Happy Friday: Ladies’ Night Wrap-Up

Hope everyone’s having a happy Friday.

Our ladies’s night out was a success in my opinion, including dinner, pool and a couple of rounds of skeeball.

If that can’t be considered a good time, I don’t know what can.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ladies’ Night!

The team is having a ladies’ night out tonight-yay!

I’ll let you all know how it goes.

Slideyfoot’s Marathon, Gas masks and MMA Training

Quick little blurb I just want to put out: Slideyfoot is fundraising for a Grappling marathon for Rape Crisis (England& Wales) and you should definitely donate something. Anything.

Secondly, not that I’m planning on training with a gas mask anytime soon, but I’m watching a video about MMA Training and the effectiveness of using a gas mask. Check it out:

 

Women and Whether They Can “Handle” BJJ

I know everyone has probably put in their two cents at this point, but when I first read the heading to Keith Owen’s post, “Can Women Really Handle Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?” my first reaction was to recall a scene from the movie 300, which I have (painfully) recreated for you with a free gif generator, so sorry for the poor quality:

“Clearly you don’t know our women…”

Granted this guy doesn’t make his living writing, he makes it teaching  jiu jitsu. Also granted there is an expectation that as an instructor he should have a little more open mind and less sexist attitude when it comes to recruiting women students into his academy. 

Maybe it’s just me, but in his post the instructor creates an “us versus them” mentality, which may also reflect in his teaching at his academy. In an attempt to not scare women away, he in fact is creating a segregated culture by putting women to the side where they won’t be”harmed” or “made uncomfortable” by rolling. By putting women to the side you create a double standard; a perfectly healthy man is pressured to train, where the “delicate flower”of a woman is not pressured to try her new skills out on the mat. 

Aye, but there’s the rub: to try something new, jiu jitsu or not,  is about getting out of your comfort zone and being challenged. And while we know the joys of overcoming those challenges in the art, they can be immensely frustrating and practically a deal breaker for ANY beginner. It takes time and patience to get a new student through that first obstacle, regardless of gender.  I’m sure if this is he notices a lot of women walking out the door, there’s a good chance a lot of white belts in general are walking out the door, frustrated with the experience: it’s just women are the smaller group and so their absence is more noticeable. While you will find a few exceptions to the rule, your white belts aren’t quite “in love” with jiu jitsu up to the first 60 to 90 days-you have to share that passion, that enthusiasm with them. Challenge them, but also make sure someone isn’t smashing the living daylights out of them the first week in.

I do find the mention of the married men a bit out of line though. I could be totally wrong, but to mention it as an issue means there’s a good chance someone is making it an issue on the mat which would make any female uncomfortable no matter how much they love training.

I never thought I had to be Captain Obvious, but women don’t think about sex when they are training with male partners. We are there to learn and improve, not to “get our grind on”. Just….ew. And if the wives of these guys are complaining about women training with men, encourage them to try a few classes to see what the whole thing is really all about. Who knows? Maybe you’ll have a few women sign up that way.

My point is treat everyone in your academy with respect, encourage that respect among one another, have  relatively little to no double standards (guys in our academy are not allowed to wear a shirt under their gi, but women are allowed- that sort of thing) and most importantly share your passion for the sport with your students. That is how you will get women to stay: by focusing on the sport and everything you love in it, and not a woman’s perceived “delicate sensitivities”.

I’m linking to Julia’s post on the subject, mainly because she was the one that brought the whole thing to my attention, and also I don’t want to give this guy any more publicity than he already has gotten in response to the article. If you are going to read it, read Julia’s analysis first, and like her post so she gets the readership traffic boost.

New Jiu Jitsu Blogger: Meghan!

There’s a new lady BJJ blogger and fellow RJJA member, Meghan! She talks about being a med student and training jiu jitsu.

Check out her site!

Jiu Jitsu and the Movies

Ok, so I have to admit I am a terrible jiu jitsu fan and have never seen the film “Haywire”, featuring (former?) MMA fighter Gina Carano, a number of pretty high end celebrities including one of my favorites, Michael Fassbender.

I just watched a fight scene between Carano and Fassbender, which first and foremost seemed a little too CGI to me- which may have just been the Youtube uploader’s choice, but I couldn’t help but feel like the fighting was a little exaggerated with the two repeated running into shelving and glassware- but I thought the conversation about the last bit of fight choreography had to have been pretty damn funny from Fassbender’s perspective if he’s never seen a UFC or jiu jitsu match before. If you haven’t seen it either, Carano manages to put Fassbender’s character into a triangle.

“Ok, so Michael, Gina’s going to put you into a triangle…”

“I’m sorry, a what?”

I’m also nitpicky and she should have been at a more perpendicular angle when executing the choke, but hey, whatevs, Harrison Ford gets to pull off barely recognizable judo throws all the time in his films, I imagine we’ll let this one slide.

Did anyone else see this film, and if so, what did you think- of this scene or otherwise?

The French Triangle- from DYSTRYRsg

I have to admit, when I first saw the title “The French Triangle” I don’t know what I was expecting.

A mounted triangle while reading Le Monde and eating a croissant? Possibly while wearing a beret?

None of the above, unfortunately. Instead, it’s a triangle from the back, that looks pretty cool and interesting to consider.

Go check it out!

 

Abu Dhabi Pro Trials NY 2012- Featuring more Waiting….

Ok, I have been competing (albeit lightly) for several years now, so I know there are some things you expect when you go to a tournament: the food choices will be limited and expensive-however if there is acai present you won’t care- the locker room/bathroom situation will be awkward, at best, and the whole event will run late. And that’s fine: in the grand scheme of life, most events run late. Hell, there is a theater on Broadway-I can’t recall which one at the moment, that is known because the show starts at 8:01 on the dot. Which, if anyone was a theater geek like I was…am… knows that is pretty crazy.

Anyway, back to the event: maybe it’s because we were so close to home, maybe it’s because we were all required to weigh in by 9am and so had to leave Philadelphia by 6:30- all I know is, a lot of us were pretty pissed off at the even running about 3 hours late. My division was supposed to fight at noon- I didn’t step on the mat until about 3 pm. I know a majority of tournaments run late, but for some reason that just really got under my skin. It could have also been that I was hungry. Not that I was making weight, but since I didn’t  know just how behind schedule the tournament was running, and didn’t want nausea to become an issue on the mat. I know some people can wolf down a sandwich and compete- I am not one of those people.

Things started to smooth out once 3- 3:30 rolled around, but I feel like this was an issue that could have been avoided. Obviously, I don’t know the entire situation or why it was set up the way it was and I know everyone was trying their best, but really, guys? That was a little ridiculous.

I finally did compete, lost my first match to a black belt, but felt good about it, because while I did make some mistakes, there was definite improvement from the last time I competed. I didn’t do the absolute, but looking forward to tweaking my game and competing again.

They Know…

::cue dramatic chipmunk::

So, Saulo Ribeiro knows I write a blog. And better yet, is totally supportive about it.

The day after Nationals, our team piled into a van and rode down to the University of Jiu Jitsu and chatted with everyone there, including fellow RBJJ students and a bunch of University of Jiu Jitsu students, and there was even a bit of an open mat.

I guess I should admit at this point I also injured my other (good) knee while competing, so I tried to ignore that little voice in my head that mentioned training was probably a terrible idea and attempted to roll. The guy I trained with, Paul, had some really nice techniques that I really admired in the back of my head as pain sort of just caused all my limbs to just stop, making me want to do nothing but crawl into a hole and never come out.

…I’ll be honest, I did not expect that to happen.

I was pretty sad about it, because training at the University was something I was actually really looking forward to- both seeing and experiencing some really beautiful jiu jitsu. But, injuries are irritating that way- they tend to pop up right at the more inopportune moments.

Afterwards however, our team, Saulo, and a few others all went out to dinner, which I thought was pretty thoughtful, and an awesome opportunity. I’m not sure how other heads of associations operate, but it was pretty great that he sat down and had dinner with the part of the team that had (to my knowledge) traveled the farthest to compete. During the conversation our coach, John, mentioned something about how I blog to Saulo.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” he exclaimed, and about two thirds of the table turned to me. While it is an honor that he is one of the few and the proud to not only know of both passions in my life, but to also be super supportive of this combination, when it comes to being put on the spot, especially when it comes to my writing I get all shy and awkward and long story short I sort of wanted to hide under the table. I didn’t, but it was a thought for a brief second. We also talked briefly about Rick’s blog and while I’m terrible at remembering the specifics of a conversation after a period of time, the general tone of the conversation was positive, and supportive in regards to both our blogging endeavors.

So yes, now “they” know. The more I think about it the less scary that prospect seems; I have never felt anything but goodwill and support from Saulo, Xande and the Ribeiro Association in general. I just need to get over years of insecurities and embrace the whole “writer/blogger” title.  Which really, that’s part of what jiu jitsu is all about- getting out of your comfort zone. And not hiding under tables.

Thoughts on Being a Brown Belt

Sadly, I don’t think there is a photo of the absolute dumbfounded look on my face when our coach motioned for me to step up for my belt promotion. Or the tears I was holding back. That’s probably a good thing. Whatever, it was a rough month: don’t judge.

Honestly I simultaneously do and don’t know what to think about becoming a brown belt. I think I should know more than I do, but that’s the lament of every jiu jitsu student. I think my technique should be better, but again, see previous statement. Am I committed to still improving my technique regardless of what color belt I have? Absolutely. I still think I have a long way to go, and I am committed to making the journey.

I really don’t have anything profound to say in regards to the promotion. Of course I am honored to have earned it- belts are ranks that are earned, not just given on a whim. There is a lot of time and effort that goes into each rank and it really is an honor to know that time and effort have been noted. I mean, I would still do it anyway, but it’s nice to know someone notices.

I guess it is not overwhelmingly odd in some cases because our coach has been introducing the higher belts into the whole mentor/ teacher sort of role, so it’s not such a shock when being thrust into a teaching role. As a purple belt I didn’t feel the pressure to be a teacher to others: now as a brown I feel more of a pressure to offer support and guidance to lower belts, but I honestly feel more comfortable with the burden of passing on knowledge to others due to that time teaching as a purple belt. I definitely feel our academy has done an excellent job priming the higher ranked students to take on the coaching/ instructing roles, and for the lower belts to take instruction from those higher ranks. I still think it’s pretty damn funny that for a while a couple of the white belts were calling me “teacher”.

Although I still feel I certainly don’t know everything, and wholeheartedly feel I have a lot more learning to do myself. But, on the other hand that is the interesting thing about the sport- it’s evolution, while still maintaining the solid foundation of basic and fundamental techniques.