Age and nationality: Paola Barro is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu purple belt. She is originally from the favela do Guianaru in Southeastern Brazil. Her training has been geared towards what she refers to as “raw style” training, which consists of joint lock techniques that rely on your partner’s own body weight to stop you. This is in contrast to “competitor style” training, which involves the use of joint lock techniques to incapacitate your opponent and force him to submit to your techniques. In her Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournaments, she has won each category including the all-around women’s title, women’s lightweight tournament, and the all-important women’s super lightweight tournament.
Height and nationality – If you are tall (5′ 10″ or taller), Paola Barro is an excellent Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coach. She has a very high guard presence, which makes it very difficult for shorter people to attack her from the top. However, if you are shorter than her, you will be able to take advantage of her height to better position yourself for a submission. This is important because if you are not tall enough to get your hands behind her, then your best shot at winning this match would be to try and pin her on the ground until she submits to your choke hold.
Height and nationality have very little to do with the quality of your game as a whole, but if you plan on competing against other Brazilian Jiu Jitsu masters, it is worth mentioning that Barro’s height advantage definitely plays into her advantage when it comes to controlling her opponents on the ground. Furthermore, if you are Brazilian, and you compete in the all-around or women’s divisions, then your height will also play into how comfortable you are with your opponent on the mat. Being tall will allow you to shift and turn easily to different positions, whereas being short will make it more difficult to change your position.