Women’s martial arts just got $25,000 stronger.
USA Gold Medalist and Taecole Tae Kwon Do studio owner Maggie Messina’s nonprofit, Female Fighters Matter Too, brought in thousands at its first annual gala to support competition fees, travel, training, uniforms, scholarships and more for women in martial arts.
“This is how we’re going to continue to bring attention to equality for women athletes,” Messina said. “This money to make sure that we can raise this awareness and give men and women the same amount of money and not leave women feeling unvalued in the sport.”
The gala honored past, present and new sponsored athletes, including a group of five for the new year: Katie McMillan, Hailey Glass, Nate Piscotti, Mitchel Street, Amanda Duarte and Mason Stowell.
If you’re thinking that some of those sound like male names, you’d be right. Messina and her son and chief of staff, Brandon Heard-Messina, said they believe it’s critical to the organization’s mission that men are involved, as the fight for equality in the male-dominated sport can’t only be women’s responsibility.
“If the goal is to make sure that no girl questions if she belongs in the sport, then there’s a call to action to the men to build a future where movements like ours are not needed,” Heard-Messina said. “Part of the reason why we sponsor male athletes is because traditionally, it’s very masculine. When men are wearing the brand and they’re representing the movement and communicating the movement, what they’re saying in those spaces is that they’re allies.”
It’s something Messina feels is deeply important and part of what motivated her to start Female Fighters Matter Too in 2015 after roughly 30 years in the sport and feeling like she and other women were consistently considered as an afterthought to men in the sport.
“The sting that it leaves in a young girl or a woman that makes them feel as if they’re valued less…we’re trying to prevent that from happening, because it did for my generation and so many other generations,” Messina said. “If you continuously go to events and you’re being told, ‘You’re only going to be able to get so far because you’re a woman, it breaks your belief system. That’s what it did for me, and that’s why I do.”
“I never want any girl or woman to have to go up against what I had to and to feel the way I felt for so many years,” she continued, referring to the decades she’s spent competing in the martial arts scene. “There’s no words you can put when you see a woman or a girl smile and feel just simply amazing and valued…How can I not do what I do?”
So far, Female Fighters Matter Too has spent over $100,000 sponsoring more than 60 athletes, helping girls as young as five to women competing on the international stage as adults, knowing they have a place on the mat and ensuring they continue to have access to it.
Messina said she knows the organization is making a difference from the reactions of the newly sponsored athletes Thursday night.
“To put it simply, they were blown away,” she said. “The mood was just amazing.”
The night featured speeches from local politicians, including Council Member Christine Liu, who proclaimed Nov. 20 Maggie Messina Day in the Town of North Hempstead, and a program honoring Rosalia Gioia, a late martial artist who died earlier this year.
“She was 94 and I had invited her to attend the gala, but she passed away a week later,” Messina said. “We wanted to celebrate her as an athlete and someone who really paved the way for so many women athletes.”
Bringing people together, remembering history and working to pave the way forward for female martial artists are all critical parts of the mission of Female Fighters Matter Too.
“What we’re doing is bringing together athletes that have been sponsored to level the playing field for women in sport and make sure that there is fair play,” Messina said. “These events represent a doorway opening for a girl who once felt she did not have one.”
