When junior Kate Bakhuyzen took her boyfriend to one of her jujitsu classes, it resulted in a bloody nose and a funny memory for both of them.
Jujitsu is a form of martial art and fighting; it does not use weapons, instead, it utilizes the enemy’s energy against them and involves moves like holds and takedowns.
Kate has been practicing the art of jujitsu for around two years at Unity (a Martial Arts School) in Grand Rapids. She enjoys doing jujitsu because of the surplus of skills she gains both physically and mentally.
“[Jujitsu is] oddly calming,” Kate said. “not a lot of people get the opportunity to let their anger out, so I feel very fortunate that I have that outlet; I have really bad ADHD so it calms me down the next day.”
Kate is a fourth-degree white belt, which is one step below a blue belt—which is two belts below a black belt. Throughout her time participating in jujitsu, she has gained an abundance of traits and attributes that improve her everyday life. She has not always won in jujitsu, and because of jujitsu, she has become better at accepting her losses.
“I’ve learned a lot about patience and a lot about losing,” Kate said. “It takes a lot of determination because you will fail and never stop failing, even when you’re a black belt.”
One of the aspects of her sport Kate loves is the community she has found. She enjoys spending her time at lessons with all of the friends she has made.
With her experience of jujitsu, she would recommend it to others. It provides knowledge in many skills regarding self-defense.
“I would encourage people to do jujitsu, especially girls,” Kate said. “I think all girls should know at least a little bit of jujitsu because it’s all ground fighting. For women, it is very important self-defense that we all [should] know. ”
Another hobby Kate enjoys spending her time with is photography. She does Macro photography—a type of close-up photography that involves photographing small objects to make them appear life-sized or larger in the picture than they are in reality.
Kate has taken photos of many different subjects including flowers, trees, plants, and animals. She has also taken photographs at places like Fredrick Meijer Gardens where they have an abundance of plant life. One of her favorite photos features a bonsai tree.
“I took a photo of a bonsai tree and I like it because it makes you feel like you’re inside of the tree,” Kate said. “I follow the natural curve line of the tree, and it just looks cool.”
Taking photos allows Kate to express herself. She is very creative and loves the outlet to display her creativity. One skill she excels at is playing with sunlight and capturing it in many different ways.
“I really love that I’m able to capture small moments in life and just show it to other people,” Kate said. “[Photography makes me] really proud because I’m not good at drawing, but I’m an artist. It’s a way for me to convey my creativity in a skillful way.”
Though her two hobbies seem to be different from in each other most ways, they do have their similarities. Traits she has learned from photography have carried over into jujitsu and vice versa. Kate has applied valuable aspects of both photography and jujitsu into her life and they allow her to express herself in different ways.
“Noticing small details in photography helps with jujitsu because you need to notice every little thing the person is doing,” Kate said. “Then, the patience that I learned in jujitsu helps with photography and getting the right shot.”
