Growing up with Jiu-Jitsu

Being a parent is one of the most rewarding tasks in life. It most cases, it changes your life for the better. It challenges you to be responsible for someone other then yourself. From the moment you hold your child in your arms, your purpose is to protect and care for them. Growing up is an inevitable part of life, it is difficult yet gratifying to see them grow up. The feeling can be described as bitter-sweet. Both my boys are growing up so fast. The seven year old, although extremely free spirited, still depends on mom and dad. My oldest son is thirteen and his transition from child to independent teenager is starting to flourish. Most parents fear the teenage years. I know I drove my parents crazy, with numerous bad decision and I am sure my mother in  law has a private room in heaven raising my husband alone. There where times when the attitude and talking back from our son where driving us crazy, but other than that I feel we did a pretty good job with him. One thing is very clear as a parent, you don't want your child to make the same mistakes you made. We have taught him the importance of having God in his life and setting and keeping goals for himself. Jiu-Jitsu is a big part of our lives, so it is no surprise that it's a big part of his. Sports in general provide positive opportunities for kids, however, Jiu-Jitsu is more than a sport, its a lifestyle. Most teenagers want to go to the mall and hang out with their friends, mine wants to drill and grapple. I am extremely grateful to have an open relationship with him. The other day he was telling us how his friends from school where saying he didn't have a life. I was curious, what do you mean? why would they say that?  He said after school all the kids from the neighborhood hung out at the park and he never goes. He had never asked permission to go before, so I asked him if it was something he wanted to do. To my surprise he said, "No way mom, I'd rather be at the gym  training." Yes, I am a very proud mom. Jiu-Jitsu has transformed my once chubby,  not very confident little boy into an intrepid teenager with a healthy body, mind and soul.  He is a compassionate boy that looks out for his friends, parents and annoying little brother. Jiu-Jitsu has taught him the importance of winning and losing and how discipline and perseverance are the foundations to accomplishing your goals.

BJJ Changed My Life

It has been almost 3 and a half years since my journey in Jiu-Jitsu started. My only regret is not having trained when I was younger, even though you are never to old to start. I am a 35 year old mother of two awesome boys, and I happen to be married to my instructor. We have been married for almost fourteen years, so he was actually my husband before being my instructor. I met my husband when I was 14, we met in school in Ecuador. We have been friends for over two decades, but did not date until 1998. Anyone that has been married for more than 10 years, knows how hard marriage is. It is full of ups and downs, verbal fights, and emotional baggage. Four years ago, I felt lost in my marriage, there was a concrete wall building up between our communication. It was an unspoken feeling, we both felt bored, unhappy and our friendship of over twenty years was disappearing. I felt like I was drowning myself, working full time, going to school and trying to manage our new gym. I virtually had no time for myself or my family and my marriage was starting to fade. I few years back I had suffered from panic attacks when we moved to Ecuador and Yoga help me out. I figured since I owned an MMA/BJJ gym I should at least train to release my stress. I started with Muay-Thai and loved it, for some reason I was hesitant about training Jiu-Jitsu, it was always my hubby's thing. I thought he wanted to keep it as his personal time, as his "hobby," I didn't want to invade his space.  When I started Muay-Thai I felt physically better, but emotionally I was drained. I felt the only thing keeping our marriage together was our boys. From best friends to strangers in a few months. Marriage is like a plant, you have to water your plant daily, talk to it, make sure it receives enough energy, and our plant was dying. One day Raul asked me to stay for the Jiu-Jitsu class to partner up with a new student. He started the class with basic Gracie self defense techniques that I didn't know.I felt embarrassed, I owned the gym and didn't know basic self defense techniques. I actually liked the class and the next day I stayed for the Jiu-Jitsu class again. That night at the dinner table, I asked Raul to explain something about the technique we did that night. He smiled at me and said, "you are going to get bit by the Jiu-Jitsu bug and it doesn't go away." A month later I realized what he meant, I was bit and Jiu-Jitsu had invaded my soul. The change in our relationship wasn't over night, the more I learned about Jiu-Jitsu the more my respect toward my husband grew. I never realized how much he put into training and competing. Slowly our plant started to grow, the more we hung out together at the gym and trained, watched BJJ videos and talked about Jiu-Jitsu, our plant blossomed. Jiu-Jitsu brought our marriage and family back together. The past three years have probably been the most amazing years of our relationship. We share the same passion and respect for this amazing art. Today I am a 4 stripe blue belt, I love to compete, I love to train and nothing makes me happier than to see my husband and kids train and compete.Jiu-Jitsu is a permanent part of our lives. I truly believe that a FAMILY THE TRAINS TOGETHER, STAYS TOGETHER....osssssssss