FAQs

We do list MMA fighters, however we're not an MMA website exclusively. The idea behind the Awakening website and database is for us to list and discuss all martial arts equally. However, due to our limited resources we have found ourselves only able to effectively focus on MMA, Muay Thai, Kickboxing and Boxing. Our goal is to be able to work towards a day when we can have a dedicated member of staff for each discipline. That day is a long way off, but we are doing everything we can to get there! Martial artists from ALL disciplines are welcomed equally. So regardless of your style, if you want an Awakening profile please request a profile questionnaire at info@awakeningfighters.com

We are currently not in a financial position to sponsor anyone. We know from talking to several athletes however that they have successfully used their Awakening Female Fighter profiles to help get them new sponsorship deals - this is such great news. When we first started out we did sponsor some athletes and this helped us become recognized as a serious company. The athletes we sponsored were: Julie Kitchen, Tecia Torres, Bec Rawlings, Kate Jackson, Lauren Huxley and the Edmunds Sistas to name a few.  We hope to be able to work to a future where we can sponsor athletes again. !

The Awakening Fighters company itself is based in the UK, however our team members all work remotely from the UK, Canada, Ireland, Romania and India.

Simple! Just visit the Add Yourself page for full details.  Alternatively you can directly download the Awakening Profile Questionnaire here. You will need to fill this out and send it back to us. Minors must get their parents to contact us on their behalf.

Well that's no good is it! There are several reasons why you might not find the athlete you are looking for and we take this seriously because we want the database to work. Below is a list of reasons why you might not be able to find your athlete, they are listed in order of probability: 1. The athlete hasn't been added. The Awakening female martial artist database is an insanely ambitious project, and will not only never be complete but will remain an ongoing process. At the time of writing we have just hit the 10,000th profile and we are working from an offline database of over 26,000 athletes. It is highly likely that the athlete you are looking for is amongst those yet to add. Due to the sheer number of female martial artists that are out there, it's also likely that we are not aware of the athlete you are seeking. If you are an athlete and want an Awakening profile then please request a profile questionnaire at profiles@awakeningfighters.com 2. Incorrect spelling. It is fairly likely that either the database has the incorrect spelling, or you do. Try and take into account that the database lists athletes from across the planet, and many countries have different ways of writing the same name. Where possible, we try to use the spelling used by the athletes home country. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you think you see an error at profiles@awakeningfighters.com 3. Marriage Several times a year we have to update the names on profiles when athletes get married. The search function should still pick up who you mean if you type in their previous name, however occasionally a name might fall through the cracks. 4. The athlete has opted out. In very rare cases, the athlete you are looking for has opted out of having an Awakening profile and has asked for it to be removed. This is very rare, only six cases to date.

First of all, you will need to create an account in the Awakening Community by registering here.  Some of the benefits you get for claiming a profile requires you to have the minimum of a free account.

You will then need to go to the Claim a Profile page and follow the verification process.

They are directly related. The only difference is that they describe a different stage of the Claim a Profile process. You may want to Claim a Profile, to do so you must follow the ID verification steps layed out on the Claim a Profile page.  Once you have successfully passed the ID verification process, your profile becomes "claimed" by you and the "Verified" check mark appears.

The AOCA, or Awakening Outstanding Contribution Award is exactly that. It’s our way of showing some love and appreciation for someone who is exceptional. In most cases where the AOCA has been given, the athlete in question has made an incredible overall contribution to the female martial arts scene.

There are thousands of female martial artists, so it’s impossible for everyone to know them all. The AOCA gives an at a glance feature to the database. This allows these incredible athletes to be remembered and appreciated by anyone who believes in the female martial arts movement. By their very nature, martial artists are humble and don’t like to shout about their accomplishments, that is where we come in…. because we DO like shouting about their achievements.

In many cases there are indeed, extremely high achieving martial artists that do in fact warrant an AOCA, however we feel that they are too young or that other athletes are higher on the list to receive it. As with any type of outstanding achievement award in any industry, they are usually given later in a career. In very rare cases the AOCA will be given earlier in a career. In general, an athlete needs to have done something influential, in regards to raising social awareness and inspiring others. You are encouraged to sign up to the forum and discuss potential candidates in our forum.

We use this term when we are aware that an athlete practices a discipline but we have no further information as to the belt or rank.  We also may use this term if we are currently unsure if a competing athlete is Amateur or Professional.

This will either be because we have accidentally overlooked it, or because it falls under an umbrella term. For instance, there are numerous styles of Karate or Kung Fu, and these are a good example of “umbrella terms”. We would love to list every style on earth, but we feel it would make the database less effective. Some disciplines have multiple spellings which makes a database very awkward, so using umbrella terms is a must. If specified, we are absolutely able to list the exact martial art style on the profile itself. For search results however, it has to be listed under the umbrella term.

If your discipline does not fall under a main umbrella term, then let us know and we will add it to the list.

We used to have the Awakening Rating, a system whereby achievements across multiple disciplines were giving points and equated to an athletes "Rating" in the chart of "Most Inspirational Athletes".  We have decided to remove this feature. An athlete's rating was calculated manually, therefore this feature was extremely demanding for us to maintain.  We also felt that many athletes would perhaps slot right in to the top 20, however we could not give them an accurate rating for lack of information. The Awakening Rating system may be reintroduced at a later date, if we are able to code it so that it is calculated and updated automatically using some kind of algorithm.

There are numerous reasons for listing amateur female fighters and athletes: they deserve it, it shows the world how many of you there are - which in turn leads to more respect and acknowledgement of female martial artists, it breeds inspiration - which is a very powerful force in raising public consciousness, and lastly the database serves as a great tool for promoters to find opponents - thus increasing the amount of female fights and events!

Contact us on the email address listed below. However, before you get us to remove your profile, please let us know what the issue is so we can see if there is another solution. Removing profiles makes us sad. It may be that your profile is incomplete so you want it taken down. A better solution would be to help us with information to make it a complete and awesome looking profile. The more athletes in the database, the stronger the message of female empowerment. Email us at info@awakeningfighters.com

Mara Storms is the official Awakening mascot, originally designed in 2012.  To us Mara Storms represents everything that is Awakening and that we are trying to promote within the female fight industry.  She's strong, powerful, highly skilful and mysterious. She's really just a little bit of fun, but we have become very attached to her.

This should go some way to explaining the naming convention of the forum sections: Mara's Battle Area, Mara's Dojo and Mara's Kitchen.

Rec Points is an abbreviation of Recognition Points. As the name suggests, we give you recognition points for being an active community member. By definition, an active community member adds a great deal to Awakening Fighters.  Your activity adds to our website statistics and ranking, and therefore increases our attractiveness to potential advertisers and increases our audience.

The Awakening community's involvement is key to our growth, and in turn, ability to promote and represent the female fight community.

Rec Points can actually be earned doing almost any activity you can think of whilst on the Awakening Fighters website. From reading and posting on the forum, to viewing and sharing Awakening Fighter Profiles.  There are currently around 60 different actions you can take on the website that will earn you Rec Points, some actions will reward a higher amount of points than others. We want you to discover the higher earning actions for yourself!

Currently nothing unfortunately. The system is brand new (as of January 2018) and we wanted to make sure it works correctly for while. In the future we do aim for you to be able to trade them in for perks.  In the meantime, keep earning them and watch this space! We will of course inform everyone if and when perks becoming available.

A community member's Community Rank can be seen either on their Community Profile or underneath their name when they post in the forum. The rank will appear in the following format "Rank | Martial Arts Journey Progress". This feature is a bit of fun and we want the system to be a little bit vague. We want it to make more sense the further you and others around you progress - much like practising a real martial art. The only true tip we're willing to give is that progression is directly tied only to the forum.

The Awakening website has two kinds of profile - Awakening Fighter Profile and the Community Profile - it is not uncommon for the occasional user to have both types of profile. They are very different. 1. Awakening Fighter Profile. This profile is the page where we research and build up a detailed picture of an athletes entire martial arts history.  This is typically the profile that an athlete will want to share on social networks for a variety of reasons.  This infomation page is edited by a number of Awakening team members and editors. 2. Community Profile.  As the name suggests this profile pertains to being part of the Awakening Community. The profile is simple and designed in a way to suit the community. Members can include a simplified, overview of their martial arts history if they wish but typically would not share this page on their social networks. However, it is an ideal page for other members of the community to view and connect with. This information page is solely edited by the member themselves. In many cases an athlete with have both types of profile. The Awakening Fighter Profile for showcasing their history and achievements, and the Community Profile for interacting with others.

We understand that initially the navigation might be a little confusing.  This is because the Awakening website is quite complex in the amount of things to do and see. There are three distinct navigation tools.

1. The Awakening Main Menu.  This is the menu that is at the very top of the website and will navigate to all the main section of the website.

 

2. The Community Menu.  This menu appears underneath the main menu and will navigate you around the community section of the website.

 

3. The Member Menu.  If you have registered an account with the Awakening website, this extra detailed menu appears. From this menu you can navigate around the community section and tweak your personal community experience.

The Community Activity page is the default landing page for the Awakening Community section.  It can be reached by clicking on Community in the main Awakening menu at the top of the website. Alternatively it can be reached by clicking on Community Activity in the Community Menu.

The Community Activity page can be considered as a place to take a quick glance at what has been happening within the community; from latest forum topics and replies, to Rec Point leaderboard and group activity, there is even a community shout box. Many of which give the ability for you to comment on or favorite.

By default, the community activity page shows all activity within the community. We have included the ability for members to tweak their privacy settings, as we understand that not everyone will want all of their activity being shared.

Use the Member Menu in the top right of the screen, and go to Profile > Edit.

Alternatively, you can get to the same page whilst on your Community Profile by clicking the Profile tab and editing from Edit in the secondary tab.

You can unlock many more profile editing fields by upgrading to a Level 2, or Level 3 membership.

Use the Community Menu to click on Groups. Here you will see the list of available sub-communities. Click the Join Group button at the bottom right of the groups thumbnail photo.

Public Groups can be joined instantly and Private Groups will require the group's administrator to accept your request to join.

Use the Community Menu to click on Groups. Here you will see the list of available sub-communities. Click the Leave Group button at the bottom right of the groups thumbnail photo.

Only members who have subscribed to a Level 1 membership or higher can start groups. To start a group use the Member Menu in the top right of the screen and navigate to Groups > Create a Group.

There are three Group types:

1. Public Group. Group content and activity will be visible to any site member.

2. Private Group. Group content and activity will only be visible to members of the group.

3. Hidden Group. Group content and activity will only be visible to members of the group.

There are three ways in which to add friends.

1. Member's Profile. Visit another member's profile and click the Add Friend button to the right of their profile photo.

2. Forum Post. Click Add Contact button shown under the member's name on one of their posts from within the forum.

3. Member Directory. Browse the Member Directory by clicking on Members in the Community Menu. A list of members appears, you can click the Add Friend button to the right of the chosen member. 

 

In each of the above cases a friend request will be sent, and you will have to wait for the response before being connected or rejected by the other party.

Members that have made their profile private will not appear in the Member Directory.

Removing someone from your friends list works in the same way as adding a friend. There are four ways in which to remove someone from your friends list.

1. Use the Member Menu in the top right of the screen, and navigate to Friends > Friendships.  Use the Cancel Friendship button next to the contact you wish to remove. 

1. Member's Profile. Visit another member's profile and click the Cancel Friendship button to the right of their profile photo.

2. Forum Post. Click Remove Contact button shown under the member's name on one of their posts from within the forum.

3. Member Directory. Browse the Member Directory by clicking on Members in the Community Menu. A list of members appears, you can click the Cancel Friendship button to the right of the chosen member.

Currently there is no way to block another member.  If we start getting requests for this feature we will look into adding it.

Email us at info@awakeningfighters.com if you are having problems that require a feature like this.

Use the Member Menu in the top right of the screen, and go to Settings > General. Alternatively, you can get to the same page whilst on your Community Profile by clicking the Settings tab and editing from General in the secondary tab.

Email notification settings can be changed by using the Member Menu in the top right of the screen, and go to Settings > Email. Alternatively, you can get to the same page whilst on your Community Profile by clicking the Settings tab and editing from Email in the secondary tab.

First of all, we're sad to see you go! If there is anything we can help with before you make the final decision, please email us at info@awakeningfighters.com

Use the Member Menu in the top right of the screen, and go to Settings > Delete Account.

Deleting your account will delete all of the content you have created. It will be completely irrecoverable. 

A member's community tag looks like this: @username

A member's tag can be found by visiting their Community Profile. Their user specific tag can be found to the right of their profile photo.

You can tag another member in forum posts and comments by using their tag when typing your content.

Use the Member Menu in the top right of the screen, and go to Profile > Change Profile Photo.

After uploading a photo you will be given the chance to crop the image to your desired profile photo.

Use the Member Menu in the top right of the screen, and go to Profile > Change Cover Image. Due to the nature of responsive design, it is very difficult to get the perfect cover image. Your cover image will appear at different crops when viewed at different sizes, ie. Mobile, Tablet or Desktop. For best results we have found the following concepts should be adhered to: 1. Minimum image size 525px x 225px 2. Maximum image size 1050px x 550px 3. Most importantly, keep in mind that when your cover image is automatically resized by different browser sizes, it will crop from the bottom right hand corner. For this reason better cover images have the important content nearer the top left corner.

Only Awakening community members can post in forums. A visitor needs to have registered an account.

Anyone can view the forum, visitors do not need an account to browse.

Privacy Settings can be changed by using the Member Menu in the top right of the screen, and go to Settings > Privacy Settings. Alternatively, you can get to the same page whilst on your Community Profile by clicking the Settings tab and editing from Privacy in the secondary tab.