On the mat with Leticia and Beatriz :)

Was it just a dream?  Were we really on the mat with Leticia Ribeiro and Beatriz Mesquita?  Yes we were...and here are the pictures to prove it!

I went to Austin on Sunday to attend my very first women's jiu jitsu seminar.  I brought my friend and my daughter.  We had no idea what to expect because we had never been to a jiu jitsu seminar before.  It was above and beyond what we could have ever hoped for.  It was literally more than 3 hours of instruction and working technique.  I took a few notes and a few pictures, but the memories of this seminar will be with me forever.  We worked on takedowns, and spider guard sweeps and even some advanced x-guard stuff.  I even had the opportunity to work with Leticia once (yes, it's OK to be jealous)!  In class you usually only work technique for 10-20 minutes...we worked technique for more than 3 hours!!  We've all heard this before, but it warrants repeating, so I'm going to paraphrase what Leticia said in her beautiful Brazilian accent..."you must do the simple move over and over again...until it is reflex...until you have the simple move down, you cannot move on to the advanced move".  

The whole experience made me realize how important it is for us to train together as women.  A lot of us have built in training partners with our daughters or our friends.  Make the time to train together.  Go early, stay late, train at home, but train.  Today I sit here very tried, very sore, fingertips raw from gripping gis for 3 hours, but oh so happy.  I got the rare opportunity to share the mat with more than 30 ladies that were black belts and brown belts and purple belts and blue belts and white belts...ladies of all ages and shapes and sizes and backgrounds...and what a beautiful, breathtaking experience it was.  I do not think I could have come up with any better way to celebrate my one year anniversary with BJJ!  Now, someone please tell me, where's the next women's BJJ seminar? 

I could not end this post without a special shout out to Triin Seppel (owner of Fenom Kimonos) and Georgette Oden (whose blog I follow - Georgette's Jiu Jitsu World).  It was great to meet you ladies in person!  :)