Monica is a blue belt and avid competitor who has been training with Easton since 2014. She started training while she was a student at CU, and after graduating she began working full time. Monica found a new challenge in balancing her full time job with her training schedule. Here she talks with us about how she maintains her commitment to jiu jitsu.

How did you get into jiu jitsu?

I got into kickboxing through Groupon. I did kickboxing for a few years, but I needed a new competitive outlet after I retired from ski racing. Jiu jitsu looked super weird, I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into! But I did my first class and it was just awesome. It was so fun! I quickly fell in love with it.

How often do you compete?

Not so much in the past year, because work kind of got in the way. Before starting my job I got to train a lot more. Finding a balance between work and jiu jitsu has been kind of an interesting challenge. I’ve struggled with not being disappointed in the abatement of my training. But I’m proud of being able to find that balance.

What are your long term goals with training?

I want to stick with this sport for the rest of my life. I plan to have a relationship with jiu jitsu for as long as I can. With ski racing you are somewhat geographically limited, so being able to just drive 15 minutes and be at a gym and be part of a community of awesome people is something I really enjoy. Jiu jitsu is kind of my social life, my play time, and my competitive outlet all rolled into one.

My main goal is just to stick with it! I guess the biggest thing I’ve learned from trying to balance my life is just stick with it, even if it’s not always in the full capacity of what you want to do.