Emma Todd has gone for the choke hold, her legs wrapped tight around her opponent’s neck and one arm.

Trapped on the mat, there’s no escape, and as Todd squeezes tighter, cutting off blood flow, there is only surrender.

Submission.

And as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu exponent, that is always Todd’s goal, attack fast, attack hard and force a submission.

Which is an astonishing alter ego for a Rochester mother-of-two, who admits when she first heard about jiu-jitsu, she couldn’t even pronounce it properly.

But membership at Tina West’s Momentum Jiu-Jitsu — where Todd has mastered that triangle choke, one of her favourites — has transformed this previously inoffensive mother into a Pan Pacific champion.

“Two and a half years ago, I couldn't even say jiu-jitsu properly, it had never been on my radar,” she said.

“I ran into Tina at a kindergarten drop-off, and we got chatting, and she said she was opening a jiu-jitsu gym.

“I had no idea what it was about, and I wasn't really that keen but I thought ‘You know what, I'll give it a go, I'll support her.’

“I thought it was really cool what she was doing in our small town.

“From the very first lesson, I became completely hooked and addicted, I started a day a week, then two days a week, and now I train religiously at least four days a week and I absolutely love it.

“It's amazing what you can make time for in your life when you are passionate about it.”

Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a martial art built on ground-based grappling and submissions.

Competitors, including Todd, most often compete in a gi, a traditional uniform that can also be used offensively or exploited by the opponent during competition.

There are also no-gi competitions.

Competitors can earn points during a bout for establishing and maintaining a position of dominance for at least three seconds, or a match can be won instantly by submission.

Todd’s obsession quickly became a desire to strengthen her skills and then test them in competition.

It was initially a trial by fire, as the local struggled to survive in her early competitions, but as she continued to work, the results began to improve.

Todd was targeting the Pan Pacific championships more than a year out, and received full support from coach West.

“I thought she might try and talk me out of it, but she immediately just said, ‘Oh, absolutely, let’s start working towards this,’ and she helped me map out a little bit of a plan,” Todd said.

One of the stops on the road to Pan-Pacs was the Australian Championships in August where she won her division, and then in October, added to her medal cabinet with the Master 1 white belt featherweight title.

The division saw Todd fighting other white belts around her age, but she said that wasn’t always the case and at smaller tournaments she had routinely had to compete against younger women due to a lack of competitors in her own division.

Todd won each of her bouts by submission, and said ending the contest early was her goal heading in.

“I’ve got a few favourite submissions which are usually the triangle or a guillotine or double lapel choke from back control,” she said.

“My goal is absolutely the submission, but I’m still developing my competition game.”

Initially, Todd said she struggled with choosing to pursue a hobby separate from her family.

“As a mum and a parent, the mum guilt is a big thing,” she said.

“Trying to push past all of that to make time for yourself is something I struggled with at the start.

“I’m choosing to go and do this thing all by myself just for me while my kids are at home with my husband.

“I’m very lucky he was supportive of this new passion of mine so I could go and do this, but I think it’s a good thing.

“I’m not big on social media, but I did put a post out about the Pan-Pacs win mostly because I wanted to share with other mums in our community and parents in general it’s okay to choose something that’s just for you, developing your skills and growing you as a person and as a community member.”

Coach West said Todd’s success was a credit to her work ethic.

“She’s a busy chick and her nickname’s actually Mary Poppins at the gym because she always has everything in hand,” she said.

“She’ll come to class and I watch her wrestle, make adjustments to what she’s doing and help her mentally as well because that’s important in a competition because you’ve done the preparation already, it’s just more getting your mind switched on.

“The cool thing about being a coach is seeing people grow and achieving their goals.

“What I do is make sure I’m there and make sure they can depend on me, but they do all the hard work themselves.”

Todd wasn’t the only member of Momentum to enjoy success recently, as Oakley Tarrant secured third at the Australian Championships in the blue belt adult medium heavy division.

“I've known Oakley since he was 10 years old,” West said.

“When I opened the gym, he was my first assistant coach.

“He’s juggling uni, learning to live on his own, and he’s still training, so to come third is pretty epic, and I’m proud of him as well.”

A 15-year veteran of the sport and brown belt, West started Momentum Jiu-Jitsu in 2024 and the gym now operates at 70 Cohen St, Rochester, running minis, kids and adult jiu-jitsu classes weekly, as well as women’s fitness classes.

“It’s a sport you’re consistently growing physically, mentally and spiritually too,” West said.

“You always have to work at it, you have to have training partners, and that’s why it’s such a close community because you’re helping each other get better and at the same time wrestling each other.

“It’s such a community-driven sport and becomes like a family because you need one another, so you look after each other on and off the mat.”

Todd shared similar sentiments on her time at Momentum.

“I did team sports as a kid and I didn’t really do much after high school, but had no idea I needed these people in my life,” she said.

“We are all from such similar, but then also different backgrounds, from all walks of life and these people have become some of my dearest friends, they’re like family to me.”

Todd hopes to return to the Pan Pacific championships next year as a blue belt.

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Thursday, 6th January 2028

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