Jena Bishop leads all-female training camp at GMA Gracie Humaita St. Louis. Photo: Tyler Bishop

Text by Tyler Bishop

On May 2-4 GMA Gracie Humaita St. Louis played host to the first ever Women’s BJJ Camp Midwest. The event was orchestrated by Royler Gracie black belt and 2013 brown belt world champion, Jena Bishop. The camp was designed to bring the women in the area together in one place to learn and train Jiu-Jitsu. The camp featured 30 participants of all ages, sizes, and belt levels.

“I never had many opportunities to train with other females when I started learning Jiu-Jitsu, so I have always wanted to organize something in this area that would facilitate that for others. Now that there are so many more women doing Jiu-Jitsu, it seemed like this was something that I could lead and take charge of,” said Bishop. Camp participants came from across the United States and from over ten different affiliations.  “There have already been a lot of requests for me to do it again soon. I would imagine that it is only going to grow. The feedback we have gotten has been very positive.”

The camp took place over three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and featured warm-ups, instruction, drills, positional sparring, open training, and a mock tournament. Jena also made sure that she rolled with every female that attended the camp. “The first time I ever really got to train with a female black belt was at blue belt, the next time was at brown belt. I wanted to make sure every girl that attended got that experience, because it was something I always coveted,” Bishop added.

Jena is currently training for the 2014 World Championships – her first at black belt. She plans to host more camps in the future, and is currently scheduling seminars for the second half of the year.

To find out more about future camps visit www.womensbjjcamp.com, or contact Jena Bishop at BishopBjj@gmail.com.

To learn more about Gracie Humaita St. Louis visit www.grapplingconcepts.com

Two different states will hold three different chances to enhance technique and mental skills for both men and women from any team.

The Fusion Jiu-Jitsu Seminar with Robson Moura & Gustavo Dantas is going back to Tampa, Florida on April 5. This will mark its fifth edition at Robson Moura’s JJ Academy located at 11220 W Hillsborough Ave Tampa, FL 33615. The seminar will be held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Learn knowledge that covers specific techniques, tips, and drills focused on strengthening and fine tuning in your competitive game. The seminar will also feature three special guests: Bruno Bastos, Marcelo Pereira and Jean Rotondaro.

Also, in addition to the Fusion seminar, Gustavo Dantas will be teaching a Mental Skills training class called “Inner discovery for outer success” on Friday, April, 4 at the Robson Moura’s Academy from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Do you feel that you perform in competition the same way you do in practice?

This one hour and a half presentation will inspire you and give you tools to handle some of the mental blocks that prevent you from performing to the best of your ability during competition. Gustavo breaks down five tips that can help you to discover what is holding you back from achieving the success that you desire. For more info about Gustavo’s program, please visit www.thebjjmentalcoach.com

Another event going on that same weekend is on Sunday, April 6, is the women’s camp. Women’s coach, judo black belt & #1 IBJJF rankings purple belt adult lightweight competitor Sarah Black of GDJJ will be conducting a female-only camp from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

All school are welcome at each event. For full into, go to www.gdjjevents.com

See what Gustavo Dantas has planned for his mental skills seminar in this video: