Inverted Gear Blog
Tag: Hillary Witt
The Rise of Women in BJJ
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu began as a male-dominated sport. In many ways it still is. But every year, more and more women are practicing and competing in BJJ. But why? How is this even possible? Similar to other sports, there was one woman (or maybe a few) to pave the way for the future, and honestly it’s frustrating when blue and purple belts today do not know their roots. Last weekend I had the opportunity to learn from living legends and attend the Groundswell Grappling Concepts Women’s Camp with special guest instructor Leka Vieira. The GGC is a community and resource guide for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners on and off the mat. The principal members of the GGC are Emily Kwok,...
Meet the Pandas – The Panda Mastermind – Hillary Witt
In Meet the Pandas, we shed some light to the many awesome people that make up Panda Nation. Previously, we spoke to Steve Pachon, the creator of the iconic Inverted Gear logo. This episode takes a closer look at Hillary Witt—Black belt instructor, competitor, traveller, and mastermind of the Inverted Gear designs and daily operations. Hillary Witt used jiu-jitsu to overcome her anxiety and shyness. As a smaller-sized woman she started training in the art to learn effective self-defense, but she fell in love with the comradery and the challenges of competition. After winning the Worlds at purple belt and picking up a National title in judo, she met her partner-in-crime-and-life, Nelson Puentes. Now she co-owns Inverted Gear and travels...
White Belt Questions, Black Belt Answers
Our fearless Panda Nation leaders Hillary and Nelson finally completed their relocation to Allentown, PA, placing them just minutes from Zombie BJJ, the school where I teach and train. That means I now get to see them all the time (or at least when they aren't jet setting to another BJJ Globetrotters camp). This gave me the idea for a new series on the Inverted Gear blog. Every week, the /R/BJJ subreddit runs a White Belt Wednesday thread where you can ask any question, no matter how basic or embarrassing, without fear of judgment or criticism. These are always popular and people are very supportive with their replies. The three of us pandas are going to to film answers to WBW questions. Below I've embedded the Q&A from our first...
A Year of Firsts: My First Ambulance Ride
Last year, on Friday March 13, 2015, I had my very first major injury. I originally wanted to write a small Facebook post to acknowledge the milestone and the people who helped me get through it all, but thinking back to that day there were so many more firsts to remember: my first match at black belt, my first submission only tournament, my first tournament representing a new team, my first time being carried off the mat because I couldn’t walk, my first loss due to injury, my first trip to the ER in an ambulance… Wait—my first trip to the ER! So this time last year, I still did not know what exactly was wrong with my leg except...