By Nicola Waterworth
Martial arts are yet one more sport that is traditionally male dominated. Most of what we see in the popular media and TV/ film is male-centric. Although it is also fair to say that GB has a long list of women athletes excelling at various martial arts – who can forget the performances by Jade Jones (now MBE) at London 2012 that won her Gold in Taekwondo, the first medal GB had in this sport.
The good news is there are plenty of people working to get more women into the martial arts. One such local instructor in Bristol is Can Sonmez, a purple belt training at Artemis Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). Hot from an inspirational trip to the USA Can has spoken to lots of women currently involved in the sport and those who might want to try it. You can read his interview with the American blogger and jiu jitsu athlete BJJ Grrl here.
And if that inspires you, Can is using all of this knowledge to start a women’s only class of jiu jitsu here in Bristol to encourage more women to try martial arts. The class commences on 30th July. Classes will be at Bristol Sports Centre in St Paul’s on Wednesdays from 18:30-19:30. More information can be found here.
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