On March 30th (2010) I competed in my first tournament as a 6-month white belt. I faced a black belt.
There were so few women competing back then that we didn’t have belt divisions. It was the trials for Abu Dhabi pro in Montreal and the venue felt huge and intimidating. For some reason I had a sort of naive confidence despite being terrified. A strange dichotomy, I know.
I don’t know why I insisted on pulling guard, probably because I had do...
Any competitive sport brings on strong emotions. In jiu-jitsu, those emotions are compounded by the intense physicality of the sport and the fact that it creates positions that are uncomfortable, if not painful. Training in this sport can be extreme and difficult and requires a certain mental toughness, which means training while dealing with a mental illness can be even more taxing. A mental illness adds a level of stress to the experience.
T...