Lumberjack? How about LumberJill? Meet Chadds Ford's Martha King -- a world champ

It's also a sport dominated by males, but Martha King gives it a feminine touch.
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
CHADDS FORD, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- The Delaware Valley has produced all kinds of championship athletes. From football to basketball to boxing to soccer.

How about a lumberjack? It's a sport not many people realize is a sport.

"The sport of lumberjack sports, or timber sports, is the traditional practices of forestry just turned into competition," says Martha King of Chadds Ford.
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It's also a sport dominated by males, but King gives it a feminine touch.

"It's all about speed, accuracy, timing. I'm not built like a lumberjack. A lot of people when they find out what I do, they say, 'I don't believe it. I thought you'd be big, burly, maybe have a beard.' Nope!" said King.

She started competing in college at Penn State, following in the footsteps of her father Rob who did the same.



It was then she fell in love with the sport, and it has taken her all around the world, including last month's inaugural Timberpsorts International Women's Cup in Vienna, Austria, where she took first place.


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"Oh my gosh, totally exhilarating when they played the national anthem," King says. "Goosebumps, so much pride.

"For a lot of women, they think 'I can't do something because I'm not big enough, I'm not strong enough, I'm not this, I'm not that.' But when they see someone like me doing something as efficiently as I do -- you know this is a male dominated sport -- it gives them hope and it gives them confidence that they otherwise would've set aside and said: 'Another lifetime.'"

I just had to try it out myself. Watch the video to see how I did!
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