When Jarrah Winters was sitting in the crowd at the Storm Damage 13 event last April, there was only one thought in her mind.
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She had to get in the cage herself.
When the Mittagong resident, who trains out of the Goulburn Martial Arts Academy, steps into the arena next year on April 9, she will become the first locally-trained female fighter to compete in Mixed Martial Arts.
This, however, was not a factor in Winters' decision. Indeed, she did not even know that was the case prior to approaching GMAA head instructor, Craig Harmer, about the possibility of fighting on the upcoming Storm Damage 14 card.
Though she admitted the prospect of being the first Goulburn-trained woman to compete in MMA was daunting, Winters hoped that others would be more inclined to follow in her footsteps after her debut.
"I'm hoping that they see it's not that bad, it's not that scary, just get in there and do it," she said.
Having begun training in taekwondo at the GMAA roughly ten months ago, Winters took up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu shortly afterwards.
With some experience in both standup and grappling disciplines, she hopes to get the fight to the ground.
"Hopefully it goes to the ground and ends on the ground," Winters said.
"Or I'd like a knockout. We'd see how it goes."
Winters has been scheduled to take on Amber Beehag at lightweight. She does not know much about her opponent, except that this will be Beehag's second career fight and first in two years.
Though she is still new to the martial arts landscape, Harmer believes Winters has the physical attributes needed to be successful in her MMA debut.
Her biggest challenge, he said, will be developing the mentality needed to succeed in the cage.
"She's athletic, but she's gotta get aggressive," Harmer said.
"All the other guys are boys here, and they're going to treat you like another competitor, it's gender neutral here. And that's the way it's gotta be, because other girls train with guys too.
"They get treated like that, and that's how they get prepared. If they're going easy on Jarrah, they're not doing her a service, they're setting her up to fail."
The sparring, which will begin this week, will at first be light and gradually increase in intensity as fight week approaches.
Winters' status as the first female fighter from Goulburn was "special", Harmer said, and he believes it could inspire more athletes from other sports to come over to MMA.
"Hopefully other girls, some who are playing rugby league or union at the moment might find that it's not for them but they'd like to do some contact sport, this might give them an opportunity to transition," he said.
"This gives girls an opportunity to do that, it's good."
Storm Damage 14 will take place on April 9, 2022, at Goulburn's Veolia Arena. The doors will open from 6pm with fights to start from 7pm.
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