We tell our kids that they can be anything they want to be, as along as they put their minds to it, but, as grownups, its easy to forget how true that old maxim is. But every once in a while a reminder comes along – like the story of Ena Mallet, a 77 year old crossing guard who is also the first woman to ever reach the seventh dan in Spirit Combat International Jujitsu.
Spirit Combat is a jujitsu based martial art that also incorporates karate and boxing. In order to get her seventh level belt, Ena had to spend a day winning tournament battles. The award was so rare that her belt had to be made to order. Ena started practicing Karate in 1979 to keep fit. Now the widowed mother of two splits her time between teaching classes at her local village hall in South Walsham, Norfolk, UK, and working as a crossing guard.
She told the Sun: “The schoolchildren all know about my jujitsu skills and think its brilliant.”
Needless to say, we think it’s pretty brilliant too!
