Profile 1 - Bethany Thomas.

Beth getting her STRIPES!!!!
And me... looking like a goober.

I started BJJ because I was going through a difficult time and needed an escape. I had done martial arts before but my class had shut down so I figured I would go for something completely different.
I heard about ARBJJ when I was looking for a new place to train. I did an internet search and spoke to a few instructors but ARBJJ seemed like the best fit. So I started training in January and have been here for 10 months now.

Beth (Left)

I haven't trained BJJ before but I have done karate, kickboxing and tai jitsu in the past. Right now I also do muay thai. So I usually split my time at the gym between BJJ, wrestling, muay thai and mma classes.
What motivates me to continue is that I want to be the best I can be, not just in terms of competing but also being the best version of myself and I feel that this environment does that.
One big difference between BJJ and other martial arts/forms of exercise is the people I train with. There is  a genuine friendship and concern for your training partners, its not all me, me, me.
I love to pull guard and work from there. I just think there are so many options in terms of submission and sweeps, whereas the person in my guard can only work to pass so it's predictable. 
In terms of submissions I usually like to go for an arm triangle or an ezekiel.

I would love to use BJJ as a platform to compete in mma so my aspirations are; to improve, be the best I can be, compete in mma and hopefully inspire others to do the same.

Beth representing ARBJJ

In 5 years time I would love to be competing in mma, hopefully at pro level. I would also like to be at a level where I can do a minimum of 4-5 BJJ competitions per year. But most importantly I would like to still be friends with the people I train with and to have taken this journey with them.

Surrey Open 

After weeks of preparation and training I can, without a doubt, say it was well worth it to compete at Surrey. The competition was run by Andy Roberts so there were a lot of people from ARBJJ there, which was great because we could all support each other. I will say that at ARBJJ there is a real family feel and we all celebrate each others successes and help overcome the losses.

I went into Surrey with a plan of what I was going to do and this turned out to be a big  mistake. As soon as one part didn't work I just froze and had no backup plan, so I did panic. In the end I got caught in an ezekiel . Not a great performance but one that I'm glad about because I learnt from it, and never made the mistake of going in with a set plan/strategy again. I realised that I can have some rough idea of what I want to do, but I need to be able to adapt that to suit the situation.

After this I decided to make the most of the day and compete on mat 5, which is an open mat where you can challenge anyone. I competed 4 times on mat 5 at Surrey, 2 wins and 2 losses and it was a great experience. 

My first fight was against Kerry and it was very backwards and forwards. We were both level on points and it was a very tough match but I managed to win via ezekial. It is strange though when you compete against a training partner and friend and, although its hard, you kinda have to put that aside for the 5 minutes. 

My other win was against Nigar Setihesh who was Kerry's opponent and won bronze in our weight division and the absolute. I won on points but, with 90 left of the match she managed to escape and get back to her feet so the rest of the match was grip fighting. Its always hard with an opponent you don't know, there's a period of the fight where you're testing the water and trying to figure out the opponent. But it was a great feeling to have won that match.

Both my losses came against blue belts and I was glad I managed to do these fights because there was no pressure. I was the white belt so it was  expected that they should win so I could just relax and enjoy the match. So my first loss was to Helen Harper via arm bar. I definitely learnt a lot from that loss, mainly that if a higher grade is leaving an obvious gap its a trap. I fell into it and got caught in an arm bar, lesson learnt. 

The other loss was to Tim Hallas via bow and arrow after I gave up my back to easily and that is something that I needed to improve on. Tim got a lot of stick for fighting a girl but it's always good to fight people of different sizes, genders and experience levels because that's how you learn. 

At Surrey the respect I had for the people I train with, and especially those I fought on mat 5, shot through  he roof. Sure you can learn a lot in sparring, but its not until I actually competed against these people that I realised just how good they are and just how much I have to learn.

Brighton Open

2 weeks after the Surrey open I competed at Brighton. Only a few people from ARBJJ were there but we all cheered each other on and supported each other which was nice.

The categories were much smaller than at Surrey, I was one of three in my gi category and the nogi were merged so there was five of us. This time round I was a lot more nervous than I was at Surrey, before my first fight I was literally shaking. The nerves all disappeared after my first match though.

So the nogi category was first up and the first match I narrowly won on points after securing side control, although I was a bit surprised to hear some heckling from the crowd. 

I then lost my second match via armbar, after getting caught in an armbar at Surrey and then Brighton I decided I definitely needed to do some work on armbar defence. It does seem to have paid off though because I get caught in fewer now than before. 

For the bronze medal I had to fight one of my training partners Nat. It was a very strange experience, at Surrey I never fought a team mate for a medal so this was completely different. I did have to go in with the mindset that, for 5 minutes were not training partners but competitors and she wanted to win just as much as I did. I got the takedown straight into side control then worked to secure mount and had a couple of submission attempts, but she managed to hand on and I won on points.

Next up was the gi category and my first match I won on points, she jumped guard but I managed to pass. One thing I tried to do for this competition was not to rush anything, I decided it was better to control the position and work from there than to rush to get a submission and get caught. So I learnt patience from this competition.

The final fight was for the gold or silver and the girl I faced wad very good. She controlled the match and I was tired after having fought 4 times already and couldn't really get anything going and I ended up getting caught in a choke. I did find that I learnt more from the losses than the wins though, so losing is an important step on the road to success.

So I came away with a silver and bronze, my first medals from a competition and it has spurred me on to want to compete again.

Beth