When she started practicing Jiu Jitsu four years ago, Penny De La Cruz didn’t like it.
“I would get hurt—like, ‘ow’ and fall,” she told the Sun.
De La Cruz just returned from the 2015 Kids World Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championship in Ontario, Calif. There, she joined some 800 athletes between the ages of 4 and 15 years old to test her mettle on the mat.
It wasn’t easy for De La Cruz—she bumped up from her weight class and matched with girls 30 pounds to 40 pounds heavier than her. “I was actually scared, and nervous,” she said.
She fought twice. During her second match, De La Cruz said, her opponent nearly beat her by throwing her weight around.
“She was pretty much smashing me,” De La Cruz recalled—but, despite getting smashed, she managed to win with an arm bar.
On the podium, De La Cruz said, the unsuccessful smasher was still a few inches taller, even though she was standing on the second-place riser.
“And the first place thing was pretty high,” she added. For her trouble, De La Cruz walked away with a heavy first place medal made of gold.
De La Cruz is 14 years old. She goes to Righetti High School, plays volleyball when she’s not wrestling Jiu Jitsu, and watches Futurama and Orange is the New Black on Netflix.
Her favorite OITNB character is Ruby Rose. Why? “She’s, like, mean,” De La Cruz said with a shrug. She listens to rap, although she has her qualms about it—“It’s like, not good,” she told the Sun. “There’s like, a lot of cussing.”
Her interest in Jiu Jitsu wasn’t really there when she started hanging out at the gym during her brother’s classes. “I would just be here, sit down, and not do anything,” she said.
Soon enough, however, she was on the mat, learning the ropes. Now, three years later, she helps out with two different classes—one for the very young, between 4 and 7 years of age, and one for the 8-year-olds to 13-year-olds. De La Cruz will demonstrate specific moves and help teach the kids through one-on-one instruction.
“I like working with them,” she said. “They’re pretty cool.”
This article appears in Aug 20-27, 2015.
