May 25th, 2010
News
Hey Everyone,
Christian Simamora, a contributing reporter for the fightworks podcast recently came to visit Tati Garcia and I at Marcelo's Academy in NY. It was a follow up interview to a 2 part story they were doing on training perpectives from high level female BJJ practitioners. The first part aired the week previously with the very well respected Letitica Ribero and her talented student Beatriz Mesquita. This week's interview profiles Tati Garcia, who was a very fomidable competitior in Brazil before managing and directing Marcelo's Academy, and myself. We discuss our training relationship and describe some of the difficulties and successes we've expereinced in BJJ. I also speak a bit about the upcoming Women's Grappling Camps and some new intitiatives we're focusing on.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts Tatiana Garcia and Emily Kwok
(Pic: FightworksPodcast.com)
WARNING: There is a lot of laughing...I guess we're happy. lol
Also, 'What I Know Now About Success' is finally out!
I have copies for purchase available for $18.00 (plus shipping if you need it). You can also check your local bookstore or order it online. It's a little surreal to see your name in a book! Great fun, lots of amazing stories and I'm really grateful to have been included. If you know a young woman who may benefit from hearing some life lessons expereinced by some of todays most hard working, high profile and fearless ladies, check it out.
Training
I thought I'd died and gone to BJJ purgatory last night. Not exactly heaven cause I've still got a lot to work out, lol. I should've taken a picture of myself after training my last round with Marcelo. I was a victim of exhausting, but excellent training. The studio was extremely hot and stuffy. I wasn't sure if it was the weather or the fact that we had tons of people in class, probably a combination of both...but it made for strenuous training conditions. The last 20 seconds of my last round I was attempting to attack Marcelo's arm for an armbar (he's truly freakishly strong) and he tells me to look at the clock and try to finish before the time ran out. I think my cheering section consisted of Paul Schreiner (awesome new instructor) and some students, all telling me how much time I had left and pushing me for the finish. I think I finished (meaning Marcelo probably felt I tried hard enough, lmao) with about 2 seconds to spare. He defended and I tried just about every offense for the defense that I knew...and at the end I was totally spent. I drank a bottle of gatorade, water and coconut juice within 30 min, and I think I'm still dehydrated. I think normal people would think you'd be crazy to enjoy such a torturous workout, but I've come to love these insane sessions.
A hard class in BJJ is like the expereince I get riding a roller coaster. At first I'm a little afraid, but know that I want to get on. Once I'm strapped in, there's no turning back, and after I'm done, all I want to do is go back and ride it over and over again!
April 16,2010
Hey Everyone,
The long and cold winter froze up my website. Sorry for the lack of updates. lol
Much has been changing in my life, all for the better though!
Big things are on the horizon and I'm looking forward to the new challenges that lie ahead. It's been a difficult ride since I won the Worlds in 2007, but I've learned so much from my experiences and I'm in a great place now.
Now for some updates:
Upcoming Seminars
If you're in or around Parker, Colorado, I'll be doing a seminar for Women (Beginners and Advanced) at the Grand Opening of Authentic Brazilian Jiu Jitsu! This will be a great occasion and we're all very proud of our friends Joe and Tchoumba for expanding the community of BJJ. This will take place on May 15th. Please see the flyer below for details. Registration will be handled through Authentic Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Women's Grappling Camp
If you haven't heard... Women's Grappling Camp will be doing a mini seminar in Richmond, VA June 26-27. Our newly crowned Pan Am 2010 Champ Val Worthington and I will be leading a weekend of training, comraderie and workshops. For those of you who can't get enough, a full camp is in store the week of August 23-27 back on my side of the border, in Toronto, Canada.
Promotions
I recently had the honor of promoting some very hard working students at Martial Maxx MMA last night (April 15, 2010). Stripes were awarded to Justyna Miler, Alex Huertas and Penny Teo. Gabby Catania and Lori Egan were promoted to their Yellow Belts and Mara DaSilva and Maritza Alvarado were also awarded their Blue Belts!
Amazing work ladies!
I couldn't be prouder of the group of women who have dedicated so much of themselves to our program and helping each other. They are all a beautiful representation of everything great about this sport.
Competition and Training
I am gearing up to compete at the Mundials!
I'm really excited about this as it's been a long time since I felt mentally and emotionally sound enough to get back out there. I'd like to thank Team Balance and the Migliarese brothers for helping me get back on my feet, as well as Tati and Marcelo Garcia, Josh Waitzkin and the Marcelo Garcia Academy for providing me with incredible training and guidance. If you don't know about Marcelo's wife Tati, please find out! She is a gem and having her as a resource, training partner and friend is invaluable. She is a knowledgable Black Belt and a very genuine and kind person.
I am in the midst of training hard and getting ready for a rough month and a half!
I haven't been this excited about learning and training in years. I am incredibly inspired by the mentors and friends I have around me and I have to thank my husband Gerry for pushing me to establish those relationships and keep me moving forward.
Other News
"Ellyn Spragins, editor of the New York Times bestseller What I Know Now™ and If I’d Known Then, has a new book coming out in May—What I Know Now About Success.
For this new book, I drafted a letter to my younger self and offered guidance to help fulfill my own personal dreams and desires. What I Know Now About Success contains letters from dozens of remarkable women, including Barbara Walters, Kate Spade, Bobbi Brown, Soledad O'Brien, Suze Orman and more. It's a huge honor to know that I'm included on this list of inspirational women. I certainly have much more work to do so that I can earn my keep! What I Know Now About Success offers an unparalleled glimpse into the personal lives of extraordinary women and will stoke the innate ambition and resolve hidden inside every reader.
I'd really like to thank Shannon Schuster for keeping me in her thoughts and creating this wonderful opportunity. I had a vision a long time ago that I would love to find a way to help empower myself and those around me. This is a landmark in my career thus far and will hopefully lead to additional projects both inside and outside my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community.
It was also a goal of mine to find a way to introduce the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to a more mainstream audience so that I could help expose the sport to more women. I couldn't have wished for a better way to communicate to them.
Life works in funny ways. I suppose as a child I daydreamed about stuff like this, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would actually happen! There are many mentors, friends, family and coaches to thank for helping me achieve my goals.
Thank you to everyone who has influenced me and helped me become a stronger and better person. I hope you enjoy the book!
For more information on the What I Know Now™ series, visit: LettersToMyYoungerSelf.com & Twitter.com/EllynLetters To order the book: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/What-I-Know-Now-About-Success/Ellyn-Spragins/e/9780738213538."
Female grappling camp in Cali a success article.
by Graciemag Newsroom — March 15, 2010.
By Valerie Worthington. Photo by Emily Kwok.
On January 25, 2010, 30 female grapplers met at Big John McCarthy’s Ultimate Training Academy (http://www.bjmuta.com) in Valencia, CA, for the third semi-annual women’s grappling camp (http://www.womensgrappling.org). Led by black belts Felicia Oh and Emily Kwok and brown belt Valerie Worthington, all of whom are competition tested and decorated, the camp was the brainchild of Oh’s student Alaina Hardie. “I envisioned a situation in which women could train, troubleshoot, lead, and instruct each other in a non-competition setting,” Hardie commented,
noting that typically, any woman who trains finds very few, if any, other women at her academy, making it potentially more intimidating and more difficult to gauge progress realistically.
Hardie floated the idea of the camp by Oh, an instructor at BJMUTA, who enlisted the help of her long-time friend and training partner Worthington, who also trains and teaches grappling in Southern California, at New Breed Academy in Santa Fe Springs
(http://www.newbreedacademy.com). Oh then reached out to Kwok, who trains and teaches in New Jersey, to round out the leadership of the camp. “I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into,” Kwok states. “But after three sessions, it’s clear that this camp changes lives.” Oh comments, “We thought for the first camp we’d get 10 people. But eventually we had to cap it at 30. Then the second time, we had to cap it again. And the third time around, we just went with it and realized we were on to something bigger than we had anticipated.”
For the week-long camp, women from all over the United States and Canada came
together at BJMUTA, where the inaugural session was held in February 2009. The second session was held at MECCA in Toronto in August 2009.
Campers experienced full days that included gi and no-gi technique and training sessions run by Oh, Kwok, and Worthington, as well as strength and conditioning classes; lectures on nutrition, wellness, teambuilding and coaching; and round table discussions that reflect the instructors’ belief that jiu jitsu is about life.
Campers discussed the challenges they face as women who train, and shared reality checks about whether those were issues unique to women, or whether they were issues that all grapplers face, regardless of gender. Depending on their experience level, they learned techniques, took opportunities to teach and lead, and pushed themselves in the sport they have grown to love.
“The camp was never about excluding men,” Worthington asserted. “I know I speak for Emily and Felicia when I say that whatever success we have had in grappling is directly attributable to our mostly male instructors and training partners.” And all three are grateful for the education, support, and friendship they have received from these men. What the camp does do is help women feel empowered to go back and make a positive contribution to other grapplers, both female AND male, in their own corner of the grappling world.
The camp has become bigger than the women who come to it, as evidenced by the people who have stepped up to support it. Big John McCarthy made the first and third camps possible by opening his academy to the campers. Similarly, Mark Stables, who runs MECCA, welcomed campers to Toronto last summer and will be hosting again this coming August. Multiple time Pan-American and world champion Lucas Leite, when he heard about the camp, offered to come and show the campers some
of his competition-tested techniques. Sponsors for the camp who have donated gear, supplements, products, and clothing to the campers include Dr. Smoothie, Ouano International, Precision Nutrition, Athletic Body Care, Lightforce Greens, Genuine Health, Nutrition Club, Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear, REDSTAR, Bang Fitness, Catfight Gear, and Toraki. Participants’ training partners, significant others, and friends have asked about how they can get involved. Oh, Kwok, Worthington, and Hardie plan to continue the camps and expand their vision to include mini-camps, seminars,
and co-promotion with tournaments, demonstrating that developing the leadership potential of women in grappling can positively influence grappling in general.
For further information on the women’s grappling camp, refer to http://www.womensgrappling.org.
Halloween Seminar 2009
Emily will be teaching a seminar for women on Saturday, October 31st from 3:00-6:00 pm. She will share techniques on how to control and dominate your opponent from the top, as well as some offensive techniques from the open and spider guard. In addition to the instructional aspect of the seminar, she will also work with attendees on training with more efficiency, the power of visualization, and tools that will bring more awareness to your game.
The seminar is open to females of all levels and teams and will be hosted at Balance Studios in Philadelphia, PA.
The pre-registration fee will be $40.00 if registered before 11:59pm EST on Saturday, October 24th. Registrations the final week or day of will be $50.00 (cash only on day of).
108-114 S Bonsall Street
(between 23rd & 24th & Sansom)
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215.636.9661
Registration is now closed