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BJJ For Women

~ Women's BJJ Blog: Interviews, Jiu- Jitsu Events and All Things Fenom

BJJ For Women

Tag Archives: jiu-jitsu para mujeres

BJJ Sisters Colombia

15 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by fenomkimonos in Fenomenal Women, Women's BJJ

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

alliance bogota, bjj colombia, bjj sisters, dominyka obelenyte, fenom kimonos, jiu-jitsu para mujeres, purple belt, sophia drysdale, women's bjj

marcela2Marcela Sánchez Rodriguez is a purple belt from Alliance Jiu-Jitsu Colombia and the co-founder of BJJ Sisters, the first women’s jiu-jitsu community in Colombia.

She is a 28-year-old graphic designer currently working in Bogotá. She describes herself as a responsible adult for two dogs, a little sister of two, a frustrated singer, a travel enthusiast, and a BJJ lover living right in front of the academy. Everyone meet Marcela!

You are one of the highest ranked women in Colombia. How did you find jiu-jitsu?

About four years ago I was at a new job that allowed me to have free time which is an unusual feature in a graphic designer’s life here in Bogotá. During those days a friend introduced me to the UFC world and I was just fascinated; I started asking about kick-boxing academies until I was finally referred to Octagon MMA which in my opinion is the greatest MMA Academy in Colombia.

They offered fantastic classes: MMA, boxing, bag work, fitness, wrestling and BJJ. I was exuberant thanks to the amazing teachers, the classes and the transformation of my body. I was happy about everything but jiu-jitsu. I remember, doing the best to understand how BJJ worked but as it is in real life, it is better if you just go with the flow.

The time passed by, I kept training and one day I met Carlos Quintero, the new Alliance Colombia instructor. He arrived with an amazing energy and a strong character; every move, drill or technique that he taught me became a challenge, and that was the major reason I fell in love with BJJ. I decided to be my instructor’s shadow and then my life took a big turn, from my neighborhood to my daily routine. Nowadays I just cannot imagine myself without jiu-jitsu.

Have you always trained at Alliance? How many other teams are there in Bogotá?

Alliance Colombia has been my academy since my first BJJ class. I have great teachers as Carlos Quintero and Giovanni Espinosa. Both are brown belts, very supportive and great team partners. We are all under Juan Miguel Iturralde, a black belt from Alliance Samborondon, Ecuador.

Here, we have plenty of academies: Gracie Barra, Octagon Jiu-Jitsu, Ultimate Fighting Club, 300 MMA, Wolfteam, etc. But I strongly recommend everyone planning to visit Bogota, to join us at Alliance Colombia. We are one of the strongest, most talented and happiest teams in the country.

Do you like to compete? Do you have enough tournaments in Colombia or do you have to travel far for BJJ competitions?

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I love to compete. It involves a lot of hard work and mental preparation. When you compete anything can happen and everything is a lesson. I always get super anxious during the tournament day. It is not an easy situation but I truly enjoy the experience because it teaches me a lot, not only as an athlete but as a human being as well.

I always try to attend every tournament in Colombia. However, I’m a big girl by my country’s standards, a fact that does not help when the time to build brackets comes. That is why I decided to compete in the IBJJF NYC Open last year, getting the 2nd place in blue belt heavy weight class and fighting for the first time in an international tournament. My last competition was three weeks ago at the Abu Dhabi Trials in Ecuador. That was my first step as a brand new purple belt and although I got the first place in my category, I couldn’t make it for the open class. Again, just an experience in this beautiful journey and a new lesson from an endless path.

You are one of the founders of BJJ Sisters. Tell a little bit more about this group and what have you accomplished so far? 

bjjsisters

BJJ Sisters is a beautiful project created with my friend Liliana Arias who is also a very talented BJJ practitioner in Colombia. We went to a Female BJJ Camp in Mexico City in 2014, invited by Itzel Bazúa, a brown belt from Mexico.

The camp was led by Sophia Drysdale and Mackenzie Dern. Being there and training with other women made us feel ready to empower the ladies from our city and country to join the BJJ life style.

We started about a year ago with the group and it has been growing really fast. For me, the greatest accomplishment is that BJJ Sisters now is seen as a strong reference for women’s BJJ in Colombia.

Do you see yourself training 10 years from now? Do you teach and do you want to teach BJJ in the future?

I absolutely see myself training not only 10 years from now but for the rest of my life. I have been teaching since my blue belt with the BJJ Sisters project and now my teachers are calling me as a support instructor when they cannot come to the academy. I feel really comfortable and joyful sharing my knowledge and seeing how the team grows together.

Who is your favorite black belt? Who would you like to learn from if you had a chance?

My favorite black belt is Dominyka Obelenyte. I just adore the way she plays spider guard and open guard in general. I would love to join Sophia Drysdale’s classes again and I’ll look forward to doing it. I think that she has quite a unique and beautiful teaching style especially focused on women.

What do you want people to know about Colombia?

About Colombia… I feel really to proud to say that in spite of all the heavy and sad violence background, we have always been listed as one of the happiest places in the world. I believe that those statistics say a lot about the Colombian people who wake up every day, fight their own struggles and still have a big enough heart to keep a smile on their faces.

As Renzo Gracie’s said: “Everyone is fighting something,” and I feel absolutely sure that I was born in a fighters’ land.

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Fenomenal Woman Itzel Bazua

24 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by fenomkimonos in Fenomenal Women

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

itzel bazua, jiu-jitsu para mujeres, promahos jiujitsu, women's bjj, women's brazilian jiu jitsu

Women’s jiu-jitsu in Mexico is a very young sport. The highest ranked women are purple belts. One of the purple belts, Itzel Bazua, has big dreams. With limited resources but with lots of passion, she is taking the initiative to be the leader and bringing on the change. Everyone meet Itzel Bazua!

itzel1Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I was born and raised in Mexico City. I am a neurolinguist and have a Psychopedagogy Degree. I am the Director of the Family Resiliency Project which guides children with disabilities, and their families towards an independent and joyful lifestyle. I have a very strong academic background, I teach at a university and I’m an international congress speaker and advisor. I have grown and matured both in my academic activities and BJJ simultaneously, and I find many common grounds in both fields, especially  now that I’m working a lot with cerebral palsy, and the awareness and control over the body.

Right now I’m in the transition period. I have decided to dedicate most of my time to BJJ. I am teaching all female and kids’ classes at my house. This project is called Promahos Jiujitsu, and I hope to turn it into something big and meaningful.

You are one of the highest ranked female BJJ practitioners in Mexico. How did you get started?

I’m the second highest ranked but the highest ranked that is actively competing. I used to be a contemporary dancer but back in 2003 my school closed, and I had to look for another activity. A high-school friend told me a little bit about BJJ, and I was very interested. He loaned me a gi, and invited me to train. Since then I have had ups and downs but my love for the sport has only grown. I train at Escola Mente e Corpo Jiu Jitsu in Mexico City. We are affiliated with Team Brasa, and my instructor is Tomas Salgado, a black belt under Felipe Costa.

How has your training been so far? What have been the biggest obstacles?

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When I started training I liked BJJ but I did not feel comfortable in my school. I was the youngest, the smallest, and the only female. I felt like a little girl who was going to work with her father. Nobody took me seriously or practiced any technique with me properly. Some guys even said, let’s roll but because you are a girl, I will use one arm or let’s roll so I can warm up.

So I stopped training, and did not believe that I could achieve anything. In 2005 I went back to train. The friend who had introduced me to BJJ was now teaching. I suffered a bad sciatic nerve injury, and had to take some time off again but in 2007 I managed to fully return to training. Around that time I also met a purple belt, Tomas Salgado, who has now become a black belt and is my instructor. I cannot stress how thankful I am to him because he believed in me even when I did not. He pushed me until I started believing in myself. He supports me on and off the mat. Without him I don’t think I would have ever gotten past the white belt.

What have been the most rewarding moments?

The most rewarding moment was when I got my purple belt from Felipe Costa because it meant a lot of hard training and overcoming obstacles. Meeting all the incredible people in the BJJ community is pretty amazing too. I have friends all over the world! I met my boyfriend, Evans Merkouris, at the Brazilian Black Belt Camp in Greece. Something very important about this sport is that it forces you to grow in many aspects, human and intellectual. I believe that I am the person I am today because of BJJ.

Are there any opportunities for women to compete in Mexico?

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There are more and more opportunities every year. I have been competing since 2008 as much as my budget has allowed. Sadly, in my category there are never more than four girls, and it is a mix of blue and purple belts. The problem in Mexico is that BJJ is not a priority in many people’s budget. For example, in order to get to the  Brazilian Black Belt Camp, I had five jobs and sold many of my possessions. Most girls have different priorities and don’t compete much.

You are organizing the women’s camp with Mackenzie Dern. Tell us more about how you came up with that and why Mackenzie?

The camp was an idea inspired by my friend Keitha Bannan, the very first female black belt in New Zealand. She does an amazing job promoting the sport, and advised me through her experience. This event has the sole objective of promoting the sport in the female community. I met Mackenzie in Greece in 2011, we became good friends, and kept in touch. I admire her for many reasons but mainly because she trains very hard, is very technical, and has true love for the sport. When I told her about this project, she supported me completely.

livia

Unfortunately we had to postpone the first camp due to Mackenzie’s injury. She requires some time off from training, and we are working on new dates for the camp for 2014. It will be even bigger than the one we were planning for this year. I’m excited and wish Mackenzie a fast recovery.

However, this month we had pleasant surprise visitors from Australia. Purple belt world champion Livia Gluchowska and her boyfriend, Lachlan Giles, who is a black belt, spent a few days in Mexico City sharing their knowledge with us.

Have you had a chance to attend any women only training camps or seminars?

Unfortunately I have not been able to attend all female events abroad because of the budget constraints. I would love to go to the Inspire All Female Open Mat, and to any other events where all affiliations and associations are welcome. Hopefully we can have something similar here in Mexico soon as more women are starting to take interest in jiu-jitsu.

Anything else you would like to say?

I would like to just encourage any girl that has enough rank to try teaching, and helping other girls along the way. It is very rewarding! Many girls do not believe that this sport is for them but training with other girls is safe and fun!

Thank you, Itzel!

 

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