As we’ve all tried to adjust to what the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ‘scene’ looks like during a global pandemic, I had the great pleasure of interviewing April Parks. She is a BJJ Black Belt out of Syracuse, New York and founder of Grappling Getaways: grappling camps with world-class Jiu Jitsu […]
To say that lockdown hasn’t been easy would be a severe understatement. Even as some communities have begun to reopen, one of the hardest parts continues to be the isolation, particularly from the practice and community of BJJ. For me, not having BJJ as an outlet and as an […]
“You’re off to class again? How often do you have to go? Why don’t you try something safer?” an anxiety-prone mother asked her 30-year-old adult daughter. Do you have friends, family, coworkers, or loved ones who simply do not understand? They have never walked in your footsteps, or rather, pulled […]
Often in life, people want to reinvent themselves from the ground up, but very few achieve that. Many of us struggle with darker parts of ourselves which hold us back from becoming the person we want to be. However, this isn’t the case with Danielle Walker, a blue […]
Remember a few months ago when you were complaining about that dude at the gym who kept smashing you? How many of us are now thinking, wow, I wish I had appreciated super smashy dudes while I still had the ability to go to class. I wish I had relished […]
With the rollercoaster that is 2020, it is easy to forget that June is LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) Pride month. During this time, we reflect on LGBTQ history and celebrate the progress we have made. Pride takes place in June and honors the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. […]
Imagine that you’re seriously injured and can’t do what you love–jiu jitsu– for at least six months. You wonder how you’ll get through those long months of not training. You finally get back on the mats and then bam. Covid-19 closes the gym for the foreseeable future. It happened to […]
For those of us in the Jiu Jitsu community, we have all by now seen that many layers which we have fallen in love with, one way or another. We all have different sizes, backgrounds, lifestyles, and genders just to name a few. There is also a group within […]