A MOTHER and daughter team who run a jiu jitsu club have been teaching others martial arts during lockdown in a bid to keep people moving.

Natalie Day, 39, and 13-year-old Iris are owners of Grow Jiu Jitsu based in Chesterton, near Bicester.

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They are part of a team of five instructors who teach all ages self defence in schools and community spaces in Oxfordshire as well as in their home dojo.

Mrs Day has been training full time for eight and a half years and has been teaching jiu jitsu full time for five years.

She decided to take up the sport after a situation at work in her previous career as a housing social worker where she needed to know how to defend herself and was unable to do so.

She is now a bronze and silver medalist at world championship level and hopes to go for gold in 2022.

Mrs Day said: “Teaching jiu jitsu is hugely fulfilling. It is the only martial art where a stronger, weaker person can win against a bigger stronger opponent, with the use of technique and leverage effectively using the other person against themselves.”

Her daughter, who Mrs Day refers to as her 'wing woman', has been training since she was four years old and has grown up with the martial art in her daily life since then.

During lockdowns, they have both been teaching online through their morning and afternoon sessions for juniors, teens and adults.

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Mrs Day added: “Not being able to train face to face has been super challenging during this time but it has meant that we needed to adapt while keeping focus on our community and doing what ever we can to brighten the days for our students.”

The jiu jitsu instructor is married to 65-year-old Mauricio Gomes known as the ‘Godfather of British Jiu-Jitsu’ because of his efforts to grow the sport in the UK after coming to the country in the 1990s from Brazil.

He is the father of 10-times jiu jitsu world champion Roger Gracie who established the Roger Gracie Academy in London and which Grow Jiu Jitsu is affiliated to as well as the Mauricio Gomes legacy.

Mrs Day says being active through martial arts is good for mental health as well as physical health.

She added: "During the lockdown. It is so important to continue the solo movement training online and to keep a reasonable level of cardio.

"However most importantly is the mental health benefits of training, any kind of physical activity. We forget that our bodies really need to move. So if walking is your thing. Just do more of that.

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"The benefits of my online Zoom classes are maintaining community. It’s been so important for all of my students - old and young - to be a part of something positive, where they are valued and achieving something."

For more information, email growjiujitsu@hotmail.com.