Kaitlyn Nicolasa took Silver in the open weight today in her 1st tournament as a Blue Belt! Kaitlyn is the most easy going girl to roll with in class but, when she steps out on the tournament scene....BEAST MODE!! Kaitlyn started training in a class that I taught (intro to BJJ) a couple of years back when she was only 16. She puts in a lot of mat time and is VERY dedicated. It's been fun to watch Kaitlyn's BJJ game grow along with our friendship!
It's always great to see your teammates/friends perform well in a tournament. But, it especially rewarding to see them use things you showed them or helped them perfect! Today, two ladies that I have spent lots of mat time with, one for the past 2 years and the other for the past few months, did awesome today at the 6th Southwest Classic! Kaitlyn Nicolasa took Silver in the open weight today in her 1st tournament as a Blue Belt! Kaitlyn is the most easy going girl to roll with in class but, when she steps out on the tournament scene....BEAST MODE!! Kaitlyn started training in a class that I taught (intro to BJJ) a couple of years back when she was only 16. She puts in a lot of mat time and is VERY dedicated. It's been fun to watch Kaitlyn's BJJ game grow along with our friendship! Mechelle Perkins took Gold in her 1st tournament ever! Mechelle started training about 6 months ago, she is great at picking up techniques and as a former competitive gymnast, has a strong will to win! Mechelle has not only become a great training partner, she has become an amazing friend. I am so excited to be a part of her BJJ journey, that has only just begun, and very blessed to have her and her family in our lives! Sorry girls....but, I do have to say that the most exciting part of the weekend was watching my son take Gold in the Purple Belt lightweight division. Tyson had a tough bracket but, came home with the Bling! One of my other highlights today was seeing one of Tysons students, a little 8 year old girl, cheering on "Coach Tyson". It makes me so proud to see what a great job he is doing, not only as a competitor but as a teacher. Love you Tyson! Your going to do BIG things! Congrats to my little ladies who competed this weekend too! Haillee (who also got promoted to Yellow belt) Darby and Amelia! Amelia's Mom Robbie, also took Gold today in her 1st tournament! You girls are so awesome and I'm so happy to have you as my students, sponsored athletes and my friends!! <3
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Introducing Tarrah Baker, Just a Girls newest sponsored athlete! Tarrah is an extremely passionate jiu jitsu female practitioner, a wife of 14 yrs and a mother to two young men 18 and 13 and is a owner / operator with her husband at their own BJJ Academy as well as having certifications in a career in the medical field. Tarrah travels around the state of Michigan in many different communities to train with other practitioners. She started the Girlzilian Femjitsu group, which is an all female group she started a few years back to help support, and grow the jiu jitsu community in the tristate area that has 315 active members. She is the third highest ranked female in Michigan, a purple belt with three stripes under Master Joe Moreira. Tarrah has made Michigan history on several occasions by bringing in the highest level BJJ Champion practitioners for ALL FEMALE JIU JITSU SEMINARS. She has trained in some form of martial arts since 2006, achieving a black belt in traditional martial arts in Tang Soo Do in 2011. She has also practiced the art of a hybrid style of Muay Thai , Krav Maga and Pankration and was the lead sparing partner to a female fighter and 5th Degree Master for all her cage fights .Tarrah started training Jiu Jitsu in the mixed martial art aspect in late 2008. It was not until 2009 that she began to take Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and achieve rank. She now competes at the local level around Michigan and is really leaving her mark! Tarrah travels to train with the best that she can get her hands on, she has gone to Women's Grappling Camp several times, has taken private lessons from any female black belt that she could including Emily Kwok, Hannette Staack, Mackenzie Dern, and has worked one-on-one with many more names like Kris Shaw, Lana Stefanac, Val Worthington, Misty Shearer, and Lucianna Bassoli. Tarrah is always willing to help all of her sisters in arms to get competition ready by putting in many hours on the mat on weekends and after hours, putting together closed door sessions to help them. We, at "Just a Girl" are excited to be able to give back to this amazing woman who does so much for others! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Girlzilian-Femjitsu/209122059249515?fref=photo Hey Arizona friends!! As you may know, My Hubby and I are in the process of opening our own BJJ Academy in Surprise Arizona. During the build out, we are doing a little drilling and rolling at home. If your in this area contact me and come get in some FREE close to home BJJ lessons and rolls. If your new to BJJ and are considering giving it a try, this is a great opportunity to learn some basics before our school opens. Soon to be: De Boa Jiu Jitsu Academy
For the past 3 1/2 years I have trained jiu jitsu at Siege MMA/Lotus Club. I have experienced some great times, made some lifelong friends and grew my BJJ game. Although there are many people I will miss training with, I am very excited for this new chapter! In the next few months, Andrew and I will be opening the doors to our new BJJ Academy, De Boa in Surprise, AZ and opening the doors to a new season of our lives. De Boa will continue an affiliation with Lotus Club under Giva Santana so, although we won't be training with our usual teammates we stay united under Lotus Club. www.DeBoaBJJ.com De Boa means "chillin" in Portuguese and that's just what we plan to do. We have had a very busy, hectic year and we are looking forward to running a school that provides BJJ training in a relaxed environment that let's you escape from the stress of daily life while learning the art of jiu jitsu. It's time to move forward but, I do have some wonderful memories of the past 3 1/2 years that will remain in my heart! Thank you to all of you that have encouraged, helped and stood by my side for the White to Purple Belt stage of my journey! Remembering the good times I had at Siege makes me sad but, as most of you know this last year has not been the same there for me. I am leaving with ONLY the good times in my belt and leaving the bad in the past. Here's just a small glimpse at some the great and meaningful moments I experienced with my Lotus Club teammates. Last April, I had the opportunity to train out in Carlsbad CA. I was welcomed at Gracie Jiu Jitsu Carlsbad with open arms! The owners and members let me jump in to their Saturday Morning class. It was a great class and I ended up getting in 2 rolls with Brown Belt, Jennifer Recinos, 2014 Pan Am Champ! The owner Nick Stefan's wife, Staci was the only other female in the gym that day, unfortunately she had just suffered a torn ACL. Staci has just started a BJJ Blog to write about her ACL surgery, recovery, and getting back on the mat. I started reading through her blog today and I wanted to share. Staci is a mom of two boys, BJJ wife and a competitor. Lots of fun stuff!! Take a look, I'm sure you will enjoy.
http://www.bjjmama.com/ Just a Girl & Eminence Kimono are excited to announce the coming release of 2 new gis in the coming month! One for the ladies and one for kids. Sorry Men...your next though! check out www.eminencekimono.com for our men's products Here's a sneak peak of Eminence Kimonos "Lil Monster" designed by Kayla Reupenny (with help from Ben Perkins) AND.....Due to MANY requests, The Festival De La Vida in Black!! Thank you to ALL who have supported us & help us to continue to put out new products!
A few weeks ago "Just a Girl" held a contest for the next JAG Top Model!! Picking a winner was very tough!! So many adorable little fighters!! After some input from friends and sponsored athletes the winner is: Kalea Salvador Kalea will be featured on our FB, instagram and website! she has also won a pair of "Dream" spats and a "Foxy" T ! Congrats Kalea! And thanks for the adorable pictures! The day we arrived in Punta Cana we went straight to the pool, it was 3:00 in the afternoon and the crowd at the bar was well on their way to being wasted. We were immediately approached by a large drunk man who was lettin' it all hang out! He and his friend "That guy" seem to take a liking to us. They were accompanied by their equally smashed wives. Andrew and I, being completely sober spent the whole strange, slurred conversation trying to plan our escape. As we finally got away, we thought "It may be hard to find some cool people to hang out with, everyone is beyond the level of WASTED that we ever get!" So set the search for "Our Couple" As we strolled the pool we noticed other couples drinking, napping, dancing, reading, smoking, not speaking English etc... we laughed as we realized we were very picky (we don't smoke and don't drink too often). Some couples appeared too boring, too crazy, too drunk, too young or too old. We felt more like swingers on the search then just a fun but, not overly wild couple just looking for some interesting conversation and drinks with new friends. As the "Mama Juana" shots started to spread at the swim up bar, we got into "Vacation mode"! We ended up making several new friends from Canada, different areas of the US and Europe, all ages & nationalities. A new group of travelers came in daily so "our couple" changed daily as-well. We had a great time everyday and night and created life long memories and probably left an impact on many people we came in contact with as-well (some good, some maybe not so much) Andrew did tell a guy he had "nice nips" on one of our crazy days! And we had several occasions when someone looking vaguely familiar walked by and said "HEY!!!" All in all we wouldn't change a thing but, we are happy to be back home in our "non-drinking", "back to training" life!
To check out the Hubby's version of our honeymoon http://drewjitsu.com/honeymoon-punta-cana/ As much fun as it was honeymooning in The Dominican Republic this past week, I'm happy to be back home.
Aside from missing my family, friends and dogs, it's nice to have "American" food again, sleep in my own bed, and really relax! Going on Vacation, we all have the plan of relaxing, for Andrew & I that really just meant leaving business, stress of day to day life and the clock behind, which we did! But, "relax" we really didn't do much of. Being at an all inclusive it's very easy to have a drink in your hand at all times. Living the BJJ lifestyle, it's hard to drink very often (training with a hangover or dehydrated is not fun!) we go out for a beer about once a month so we we're definitely out of our comfort zone at the resort. We drank like we were 21 again....that is until about day 5 when we realized we weren't. We have been back for 2 days now and I still am not quit right! As we rode in on the shuttle to our hotel, we were warned of the popular local drink "The Mama Juana", we were told "write down your name and room number and give it to someone if you choose to try it. Well, we decided we should be adventurous and try it! And yes! we should have written down our name and room number. One shot of Mama Juana and you can easily become "that guy" which we did on a few honeymoon moments. (stay tuned for my next few blogs to hear about those moments) ;) We did spend some time on excursions, which was amazing....We toured the countryside of Punta Cana, rode horses, went scuba and snuba diving, participated in an Indian ritual and then some..... We did sit on chairs on the beach for a minute, floated on rafts in the pool and enjoy the beautiful weather of the Caribbean. We took a couple naps, went out to dinner every night and partied at the swim up bar. We met some BJJ peeps and spent an evening at a BJJ gym (which was like training in a sauna) but, an awesome experience rolling with the locals (who were very good btw). Enjoy the picks and stayed tuned for more of our fun adventures in The Dominican Republic! |
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