-- Jonna B.
While I was away in the mountains last weekend, my fellow Filipina BJJ blue belt Maybelline Masuda beat a guy in a local tournament at the Copa Manila. We are not from the same team, but I have respect for her just the same -- because she has excellent progress in BJJ, she fights with her heart, and she has made the Filipinos proud by taking home the gold in the Mundials in 2009.
I don't have any information on what happened during the competition, but I have seen the video of her first match:
Personally, getting on the mat and facing your competitor is already something. Facing a guy competitor who is naturally stronger and has the capability to hurt you, requires even more guts. I salute her for displaying pure skills in winning over the guy.
Here are some of her photos that I took during different tournaments:
And this is my favorite, only because I captured her femininity while on the mat, fighting!
And because I was in the mountains and away from all the BJJ action, I just want to share what kind of beauty my eyes feasted on after a four-hour hike to the summit:
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| Mt. Pico de Loro, Cavite, Philippines |
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12 comments:
Beautiful photography of your scenic rewards for the hike!
But the photos of Maybelline aren't showing up..?
Hmmnn...I can see them on my computer. But I will fix it, thanks Georgette for letting me know!
May is such an inspiration! She's always been a huge role model for me and I've always wanted to see her fight in person. Maybe this year I will have that chance during the May Manila tournament! :)
Jonna will you be there? Hope to meet you there too!
Hi Su Ling! May is truly an inspiration and a good role model.
I think the May tournament (Pan Asian) will be moved to June, as we are having a tournament this Feb. I will check on the schedule. I hope I will be in Manila by then! I hope to meet you at the tournament, too. I'm always happy to connect with women in BJJ, as we belong to a really small tribe :)
I love the women in BJJ! I've made so many connections with women all over the world (in fact I even found a place to train in Australia thanks to the community).
Ahh thanks for helping me to check on the schedule. I really appreciate it. The late announcement of dates have always been a huge headache for my team and I who are travelling from Malaysia esp since booking flights early via Cebu Pacific really cuts the cost down.
Actually I was there at the last Pan Asian tourney and wanted to introduce myself but you looked so busy :(
The first time I saw you was in Thailand where you fought Aki Yu (the blue belt from Hong Kong). It was a huge inspiration to me as I had just joined jiu jitsu 2 months before and to see all these girls fighting with their hearts made me approach BJJ differently.
omg I must sound like a stalker now lol.
Su Ling you are funny! Did you compete in the Pan Asian? You should have said hi! :)
My coach said that we will know the date for the Pan Asian by next week, as he is still finalizing it with the mall. Cebu Pacific's airfare is amazing, especially during their promo periods! Oh and by the way, do you train with Angie? Which team do you train with?
I also have a special admiration for women who do really well in BJJ, it being a male-dominated sport. You gotta respect those women who doesn't mind exchanging sweat with men for the love of BJJ! :)
hehehe yeah I competed in the Pan Asians! I fought against Aki during the Absolutes so that's how I got to know Aki. I really wanted to say Hi but you looked so busy running from one table to the next :(
Oh yay! That's so good that the dates are coming out early this year.... plenty of time for us to book via Cebu Pacific this year.
Hmmmmm yes and no to the Angie question. She lives in a different city but we belong to the same team (Checkmat/Marcos Escobar BJJ) so whenever she comes to my city and vice versa we always train together. But it's soooo far from her city to mine that in actual reality, I've only ever trained with her twice! In fact it's across the ocean and takes about 3 hours (the same amount of time for me to fly to Manila actually lol). @__@
Oh too bad we didn't get to talk! Please, please see me the next time you're around! But yeah, maybe I was really busy because I don't remember watching the girls' fights (and I always do, because girls are awesome on the mat!).
So you train in KL, and Angie trains in KK? I was supposed to train in Checkmat KL June of last year! I was in your city and I really planned on going despite being there for only 2 days. But my flight got delayed, we got there late so I wasn't able to come anymore. I have great respect for your instructor when I saw him fight here in Manila in 2009, that's why I wanted to train with him even for just a session!
Yes I train in KL and Angie trains in KK!
Oooo I would have loved for you to come over to train! Too bad you arrived so late. It's so hard to train with girls cause there's so little of us. We only have one other regular girl in the gym but this girl is real tough so you'll be in for good rolls with her! She's so physically fit that it's crazy (she teaches Les Mills classes @ the local gym i.e. body combat, body pump, etc...). She kicks my ass all the time in rolls cause her conditioning is so much better then mine. But that only makes me want to improve my conditioning! Her technique doubled up with her conditioning really makes her a monster on the mats (her nickname is Monstrinia female brazillian term for Monster while my nickname is Pinky cause I like Pink. T___T).
If you are ever in KL please do give me a holler. :) KL is a bit like Manila in the sense everything is so spread out and public transport doesn't get you anywhere plus our gym is in the suburbs so it may be difficult for you to get here via public transport. but if you come to KL I'll have you and your travelling partners (assuming they do BJJ too?) sorted! :)
I will definitely let you know when I am coming to KL again! I was communicating with Aaron Goh last year and he was able to arrange for someone to pick me up. Too bad really that I wasn't able to go :(
I would love to train with your monster teammate and with you, of course :) She will probably kick my ass, too, hehe. I am not exactly athletic and BJJ is my only sport. I dabble sometimes in circuit training/TRX but I couldn't get myself to include it in my regular fitness regimen. I guess they're not as fun as BJJ ;)
So how do I contact you, in case I am coming to KL? My email is tapout@pinkjiujitsu.com please PM meeeee! :)
A true athlete should be able to respect the fact that he can be beaten by anyone, man or woman. And it should not matter. Our egos destroy us sometimes, and the greatest warrior is the humblest.
Suffice to say, while doing partner play (yeah sounds nasty sorry) drills with my wife in the ring (she hits full contact and I pull my punches), I got smashed in the lip by a strong right cross.
Respect is key. Great blog!
I hope all guys are like you, Manila Monkey! Good thing about 95% of the guys in KMA are a nice bunch. There are still those who couldn't help being a bully, but the solution is to just avoid them during sparring at all times :)
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