mats, saunas, and work out equipment. Needless to say, we couldn't wait to workout at the mecca of all wrestling rooms. 

Our excitement shortly died out when we learned that this training facility was for "men only". Elena, who is originally from Russia and thus doubles as our translator on many trips, spoke with the tournament officials asking if there was any way we could workout there. They said no. This isn't the first time the women have been put in different training facilities than the men. So while we were bummed out, it wasn't the end of the world; we would just go to the other training facility to work out.  Hey, as long as we have somewhere to train, right? So we loaded up the van, along with the Mongolian women's team, and headed to the other training center. 

Our plan was to let the Mongolians train in the bigger wrestling room and we would work out in the smaller wrestling room upstairs. This wasn't really any good samaritan effort on our part, but more strategic planning to get to wrestle in the warmer wrestling room. Since we are 24 hours out from weigh-ins, and so trying to sweat as much as possible, this matters. Elena was speaking with a former Soviet Union Olympian, Abdul, who had helped get us into this room yesterday.

Unfortunately, we were no longer allowed to train in this room either now, because the man who owned this wrestling room told Abdul that he didn't want us practicing there. I guess he was upset that Abdul even let us workout in that room yesterday. Why?...because he doesn't like women's wrestling so he doesn't want us working out in that room. Geez, what are we five years old again? Don't worry, we won't get our cooties all over your mats.

**Heads up, the closer to weigh ins it is (aka the more I'm cutting out food and water), the sassier I get, and did I mention we are 24 hours out?

It's crazy to me that it is 2013, and there are still people who are opposed to women's wrestling. Whatever values and lessons a male gets out of the sport, a female will too, so why not support the promotion of women in sport.  Wrestling teaches us to overcome adversity and find a way to get things done, though, so that's what we did. We were taken to this small boxing room with a "mat". This mat had gaps underneath the cover, which would make it easier for someone to sprain their ankle..yikes. We pushed the padding together underneath the cover as best we could, grabbed some punching bags to set up makeshift soccer goals, and taped up a shirt to play a quick warmup game of soccer to get our sweat going. 

After a few minutes, Abdul came back to tell us that he convinced the owner to let us practice in the room upstairs that we originally wanted to workout in. WHOOO HOOO! A weight cutter's dream is to be able to practice in a warm room..at least that's what I was excited about. This next picture is of Elena and coach Afsoon speaking with Abdul about moving to the better wrestling room. 

Notice how we tucked the cover under the blue mats on the side to make sure we wouldn't trip over the gaps.

Below is a picture of Afsoon, Elena, Victoria, and Veronica posing for the camera once we got on the warmer mats that we were so excited to be able to practice on. After this 45 minute ordeal of trying to find a place to practice we were finally situated and able to get a good workout going. 

So how progressive is Azerbaijan really? Well, we can't even step foot in the giant "men's only" wrestling facility. For the facility we could practice in, it took about an hour to finally be able to practice on an actual mat, because some owner doesn't like women's wrestling. My annoyance with all this is overlooked by the fact that even though there is still some opposition and resistance, it's the support from people like Abdul, and the resilience of the women's coaches and wrestlers to do what we love regardless of the opposition that makes me believe that there is hope for progression. It also makes me realize that I take so much for granted back in the U.S. I haven't been denied from practicing in a wrestling room since I was a little girl. I thought those days were over. Man, I'm lucky to be able to have all the support that I do back home. It's a trip like this that makes me realize and appreciate my blessings all the more. 

Well, I gotta go get some rest before I begin my first "weight-cut work out" tonight. 

Warrioress out!

As far back as I can remember, I don’t know if I have ever been asked in an interview: “Why do you love wrestling?” This past week, BlueChip Wrestling, an apparel company that specializes in custom singlets and team gear, interviewed me. Their first question was “Why do you love wrestling?”

This was me smiling after another tough practice in Budapest, Hungary, days before the start of the World Championships.

My initial response was “because it’s awesome…duhh”. I realized that doesn’t really do it justice.  It made me think though…honestly, why do I love wrestling so much? Do I love working my mind and body to exhaustion? Do I love spending hours every day working on my technique and skills? Do I love that the sport demands more from me than anything else I’ve ever done in my life? Do I love walking out onto the mat by myself knowing a battle lies ahead of me? Yes, I do. Maybe it’s my personality or maybe this mindset has been ingrained in me from years and years of being involved in the sport, but I love being challenged. I love asking more of myself. I love working to be better and having a goal to work towards. I'm not unique in this, either. I've met tons of crazy, strong-willed people who feel the same.

So I guess I can say I have been very fortunate that at a young age, I knew what I had a passion for. Girls are convinced either through Disney movies, the media, or popular culture that loving and being loved is everything.  Some girls will make mistakes or fall behind in high school because they spend so much time with their boyfriends. The same happens for boys, too. When your're young and it seems that being cool and fitting in is all that matters, feeling "loved" makes you feel pretty secure. This was never the case for me. I remember telling my first boyfriend that he would always come second to wrestling. Yeah, I loved wrestling that much. He told me years later that he actually thought I was bluffing when I told him that, but realized I was serious when I up and moved over a thousand miles away to spend my senior year of high school focusing all my energy and efforts on improving my wrestling at the US Olympic Education Center in Michigan. I didn't want to leave my family, friends, and loved ones behind, but I knew if I wanted to succeed in wrestling I would have to make that sacrifice. 

The beauty about being passionate about something is that you really don't mind making sacrifices for it. A lot of my decisions are made based on whether they will benefit my wrestling or not. Shoot, I moved out of the country to finish college in Canada not because I wanted to experience a new city or community, but because I love the wrestling program here.

I hope I don't sound crazy. I'm not saying don't love anyone except a sport. What I am saying is that it is good to have a passion for something, a big goal, and a greater expectation of yourself to do something incredible. We all have greatness in us; we just need to take the time to realize and then develop it. It's for this reason that I get upset when people say women shouldn't wrestle. Wrestling has brought me so much joy and shaped me into a tougher, more confident person than I would be if I weren't in the sport. Guess I really owe the women who came before me and paved the way for women to have a chance to wrestle! They fought for the right to wrestle so that one day other young girls could get a chance to participate in the sport. One of those little girls was me. As I said, you don't mind making sacrifices for something you are passionate about. So do what you love, and love what you do!

Anyways, I explain more about my experiences and thoughts on wrestling in the interview, so I will just post the link to it here:

http://bluechipathletic.com/blog/index.php/2013/10/helen-maroulis-athlete-focus/

Check it out! Let me know what you think, and what you do in your life that makes you feel similarly; everyone's got a passion! What's yours?

Warrioress Out!

One of our great coaches, Kevin Black, made this highlight video of the US Women's Freestyle team competing at the 2013 Senior World Wrestling Championships. 

I would love to get a non-wrestler's or non-wrestling fan's opinion on this video. Wrestlers and fans know "moves" and can identify specific techniques when watching wrestling clips. What I would like to know is how a non-wrestler/fan views such a video. 

For me, I love to watch wrestling highlights, because I can relate to the emotions/struggles that are apparent on the athletes' faces and in their demeanors. I enjoy watching such a physical and mental battle. 

Do non-wrestlers view this the same way? Or do they find this video to be a confusing bout of scrambling and weird body movements? Are they frustrated or confused with the rules and scoring? Or do they simply just recognize it as a battle, as sport, and simply appreciate the competitiveness taking place? 

I would love to hear from you! What are your thoughts?

Warrioress out!