Grace Houston kicked my butt in arm wrestling.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering I’ve always been a horrible arm wrestler. But more importantly, it’s because the 12-year-old Kennedy Community School student has been dominating the competition for years.
Houston picked up arm wrestling through her Dad (A national arm wrestling champ) and trains several times a week.
“Me and my Dad arm wrestle about every other day and I work really hard on pullups. I’m strong but I’m not that strong so most of it for me is just pure technique,” Houston says.
Grace started arm wrestling in 2012 and can compete with both her left and right arm (Her Dad says her left arm is slightly stronger). She’s won the 2012 Midwest Championship and the 2015 Minnesota State Championship. Houston says rather than trying to overpower her opponents, she relies on discipline and strategy.
“I want to start really fast on the go and there’s this technique where you peel their hand open so that you have complete hand control.”
Her talent was recognized on the national scene, when she was invited to the set of Good Morning America. (Video below)
“They called and asked me if I wanted to go to New York and I arm wrestled Michael Strahan.”
Teachers and new Kennedy Community School principal Laurie Putnam say Grace is also an excellent student. Houston says she enjoys school and she’s usually challenged to arm wrestle classmates several times a week.
On her facebook page, Grace says she hopes to inspire more girls to take part in the sport.
“To all you girls out there–NEVER let anyone tell you that you can’t do something!”
Courtesy of: WJON