Competitions

After competing, and not getting very far at the English open in November 2012. I got a little taste for it. The buzz is amazing. The great thing is, you can have a fight and you don't get bashed up as much as you do in kickboxing or muay Thai. Before I went to brazil in February I signed up for the GTTG no Gi competition. I trained in brazil, but only while I was in Rio. Once I got back I had 2 days to get myself together and remind myself of the techniques I knew. The day of the competition was upon me and I was in a bit of a state. I don't show nerves, but they were rife inside me. I put on my Paul McKenna cd on my iPod for confidence and it calmed me down a lot. I was the only female from Carlson Gracie team competing, so there was a lot of pressure on me. I had cut weight for e comp so that I could fight under 60kg, but in most female comps, you never know who you are going to get on the day and both my opponents were a lot heavier than me. I fought a girl maz first, and won on points. She then fought a girl who I had fought and lost to in K1. Maz lost, so I was to fight Jodie in the final. It was a great fight, but I made a few mistakes. I think that she thought I wouldn't be as good as I was and I certainly gave her a run for her money. Jodie ended up winning, but I was happy with my performance. I gor a silver medal for my effort. The next competition was also no Gi. It was the TUFF grappling competition in Gillingham in Kent. My only opponent was Clarissa Thompson, an MMA fighter with 4 years experience to my 7 months at the time. I didn't win the fight, Clarissa got my back and I had no choice to tap to her rear naked choke to my jaw. In April, as a team we went to Cardiff in Wales to compete at the Welsh open. I was fought a bigger girl who was merged in to the lower division as there wasn't anyone in hers. It was a good fight, but I forgot a few things and eventually got her in a triangle that I held for ages. I let it go, and then she passed my guard and she scored the only 2 points of the fight. I fought another girl Danielle Roberts. That too was a good fight, but she scored 1 advantage and won the match. I went home from Wales with no medal, but it was a good learning curve. A few weeks later I competed in a small women only competition in Camberley. I lost my first fight to the girl who went on to win gold, and fought Angela, who I fought in the English open as my first competition. It was a boring fight, but I won! I took Bronze that day. In May I went to Birmingham for the British open. I was excited about the comp and had trained hard for it. Took on board that I needed to be more aggressive, so I was, and when it came down to the fight, I forgot everything. I lost the fight on decision. Sonya went on to loose the next fight, but she took Bronze. I was gutted :( There was a lot that I learned from that, and one thing was to listen to Sarah. She's a champ and she knows what she's talking about. In June I went with the team down to Bournemouth. My nerves were driving me nuts so I had to go in my car and listen to my Paul McKenna cd for confidence again and chill out. I felt ok, still nervous, but they were unr control. My first fight was with a girl called Emma. I jumped guard as I planned to and won the fight on points. My second fight was with Danielle who I fought in Wales. I pulled guard and wasn't expecting her posture to be so good. I guess when I train hard and get better, so do my opponents. It was a great fight for gold and very exciting to watch. I was pleased with my performance and even though I lost on points, I was pleased to have won silver in the competition. It was a great day for Carlson Gracie as we won numerous medals and also the team trophy for 1st place. My last competition for a few months was entered on a whim. I thought I'd have a go at the tuff grappling challenge again as it was free to enter for ladies. They also had a girl in my division and I knew that I had a good chance to win gold. When I got there the girl had pulled out due to sickness and the only girl who was willing to take the fight with me was in the more advanced division and had already submitted her opponents. So I fought her. She was really tough! I gave her a run for her money though and ended up going the full distance of the fight with her. She won with 6 points to my 2 points. I was pleased with my result, even though it wasn't gold, I learned a lot from that fight and what I need to work on. No more competitions now until September, so just spending the summer training like an animal. Jolie Geronimo will be going for Gold this autumn. :)

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Journey - The beginning

It's coming up for a year that I have been training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. My friend Kerry introduced it to me at a womens open mat. It was something different and I wanted to try it. In March 2011 I received my Kickboxing black belt, and had mastered (almost) stand up fighting techniques. So I wanted to learn to fight on the ground. For most, when a fight goes to the ground it's over, but in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu it's just the beginning.

It took me a while to fit BJJ in to my schedule as I still loved training in Kickboxing and Muay Thai and I was trainig for a K1 fight. I managed one class a week and 6 private lessons with Kerry and our coach Alain on the lead up to the English Open competition.

I lost my K1 fight after months of hard training. I was pretty down about it, so I put a lot of time and effort in to BJJ. There was something addictive about it and I couldn't put my finger on it. Learning something new is always quite a buzz and when it clicks in to place, the buzz feels so much stronger.

My first competition in BJJ was to see how I would do and go for the experience. I didn't win, I lost both fights on advantages and points, but looking back, I didn't know anything, but it was still great fun.

I came back from the comp and learned more, trained an extra day and stopped muay thai.

I had got the jits!