Femmes Fatales!

I'd like to write a short piece on two recent blue belt promotions in the UK; I know both of these women personally, having trained with them a number of times and speak to them on a weekly basis on Facebook.  Sarah Coleman trains with my good friend Gary Savage in Blackpool and I first met her at a UMA event a few years back, where I reffed her fights.

Sarah and Gary

Helen 'Hellraiser' Harper trains with  Mark 'Monkey' Bottom in Rotheram and I met Helen when I was invited to do a seminar over at Jon Keeley's gym two years ago; Helen has since moved on and now lives in Phuket, where she teaches English by day and trains BJJ and MMA at Phuket Top Team.  Helen won her debut MMA fight in Thailand and is now preparing for her next fight against Filipino fighter, Liezel Luminadas at the Ultimate Beatdown in Malaysia.  Helen was promoted to blue belt by black belt Eddie Kone, another good friend of mine (I have quite a few 'very good friends' in BJJ :))

Eddie, Helen and Monkey

Both women train hard week in week out and make the same sacrifices as their male training partners; jiu jitsu is for everyone, male and female, young and old and I was over the moon when I heard they had been promoted to blue belt, both well deserved.

More women should be involved in Jiu Jitsu, it's a life changing martial art in so many ways; I chat to many women who train BJJ on Twitter and they all share the same passion and enthusiasm as the guys, so to all the men who read this, pass this post on to your female friends and partners and let them see that rolling around the mats getting hot and sweaty ain't just for us dudes!!