Hillary VanOrnum - Head Coach

Owner, Head Coach, Second Degree Black Belt

Hillary was born in San Diego, California but moved around most of her childhood, spending time in Utah, Akron, Ohio, Knoxville, Tennessee, and ended up going to high school in the Portland area at Lake Oswego High School.  Hillary grew up riding horses and was a competitive equestrian, competing in hunters and jumpers.  In high school, her high school basketball team convinced her to try basketball.  She was far from a natural at basketball, but her strong work ethic got her on the varsity team by her senior year.  She earned a walk on spot at Texas Christian University, where she was on the team her freshman year.  Hillary also played on the TCU women’s lacrosse team and was very involved in her sorority and the TCU radio station. 

Hillary started training BJJ, Judo, and MMA in 2005 with her brother (Andrew) as a way to get back in shape and to try something new.  She quickly fell in love with the grappling arts.  When she first started, very few women were competing in MMA, and she never thought she would have any MMA fights, let alone three.  She began competing in Jiu Jitsu in 2011 and found that at the big international tournaments (mainly IBJJF Worlds, IBJJF Pan Ams) there were other women in her division.  When she first started competing in BJJ, her goal was to be a World Champion.  She accomplished that goal in 2015 when she won Adult and Masters World Championships at brown belt.  She has gone on to win gold at Pan Ams at black belt in the Masters 1 division in 2017, but still has the goal of being a black belt World Champion, and is determined to accomplish that!

During the first several years of Hillary’s training in BJJ and MMA was as being the only woman in most classes.  This experience is a big reason why she emphasizes creating an intimidation-free environment for women get started in BJJ.  Hillary’s biggest goal with Jiu Jitsu is to get more women trying it and training.  She wants to ease people into it and also give the ladies some real life self-defense/practical applications of BJJ.  She also encourages her female students to try competition as early as possible.  She wasn’t able to compete much in her first several years of training because there weren’t many women training let alone competing.  She values competition as an opportunity to test our skills against other females of similar size and experience.

Hillary has a bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University in Radio, TV, and Film, a minor in Social Work.  She also works full time as a paralegal at Entercom Communications Corp. and before that she worked as a paralegal at CBS Radio for 14 years.

Second Degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (received black belt in 2015)
Yoga Alliance Certified Yoga Instructor (RYT 250)
BJJ Globetrotters Instructor (2017 Poland Camp, 2018 Belgium Camp, 2018 Iceland Camp)
Girls in Gis Instructor/Host/Panelist (2016-present)
Blackbelts for Butterflies Instructor (2016 and 2017)
Josei Heishi Camp Instructor (2019)
Roll Model Camp Instructor (2020)

Brown Belt in Judo (received brown belt in 2012)

3-0 Amateur MMA Record

Competition Highlights:

IBJJF World Championships
Gold – 2015 – Brown Belt – Adult Superheavyweight Division
Bronze – 2018 – Black Belt – Adult Superheavyweight Division
Bronze – 2016 – Black Belt – Adult Superheavyweight Division
Bronze – 2014 – Brown Belt – Adult Superheavyweight Division
Bronze – 2013 – Purple Belt – Adult Heavyweight Division
Bronze – 2012 – Purple Belt – Adult Heavyweight Division

IBJJF Masters World Championships
Gold – 2015 – Brown Belt – Masters 2 Superheavyweight Division
Silver - 2020 - Black Belt - Masters 1 Superheavyweight Division
Silver – 2018 – Black Belt – Masters 1 Superheavyweight Division
Silver – 2017 – Black Belt – Masters 1 Open Weight Division
Silver – 2017 – Black Belt – Masters 1 Superheavyweight Division
Silver – 2013 – Purple Belt – Masters 1 Heavyweight Division
Bronze - 2020 - Black Belt - Masters 1 Open Weight Division
Bronze – 2014 – Brown Belt – Masters 1 Open Weight Division
Bronze – 2013 – Purple Belt – Masters 1 Open Weight Division

IBJJF Pan American Championships
Gold – 2017 – Black Belt – Masters 1 Superheavyweight Division
Gold – 2013 – Purple Belt – Masters 1 Open Weight Division
Gold – 2013 – Purple Belt – Masters 1 Heavyweight Division
Gold – 2012 – Purple Belt – Masters 1 Heavyweight Division
Silver – 2018 – Black Belt – Adult Superheavyweight Division
Silver – 2017 – Black Belt – Masters 1 Open Weight Division
Bronze – 2019 – Black Belt – Adult Superheavyweight Division
Bronze – 2016 – Black Belt – Adult Superheavyweight Division
Bronze – 2015 – Brown Belt – Adult Superheavyweight Division