The 4 month consultant contract will require her services closely working with the coaches and wrestlers implementing the 7 Basic Skills Program.

Julieta Okot has accepted the position as a Coaching consultant for the MWA Beat the Streets Program beginning January 4th, 2006. The 4 month consultant contract will require her services closely working with the coaches and wrestlers implementing the 7 Basic Skills Program..

Bill Crum will be supervising her and the coaching staff developing a schedule for Julieta to begin her new assignment. She will be visiting the schools three times a week working with the coaches, wrestlers for entire two hour session. In addition, she will be helping the program promoting, meeting with potential new schools, sponsors and doing assembly programs.

In early January, Julieta with Olympian Patricia Miranda giving a wrestling assembly to the boy's and girl's at Scholar's Academy, a middle school in Queens. The school will be introducing wrestling to all the boys and girls with a 5 week physical education unit this week.

After seeing Julieta working with Patricia and talking to the kids, it was then that I knew, we had to secure her services. She immediately connected with the kids and the administration. She has it all, the skills, the story and most of all the "the charisma" to be a valuable asset for the Beat the Streets Program.

We look forward to a great relationship and when you all meet her, you will also share my feelings as well.

About Julieta

I am Julieta Okot, a multicultural female wrestler who was originally born and raised in Bulgaria.

My mother is Bulgarian and my father Kenyan, which should explain my exotic Eastern European look.

I have been involed in athletics from an early age back in Bulgaria-- a former communist country. Being an athlete was a privilege and an honor, as well as a great responsibility. The government supported its athletes financially, so being amongst the top tier of athletes in the country was highly respected.

I attended an athletic institution, where I ran track and field (400m hurdles). I graduated from high school in 1989, the same year I was accepted at the National Sports Academy in Sofia, formely known as Higher Institute for Physical Culture.

Not having the influence of my track and field coach Emilo Benekov, I joined the University's Olympic weightlifting team and participated in weightlifting for 5 years until my graduation from the Academy.

When I graduated 1994, I was searching for what path my life was going to take. One day the University wrestling coach Nikolai Dimitrov -Kaplan appoached me and if I would consider wrestling. Bulgaria at the time had no active female wrestlers, and because the country was hosting the 7th World Championships in 1994 we needed to form a team to represent Bulgaria.

Nikolai Dimitrov told me that I was strong and fast and should learn few moves. Most importantly, I would have free room and board at the University campus. I needed a place to stay at the time and I love challenges. So I accepted.

I started wrestling the next day. When I went there, everybody was already training . Half of the girls were judo players and the rest of the girls were Olympic weightlifters. The first time I wrestled a whole match, I thought I would not make it to the end. I did, and it made me have a great appreciation for one of the most difficult and demanding sports in the world.

After two months and learning one good leg attackvery well, I earned the spot for the first ever Bulgarian National World Team at 59kg.

After the World Championships, I was determined to continue with wrestling and get better. I love the sport. It matched perfectly with my personality.

I started training in the Army Club (CSKA) in Sofia. My first coaches were George Yanchev and Sotir Gotchev. Being the only women there , I got the great support from the kids there, who ranged from 5th to 12th grade.

I got slimmer, trimmer, faster, and stronger. My efforts paid off. Things began working out well for me. In 1995 I won my first Bulgarian National Wrestling title at 53kg. I also won the first ever TV contest for Miss Fitness Bulgaria. Afterall, wrestling does sculpture your body!

Lastly, I received a full wrestling schorarship to an institution in the United Kingdom. I believe I was the first women ever in the world to recieve such an honor.

While getting ready for the 8th World Freestyle Wrestling Championships in Moscow, I dislocateded my shoulder and missed the event. But I traveled to United Kingdom to attend the University of Surrey in Surrey.

The United Kingdom was not a country with traditions in wrestling. So I had to find a way to keep up my wrestling and searched for wrestling partners and coaches. I traveled to London 3 times a week and trained with Iranian wrestlers living in the country. They treated me with respect and appreciation for what I was doing .

After graduating from the Surrey University in 1997, I moved to the promised land-- The

United States of America. I settled in San Francisco, CA.

My best friend Olga Lara (an American wrestler) introduced me to the 1984 US Olympic Greco-Roman coach Lee Allen, and head of the San Francisco Penisula Grapplers women's wrestling team. I was happy to help coach the girls there and train at the same time. I found a new family, who also helped me through a very tough time.

I was not able to compete on the international scene for almost 4 years due to the processing of my resident status in the USA, but I kept training and participating in a tournaments within the United States. Patience and determination and good friends helped me to continue.

In 2001 I moved to the Big Apple -- New York City-- and joined one of the most powerful club in the world: The New York Athletic Club (NYAC).

I made the 2001, 2002, 2003 world teams....

CONTACT Julieta Kliford Okot

E-mail julietaokot@gmail.com
tel # from USA 917 734 5148; :: from ouside of USA 001 917 734 5148

Mailing address
2790 Broadway, 2B
New York, New York 10025