#karen antunes
Hello, friends! Today I break my long and unfortunate silence to report that I received my blue belt last Saturday. It was a surprise and an honor to be promoted by two inspirational coaches whom I deeply respect and love. Receiving this blue belt represents everything I’ve been through in the 15 months since I started my BJJ journey: Depression, anxiety, panic, pain, injury, surgery, fear, doubt, ego, and failure… I am grateful for the instruction of my coaches Mayko Araujo and Karen Antunes, and humbled by their belief in me.
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Today I earned my second stripe! I’m so excited and proud of this, because we hadn’t done stripes since my original instructor left in June. He gave me my first stripe in April (an “attendance stripe”) and I wasn’t due for another one yet when he did his farewell belt promotions. Our new Checkmat instructors came in August, and these were the first promotions they held. It’s so encouraging to be told that yes, I am learning things and successfully demonstrating them in a sport that is so very difficult for my neurotype to wrangle. This February will also be my one-year anniversary since starting BJJ, and while I know that stripes/promotions are not a race, for once I actually feel like I’m keeping up.
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The Cellar Gym’s Checkmat MinneapolisBJJ team brought an amazing game to the 2015 Submission Hunt Championships! In total, the Cellar brought home six Gold, six Silver, and four Bronze medals. Our highlights and wins:
- Michelle Donovan worked hard to healthfully cut over 15 pounds in order to compete in the 120-135 division, where she showed a beautifully impressive performance of technique and calculated aggression. She tied for 1st (with teammate Kaitlin Youwer) in her gi white belt division, took 3rd in the gi blue belt division, and 2nd in the gi white belt open weight division, losing only to a very strong and much heavier opponent. Go Michelle! :)
- Kaitlin Youwer, despite being relatively new to BJJ, rocked the mats with a dominant display. She took 1st in her no-gi division, 3rd in no-gi open division, 1st in the gi blue belt division (!), and tied for 1st in the gi white belt division with Michelle.
- Evie Enderle took 2nd in her gi white belt division, giving an exceptionally strong and aggressive opponent a spectacular run for her money. Way to represent, Evie!
- Shuyeng Vang took 1st in his gi white belt division and 2nd in his no-gi division.
- Kevin Skadsheim took 1st in his gi blue belt division.
- Damon Leahy took 1st in his gi white belt division and 2nd in his no-gi division.
- Scott Masterton took 3rd in his gi purple belt division.
- Pete Donlin took 3rd in his gi blue belt division.
Big congratulations to everyone! It was a great time seeing my teammates kick ass so hard - looking forward to healing up all the way so I can compete this spring. Thank you to coaches Mayko Araujo and Karen Antunes for running such an amazing team and for encouraging us to work harder every day!
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Guys. Did I ever brag at you about my f*ckin’ awesome BJJ coaches?!
In August, The Cellar Gym welcomed coaches Mayko Araujo and Karen Antunes of Checkmat BJJ, after former instructor Marcelo Nunes (Drysdale/Zenith) moved to Las Vegas to pursue his ambitions in the UFC. Mayko and Karen have been an amazing addition to the Cellar team. In addition to running a top-level BJJ program and taking on the kids’ BJJ classes, they have also stepped up the Cellar’s competition game by encouraging students of all levels to compete in local and national tournaments.
As a multi world champion, Coach Karen is also one of the most dominant female BJJ athletes on the scene right now. She won Gold in the black belt lightweight class at No-Gi Worlds in November, Pan No-Gi in October, and the Dallas Open in September. She also won silver at the FIVE Grappling Super League event in August, losing only to 14x world champion Mackenzie Dern. Karen is an inspirational athlete, a wonderful coach, deeply supportive of girls and women in the sport, and absolutely one of the toughest people I have ever met.
I’m grateful to be learning new things everyday from Mayko and Karen. If you’re in the Minneapolis area and interested in starting or furthering your BJJ, their class is absolutely the place to be.
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