10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, a family affair: Lopez and Smith, the future faces of women’s MMA

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Chief instructor and owner, Derek Stewart leads the jiu-jitsu session as the students attentively listen … just like we did before, but in a much tighter ball, half-guard here, control the distance…

Sitting on the mat, the class observes Stewart. Between the men are two familiar faces at the dojo, Courtney Smith and Lea Lopez. Young in age, but not to the sport, the girls are getting ready for another tournament where they have been bracketed against the opposite sex.

In the past decade a handful of women have made mixed martial arts a possibility, but the barriers are still there. Debi Purcell, founding mother of fightergirls.com, has spent the past decade educating both sexes that women can fight and are here to stay. As Purcell states on the website,

…. Female fighting has been slow to start and finding our place amongst the male warriors has sometimes been a struggle. In 2001, when there was little interest in women's MMA, FighterGirls.com was born as a way to help grow and evolve this sport and other fighting sports for the women. Since then, our beloved sport has exploded and female MMA, right along with it.

In Nebraska, SIMS Martial Arts Academy, is the only fully certified 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu location directed by Eddie Bravo that teaches the same system used by fighters such as Chuck Liddell, Dan Hardy, and George Sotiropoulos. Students Lea and Courtney are in good hands to progress in their training. At SIMS the focus is on education and character.

Lea and Courtney, ages 15 and 16, have been involved with jiu-jitsu for several years. Both of Lea’s parents, Orlando and Michelle are part of the dojo family, training at SIMS. Her brother Anthony “Ant”, is a familiar face to the sport. In September, Ant won gold in the IBJJF American Nationals Jiu-Jitsu competition in L.A. and silver at NOGI Worlds in November. Lea remembers first competing at eight years old. Back then, she was still nervous to compete. Now the intimidation of being one of the only girls at a tournament doesn’t bother her.

When I was little I was always nervous and now it isn’t even there.

When Courtney was five, her dad gave her a choice between dance or karate, she chose karate because it intrigued her and it looked cool. She bounced around schools for the next several years, until the she was twelve when she began at SIMS Academy. That same year she entered her first tournament and has been at the Academy since. Even though Courtney’s competing can sometimes make her mother nervous, both her parents support her training and involvement in jiu-jitsu. But being involved in mixed martial arts has not been without challenges. When asked if either would consider wrestling at school, Courtney states,

Wrestling is an all guy sport at school, but that is not the main reason why I wouldn’t do it. Jiu-jitsu is different than wrestling. If I’d been trained younger [in wrestling] I would have adjusted to it – and I would be at the level with the guys. But there is also a social stigma with being involved as a girl -- people thinking it is weird. You don’t want to be the kid that gets made fun of, but if given the opportunity I would have.

Lea states,

At school, I am a girly girl, and when I tell kids I do jiu-jitsu and kickboxing, some people don’t believe me, or they looked surprised I can do that…. If given the chance to compete against girls we would, but we just like the sport, we don’t care who we compete against.
The guys generally think they can beat us easily – and sometimes have a rude awakening.

I have made a guy cry at a tournament – it is the best feeling.

Courtney said as she chuckled.

It is a character-building program at SIMS Academy, based around the discipline of martial arts training and education.  Not every female who enters the gym has to become involved with MMA at the level of Lea or Courtney.

Courtney went on to say,

Girls don’t know enough about jiu-jitsu – the outside world in a sense, sees it as a guys sport, but it is beneficial to girls more than just self-defense. …  self-defense is mainly standing, but jiu-jitsu is on the ground. In an attack, if you are put on the ground and you know both self-defense and jiu-jitsu you could take them from the top to the bottom. Let’s say someone grabbed you from the head, you would know something to take them to the ground. And if they continued to fight you on the ground, you could continue to defend
yourself on the ground – and walk away.

This past Saturday, both Lea and Courtney competed at the tournament held by SIMS. There was one other girl in a younger age division who was in the tournament. In the end, the males came out ahead, but not without a strong showing from the ladies. The tournament was focused more on the learning experience for the students – they can see what their strengths are, where they need to focus their training on, and how to become better athletes in competition.

Michelle Lopez, loves that her daughter embraces jiu-jitsu.

Lea’s confidence has been built and the reassurance in themselves, especially in females is important. Just think about it, imagine if in our teenage years -- wouldn’t it have been great to have a sport that we could be just as good at, if not better than men…. I would love for her [Lea] to get into it they way our son has. But I think that will naturally come with maturity.

From the support at SIMS and their dojo family, to a family of fighters in the Lopez’s, to the support Courtney’s family has given her throughout the years –  it’s a family affair to make these young women MMA world fighters of tomorrow.

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There is 1 comment on this post. Join the discussion!

kirtrolls says:

It's a good sport and want my child to be on that, it's not for sports bot also for health habits.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 8:49pm EST

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