Featured Traveller: Riley Dedio – BJJ Globetrotters
Age: 43
Belt: Blue
Profession: Filmmaker
How many years in BJJ: 9-ish years
Other martial arts: Some Muay Thai in a past life
Where do you live: Leipzig, Germany
Where are you from: Rostock, Germany
Other fun or curious information you would like to share: This is my second feature here; the first one was before I received a massive name and gender update. I did a lot of Jits and travel before transitioning and now get to navigate those things as a trans woman… and let me just say: there are a lot of things we as a sport can and should work on.
Riley Dedio – BJJ Globetrotters
Tell us what inspired you to travel and train?
I’m a documentary filmmaker. I travel a lot, or did before Covid. Back then, I always looked up clubs wherever I was going. 6am classes in Cape Town, Paris, Nagasaki, Tunis, Vancouver? Sign me up! I loved the camaraderie that comes with our sport, being welcomed at gyms around the world. It was a privilege in more ways than one (since I was presenting as a middle-aged white dude).
Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?
Much of that privilege went away when I transitioned. I’m lucky that the coach of my home club is not just accepting but absolutely supportive, so I still have a home there.
I started travelling more again in recent years, but I haven’t trained anywhere that’s not Globetrotter camps or my home gym since coming out. The sad truth is: It’s simply not safe.
Sure, I could message clubs in cities I’m going to and ask if they will let me train, but that puts a huge mental burden on me for something that should be self-evident. If I am in a town where I know other Jits folx who will take me with, I’ll be so happy to go. Same if I come across clubs that are openly queer/trans supportive.
Riley Dedio – BJJ Globetrotters Winter Camp
What are the things you enjoy about travelling?
Being welcomed into new groups of people was always an amazing feeling. Like, I’ve never seen these people before, we sometimes don’t even share a common spoken language, but our expression on the mats is all that matters. I always felt part of something bigger… sadly, that was because I didn’t see the less savory side of that. I didn’t check my privilege. I didn’t have to worry about whether or not I’d be accepted as a human being, or, say, whether I would be sexually harassed.
Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that make it worth traveling and training?
Where do I start… Walking into a Coral Belt’s club and getting to spontaneously roll with someone who’s been doing Jits since my parents were children… Attending class without understanding a word that’s being said and having to learn 100% visually… Sweating buckets on the mats under a tin roof at the edge of the Sahara in summer… Walking off the mats and meditating in the ancient Viking temple right outside…
What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling?
Spontaneously getting three stripes on my white belt one afternoon when I had absolutely no idea that was coming.
Riley Dedio – BJJ Globetrotters Camp 100
If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be?
I’d like to make this one a piece of advice for clubs hosting Globetrotters instead. I’m not going to ask you to be accepting of trans people; if you don’t support basic human rights, I don’t think there’s a point. I will ask this, though: Be vocal about it. Advertise. Be seen as an ally (and help us be seen). Put (Progress) Pride flags in your social media posts, on your doors. Sign posts with a simple “Our team is LGBTQ friendly”, or equivalent. Do those things – and then live by them.
If you’re worried that supporting a threatened and marginalized minority may cost you members, it may be time to check your privileges. Or, as we say in Germany: If you wonder what you would have done to stop fascism and genocide in the 1930s, you have the chance to do so now.
