Top Bitch Syndrome

This is my term for the one girl in an academy full of meatheaded men (not implying all men, or all male grapplers are meatheads, just these guys). She has managed to gain their respect by being balls out crazy and/or really good. She defends this respect by giving the cold shoulder to any other women who may pose a threat to her position. She usually gets along best with the biggest guys in class (with whom she'll never roll) and the newer women she can tap at will.

This is something all the lady grapplers on earth have to watch out for. Clinging to Top Bitch status retards our growth on the mat. Being afraid to lose, afraid to look weak, afraid to make mistakes for fear of lost respect is crippling. If your training partners don't respect you for who you are and the effort you put in, you need to look two places to figure out why: first, look at yourself. If you make excuses or are a jerk, you may be the problem. If that's not the culprit, look at your teammates. If they're assholes who are only impressed by other assholes, its time to get a new team.


EDIT: It was suggested to me that instead of calling this term 'Top Bitch Syndrome', a less offensive moniker might be 'Queen Bee', or any number of other terms. Queen bee sounds less offensive indeed, but unfortunately, it does little to express the true nature of TBS. A queen bee might not want to roll with you or she might roll halfheartedly with you because she feels she is above you. A Top Bitch seeks to put you in your place, show you how silly you were to want to tangle with her to in the first place and altogether murder you if need be. If a queen bee is losing, she'll pretend she wasn't trying. If a Top Bitch is losing, she'll break out every cheap weapon in her arsenal of bad partnering to make sure she wins.

That's why it's called TBS.