T/W - Summer 2005 (1) (Tickle Wrestling Centre)

From the "Berkshire Sporting Bugle" newspaper, July 30th 2005.

"With her forthright views and occasionally-strange pre-match requests it's fair to say that Debbie Brighton, the trainer of current Berkshire County Tickle Wrestling title holder Ruth Gibbons, has ruffled a few feathers. However, her recent purchase of an entire leisure centre in Pewsey for a seven-figure sum and the subsequent announcement that it will be dedicated solely for the use of Tickle Wrestlers has confirmed her dedication to the sport.

 

'Having invested in, updated and added to the gymnasium, Olympic-standard swimming pool, conditioning suites and all the other amenities available here, my intention is to recruit for an academy of dedicated young Tickle Wrestlers and train them up to world-class standards,' says Debbie. 'The facilities here are every bit as good as in the USA, where nearly all the best Tickle Wrestlers are based.'

 

She has already enlisted her first two conscripts - from more than 200 miles away. How come? As a former North & Scotland Region Tickle Wrestling Champion, it seemed natural to Debbie to look Northwards for her first apprentices. 'I went up to Merseyside,' she informed us. 'Most of the Liverpool girls were too fashion-conscious. They didn't want to train or wrestle without flashy bikinis or swimsuits. So I looked towards Wirral, and found two useful-looking 18-year-olds involved in underwater swimming training at West Kirby who were willing to conform to my conditions.'  Which are? 'We'll be training completely naked,' she replied, 'and that includes me, so we'll all be equal. Females feel so inferior when they're nude and confronted by someone of the same sex who's dressed, so by going without clothes myself I'm ensuring that situation will be circumvented. Every girl who works out here will do so naked, except in the run-up to topless, bottomless, underwear or swimsuit bouts when something may have to be worn to acclimatise,' she declares.

 

And will local Tickle Wrestlers from Berkshire be welcomed? 'Of course they will, if they show enough promise and agree to train nude with us,' Debbie told us. 'Beginners will be turned away, though. Primarily, I'm looking for under-21s with a history of Tickle Wrestling behind them, be it professional training or having participated in one or two bouts. We want to use these facilities to develop young Tickle Wrestlers so that they'll eventually be able to compete with the world's best."