... heelball marina parallels? (Please please please expand on them?? I'm so interested??)
you're never going to believe this but all my thoughts on this r related to Gender again
beyond just the barefootedness lol they're both kind of weird outsiders even among martial artist technician wrestlers, their styles are pretty singular. nobody does it the way she does it which when its a woman is seen fundamentally differently than if youre a guy* and the way that speedball is gendered as guy* is highly conditional and I think is essentially shifted for their heel presentation
was talkin last night abt the way marina is with gender like. shes in a stable with all dudes, dresses less flamboyantly than any of the other women, uses 'mothers milk' & gets called a 'matriarch' but isnt really mothering (if anyone in dr is its claudio lol) she just uses motherhood as an aesthetic, a tool, a taunt. she yells at people to do better. shes the mother that punishes you for a bad report card. she wants you to always be improving & learning.
the match I have seen between them is rly fun but also notably while speedball isnt doing their heel presentation for the audience, they do some of the taunting they tend to do just for marina. at one point shes expecting them to do a topé sui and they just hit the ropes to do a little flip and bow just to piss her off. this is done in a friendly way, kind of to say 'youre taking this too serious'
marina did mma but is known for judo & bjj specs, speedball did tkd but also has been learning more judo & bjj lately...
heelball is stoic and precise in a way similar to marina, speedball in general highly values honor and what they deem the spirit of the rules, which is related to the death rider ideology, they both want to constantly be improving and getting better, they both are weird outsiders idk words are getting away from me rn

















