Keith Owen on: How to get More Women in Jiu Jitsu

[Jack LaBarge]

Keith Owen talks about his latest blog (Can Women do Jiu Jitsu) and clarifies some points made in the article. He expounds on what he thinks should happen on how to get more women involved in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

his blog: http://keith-owen.blogspot.com/2013/...-women-in.html

Thoughts?

[Tom Carbone]

Didnt find anything from his blog to be too offensive. However, it sounds like his years of frustration with women quitting could contribute to current/future female students not staying. He says he wants women to stick around, which im sure he does, but when a women comes in and he has the mindset that she's not gonna last, he might unknowingly not put in the same focus or positive energy that he would with a male student.

I think the biggest problem when promoting BJJ to women, or men as well, is that most people really dont know what training in BJJ is like. I think there are a ton of women out there who would absolutely love BJJ and make it their life, but they'll never try it because they have a false impression of what it actually is. When i talk about BJJ/MMA to people with no experience in it, they assume the class is full of ego driven Ultimate Fighter "Let me bang bro!" type meatheads. With that impression, it's not surprising why so many women wouldnt even want to give it a shot. In that respect, he's right about women needing to promote BJJ to other women, giving them a realistic view of what an average class is like and all the positive things they can gain from it, aside from just being able to defend yourself.

[Amber Kamischke]

As a women who has been doing this for over a year, I can say the school and instructor has a lot to do with creating a welcome environmentthat makes us want tto return. My first school was a traditional one and the instructor didn't care about the few women he had in class. I was the only one who competed and he wouldn't show up for my matches and would only support the men from our school. I knew one guy from our local 10P and after meeting more of the team at a competition and going to a class, I knew I needed a new school in order to grow in the sport. 10th Planet Chicago North has been so welcoming since day 1. They were happy to have a female training and I let other girls at competitions know how great everyone is. I hope with our new location, we can get even more women into the sport because it is great for confidence, self defense or even as a new workout. I'm not sure I would still be doing jiu jitsu if I was still at the old school since I felt unwanted there every time I walked in the door. Since I left them, the few other women they had also left so he is an all male school which isn't a surprise to me at all.

[derrick ikwueme]

There are some bad ass chicks in my class and i laugh every time they choke out one of the dudes. it's really rewarding

[HerbChao]

There are some bad ass chicks in my class and i laugh every time they choke out one of the dudes. it's really rewarding

There's a few female grapplers I train with too at a few of the schools I visit, they're beasts as well. Slowly but surely the numbers will grow....

[Matt Wallace]

I'm a small school but half of my competition team is female and it all goes back to what Amber said: the instructor and the environment play a majority role in retention and expansion. I've made it a priority to make females welcome, ease them into co-ed situations at their pace and be sure their experience was positive. After one, then came another, and now I have about 10 females that are very dedicated. I just promoted my first female student to Blue and now she helps coach classes also. This further gives the rest a demonstration that their work will be rewarded and perpetuates the law of attraction, etc. That goes along with what Keith Owen was stating, as the females do a lot of their own recruiting and encouragement. It's pretty cool, actually! One thing I'd like to add is that we don't have any of that "Alpha" female or male crap: someone doesn't chill out and be a teammate then they get promoted to spectator....permanently. Helps with men and women. I DO find, however, that 10th Planet people tend to be the most chill and open minded folks anyway so official schools shouldn't have a problem. I'm technically a Ronin but I copy the vibe

[Ryan Brick]

I had a girl quit class during warm up series 2 because she thought the Marcelotine was to violent. She sad it wasnt a sport for girls because of the submissions...

[Clinton lawrence]

dont train with li step 1

[Spínola]

Bjj is hard enough being a guy (i weight about 170 and 5,7" tall), so much respect to all women that do bjj!

[Sam Sales]

I wonder how many women would maybe like to try MMA or bjj or whatever, but their husbands/partners don't really like the idea of their Mrs rolling about with a bunch of big strong athletic skilled fighter dudes? I can imagine that your 'average Joe' (especially a guy that doesn't train) may be a little insecure by that. :-)