Leticia Ribeiro is one of the most decorated female grapplers of all time. A pioneer of Brazilian jiu-jitsu for women Leticia is not only a competitor, but also a coach and an inspiration to girls who grapple everywhere.

In an interview with  poweredbyshe.com Leticia talks a little about how she feels BJJ for women is progressing, and her work in developing the next generation of world champions.

She had this to say about what the hardest belt level was for her:

White belt was the hardest for me. When you start training, you don’t even know how to move your body. Everything is new, even hip escape, and shrimping are difficult movements. When you get closer to the blue belt things become easier. You start to understand the game more, have better control of your body, and breathing. That’s when the fun really starts! I felt that after my first armbar. I thought: I love it, I want more!

Tournaments were tough back when I started training. There were only two divisions, and all belts together for women at the first Worlds in 1998. After a few years they separated blue belts, later on purple belts, and now we have all belts separate.

I’ve seen the evolution of the women’s jiu-jitsu from the very beginning. I’m very happy with the progress. We have lots of good, technical fighters now. When I was a white belt, we did not have a lot of girls but I was lucky to have Leka Vieira to look up to. She was always two belts ahead of me, and had her female team. She has always been a huge inspiration for me.

Great video of Leticia Ribeiro from BJJ hacks: