Martial arts if my life and teaching is my passion. When I get the chance to share this with others nothing fills me with more joy. Last weekend I had the opportunity to teach my first out of town seminar at Integrated Martial Arts in Harrisburg, NC. Mark Cukro has a wonderful dojo and the students are very respectful and receptive. I couldn’t have asked for a better seminar.

Friday, June 2nd

I flew in on American Airlines to Charlotte, NC. Mark picked me up and we went to lunch. Later that evening we went to Integrated Martial Arts and got some training in before Gracie Jiu Jitsu started at 6 pm. Mark taught a wonderful class and afterward, I got to get some more rolls in with some of his students. I then jumped into Kali and JKD, which is always a lot of fun. The students at Integrated are very respectful. They have a wonderful culture on the mat.

Saturday, June 3rd, Part One: Kid’s Jiu Jitsu Seminar

The big day! I got to teach the kid’s first, which is one of my favorite things to do. We all did a super fun warm up then we work on maintaining the open guard so that they don’t get punched. After we worked on some hip movements, I had all the kid’s stand up and work on wrist pummeling. Once they felt comfortable with that, we used the same concepts of wrist pummeling in the open guard. Then we got to do some fun drills that the kids did with each other. Since we had some time left I got the chance to roll with all of the kids. That was my favorite part. All of the kids were really respectful and tons of fun to teach. I am very thankful for having the opportunity to teach these kids. I can’t wait for next time.

Saturday, June 3rd, Part Two: 

For the adults, I focused on passing the open guard. We started with concepts and simple drills then moved on to more specific types of open guard. I was very humbled by how many people showed up and also by how many women were on the mat. I even got to get some training in of my own after the seminar was over.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to share my love of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with others. I want to thank Mark Cukro, all the students of Integrated, and everyone who came to the seminar. I especially want to thank some of the women who drove over an hour to be there. You all inspire me and keep with it. I sometimes forget that there are not a lot of high-level women in the martial arts community. So it is not only my job to pass down the art but to also be a role model and leader to the women and young girls training in martial arts. Thank you again for this tremendous opportunity and I’ll see you on the mat!