Edenilce Duraes Gamonal Nogueira

Edenilce Duraes Gamonal Nogueira, 35, was born in Agua Verde, Bahia, but it was in San Antonio, Texas that she was charmed by jiu jitsu in 2014. Denise, as her friends call it, is an businesswoman, graduated in the University of Texas with High Honors and Bella's 6-months-old mother.

She says she started training in jiu-jitsu because of her best friend, Fabiana Borges, a black belt who has lived with her during some time in San Antonio, and always called her to train, but Denise did not think it was a women's sport. However it was when her best friend has being a cupid and took her to train at BTT San Antonio. Denise fell in love with jiu jitsu and her teacher, Diego Gamonal, who is now her husband and father of Bella.

Denise says that reconciling the routine of workouts with maternity, work, home and family, is not a very easy task! But, like every woman, she is a warrior, and improvises in managing her time according to priorities, which is currently her daughter. She wakes up early every single day, and goes to bed at dawn. It is not easy to find time to train for competitions, so when Denise is on the mat, she prefers to focus on drills and rolls, even if she still has no fixed routine. She has a tip for the newly-weds: "Most women think their child will end the whole routine and never be able to train again. I can guarantee you that with a baby, everything is better. In us, women are warriors of body and soul, and God would never give us something we can not have. "

The athlete got gold in the San Antonio Open, which happened this December, 2017. Denise says that among all the fifteen IBJJF competitions that she has competed between 2015-2016, the San Antonio Open was very remarkable, as it was the only championship that she had a poor trained, because of her new routine as a mother. So she used this championship to test her technical level, after exactly 1 year without training. On the day of the championship, she had no one to stay with her daughter, but she still took her gi, hoping to fight. When she arrived at the venue, a friend of her offered to stay with Bella while Denise competed, and so she entered without a commitment to win. Just for fun! "I've done what I always like. Adrenaline and excitement was in my mind. With the birth of my daughter, I learned to listen better and have more patience, which made me very well during the competition. This championship motivated me enough to train more and make my 2018 the best I can, "says Denise.

With the baby's new arrival, Denise only has participated in the San Antonio Open this year of 2017, but ended the year with a golden key. Her most striking fight was at the IBJJF Austin Open 2016, where Gamonal register her at the open division without her permission because she was afraid, but he believed in Denise potential. Denise, submitted the opponent with 30 seconds of the fight with an arm bar, and took the gold home. The 2016 World Championship of IBJJF, she says that is also remarkable in her history. "I submitted my opponent in 26 seconds of fight with an arm bar." Being in such an important league, Denise did not believe she defeated her opponent so fast, and she was in shock! We already know that her specialty in jiu jitsu is Arm bar, right?!

For 2018, she expects to be her best year in jiu jitsu. She is already registered at the Los Angeles Open on January 28, and Houston Open on February 11, followed by Panamericano and the two Worlds - adult and master.

The athlete talks about the relationship of jiu-jitsu and female empowerment: "Jiu-Jitsu is for women. With Jiu-Jitsu we get stronger from the inside out. We become more confident and we will never be afraid of little things. The most important are the benefits of Jiu-Jitsu, and that strengthens us and teaches us to be much more humble in life. I am grateful to God for meeting my incredible husband who teaches me day and night. " Gamonal is Head Coach of BTT San Antonio, black belt, double world jiu-jitsu champion, husband and father!