She came. She saw. She conquered.
A few months back, I wrote THIS PIECE describing how Jiu-jitsu has helped an adopted woman named Krystal find her place in the world. (It’s a coincidence that I’m dating her and that she writes legit the best Walking Dead blogs for us – I’m a journalist with standards, people, and can separate my feelings. Ahem.)(Like I have feelings. Ha!)
It’s time for an update. Two major tournaments and it’s been cake walk city. The Atlanta Open saw her take Gold in her division and Gold in Open Weight. But this past weekend was where she shone brightest.
The Chicago Open is a pretty major tournament on the Jiu-Jitsu calendar. Young Krystal took Gold. That she did so isn’t a shocker in and of itself. No, what is impressive is which Gold she won.
I’ll break a major rule here and talk about a woman’s weight. GASP!!!! When Krystal is focused on elite tournaments she can and usually does compete at 130 lbs. Chicago was different.
An important side note on how these tournaments work. Yes, you as an individual want to win and all that but every medal earns your overall team a certain number of points which go towards determining the overall Best Team (it was my team for the record – probably because of my Silver Medal). There is thus sometimes pressure to spread out talent. Have your stars move up in weight where you know they can win and give someone else a chance for a medal and yada yada you have more points.
This was asked of Krystal. She did it without complaint.
And so the woman who should be at 130 lbs went up and competed at 150 lbs – two weight classes above her ideal weight. Not only did she win, she pulled a BJ Penn and did it giving up A LOT of weight.
And lemme tell ya: it was impressive as hell. She won her gold with about five seconds to go by pulling out a takedown from nowhere. Though takedown doesn’t even do it justice. She ripped a mountain of muscle to the ground like something out of Greek Mythology.
Your donations helped make this possible. You’re all winners too!
That previous piece (this one too) also had a central theme of asking for a contribution to her GoFundMe page. Said page exists for one reason: to pay entrance fees, hotel rooms, and airfare. That’s it.
And that REALLY is it because being the unethical human I am I said, “I think using the money to buy a new Gi is OK because it’s all related.” She wouldn’t do it. (You’re all shocked that the lawyer has rationalization like this, I’m sure.)
But I’m not just here to again ask you to go into your e-wallets and drop a buck or two. I’m here to show you her first ever highlight video!!
I forced her to make it. She didn’t want to but I pulled the “I’m super smart and should be listened to” card. Or I bugged her until she relented. Now you can see what a beast in a gi looks like. (Note: I can call her a beast and get away with it. BJJ is awesome.)
Oh, and extra FUNdraiser note. Since the tournament is over I can personally relax my diet a bit and drink more so y’all are getting a disgusting impaired podcast very, very soon. (I also sprained my MCL real bad two weeks ago and so can’t train anyways.)
American Nationals are coming soon and the World Championships are end of summer. It’s go time, folks. So go donate!
Helping people is fun and by donating you’ll have fun. You like fun, right? Donate to the Krystal McKenzie Go Fund Me HERE.
I appreciate you being willing to publish my comments. Actually while they were “awaiting moderation”, I felt a bit uncomfortable. I probably should not be going on my anti-gofundme crusade on this site or a posting about this woman’s achievements. There are better places for me to get on my pulpit about it.
I apologize if I may have upset her or you.
Nah. You’re good. And if she gets upset she can go make me a sandwich.
Now I get the heat!!
Ps – my comments against crowdfunding are in no way meant to insult this woman’s accomplishments. You present her as a wonderful and inspirational athlete and she deserves all the success.
I just have my beef with crowdfunding being used for regular people who can earn it themselves.
Like I’d ever moderate you 🙂 (or anyone, tbh).
I’ve got no idea what the origins of crowd funding are. And there are obviously more objectively worth while causes to donate to (probably something in Africa).
Honestly, she would work a second job if she could. But being a full time somewhat high level executive manager for an entire area of a hospital is time consuming.
Buuuuuut: I think we can all agree that anything that encourages ME to not write things that are evil is a good thing.
I would suspect this will be moderated out; however, I want to say it as a counter point.
What happened to people, businesses, athletes working hard to earn their way? Why has crowdfunding become the way for people to not work that 2nd job or get a nicer hotel for their honey moon, or a money losing restaurant to convince people “If I only had this new piece of equipment”. Crowdfunding has lost it’s way and instead of being for truly disadvantaged people; it has been hijacked by regular healthy people who are just looking for a quicker and easier path.
This woman’s accomplishments are wonderful; I am happy to see you are proud of her. I just feel crowdfunding people in instances like this is really not what crowdfunding was ever created for.
Work hard, work extra, pay your way, get help from family, etc. This is what everyone did before goFundMe was invented. This should not be the way for anyone unless they are truly disadvantaged.