Nika Schwinden: “Jiu-Jitsu taught me to hold back my roughness and respect people more”
At Pura Connection, the Gracie Barra Curitiba coach, who has promoted ten women to black belt, says her students made her the woman she is today
Nika Schwinden has taught women to fight for more than ten years, and she says she learned from them too. She is a coach at Gracie Barra Curitiba, in the south of Brazil. Speaking at Pura Connection, she explained how Jiu-Jitsu changed the way she deals with people, on and off the mat.
“Jiu-Jitsu woke up my sensitivity and my empathy to deal with women. My students made me the woman I am today,” she said.
Nika also rejected the idea that fighting makes people harder. “I am in love with Jiu-Jitsu because it did not teach me to be rough. It taught me to hold back my roughness and to respect people who are different from me more.”
From psychology to the mat
Nika has a degree in psychology. She started training in 2011 and won her first master world title in 2013. The master division is for athletes aged 30 and over. Since the end of 2014 she has led the women’s classes at Gracie Barra Curitiba. With her husband, black belt Rodrigo “Pimpolho” Fajardo, she is also a co-founder of Casa GB.
Ten women promoted to black belt
The clearest result of her work is around her students’ waists. In December 2024, Nika promoted her tenth female student to black belt, the highest belt most athletes reach, at a Gracie Barra ceremony in Curitiba. At that time she talked about what the sport did for her: “Jiu-Jitsu made me recognize and value who I really am. Self-knowledge and self-confidence, that is so powerful.”
A space where most students are still men
Women’s Jiu-Jitsu has grown in recent years. There are more female athletes, more opportunities, and events that now pay the same money to men and women. But in most academies the classes are still mostly men. A female black belt coach often makes a difference for a woman who steps on the mat for the first time. This is where Nika’s work in Curitiba matters.
And you, what has Jiu-Jitsu changed in the way you deal with people?
