At just 6 and 10-years old, Aja and Mila Boucher of Mattapoisett dedicate their free time to perfecting a variety of chokeholds, joint locks, sweeps and takedowns.

“I was searching for a martial art that is practical, where a smaller person can defeat a larger person,” said the girls’ father Darren Boucher.

That’s exactly what he found in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu about 2 and a half years ago, with his older daughter Mila, and then younger daughter Aja hitting the mats soon after, and eventually gaining notable success, with Mila placing third in her division at the Kid’s International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation tournament in Las Vegas in August.

Mila said she got to see “kids with a lot of medals” that had different styles of Jiu-Jitsu to her own, helping her learn from the experience.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a grappling-based martial art that places special emphasis on taking the fight to the ground and using proper technique and leverage to subdue opponents by using “submission” techniques that force the opponent to give up, or face serious injury.

It was originally developed in the early 1900s by Carlos and Hélio Gracie, who adapted ground fighting techniques from judo to better suit smaller practitioners.

It later gained notoriety when Royce Gracie won the first Ultimate Fighting Championship tournament in 1993. The no-holds-barred tournament pitted various martial artists of different styles against each other in an eight-man bracket with no weight classes or time limits. Despite being the smallest competitor in the event, Gracie was able to win using the techniques and principles of Jiu-Jitsu.

Since then, the sport of mixed martial arts, and art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has continued to gain popularity.

For Aja and Mila, it has taught valuable self defense skills, and led to an increase in confidence and athleticism.

“I’m not worried about bullies at all,” said their mother Kristen Boucher. 

She added that since the girls began training, she has noticed improvements in their overall fitness, and demeanor. She said that both girls have higher self-confidence and better focus from training in Jiu-Jitsu. Mila also placed third in her class in the PACER physical fitness test.

“I at first thought it was just kind of a thing that they were getting into because their dad was doing it,” Kristen explained, but since then her daughters have proven otherwise.

The girls train together at Xcel Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in New Bedford on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, with Mila training with more advanced kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

While the girls are self motivated to train, their father remains a part of their martial arts experience, training five to six days a week, and helping coach kids’ classes at their gym.

In a practice session on Monday, Sept. 23, the girls drilled familiar positions, learned a new technique, and went head to head with other kids in their class.

After a series of warmup drills, and review of familiar techniques and positions, instructor Marcio Silva gave a lesson on techniques from the “closed guard” position.

To secure this position, practitioners on the bottom wrap their legs around their opponents waist, providing leverage to either sweep to a more dominant position, or apply a choke or joint lock.

Despite not being on top, this is considered an offensive position due to the wide variety of attacks enabled by it.

Mila’s preferred submission, the triangle choke, can be set up through the closed guard. The triangle choke uses leverage and leg power to apply pressure to the carotid arteries, forcing the opponent to “tap out” signaling defeat, or lose consciousness (for this reason, the importance of tapping out when caught in a submission is highly emphasized for safety.)

After the technical portion of Monday’s practice, the real fun began with live sparring, commonly referred to as “rolling” in Jiu-Jitsu.

For three minute rounds, kids grappled for supremacy, doing their best to secure dominant positions, before placing opponents in submission holds.

In Mila’s second round of the day, she was able to put her triangle choke to use. Her parents said that her style of grappling is a result of good technique, and impressive flexibility that makes it hard for opponents to escape her guard.

Her sister Aja is still developing her own unique grappling style, but so far, she fights in a similar fashion to her older sibling.

Silva said that Jiu-Jitsu is a good choice for kids due to the ability to learn in a practical, hands on way, training at nearly 100% resistance. Grappling allows for full contact sparring without the concussive damage associated with striking martial arts.

In November, the girls will take on the “Tap Cancer Out” tournament, and raise money for a cause while competing in the sport they love.

To donate to Mila’s fight go to: https://wecan.tapcancerout.org/mila_boucher.

To donate to Aja’s fight go to: https://wecan.tapcancerout.org/aja_boucher‬.