Sophia Drysdale, a multi world champion, came to the Oklahoma Martial Arts Academy in Edmund, Oklahoma on June 6th and 7th for a two part women’s only seminar hosted by their own Janie Meadows.
About Sophia Drysdale:
Sophia first started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2002 after having to take a step back from competitive gymnastics. She is the first female Australian black belt, awarded in 2010 by Robert Drysdale and is the first and only Australian to be an IBJJF Pan American and IBJJF Worlds Gi and NoGi Champion.
Sophia has also helped run the Drysdale Jiu Jitsu Academy in Las Vegas while being a mother and a competitor. She recently has stopped competing after her 2014 IBJJF World Masters gold medal in Masters 1 at Light Weight.
Currently, she resides in Las Vegas but travels for seminars to encourage women’s jiu jitsu.
To learn more about Sophia Drysdale, visit her website here.
Her Facebook page is available, here.
Here is Sophia’s finals match in the 2014 Pan American Championship.
The Seminar:
Women travel from different states for a chance to learn from Sophia Drysdale, on the the Sunday that I was able to participate, there were 15 women present, varying in skill level from white to brown.
The seminar started with a usual jiu jitsu warmup to get our muscles ready for jiu jitsu.
Sophia taught two moves, a choke from closed guard, and then a triangle from guard with other submission options if you cannot finish the triangle. Both moves were something I personally could use to enhance my game, and there were many nuances and specificities that she pointed out that ca help anyone from beginner to advanced. Throughout the seminar Sophia and Janie helped instruct further and show further refine our technique.
After Sophia showed her two moves, Janie showed a progression with a transition from mount to back control to finish with a bow and arrow. Like before, Sophia and Janie helped tweak people’s technique as the walked around the gym.
At the end of the seminar, there were a few competitions for the women to win prizes. There was a burpee and a plank challenge. The winner of the burpee challenge won a Century Koi Fish Gi, and the two winners of the plank competition won free registration to the WBJJF Southern Regional Championship on June 13th.
Afterwards, Sophia had a question and answer section where she answered women’s particular questions about jiu jitsu, while other ladies chose to roll with one another. There was also food available if anyone was hungry.
This was by far one of my favorite seminars I have been to, as Sophia and Janie created a great environment to learn. Janie with Oklahoma Martial Arts Academy hope to have another Sophia Drysdale seminar coming October 2015.
After the seminar ended, Sophia gave me the great honor of interviewing here, which can be found here.
For more pictures, please visit the Facebook album.
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