#16 Toronto Open
Sept 13, 2025
I registered for this tournament early, as soon as it became available and I organized for my husband to join me so he could be my coach. Toronto is a big city and I was sure I’d have matches. Unfortunately, there was no one in my bracket and no other female Master 4 brown belts, so no open class match. You don’t know what your final brackets will look like until the day before the tournament, so changing plans isn’t an option once you see there will be no matches.
I squeezed this trip into a long weekend. Flying Seattle to Toronto essentially has you losing an entire day with the time zone changes. So, Friday was all about flying and getting to our hotel. I was right on weight, so very carefully watching what I ate. We grabbed our rental car and stayed at a nice hotel in downtown Toronto. Woke up first thing in the morning and went to the tournament. Entry to get into the tournament was cash only and we weren’t carrying any Canadian money. We asked for an ATM and were pointed towards where one ‘used to be’. Apparently, it was recently moved, so no access to cash nearby. Since I was just weighing in, I had my husband wait outside, no big deal he couldn’t get in since he wasn’t coaching me anyway, but super weird to ask for cash and have no means of accessing cash.
I travel with a scale and checked my weight in the morning. I was half a pound under, so this should be an easy weigh in. I got on the test scale at the tournament which was set to kilograms, and I was exactly on weight. I was alarmed because it shouldn’t have been that close. I did some quick math and found that the weight requirements in pounds and kilograms for the bracket were not exact conversions. I kept my scale in pounds, not thinking about it. but in pounds the weight requirement is 152.6lbs. In kilograms it’s 69kgs. 69kgs = 152.1lbs. I moved on to the official weigh in, and the person taking my weight said I barely made it. Exactly on weight. More stress than I was anticipating! I collected my gold medal. Registered for open class. I waited an hour. Confirmed no one else would join me and collected my second gold medal. Not that fun, but it makes for a quick day to go do other things.
We then made the 2-hour drive to Niagara Falls. I’ve never been there before and got a hotel overlooking the falls. We visited an Italian restaurant for dinner in Niagara before walking to the Greg Frewin Magic show. The show was fantastic and highly entertaining. `The next morning we went on the Hornblower, which is the boat ride from the Canadian side of the falls (Canadian Maid of the Mist). It was awesome, I didn’t think I was going to enjoy being that close to the falls. We then headed out of town back towards Toronto. I was craving gelato but didn’t want to be in the touristy Niagara area, so we searched for something on the way back. We ended up in St. Catherines, a small little lake side town that I totally fell in love with. The kind of place that has you checking Zillow to see how realistic it would be to buy a place. The answer was not realistic at all. Apparently, everyone else also appreciated its adorable appeal. It even has a Celebration of Light Festival in the winter; I love a quaint town with a winter festival.
Before leaving for this tournament I took the Thursday night BJJ class. I don’t typically train on Thursdays. I got to class and to my surprise I was the only woman in class. We have a big female population at the gym so it’s rare to be the only woman in a class. I then get to the tournament and I’m the only master 4 brown belt at the tournament. No one in my bracket, no one in open class. It felt a little lonely. Not many people do BJJ, even less woman do it, even less women over 40 do it. My other hobby is stained glass. It’s the opposite experience. 80% of my stained classes are with women that are over 50. It’s interesting to be part of such different communities. In both though, the important part is to just keep showing up. Hoping I can help others and contribute to bringing a different perspective to both communities.
Key Takeaways
- Make sure to change my scale to kg when outside of the US.
Current goals
- Win a bracket
-Score a takedown
Restaurants I went to
JP’s Roti House - Wellman, ON - A friend from Toronto told us he really misses the Caribbean cuisine in Toronto so we made sure to try a spot. This place doesn’t look like much on the outside or inside, but the 4.8 star review had us intrigued. It was fantastic. The roti was full of flavor and so amazing, not like anything you can get in Seattle. Absolutely, recommend stopping here.
Il Gelato of Carlotta - There are several locations, we went to the one in St. Catherine’s. It was excellent and they served one of my all time favorite desserts, affogato!
