Gracie Mag Article

Female grappling camp in Cali a success

by Graciemag Newsroom — March 15, 2010.

By Valerie Worthington. Photo by Emily Kwok.

On January 25, 2010, 30 female grapplers met at Big John McCarthy’s Ultimate Training Academy (http://www.bjmuta.com) in Valencia, CA, for the third semi-annual women’s grappling camp (http://www.womensgrappling.org). Led by black belts Felicia Oh and Emily Kwok and brown belt Valerie Worthington, all of whom are competition tested and decorated, the camp was the brainchild of Oh’s student Alaina Hardie. “I envisioned a situation in which women could train, troubleshoot, lead, and instruct each other in a non-competition setting,” Hardie commented, noting that typically, any woman who trains finds very few, if any, other women at her academy, making it potentially more intimidating and more difficult to gauge progress realistically.  Read More...