Happy Memorial Day

To all of our veterans out there, Happy Memorial Day!

Have a great day everyone!

Happy Friday: Rainy Day Edition

Happy Friday everyone!

Mother Nature is a volatile mistress, to be sure: it was sunny and warm yesterday, and today it’s cold and rainy. Booooo.

But, that also means it’s an excellent day to get some training in: because who really wants to be outside in this kind of weather?

Anyway, have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Friday: Courage Edition

Happy Friday everyone!

I favorited this tweet from @assaultgear…yesterday? Two days ago?

Anyway, just thought I would share with you all:

Have a great weekend everyone!

Article About BJJ Women Being Excluded on the Mat

So in perusing the interwebs this morning I read a post on JiuJiu‘s blog about a female who visited another academy and was asked to sit because she was the only girl in the class….

My initial reaction is “well that’s messed up.”

But now I mainly want to know why- why were these guys uncomfortable training with a female? Was this a weird fluke, or is this the norm for the academy? I would hope it was a fluke-tThe presence of women in a school is a sign of a healthy academy, for the most part (of course there are exceptions to the rule, but for the most part this holds true across the board) and not that anyone asked, but I would say the owner or primary instructor of the academy should talk to their guys about training with females. You can’t control who is going to walk through your door, or what gender they will be, but no one is helping to make a co-ed environment if you are given the opportunity to include a minority into your academy, and then you exclude said minority.

I dunno, those are just my thoughts. What do you guys think about this situation? Comment here or on JiuJiu’s blog, otherwise, have a great day everyone!

Jiu Jitsu and the Case of the Missing Pants

Guys, I can’t find my pants.

Well, not just any pants, my Under Armour compression capri pants that I like to wear in competition. It’s not really the end of the world, I have other capri workout pants like them, but that particular pair fit the best, and (I would never admit this to the other pairs…if they were, you know, animate objects) they are my favorite.

And I can’t find them. And it’s starting to irk me, enough to write a blog post about it.

Have you ever had a favorite piece of clothing or gear that you like to train and compete with, and then you seem to lose? Isn’t it kind of annoying?

Feel free to share your story, otherwise have a great day everyone!

Website Frustrations and other fun stuff

So I’m on the phone with IT for godaddy.com- no, not for this blog, for my job.

So…how you guys doin’? Anything good happening today? Anything frustrating the hell out of you that you would care to share?

Anyway, train hard and have a great day everyone!

Happy Friday: Hogwarts Edition

Happy Friday!

First and foremost, congratulations to Janni Larsson on winning gold at the WPJJC!

Ok, now onto Hogwarts. Apparently some Harry Potter fans banded together and made the University of Phoenix equivalent of Hogwarts.

That’s right, friends. You can take online courses in Herbology, Charms, Potions and more, courtesy of the folks over at HogwartsisHere.com.

I really haven’t gotten into the material itself, but you can pick your house (no Sorting Hat, sorry), peruse the wares over in Diagon Alley, and I’m sure other cool stuff I just haven’t gotten to yet.

If this is the sort of thing you are also into, check it out and let me know what you think- and let me know what your user name is so we can link up!

Speaking of Houses-

 

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

WPJJC, and Your Favorite Foggy Brained Blogger

Happy Hump Day everyone! Sorry, my brain is a little slow this morning, so this is going to be a pretty short post.

As far as I can tell from my Facebook feed the WPJJC (World Pro Jiu Jitsu Championships) happened last night in Abu Dhabi. I’m assuming there was a video stream for the event: did anyone happen to watch the matches?

Let me know- otherwise, have a great day everyone!

 

 

Jiu Jitsu and the “Bro” Problem

Shark Girl had a good point in her blog post, about bjj suffering from a man, or specifically “bro”, problem- referring to this article in the NY times about the technology community and their own issue with alienating females in the field.

Fortunately we don’t really have this problem in our academy: everyone, man or woman, is treated with respect and we all share our enthusiasm and drive for learning and improving in the sport. And I am aware that I am probably pretty lucky to be in this situation: there are always going to be jerks in the world- guys who make lewd comments about how they want to be in some girl’s triangle or whatever.

From here on out I’m going to call these folks “bros”. I want to make this clear: men in general are not the problem- I know a lot of jiu jitsu guys that are kind, respectful and overall wonderful to train and associate myself with. I don’t hear these inappropriate sorts of comments often, but I think that also has to do with the fact that I stay off of Internet forums and if a comment like that is made, it’s not made by one of our guys but rather at some outside event like a tournament, and I am generally oblivious to conversations going on around me during those events. Nothing personal, I’m usually just focused on something else.

For some women however they have to deal with those bros every.single.day. When this sort of culture is unchecked, it can make an uncomfortable training environment for a woman to train: it doesn’t matter if the transgressors mean what they are saying or not- it may be a joke, but it can slowly but surely alienate you female training partners, making them feel unwelcome in your presence and creating bad mojo in your academy in general. This absolutely doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to have fun, or joke around, or share a laugh with your teammates- but no one likes to be made to feel like the odd duck, the freak in the crowd.

Really it boils down to this: Bros, I implore you, before you make that shitty comment that isn’t very funny in the first place (which let’s be honest here, you know it’s true) regarding women in jiu jitsu- please take a moment to think and recognize that your female teammate may be different from you, but they also have every right to be at your academy, to learn to love this sport/martial art as much as you do. Also, while you may make a personal delineation that you are not referring to those particular women in your academy- but really, just… just don’t, guys.

What do you guys think? Let me know- otherwise, have a great day everyone!

BJJ Memes!

Ok, real talk people: I just spent a whole bunch of time writing a post…and it’s not very good.

So I’m going to go sit in a corner and think about if that post can be salvaged, and how: in the meantime enjoy The Science of Skill’s 4 Best BJJ Memes

Have a great day everyone!