Paloma Soares Success Story

Paloma Soares an jiu-jitsu athlete.

A short introduction to yourself?

My name is Paloma Soares, but they call me Palomino. I’m 17 years old and I’m a judo and jiu-jitsu athlete. I live on the coast of São Paulo/Brazil.

How did you develop your fondness for your sport and at what age did you start learning karate?

I started in jiu-jitsu when I was 6 years old because I was going to watch my father’s training, and after starting training I developed a love for jiu-jitsu, at 13 I started judo to improve in jiu-jitsu and now I’m a judo competitor too.

What is your style and what rank do you currently hold in?

I’m a brown belt in judo, and second in the national ranking in my category, and champion from São Paulo. In jiu-jitsu, I am a blue belt 4× world champion cbjje, 2× Brazilian champion cbjj, pan kids champion in California, and many others.

Do you have a favorite Sensei?

In judo, I admire my sensei, as a teacher and as a person, and I also admire the Olympic athlete Flávio Canto, because he is also a judo and jiu-jitsu player, and he is a great inspiration for me. In jiu-jitsu I admire my teachers, I’ve been inspired by Michele Nicolini since I was little, and Marcus Buchecha, who is a great phenomenon in jiu-jitsu.

How did you get into this position and how did your journey in this sport go?

I’ve always enjoyed training a lot, and I’ve been very competitive since my first competitions in jiu-jitsu, I’ve done well and I’ve been getting more and more fond of competition. In judo since the beginning, even when I had little technique I always wanted to win.

Do you take sports as a profession or is it just a hobby?

For sure, sport is my dream profession, to be able to live doing what I like the most, which is training and competing.

What challenges have you faced in getting to where you are now? You can also share any injury story.

It’s very difficult to reconcile two high-performance sports, I’ve been striving to always be good in both. In addition to being very tiring, the chance of injury is greater because they are two sports, competitions, but this is my passion and I intend to keep it that way.

What motivates you most about your profession as an athlete?

My biggest motivation in sports is being able to fulfill my dreams and knowing that anything I want I can achieve, I just need dedication and focus. I dream of black belts in both sports and the best titles.

Do you have anything you want everyone to learn?

I think that in the sport in general everyone should practice for quality of life, but discipline is something I take to my life off the mat and everyone should have the discipline of an athlete.

What tournament or match you have won are you most proud of and why?

In jiu-jitsu, the most important championships for me are my 4 world championships and the Pan kids in California. In judo, the Paulista championship, for being one of the toughest states in Brazil and getting the title even with little time judo. My best experience was spending 20 days in Japan training a lot of judo with the São Paulo federation, I learned a lot of judo and a lot of Japanese cultures

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