My 2016 in pictures
In February, I did an MMA seminar at KSA in Tennessee!
Kerry and Emma visited for a few weeks from England to train! <3
I was invited to watch The Ultimate Fighter Season 23 elimination fights, where Jamie, Khalil, and Cory made it into the house. I got a nicer picture with Dana than I had before (when I had a huge black eye), and I took a pic of the camera crew interviewing Coach John because he’s awesome. I actually got in trouble for taking this cuz somebody noticed. They told me to delete it but I didn’t. lol Hey, I didn’t take a picture of any of the actual fights!!
In March. My kids class is growing, from three kids to a small group!
I started getting treated by Teri, the most fantastic massage therapist I’ve ever met, and she made my pain go away! My training and life improved so much!
Also in March, Invicta 16 happened and I got to become Mileena!
I got to meet my good friend Patrick, who I’ve known online for years but had never met before!
I won!
My friends dressed up and it was incredibly epic.
I won!
In April I got to see my Aunt Mary and Uncle Steve, then I went to my baby cousin’s baby shower with my Dad and Marion, so I got to see all of my family except my Uncle Fran! 😀 I even got to train with my old training partner/coach Dave and see Kirik!
In April, Serena won her Tuff-N-Uff fight!
At the end of April, Mom, who I’d been living with for almost three years, moved to New York, and I moved in with Hannah.
I decided to start doing more gi. I got a beautiful black gi from Dragon do.
I started asking Casey for private lessons in the gi. He’s an incredibly excellent teacher. I’ve grown because of him.
My friend Brittany visited Vegas from Japan and stayed with me. I dressed up as Rey from Star Wars for John’s son Maverick’s birthday party.
I finished Naruto!
I settle into my role as sole teacher of the 4-7 year old kids jiujitsu class and made it 5-7. I also took over Chris’ position helping Coach Rick teach the older kid’s jiujitsu class in addition to my younger class.
Aussie Jessy Jess Clark (purple hair) came to Syndicate and decided to join!
Hannah left me for a man and moved out, so Jessy moved in to the empty room. lol !
I came to realize that Captain is my favorite jiujitsu teacher of all time, and I want to be his disciple, kind of like the BJJ version of John. <3
I’ve tried to make more of an effort to spend time with my female training partner friends.
I fought in Invicta 19 for the title against Jennifer Maia. I got to be She-ra, the Princess of Power (and rocked it, if I do say so), and John got to be He-man. But he’s always been He-man to me. ^_^
And it was a war.
She won by split decision. I had fought really well and was happy with my performance. Of course I was very disappointed I lost, but my friends distracted me with multiple birthday parties, lots of cake, ice cream, and Taco Bell.
I turned 34 years old.
John told me to get stronger and put on muscle, so I started consistently lifting weights about three days a week.
I also decided to throw myself into jiujitsu gi classes, because I felt I was stronger when I was more into jiujitsu. I promised myself I’d train double classes, which I had always avoided because it made me tired for MMA class. I decided I’d do it anyway and trained till I dropped.
Every time I started getting frustrated in class, I started telling myself that a Jedi doesn’t need emotions. And it works.
My best friend Serena also lost her fight before that, and that was devastating.
In October, I hosted a Halloween party! and became Goku for Costume Sparring at Syndicate.
I moved into a three-bedroom apartment with Serena and Jessy!
I promoted a student for the first time! Preston gets gray white! Despite being challenged with Autism, he always tried so hard at jiujitsu and to be a good person and nice to his classmates!
I tried a jiujitsu tournament, my first in 11 years, and lost both matches. I was devastated. I kept the consolation medal so when I looked at it, I was reminded that emotional pain hurts more than physical pain. I’ll throw it away when I get one that I earn.
In December, two of my students competed in a jiujitsu tournament and they both won all their matches and got first place! I was so happy I cried a lot.
My kids class has gotten so big! 😀
I went to Boston to visit my dad! He told me to retire from MMA and get a better job, but other than that, it was nice. Who listens to their parents anyway? 🙂
It’s a shame people are saying “2016 sucks.” I had plenty of negative things happen to me, but while looking through the pictures, I see all the positive things that happened, plus things I don’t have room to post.
I have goals.
I will put one of these in my closest and throw the other in the trash can. To do that, I must go defeat all the other purple belts at tournaments. I need to improve more and more and prove that I’ve improved. I don’t just want the symbols, I want to get so good at jiujitsu that everybody will know my subs are coming but can’t do anything to stop them. I want people to be like, “Oh she has the back, it’s all over!!!”
I also will restate my New Years resolution: same as last year with one addition. Study Japanese for at least 30 minutes every other day. I kept that one until my fight in September! That’s great, huh? For 9 months I kept that resolution! This time I’m adding 15 minutes of Portuguese every other day. I’ve started doing a language exchange with Thais, Captain’s wife. So if I keep that up twice a week, that’ll keep my resolution covered.
Also, I will fight a lot and win all my MMA fights! Get a knock out. Just to prove I have the ability.
At Syndicate, I found a coach who can teach me striking, a feat impossible before. This year I made up a technique – The Roxycopter! (Serena named it) I found a massage therapist, Teri. I found a jiujitsu coach I commit to, who is also an inspiration because he’s a teacher and fighter, just like me. I think I may have found a physical trainer I can trust. Can he help me fix what I haven’t been able to fix for a decade?
In Syndicate I trust.
And as you can see, people made up so much of what happened to me. I met people, made friends, became closer with friends I already had, was treated well by my sponsors. Thank you to everyone for being a part of my life, whether you be my mother, my roommate, my training partner, my friend, my fan who interacts with me on social media, or the fan who has never contacted me but watches me fight and wishes me well. Thank you for your energy!…