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Fitness

Athlete Journal: Valerie Worthington, Entry 4 – ‘Twas the Week Before the Abu Dhabi World Pro

I spent my Easter/Passover weekend using as many forms of transportation as possible to travel to the Middle East for the Abu Dhabi World Pro tournament. I also made some macaroni pictures.

val worthington, valerie worthington, bjj, mma, brazilian jiu jitsu, grappling

Written by Valerie Worthington Last updated on April 12, 2012

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Welcome to the Athlete Journal of world-class grappler Valerie Worthington. Follow Valerie as she trains and competes in various events over the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition season. Val’s journal will be posted every Thursday.

You can catch up by reading her previous journal entries!

Well, after a subway ride, a 5-hour bus ride, a 12-hour flight, and a shuttle, I’m here in Abu Dhabi, relaxing at my hotel in the week leading up to the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu Jitsu Championship. Traveling is always a bit surreal for me, especially when there are time zone differences – and in this case there’s an eight-hour difference between Virginia (my home sweet home) and the United Arab Emirates.

Add in the decidedly different cultural elements (the instructions on the barf bag in the plane in both English and Arabic; the heat and the dome-shapes of many of the buildings; and the traditional garb on both men and women), and a little sleep deprivation, which contributes to my current glassy-eyed “what am I doing here?” mentality, and jiu-jitsu seems kind of pushed toward the edges of the picture.

I know it’s temporary, and tomorrow I’ll start three days of training to prepare for the tournament, which takes place on April 13 (preliminary rounds) and 14 (finals). But at the moment, watching Save the Last Dance with Arabic subtitles in my hotel room at 3:00am local time, and trying to convince myself I should go to sleep (though my body clock is convinced it’s time for afternoon tea), things just seem…surreal. I wonder if David Lynch had any major inspirations after trans-Atlantic-and-then-some flights.

The challenges in the coming days are going to be:

  1. Getting enough sleep at the times I’m supposed to be sleeping.
  2. Experimenting with the available food, all of which is delicious so far, but not necessarily all of which is consistent with my normal diet.
  3. Getting enough training in so that I feel ready but not so much so that I feel fatigued.
  4. Keeping myself focused on what I’m here for rather than what is jarring about being here. It’s all an amazing adventure, so as long as I remind myself of that, I should be in good shape.

So by the time this story runs, we will be on the eve of the first day of competition for the adults. More next week, when I’m back in the States and the dust has settled!

val worthington, valerie worthington, bjj, mma, brazilian jiu jitsu, grappling

About Valerie Worthington

Valerie Worthington has been moving her body since before she was born, for many reasons and with many outcomes. She really started to pay attention to how, when, and why her body moves when she began training in Brazilian jiu jitsu in 1998. From then on, she became hugely invested in educating herself about how to optimize her body movement for BJJ and how to support it in doing so. She has observed that these endeavors require her to invest herself not only physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and psychologically, fueling a particular interest in the influence on her life of these dimensions of athletic activity.

Valerie has developed as a BJJ practitioner via her own training and competition preparation, teaching and coaching other practitioners, and writing about her life as a jiu jitsu devotee through the lens of her education, personal experiences, and professional background. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and a doctorate in educational psychology from Michigan State University. She is a first-degree black belt in BJJ, as well as co-founder and proprietor of Groundswell Grappling Concepts. She trains at Princeton Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Princeton, New Jersey.

Most recently, Valerie is the author of How to Love a Grappler: A Guide for People Who Love People Who Love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

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