Somehow I sadly looked in the mirror at his blurred figure and thought: “With such weight you only in sumo to go. There it is possible to show in all its glory”. Then I realized: we need to do a report about sumoista! But to solve was much easier said than done — a professional athlete in this exotic for our country sport find it hard to communicate with her, the photographer had to go to fastow. Here we met with Ivanna Berezovskaya — the repeated champion and prize-winner of Europe and the world among youth and adults, world champion in the team competition, two-time winner of the World combat games in 2013. she is originally from Volhynia, doing sports from school. She tried to play volleyball and handball, judo, wrestling and even pushed the kernel. But in sumo it was by chance on one of the competitions she was approached by a coach and invited to engage in this sport. She briefly told me that the meaning of the ritual, explained the rules and basic techniques — and almost immediately Ivanna went out on the Mat.
THE WEIGHT MATTERS. She is now 26 years old. Operating weight — 80+ (exact figure she’s not voiced: women are always women). In sumo there are girls in the weight categories up to 65 pounds and athletes who weigh 220 lbs. The largest sumo wrestler from Japan weighed 275 kg. Ivanna told us that it’s never been thin, always been quite plump and dense child. “The houses were all tall, and I’m still much bigger. The sports involved the whole family, but I chose it as my profession. Older brother and father — the players, the mom in the handball playing, — says the girl. — When I started wrestling and sumo, then moved to fastow, withdrew from the apartment. Lived here a good coach, because it turned out that I was here to train and live.”
To have a strong hand, Ivanna regularly raises the bar.
In 2009 she won the Ukrainian championship and went to the championship. There the incredible happened: during the battle, untied the belt, and Ivanna was disqualified. It happens very rarely, and she so “lucky”. Now she is the honored master of sports of Ukraine and is preparing to participate at the World games in Wroclaw this year.
The average weight of the wrestlers is about 130 kg, with a maximum of 275 kg.
Sumo is a very entertaining sport, because it uniquely combines elements of martial arts, show, circus and a religious rite. Fight lasts about 1-2 minutes, and to determine the winner use two basic rules. The loser is the one who first touches the ground with any part of the body except the feet (even the tip of the belt on the Mat means defeat), or anyone who will be outside the circle. Hence, the main objective is to push opponent out of the battlefield or force him to land.
JAPANESE TRADITION: FROM “SPIRIT” TO SUPERSTAR
Only in the homeland of the sport in Japan, may conducted professional competition in the world, they can only be called Amateur. By the way, officially, the Ukrainian Federation of sumo appeared in 1999 and among the top three leaders of the rating. For example, in 2015 in Japan, the Ukrainian team won the team championship of the world.
In Japan, sumo wrestlers are big and thick men, and specially fattened for spectacular battles. For example, they drink a liter of beer every day — to grow great beer bellies. They eat rice and a lot of protein. For the Japanese, they are real superstars, the people they idolize! Those who three times won the Imperial Cup, be yokozuna (this title can be compared with our title of “honored master of sports”).
Sumoista become very difficult. The most important thing is not to lose heart, because the newcomers must go through a hazing: they get up early, cooking, all cleaning, washing and so on. Then all go to the gym. And when you come back from it, it “grandfathers” in the words of our army language go to relax and “spirits” continue to clean and do other menial work. It is believed that such structure creates serious incentive: if you want to enhance your status and to cease to be a “laborer” — train. And then you will have happiness and honor and respect and a high salary and lots of bonuses — for example, servants and personal hairdressers (by the way, to have the right to do kozunu hairstyle, hairdressers have to study 7 years).
“Big boy”. The idol of millions.
THE BARE MINIMUM: MAT, FOAM, AND BELT
To do sumo, you need quite a bit: the right place to fight and funeral “cowards”. Platform for wrestling called Doha-round. In our case, on mats laid special waterproof cloth with marks on it. Arena fights confined to the tawara with a diameter of 4.55 m in Front of our battle, we overlaid it around the foam limiters, which are fixed with Velcro fasteners. In Japan, the role of sacs with rice straw.
Real Doha are built of clay (need 14-15 tons, and carries with it the remote corners of the country, and the exact location of its occurrence known only to the initiated), coated with a thin layer of sand and trample down 42 specially trained person.
The second must-have item for sumo wrestlers — wide belt mawashi. For him to grab during a fight, he softens the blow during a fall. By the way, the specific hairstyle of the sumo is also designed to protect the head from hitting the floor. Mawashi is approximately 6-meter long piece of fabric with a width of 50 cm, the Matter is quite dense and heavy, like thick canvas. Men wear a belt on a naked body (it is forbidden even thongs — if you notice, is immediately suspended). But women are allowed tights (worth 500 UAH).
To reel in my mawashi, first Ivanka got it down along the 4 times, gave the folds 10 minutes “to stay” and began to wrap me. First, the fabric is passed between the legs, holding the end at chest level, then you need to spin in different directions below the belt “villages on the figure.” I was very thin, so the balance of matter tied back in a bow.
Preparation of the arena. Ivanna puts limiters.
“Nappy”. The cheapest will cost 1000 UAH.
Bow. For me the matter was too much.
NOT FAT, BUT MUSCLE
The question that disturbs most women is how to lose weight? — for my companion not relevant. She cares about other: how to gain at least 10 pounds? About it and the coach asks, because a large weight is easier to perform and win. Moreover, to increase the volume, it is necessary not at the expense of fat (“Although there is a bit of a tummy, which without him?” — smiles Ivanna), but at the expense of muscle mass. She explains that the ring is difficult to control the body if the weight is large, and weak muscles. So Ivanna to not overeat sweet and tries to eat porridge and meat and lots of trains. Some of otmostki lose weight principle: “we Have one girl was even on the show, “she zvazheni schaslivi”. She had a weight of about 180 kg, and she wanted him to reduce to normal babies. After her dream came true (she has now two babies), gained the weight back. But I transfer nobody will take: I have everything in the normal range,” laughs the girl. By the way, our sumo don’t have to be thick. So the Ukrainian wrestlers in the weight category of 85-115 kg look at all like models.
BATTLEFIELD CLAP THEIR HANDS AND SCATTER SALT
It is clear that this battle we have failed, but the basics of me Ivanna showed. To begin asked to remove glasses, jewelry and socks to feel Doha. By the way, before fight in Japan him put the salt in which there is a symbol of purity. It is believed that the athletes not only cast out evil spirits and demonstrate the intention to fight fair, but focused on the fight. We also sprinkle salt to the troubles, because sometimes this ritual Ukrainians refuse.
The WARM-up. Then I waited for the real test — the exercise of SIKO. Each sumo wrestler needs every day to make it at least 500 times. Squatting, legs wide apart, you need to take turns raising them to maximum height. At this point you need longer to fix the leg, exhale, squat and lift the other leg. Turns out it wasn’t as easy as it seems at first glance. Already on the fifth exercise, I wanted to fall down and not move. “You do syco at least 100 times a day will not notice as you will lose weight. And the stretching is good” — told me Ivanka.
RITUAL. Before the fight, opponents have to go in a circle to worship and to sit on his haunches, then with both hands to draw a circle on the head and to connect them with cotton is receiving energy. Then you need to RUB your palms together, as if to wash hands, raise them to the side and rotate the open palm up and down to show the gods of heaven and earth, that you are unarmed. The judge gives the command to get ready and puts his fists on the Mat. Then comes the fight, which lasts about two minutes. Ivanka showed me a few tricks: first, she just pushed me off the Mat, turned and lowered to the floor. Especially impressed when I just took over the “diaper” and carried like a doll, outside the circle! I even move could not. Thank you that she didn’t give me a panic immediately calm: “don’t worry, I won’t hurt you”. And then explained: “This is not traumatic sport. Yet in the history of the Federation, FIE-FIE, was not a serious injury. You need to be able to fall, to move. We have allowed the strikes. But you know what they are doing”.
Greeting. Show of hands of the gods.
Prepare for battle. Need to rest the fists into the Mat and stare into each other’s eyes.
Fiznagruzki. 500 syco per day.
Accepted. I just took over the “diaper” and outside of the boundaries of the circle. But afraid I don’t have time.
P. S. from the editor. For those who are interested in the exercise of SIKO, we offer the video with a simplified, but very effective version of the workout.
