Game Changer: Sara McMann
520 views · Published 14 August 2014 · 1:51 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: WLOS News 13 · 2014 · News & Politics
Sara McMann has come a long way since being a star wrestler at McDowell High School. Now, she's inspiring young athletes across the world. In this week's Game Changer, News 13's Luke Notestine finds out why McMann is so passionate about her unique profession.
Sara McMann knows how to survive just about any situation. "I think I have a natural drive to combative sports. Every one I've been exposed to, I enjoy," she says. When she arrived at McDowell High School, she joined the wrestling team and dominated the competition. "It helped shape my character and the kind of resilient person I would be," she says.
Sara went on to win an Olympic silver medal in wrestling at the 2004 games in Athens, Greece. She gets all sorts of reactions when people find out she's an elite wrestler. "People say, you're a wrestler, what? They think that a girl wrestler would be a big, hulky thing with four teeth," says Sara.
Now Sara competes in mixed martial arts in the U.F.C., the highest level of the sport. She's coming off her first and only defeat of her career, against Ronda Rousey, the undefeated women's bantamweight champion. But that's not slowing down Sara from training to bounce back. "I want to win the belt. Defend it a few times. I have a master's in mental health counseling. I want to get into counseling," she says.
That's right, after Sara finishes her M.M.A. career, she wants to be a mental health counselor. "If something happens in life, I can regroup and take a different path. I don't want to give up because sports has taught me how to persevere through it," she says.
Sara McMann will let nothing stand in the way of achieving her dreams.
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