Andrea Emmel Encarnacion is the 2014 Pan champion at light feather. She hails from Rio de Janeiro and has developed a great teaching style that she developed on the way to winning four Brazilian Championships, six State Championships (Rio de Janeiro), and a World Championship in 2009.  She received her black belt from Master Hercules Baptista. In this interview with BJJ Eastern Europe, Andrea talks about he intresting BJJ journey and compares the women BJJ scenes in the US and Brazil.  

Hi Andrea, can you please introduce yourself to the BJJ Community of Eastern Europe? 

Hi My name is Andrea Emmel Encarnacion, 23 years old and I started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu when I was 12. I received my Black Belt in 2011 under Master Hercules Baptista. Im from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Currently I train at Elite Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/AZO in Seattle, Washington. As my main titles I have: 2x World Cup Champion, 4x Brazilian National champion, International Open Champion, Brazilian National No Gi champion …

How did you start training and under whom? 

Like I said I started training when I was 12 years old, My journey began under Master Hercules Baptista who was also my biggest inspiration. Originally I wanted to take swimming classes but the only opening in my community center at the time was for Jiu Jitsu. I took a chance and I fell in love.

How did you end up living and teaching in the US?

I made lots of friends during my journey one of which where I met my friend Miriam Cardoso who also is a black belt under Master Hercules Baptista and helped me to move to USA for an opportunity to teach at her local school.

Pan Ams 2014

You are a frequent competitor and started 2014 with a bang taking the gold at Pan. Tell us more about your b uild up to that competition.

Unfortunately, I stopped competing for almost two years after a serious injury on my knee. It was very serious and forced me to stop training and even teaching for at least 7 months. After that time, I was training but my mind set wasn’t the same. I decided I would compete for the Pan American Title to prove to myself that I can come back 100 percent after my injury.
I had support from everyone students, friends and my husband. I trained with my students and husband in between working and teaching, sometimes Sundays, mornings holidays, almost every day. As far as my training goes, I do a lot of drilling, and followed by some specific training such as passing the guard, starting from mount, things like that. Than I finish up by rolling.

 How would you describe your BJJ style and also your teaching style?

My style is simple and basic just as I had learned from my Master and I believe my teaching style is a reflection of my Jiu Jitsu stlyle. I still believe in simple is effective In BJJ.

Please tell us about the similarities and differences between the women’s BJJ scenes in the US and Brazil.

We train hard here and in Brazil but I feel like women have more value here in the U.S. Every year it gets better and better everywhere but Brazil needs to grow more and they need to learn that women can train just as hard as men and give the women just as much credit as the men do in the sport they both love.

What is next for you and your team in 2014?

My team and I will keep working hard and looking forward for the next upcoming tournaments. It is tough with two jobs plus training to set up my whole year for tournaments but for sure I will be at the matches all year around.

If you want to thank somebody or sponsors, feel free

I want to thank my elite Brazilian jiu jitsu/AZO family here and in brazil all my friends and teammates for the support, my family and my husband who supports me and helping me to make my dreams come true, my master Hercules Baptista who is still coaching me even from brazil, RCG Gis for the best gis and BJJ Eastern Europe for the opportunity . Thank you so much.