COMBAT SPORT

The Quiet Hum of Adrenaline

By Erin Ratigan

Her teammates call her “The Butcher” for her dominance on the mat.

She doesn’t keep track of how many medals she’s won in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but she knows there’s a box of them somewhere. Instead of focusing on past wins, Sarah Pyles says she prefers to focus on the future. “When I’m competing, that’s it. There’s nothing else,” she says. “When I’m on the mats, that’s my sanctuary.”

For Sarah, competing is a “nice quiet hum” of adrenaline. She trains at Genesis Jiu Jitsu in Burleson and tries to compete as often as possible – which usually means she has between one and three tournaments a month. Even after having brain and back surgery in December, she couldn’t stay away from training and returned to class 11 days later.

She began training almost five years ago. She was a bartender in New York City and was going through a difficult time in her relationship. She decided to take a Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) class to help relieve stress. She enjoyed it so much she signed up for daily classes. Now she not only competes and trains, she also coaches a women’s class.

BJJ is a male-dominated sport, which she said can be intimidating for women. It is common for women to give up jiu-jitsu after only a few months of training. Kristine Felts, a second-degree black belt and coach at Peak Performance Martial Arts, says there is a “bro culture” within the sport that she had to get past early on in her training. But mentality is slowly changing, and gyms are starting to encourage women to study BJJ, be it through hiring female instructors or offering women’s classes. She says if women see other women on the mats, they’re more likely to try jiu-jitsu and stick with it.

To get to that point, Kristine says women must allow themselves to be aggressive. She says the word “aggressive” has an unnecessary negative connotation and that sparring forces women to let go of the social pressure to be demure and accommodating. “To me, [the word] ‘aggressive’ is such a beautiful thing,” she says. “It’s stating what you want and putting the actions behind it to get it.”

Brown belt Kari Summers loves competing and fought in 13 BJJ tournaments last year. She sees tournaments as extra training time – an opportunity to learn while encouraging

discipline. “For me it’s a good push and a good goal, and what I like about competing is the feedback from it,” she says.

Some of her best moves that she often uses came out of mistakes she says she made when competing, and she says BJJ can help women develop confidence while learning to think under pressure. “When you do it and you get to learn and you get to challenge your body, it’s something where you can feel proud of yourself,” she says.

While combat sports aren’t for everyone, Sarah says it’s important for women to find something they are passionate about, which helps them see who they are when challenged. “Mine just happens to be hurting adult men. That’s what brings me joy,” she says.

Clockwise starting with top Left: photo courtesy of Kyu Lee; photo courtesy of Alexis Eggleston; photo courtesy of Jordan Huynh