Blog

I finally got all of my competition videos uploaded to my youtube account. I keep them unlisted, but here is one from the most recent tournament I competed in. There were no other girls so I fought with the boys.

This was the finals match. He was very strong and had a great base! We wore each other out!

In case you didn’t guess, I’m the one in purple.

Until now, I have been writing this blog, for the most part, in secret. However, the cat is out of the bag now as I have made it known to several of my team mates. So… Hi guys! Hope you enjoy reading about yourselves!

There is only three weeks left until I leave for Portugal! I should be excited, but I think I’m too focused right now to feel excitement. I’ll have a week there after competing during which I can be excited.

I have been updating this using an app on my phone, but just discovered it has magically not been updating when I thought it was. So now to condense the last 3 months of events into one post!

Major Updates:

I won double gold at the Bluegrass BJJ Open. I made quick work of my opponents in my division and then had an all out war in the absolute division finals. I ended up winning by 2 points that I was awarded for a sweep i executed in the first 30 seconds of the match. The rest of the time was spent with her trying (and very nearly succeeding!) in passing my guard. I have fought her before and we love seeing each other at tournaments – just exchange nods before, and hugs after.

My gym hosted a tournament and we had a great turnout! No girls, so I fought with the boys. I won 1st place in gi, and 3rd in no gi. It was great to see respect (and a little fear) in the guys eyes!

I’ve also teamed up with a brand new fight wear company based out of the UK. It is Raijin Fight Wear and I’ll be wearing their gear in tournaments! Yay! I’m currently waiting for them to send me their prototype.

I got my neck sprained in the process of one of the no gi matches. It put me out of training for a few weeks, and out of the next two NAGA tournaments I was going to compete in! Yea, I was a bit irritated. Oh well!

2013 European Opens:

In my irritated state of sitting out, I decided: “forget NAGA, I wanna go to Europe!” Coach gave me the nod, and 3 weeks later, I was registered and had a plane ticket! I’ll be leaving for Portugal on January 22, arriving the 23rd, and competing on the 24th. I’m so excited!

Coach has had me on a strict diet of training with purple belts and up only for the last month since he doesn’t want me getting any more boo boos before Europe. In the last week I have started rolling with blue belts again, and I am giving them quite a bit of trouble! Coach told me that my technique is getting good enough that he has to use a bit of weight to get through my guard now, and my top game is starting to gel.

I’ll be the only person from my school going to Europe, although I’ll be able to meet up with the rest of the Lloyd Irvin crew once I arrive. It’s gonna be a blast!

2013 Tournament Hit List:

European Opens

Pan-Ams

World Championships

If I do well at Worlds… I’m considering Pan-Asia as well. That’d be a trick of financing however – one step at a time!

Coach has started a new thing where we have a move of the month, of which we are to drill at least 1,500 reps of for that month. This month it is the X-pass from de la riva. So far I’ve done about 800 in the last 10 days. I can only do it to one side right now because one left knee is a bit weird, so I feel like my left quad and butt cheek are getting a massive advantage over my right. At any rate, lots of drilling at the beginning of the 10 am and the 5 pm class. I’m starting to do the move in my sleep!

Got some good roll time in today. Started off drilling with our black belt “Steve”, but he got stolen when we switched to roll time. Can’t begrudge it since coach is getting ready for senior/masters worlds next month, and is needing good rolling partners.

I wasn’t neglected however! I can’t remember my first rounds, were overshadowed by my last. Coach threw our brown belt ninja, BT, at me. He’s about my size and has a way of getting armbars from any angle you put yourself in. Last week he got my arms twice before telling me to keep my elbows in. I remembered, and was able to defend this time. The whole round was an exercise in defending – and a very good exercise indeed!

After that, I went to unhook coach’s baby from his car seat – he was a bit unhappy with being ignored during class. So he got a little baby massage during the last round.

I skipped 11:30 class since they had even numbers of big, new white belts. Not a good mix for me.

I went to whole foods and discovered that the vega one protein powder I like was on sale for almost 20 bucks off a large tub. Yay!!! So, of course, I bought two and informed my vegan team mates of the event. Whoot!

Class was great at 5. I got 70 more reps of the x-pass in before rolling started. Unfortunately, coach split me from my drilling partner so I had to sit a round. We had two other girls in class so he told me to grab one of them next. 8 minute rounds, with one minute to switch, and stare down your next opponent.

The newer girl (need to remember her name!) snagged me. She’s a tough, strong little thing! She’s really starting to move a lot better now! I got to work just technique for that round, which was really nice!

Went with the other girl, our other Nicole, next. Eddie Bravo would have been proud of the stoner control and electric collar I put on her. Nice to know it works! She was really going after my guard tonight, working me really hard! Awesome!

Next up was one of our junior black belts. The kid is half my size, but man is he tough! We stood for a while, playing with grips, and then he throws a flying armbar attempt at me. Probably would have worked if I wasn’t taller than him! He’s fast, has amazing technique, and was really going after me today. Tough kid! Breezed past my guard several times, and nearly had me several times!

I was with our new girl again for the last round. She is getting pretty good and shrimping out of mount, and if I relax for any amount of time, she’ll go after a triangle or omoplata. Can’t wait to see her compete!

That was it for class, and I had a massage booked for 6:30, and so ends the training day. Begin again tomorrow!

Well, tournament was a blast! Ended up riding down with 4 of the guys (felt like such a player!) Good news is that it really saved a lot, splitting gas and hotel 4 ways. Bad news is that I had to listen to some pretty disgusting rap all the way there. Even I have my limit, and 4 hours of “whores and booze” music was it. Ha!

We arrived at about 11 pm. I took the couch and quickly passed out while the guys figured out who was spooning who.

I rolled over at 4 am when one of our guys got up to use the downstairs cardio equipment to lose his last few pounds. I passed out again and woke up at 6:30 to my alarm. My weight was good so I went downstairs for breakfast while the guys sat in the improvised sauna they made in the bathroom. Great eats! Oatmeal with fruit and nuts – and they had pineapple! Yay!!!

Every girl’s worst nightmare happened. I then discovered that my menstrual cycle decided to start that morning. And, of course, my brand new gi is blinding white! Good thing I brought black compression shorts!

We got to the venue at 8 – first division started at 9. Steven went to weigh himself and found he was still a pound over so he went out to jog. Got himself down to just right by the test scale then we all hovered to wait.

Turned out, the official scale weighed him a pound over – so instant DQ. He was severely pissed – as was my coach when I told him.

Next up was our purple belt Derick. He dropped about 20 pounds for this – and got down to 5 percent body fat. He only had two people in his division – and it was painful to watch both his matches. He says he learned a lot though! And he then gained 12 pounds in the next 24 hours.

Jason was up next in the blue belt masters division. He hadn’t competed in 2 years, and pulled his groin last week. He put up a good fight but lost both matches as well.

Our ultra-heavy blue belt also lost both matches, as did our big brown belt – both from an affiliate school.

So basically, the guys just circled up, and informed me it was up to me now. No pressure!

In the meantime, I’d been running around introducing myself to everyone with a Lloyd Irvin jacket, shirt, or patch. Think I scared a few of them until I told them I train with Shawn Hammonds – then it was welcome pats on the back.

Got to meet Master Lloyd finally. He makes me think of a big huge teddy bear – very nice – but I know he has claws and teeth in there!

My Matches:
I went two rounds. Tapped the first girl with an Ezekiel choke from mount. I like to put my feet on the hips when in high mount – works really well, but she bridged and my foot slid under her and she landed on my big toe. Hurt pretty bad – but I didn’t yell, just made a really ugly face (see pic below. Doc says 75 percent chance of a break)

Second round was the finals. Tough lady! Managed to sweep her twice and get mount each time, but ended up winning on points. She wore my grips out pretty well!

The ride back was long. The guys only listened to rap halfway before diving into their individual headphones. Got to sleep around 11.

I was a bit disappointed about only having 4 girls in my division. I told coach I’ll definitely drop to penna for Pan Ams – so I can have more rounds. He said I’ll probably have about 25 girls for that, and to not forget about Worlds in June. I said “right! Worlds! Sure!” – no pressure right? I’d better adjust my budget again… This is getting expensive!

That brings me back to training so far this week.

I didn’t roll too much on monday – toe slightly purple and all, but I just couldn’t quite stay off the mats. Came in, watched at 10, then did a massage during the 11:30 class. Then I went to work.

Tuesday was a bit more hands on. I rolled a bit at 10 – really went after it, then took class at 11:30 as well. We drilled working the mousetrap series, then sparred a bit. I went with Javi (purple neutron star) – he said he would only defend. Made me work! Love it!

After that I rolled with one of our pro fighters, Luke. He’s a solid wrestler for sure, but I’ve got a black belt in wiggle – so good match!

I ended rolling with Omar (purple spider). I got a good rolling lecture from him about always turning to face him if I’m in side control. After class he pulled me aside and put me through a few drills of frame, bridge into him, hip out, reguard, etc. Much needed. Gotta love the basics!

I scarfed down some black beans with salsa during no gi class. Then I drilled some more with Omar. He was trying to teach me a berimbola back take – apparently the inversion is the hard part, which I do easily. The kick is where I had trouble. Several of the guys were circled up trying to instruct me through it, so I kept at it. Honestly, I’d rather drill our de la riva x-pass. Don’t see myself really using that back take on a regular basis, although it is really cool looking and fun when you do it right.

That is all. Tomorrow is another day!

Man this has been a mad crazy training week! 8 min rounds and all!

Today is my last heavy hitting training day before the tournament on Saturday. I’m starting off with a private lesson with my coach – he’s gonna iron out the wrinkles in my game plan.

There were supposed to be 6 of us going, but I’ve determined this tournament to be cursed. Our two top guys are notorious procrastinators and did not get registered in time – they closed registration a day early and I could just pinch their heads. One of the guys popped something really badly in his knee last week, and another one pulled his groin. So that leaves myself and doc purple belt as the healthy ones going. The broken members are still competing – it’s a mixture of stupidity and drive. We’re all a bit like that I’m afraid.

Well, hopefully I’ll avoid getting injured pre-tournament as well! Off I go!

Man I feel like it has been forever since I wrote something down! Been so busy getting my office pulled together and training like mad!

I decided that I’m not gonna continue the weight cut to feather for Atlanta next Saturday. I think it’s definitely possible to do, but:

I’ve competed at lightweight up until now, and killed it.

I haven’t had the stamina to train as hard as I’d like to on such a low carb diet.
The protein I have to buy (because of my gluten/soy/dairy allergies) is insanely expensive.

I want to focus more on training, and less worrying about making weight.

I made that decision last Wednesday – boy did I time that just right! Ate a good dinner that night, and breakfast Thursday morning. Went in to train at 10 and coach had clicked into evil mode for the day’s training. 8 min rounds with 1 min rest in between – with coach pairing us up pretty equally in skill/size. 3 people threw up, and I almost made 4. It was awesome! I staggered through the 11:30 class as well, my legs were majorly shaking.

At 5, we had a repeat of 10. I got paired off with our small, gum chewing black belt. He worked me over really well. Then I got hip tossed quite solidly by our purple neutron star (who is also a judo black belt). I alternated between those two for the class duration.

I drilled in the no-gi class at 6, but only sparred 1 round. Then I participated in the 7:15 class.

I might have overdone it a bit…

Anyhow, it’s been a whirlwind of training up through Tuesday. I was in a pretty fragile mental state (sleep deprivation and family stress), so that made me more physically fragile. In short, I got very well thrashed yesterday – to the point that coach banned me from rolling for today.

It sucked, but my body was grateful. He promised to beat a bit on me tomorrow. Yay! I did 3 massages at the gym today as well, just because I was there. If that’s any indicator of how it’s gonna go, I’m quite pleased!

This warrior is going to bed!

I am wishing now that I hadn’t done that tournament on Saturday.

Why? Because I just can’t handle the attention I’m getting from everyone over it! I wish we could just forget about it, move on, and train like usual minus the “she’s too good for us” and “she thinks she’s all that now” comments.

It feels really good to accomplish something I set out to do, but having attention called to it during line ups makes me wanna run and hide.

First off, props to the UGF! That was the best run tournament I’ve yet participated in! Everything was on time and very well organized!

I was slightly nervous about making weight since my female hormones were rearing their ugly heads this week – I bloat really badly and will usually gain 4-5 pounds in just a few days. I managed to weigh in with 2 lbs to spare however – yay!

Coach’s directions were “don’t fuck around!”. My Marine brother went with me to cheer me on for morale support.

I’ve never had my gi inspected before at a tournament, so that was a new experience – and I passed just fine.

We had no shows in my gi weight class, so it ended up just being myself and one other girl – so we decided to do 2 out of 3, just so we could roll more.

First round: I got a lapel and sleeve then pulled guard pretty quickly. I closed and locked my guard pretty quickly and dove for the cross choke. I got the first hand in deep right away, but was having problems getting the other one in solidly so I just held on. She rolled a couple times (giving me mount points in process) – then in mount I put my head to the mat and windshield wiped my arm across her neck. She went completely out and the ref pulled me off.

That was my first choke out! Yay! She woke up suddenly, fairly disoriented, asking “what just happened!?” – she said she was having a very nice dream.

Second round: we rested for 5 mins then went at it again. She tried to dive for a single leg takedown and I locked in an arm in guillotine while standing then pulled her down into my guard. She rolled a few times trying to get out, and I wasn’t sure I had it since I’ve never gotten that choke before. I swung one leg up in preparation to go for a triangle in case she got out, but then she tapped. Whole process was done in under a minute.

So that got me gold in my gi division and I sat down to rest until the absolute division started.

There were 7 people in the white belt absolute division. I have to wait for my brother to email me the videos to remember what exactly happened but I’ll break down what I remember.

First round:
I got her turtled and managed to get a hold of a cross lapel grip before putting in my hooks and taking her back. I went for a gi choke from back but she was defending my second lapel grip very well and was able to get her shoulders to the mat. I kept the grip I had and turned it into a no gi ezekiel type choke and got the tap.

Second round:
By far my favorite roll of the night! She was very quick and put me in guard right away, and started working to break my posture. She went after the armbar when I foiled a triangle attempt, I managed to spin out of the armbar and go to guard. She passed my guard and got side control, I reverse elbow escaped out. We had a scramble in which I managed to lock in an inverted triangle and a kimura grip. It was then just a matter of getting the angle right for the shoulder lock and tap.

Third round: (finals)
I don’t remember how it happened, but I ended up caught in a really tight side control. She was going after an armbar setup and went to mount when she wasn’t able to get it. I spent the rest of the time avoiding arm attacks and lost via points. Props to this chick too! She was a good opponent!

2nd place in Gi Absolute! It’s my first time ever doing absolute and I am quite pleased.

My opponents didn’t show up for my no gi division, so I was awarded 1st place for showing up and did an exhibition match for the fun of it. She won by points – I really need to work on no gi grips.

In absolute it was a very small group. I went up against the same person who beat me in gi finals. She locked in a kimura from mount and I tapped before she cranked it, I watched the video and can say I did the right thing – I wasn’t getting out of that one!

Ended up with 2nd place in No Gi Absolute.

All together I was very pleased with my accomplishments. As far as team points go, I was able to get 3rd place in Gi, and 2nd place in No Gi.

My coach called me during a break from a seminar he was teaching – when I told him that I won 2nd place overall team, I could hear how proud he was to yell that to all the people at his seminar.

I was very impressed with the quality of Jiu Jitsu that each of my opponents had! Nice to know there are other girls out there who train hard as well! I made new friends and learned more about my strengths and weaknesses. Can’t wait to train more! Off of the plane, and back to the pain!

Well I just got back from training with my friend at Eddie Bravo’s school in Burbank. It was great fun! I definitely need to work on some more no gi techniques when I get home!

I was a bit lost with some of the opening drills – but I really liked this one back take which I’m gonna attempt to describe it. I’m starting standing while my opponent is on their butt.

I grab their left wrist with my right hand and pin it to their left hip.

Front roll over them, on my left shoulder, while left hand locks in a kimura on their left hand.

I land on my left side with the kimura locked, legs straight – keeping their arm down by their hip.

They’ll try to roll toward you, and that’s when you swing your legs down for a back take.

It’s called a rolling kimura back take. Not sure how clear that was, but it’s enough to refresh my memory.

Did a lot of butterfly guard sweep drills. I was scolded for: A. Not sitting up in guard (“this isn’t gi where you can be lazy like that!”), B. Not snapping to the clinch position immediately.

Honestly, coach’s scoldings are a lot scarier than Eddie’s.

Anyhow, never worked with butterfly guard before. Learned some good stuff! Rule #1, must be sitting upright when clinched!

Can’t wait to give this stuff a go ’round!

Anyhow, I rolled a bit with my old team mate but she had to sit out afterward so I found a large guy who was up for a couple rounds. Not sure about ranks since it’s all no gi, but my friend thinks he was a purple belt. He was really good to roll with – no ego so he wasn’t trying to crush me.

He declared me to be “strong, athletic, and flexible”. Yay! Don’t know how to describe the roll, other than really fun.

Got a picture with Eddie afterward – he asked me if I was hooked and going for my black belt. Told him it’s like crack to me and that I train more than I actually work. Got a fist bump for that answer.

Thus concludes the training part of my vacation. They just posted the registrant list for the tournament on Saturday. There are about 30 ladies all together competing. Most of the lightweights are blue belts or in the senior division – so I’m only gonna have a few matches. Brackets go up tomorrow so I’ll know for sure then.