Sandra started with a self-defense course and is now the best in the world

She saw Sara a few years ago, but for Sandra Spijker that does not mean she is slowing down in her favorite sport. The 52-year-old Osse is a fanatic of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) and has been able to call himself world champion since last week. “For me it is the way to forget everything for a while.”

Written by

Leon Voskamp

During the day, Sandra works full-time as a tactical operating room manager at the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen. In her spare time, she tries to beat her opponent in a ground fight as quickly as possible in BJJ. Healthcare and martial arts: they seem like two extremes. “But it is actually a sport that is very good for you. I can completely clear my head. I have run occasionally in the past, but then there is always room to worry, for example. With BJJ you use your whole body, it is very intensive.”

BJJ spread from the Americas to Europe in the 1990s. Thanks to Remco Pardoelen, a well-known fighter who ran his own gym in Oss. At that time Sandra was training with him. “When I was 27 years old, I started a self-defense course. I then chose jiu-jitsu, but when BJJ came my way, I was sold.”

“I wanted to know if I was worthy of the black belt.”

She started martial arts at a relatively late age, but she turned out to have a talent for it. “Due to a back injury, sports were put on the back burner for a while, but I picked it up again in 2016. A year later I had a black belt. In my age category there are few ladies with that color belt, but there are clearly more in younger classes. To know whether I was worthy of the black belt, I started participating in championships.”

She came for BJJ tournaments in beautiful places around the world. Last week she added the sporting highlight to her resume. For her fight for the world title, Sandra traveled to Las Vegas. About a ten-minute drive from the heart of the American gambling paradise, a conference center was set up for the World Master IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship. “It was an incredibly big tournament. There were 32 competition fields and more than 5,000 participants.”

“Very bizarre and a crazy idea.”

De Osse itself participated in the master 5 category for ages 50-55. “You never know in advance how many participants will register, but there turned out to be only two this year. I dominated the competition and am now world champion. Very bizarre and a crazy idea.”

Sandra now lives in Germany, but still comes to Gracie Barra Oss for training with trainers Frans van Casteren and Duane van Helvoirt. She also teaches BJJ near her home. A busy life, where after the World Cup title the pressure is off for the time being. “The extra training for the World Cup is now over. But I’m definitely not done with BJJ yet. You can still do it at an old age and I will continue to do this with great pleasure.”

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