AnnMaria De Mars
AnnMaria De Mars was born in Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, United States on August 15th, 1958 and is the Martial Artist. At the age of 65, AnnMaria De Mars biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 65 years old, AnnMaria De Mars has this physical status:
De Mars began her judo career at the age of 12 at a local YMCA.
De Mars won her division at the USJA Junior Nationals at the age of 16 – her first major competition. The same year, she entered college at Washington University in St. Louis as a Business major. At the age of 18, as a college junior, De Mars was an exchange student at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. While there, she trained under Sensei Osawa.
She graduated from college with a degree in business in 1978. She also won the US Senior Nationals, US Collegiate Nationals and the US Open. In the absence of women's judo world championships, she quit competitive judo and studied for an MBA at the University of Minnesota.
De Mars earned her MBA in 1980. She missed the first women's world championships while in grad school, but in 1981 won bronze in the British Open and Tournoi d'Orleans. In 1982, she was ranked #1 in the USJI rankings and won the US Open. However, she did not contest the second women's world championships due to the birth of her daughter María. De Mars pursued further study, including an MA and PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of California, Riverside; which came in handy while teaching her daughter Ronda the proper mindset to take before fights.
De Mars enjoyed more success in 1983, including the Pan American Games and US Senior Nationals, and in 1984, winning the Austrian Open, Canada Cup (now known as the "Rendezvous"), and the US Senior Nationals. She came out of retirement to win the 1984 World Judo Championships, becoming the first person representing the United States to win a World Judo Championships (her name at the time was Ann-Maria Burns).
In 1995, De Mars' then-husband Ronald Rousey suffered a sledding accident which resulted in a broken back and chronic pain. Later, he was diagnosed with Bernard–Soulier syndrome, which complicated his pre-existing injuries and he was given a prognosis of two years to live. Following the suicide of her husband, De Mars moved her family back to Southern California and settled in Santa Monica, where she homeschooled her children.
Following the move, De Mars remarried, and helped coach her daughter Ronda Rousey, to win a gold medal at the 2004 World Junior Judo Championships and a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics. Ronda is now a professional mixed martial artist and a former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion.
De Mars frequently coaches and spars at a gym in Los Angeles, where she can recall Ronda breaking her wrist the first time her daughter finished a throw against her: "I didn't really think I was going to go, you know, so I put my hand out and she caught me," De Mars said. De Mars would "always, always, always tell kids don't reach for the mat."
In 2013, De Mars and Jimmy Pedro Sr. co-wrote the instructional book Winning on the Ground, published by Black Belt books.
Her philosophy in judo argues for an offense-centered attack.