Jiu Jiu wrote another post regarding the other side of the gender issue when it comes to women in jiu jitsu. It’s an interesting read, I read through her list of advantages. While I agree some of them are indeed advantages, some of them I feel are actually disadvantages, more specifically a smaller pool of competitors in tournaments.
Anyway, I would recommend it: check it out!
Hey guys, so my teammate told me that someone recognized me in the real world as the Skirt on the Mat while I was out in California.
If you guys see me, please by all means say hi! I’ll certainly be happy to meet you. If it makes you feel any better, Rick from Middle Age BJJ at Pans last year walked up to where we were sitting and just said out loud to our group, “So, who’s Skirt on the Mat?”
That’s me!
I may be surprised, definitely happy to meet you. It’s one of the great things about jiu jitsu: meeting new people who share the same interest in jiu jitsu.
On that note, I should probably put an actual, non-Katie face photo up….Yeesh…
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The more I read around the internet about where people train, the more spoiled I feel when it comes to our facilities. I just read Jiu-Jiu’s locker room shower situation- they have one unisex communal changing area and one shower. Actually, I have heard of similar situations in the area around our academy.
Again, I feel a little spoiled when saying this, but we have separate men and women’s locker rooms: each locker room has two bathroom stalls, two shower stalls and two sinks. Separate hot water sources too, I’m pretty sure: there have definitely been a few occasions when the boys had to deal with cold showers while the girls were totally unaware of any issue.
It wasn’t quite always this way: we were temporarily displaced when the building was being remodeled, but men and women always had separate changing areas made with stacked lockers.
I’m sorry to hear this is a situation in some gyms. I understand sometimes owners/instructors make sacrifices when it comes to real estate: a space with the perfect square footage and the right location can make someone overlook the bathroom facilities, but I have to admit, if I was just starting jiu jitsu and someone told me that I had to change in a communal area, I probably would have quit, or brushed up on my locker room ninja changing skills from highschool gym class. Most likely the latter, contorting myself like I was in a straight jacket, with my arms inside a t-shirt when attempting to change from a regular bra to a sports bra.
For ladies who put up with all of this and still train, you absolutely have my respect. For guys who have women in their academy in this situation, I agree with Jiu Jiu- please understand that it can be a stressful situation for a girl, especially for one that is starting out in the sport. I’m not saying you should let this theoretical white belt girl walk all over you and take an hour shower, but understand that’s an uncomfortable situation for most women, and sometimes it takes women a little longer to get themselves sorted before leaving the locker room. I don’t even know what I would do about a single shower. I would most likely either go home and shower or only use the gym shower in extreme emergencies.
On a side note, congratulations on Meghan getting her blue belt! Hooray!
On a geek-tastic side note, I haven’t watched the season premiere of the new Game of Thrones, but I did take advantage of their site Join the Realm and made a Coat of Arms for the blog.
…Oh yeah.
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So we’re back, and here are some of the things I remember from the trip:
The trip was long, partially due to a layover in Minneapolis. But, they have iPads in their restaurants!
I was told this isn’t too uncommon, especially in more metropolitan areas- but I have actually never been to Minnesota, so to me the state is comprised of farms and the Mall of America, so I was surprised when I saw their totally modern airport….And if anyone is from Minneapolis, I apologize for underestimating you and I’m sure your city is lovely. And your coffee is pretty good as well: although I was a little weirded out by all the fish options on the menu… anyway, moving on.
Jiu jitsu! And more jiu jitsu!
we had people fighting every day, which was great, but we also have a really close team that wants to root each other on and spend hours upon hours upon hours sitting in the Bren Event Center, which can be a little tiring after a while.
Our team did all right: we had a lot of first timers out at an IBJJF tournament, some won some medals, some didn’t. Some of the matches were pretty interesting, if you are crazy…er, committed enough to looking through all the footage of the tournament. The most notable one that comes to mind are the fact that MMA fighter Ben Henderson competed (at brown belt) and the black belt final between Buchecha* and Andre Galvao.
And I competed as well!
As I reported earlier, I lost my first match in my division, but due to a by (bye?) I was able to compete in the absolute. Which I also lost. Welp, just more stuff to work on for the next tournament. Speaking of which, any brown belt girls registered for the New York Open?…Anyone?
*Cricket*
And then….Go Karting!
And the Beach!
The Panorama turned out a little weird, but I didn’t want to spend all my time taking and re-taking photos while I was standing in warm, gorgeous weather just a few hours before I had to head back to the East Coast.
It was all fun and good times were had, but now it’s time to get back to work and get ready for the next tournament.
*for anyone who reads this and doesn’t do jiu jitsu: Buchecha is a nickname for black belt Marcus Almeida. On an adorable note, it’s a Portuguese nickname meaning cheek, because when he started jiu jitsu he was overweight and had chubby cheeks.
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Once you get over the shock and sadness of Google shutting down Google Reader (I’m still reeling, btw) Read this nice little piece written by black belt Val Worthington, reminding us of the struggles and deep love we feel for the art of jiu jitsu.
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It’s been a little over a week, so sorry for that: I wanted to get permission from the photographer, Maggie, before putting them up.
It was a good seminar and good to see Saulo here on the East Coast: we learned some different things, cleaned up a few techniques, and overall had a good time. Here are some photos!
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Jiu Jitsu black belt Val Worthington wrote a pretty interesting article about helping men better understand the perspective of a woman starting out in the sport. While it may appear to be a large word count, it’s actually a pretty quick and easy read that I hope more guys read and take into consideration the next time a new woman starts their jiu jitsu program.
Georgette posted a video from GracieMag of the brown belt absolute finals match between Keenan Cornelius and Gianni Grippo at the Boston Open. Both are really good jiu jitsu players, so it’s a little long, but pretty interesting most of the time.
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Right up there with patience, timing I feel is one of the hardest things to teach in jiu jitsu. You can show someone techniques, how to turn, how to grab here, place the foot there, so on and so forth, but it’s timing that pulls the whole thing together and changes a series of what seem to be movements with no rhyme or reason into something effective and in some cases, quite beautiful.
The hard part in teaching timing isn’t so much the explaining part, even though that is a little challenging: it’s getting the student to fully understand the concept of timing in the situation the technique would be best applied. We don’t want to train people to respond in only one way to particular moves, but there are some common reactions, based on past experience and pure body mechanics. It’s those reactions, those opportunities we address and take advantage of, with our own positions we find effective from past experience and body mechanics.
It’s difficult, but immensely satisfying when someone finally gets the timing down. It may look a little different than how we do it, or how we do it, but the technique and timing are down, and the person may have adapted the technique for their game, which is pretty cool to watch.
So while timing may not be everything, it’s a pretty large part of jiu jitsu.
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So Julia has a post about ladies, that time of the month, and jiu jitsu.
It’s a little awkward to write about, but it’s also a topic that I have been approached about a couple of times in the locker room actually, and even on the mat, as there are women who are very concerned about what to do in such a full contact sport. I am really trying to keep this mature and as possible, but just warning this may near dangerously close to the light hearted and almost silly. Mainly because as stressed as a lot of white belt jiu jitsu women worry about it, it’s really not a huge deal.
And for guys who are confused about this and wonder why women don’t seem to have this part of their bodies under control, ask yourself the same question the next time you get an unexpected erection in the middle of the day. Our bodies are a teeming mass of hormones that tends to run on a fairly regular schedule and react to a predictable set of responses, but there are times when the whole system seems to go haywire due to unexpected circumstances, such as a hiccup in hormones due to stressors, general health or environmental factors. The body is just that, a body; a group of organs that (other than the brain obviously) doesn’t understand not doing something due to social context. Just like sweating or blinking or several other functions. And if you can stop sweating on command congratulations I wish you the best of luck with your superpower. Please use it for good, not evil.
Anyway, my first response is: don’t worry, you’ll be fine. If you realize something is amiss, ask your teacher to use the bathroom according to whatever protocol your academy has, and I image they will let you go. Some have been touting the Diva cup, multi product/combo use has also been suggested, and I say it’s never a bad idea to keep some products in your locker or bag, for both yourself and that inevitable day someone asks for something. Really, in all the time that I have trained, there has only been one occasion when someone needed to change their gi pants: it was a guy (the instructor actually) who caught it, didn’t make a big deal out of it and mentioned that she should go to the bathroom. That’s it. Didn’t bring extra pants? Not always, but some students have extra uniform parts in their lockers, and academies sometimes keep “loaner gi’s” for prospects receiving an introductory introductory session with jiu jitsu. See if your academy has loaner gi’s as well, and if the occasion ever arises, clean yourself up, ask to borrow some loaner gi pants and make sure to take the pants home, wash them, and return them to the loaner gi collection. Not something that should be abused, but a possible last resort depending on how early on you are in the class.
If you are hesitant about going to class during that week, I would say attend. I agree with Julia that BJJ helps with cramps, but I have to admit sometimes I have skipped class due to a bone-tired feeling I seem to get early on sometimes. Do try to make it in, because you’ll be glad you did more often than not, but don’t force yourself if you know in your heart of hearts that you just want to play hooky for a day. More than a day I would say take your pain reliever of choice (such as Tylenol or Advil), try to make it in and roll around. You may be surprised at how much better you feel.
For other tips check out her post, and they also seem to have a pretty good discussion going on in the comments.
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A 20 something jiu jitsu brown belt student at Maxercise in Philadelphia, PA who likes to write. Obviously.
