Emily Kwok is the first woman in Canada to receive her black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu and the first to win a world championship. In 2007, when still a brown belt, she defeated black belts at the Mundials to win the gold medal. She was a gold medalist at the Pan Am No Gi Championships in the Absolute division and took home silver in the World No Gi Championships. Emily didn’t stop at BJJ, though. She also defeated her opponents in the cage as an amateur and professional MMA fighter for the Smackgirl organization in Korea and Japan. She recently put her competitive career on hold and had a baby. she told Breakingmuscle.com about this life changing experience:
I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to have a family. Unfortunately, I was also aware that my career was dependant on my physical ability to perform and teach. In the time that I’ve studied BJJ I’ve seen athletes with great talent, far more than I, disappear from the spotlight…forgotten, once competition is no longer their primary focus. There hasn’t been much infrastructure within the sport to preserve the legacy of those who have paved the way for the rest of us, so I wondered if there could be a future for me at all if I didn’t work through my own transition carefully. Though there are many more athletes who have accomplished far more than I, BJJ has still been a big passion of mine, and I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to make a living off of it.
About the decision to have a baby at the right moment and competitive life after having a child:
I delayed having my first child for a few years because I felt like I wasn’t finished – I wanted to prove to myself that I didn’t suck…that with the coaching and support from the right people that I could be a respected athlete. I didn’t want to have a child and try to live vicariously through them because I didn’t live out my own dreams. Waiting and having my daughter Saya now was the best decision I ever made. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity at Marcelo’s to try again, I feel satisfied and fulfilled with what I made out of my competitive career for now.
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I am a competitive person by nature and haven’t ruled out competing again, but I must say I can no longer dedicate the same amount of time and energy needed to compete at a world class level. I love being a mother, and I have the great fortune of being able to work from home most of the time so I can spend a good deal of time raising [my daughter]. The new generations keep getting stronger and more technical…it’s amazing to see how far women have come. I respect and admire all of them and may step back onto the mats one day, but for now – my daughter is more important to me. There may be others who can balance their family and competitive career better than I, and if they can, then by all means…go for it! High level competition is an extremely selfish venture. I don’t say that in a negative way, I just mean the preparation has to be all about you. When you have a family, especially a young infant, I think it’s hard to put yourself before them…at least in my eyes.
