Shelbie FujiShelbie is an advocate for Female empowerment and and encourages personal growth both mentally and physically resulting in strong, independent women! She is also a cosmetologist and has been for 25 years, though chooses to only work on her family now. She is the mother of 5 beautiful daughters, 4 of whom are Black Belts with West Coast World Martial Arts, a Mixed Martial Arts system. Shelbie also holds a 3rd degree Black Belt in the WCMA system. Her 2nd oldest daughter has two children and helps run the academy.
Shelbie trains Jiu-Jitsu under her Professor George Fujii and RCJ Machado Jiu Jitsu. George is also her Fiancé. Together they own WCMA and RCJ Machado BJJ in Gardnerville, Nevada which has been around for 30 years. She is currently a brown belt and has been on her quest for better Jiu-Jitsu for 8 years now, though she started training with George 3 years before she started working on her progression.
Shelbie has had multiple setbacks on her journey with some serious health issues but with dedication, perseverance and being completely unwilling to quit. She is still on the mat and heads up a thriving female program! She has learned along the way that if you want to be successful you will find a way and if you aren’t driven to that success, you will find an excuse.
“Jiu Jitsu is one of those beautiful things where adaptation leads to success”, she says! She is not a competitor and believes that anyone can be a formidable Jiu-Jitsu player without competing! “Competing is for those that are physically able and enjoy it, I am among those that are not physically able. We are all on an individual path not to be compared with another!” Though Shelbie did compete early on, with her health concerns, competing quickly became something she would not be able to continue, at which point she decided she could help create amazing Jiu-Jitsu students and competitors and now gets to live vicariously through her friends, team, and students while leading them to success competitively and on a day to day basis. Shelbie exclaims that’s an extremely rewarding place to be!!
“I love Girls in Gis (GIG) and all of the amazing women I’ve met as a result of this organization!! Truly a community of its own and what GIG provides for females all over is remarkable and something I am proud to represent”!!
Lindsey ‘Tiny’ Boston
Lindsey a brown belt under Jason Swanson of Charles Gracie Sparks stumbled across jiu-jitsu by accident when attempting to attend a fitness class. As sexual assault survivor, she was drawn in by the self-defense aspect. She started officially training in August of 2013, along with her children who she loves sharing the mats with and refers to as her favorite training partners. After 2 short months of training, she competed in her first tournament and hasn’t stopped. It was clear to her early on that there is a vast difference between sport jiu-jitsu and self-defense jiu-jitsu. Now a brown belt, she has feels she has come to a place where she can train jiu-jitsu from a self-defense aspect and apply it to competition successfully.However, her passion for jiu-jitsu goes far beyond the competition mats. She is an extremely passionate and active advocate for women’s jiu-jitsu.
“Jiu Jitsu has been such a gift in my life, a tool that has given me my power back and I want to share that gift with as many other women as possible. The journey hasn’t always been easy but has always been worth it! My goal is to continue growing and learning as much as I can and give back to others, encourage other women and inspire them to find their true strength.”