Masters Women (TAP)
FOUNDING MEMBER
Together All Powerful (TAP) is a non-profit organization founded by Carlos Melo and Dr. Karen Peters. The mission of the organization is to support the master ages woman jiu jitsu athlete in competition and in gaining greater equality and fairness.
This is a group for both men and women who support women Master aged (30+)Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners. It is guided by the collective intent of moving Jiu Jitsu forward in equality and fairness for EVERYONE who wishes to practice and/or compete in Jiu Jitsu.
It originated in February 2018, after Black belt Carlos Melo and his Brown belt student Dr. Karen Peters (Master 5) of Gilroy BJJ wrote a petition to add women’s Masters divisions to the IBJJF Pan American Championships. The petition went viral over night, bringing greater awareness to the larger BJJ community of the lack of equality and fairness for Master women in BJJ competition. As a result of the petition the IBJJF opened the Master 2-7 divisions for the Pan American Championships the next morning - just 3 weeks before the registration deadline!
Karen started this group as a forum to raise awareness that the divisions had been opened and to organize Master women competitors to get to the Pans. What transpired here in those three weeks prior to the registration was nothing short of magical.
A FB group transformed into a dynamic and profoundly inspiring community of fierce warrior master BJJ practitioners and their supporters. In just 3 weeks time this group organized and supported 160 women to compete at the Pans, marking the 2018 IBJJF Pan American Championships as a historical event in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
This FB community has grown exponentially since that time. The spirit by which we communicate here is one of inclusion and collaboration. We work together to find solutions and creative ways of supporting Master aged women and moving Jiu Jitsu forward. We understand our positive attitudes and our positive intentions are what makes this group a powerful community. We work to harvest our collective wisdom and power for the growth and development of the Master aged woman Jiu Jitsu athlete, our women’s Master community here, and the larger Jiu Jitsu community.
As such, we are free from distraction or diversions from our primary purpose - hence business adds or solicitations unrelated to the support of Master aged women will be deleted. We remain forever aware that “problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose” and work to remain focused on our collective purpose and wellbeing.