Charlie Voss - Assistant Kids Jiu Jitsu Coach

Charlie was born in Honolulu, Hawai'i but has been in Oregon since the 7^th grade, spending half their life in Oahu and the other half in Portland. Growing up, Charlie played basketball and was a lacrosse goalie.  They first started training jiu jitsu in 2019 at Cairo Terra Academy in San Jose while teaching 2^nd and 3^rd grade. For the first two years of training jiu jitsu, Charlie only went to class every so often, maybe once or twice a month. They struggled with feeling like a valued member of the team. After moving back to Portland, in April 2021 Charlie started training at UJJ.  Charlie immediately felt comfortable in the space at UJJ which allowed them to feel strongly motivated to train, and they have been training six days a week since then.  For their first tournament, Charlie competed at the local SubLeague tournament in the fall of 2021 where they won gold in their gi division and silver in their nogi division.  Charlie is planning on expanding their competition experience and break in their blue belt in 2022, and we have no doubt that they will be a force to be reckoned with at blue belt.

Charlie believes in giving children autonomy and a sense of community. In teaching kids jiu jitsu classes, they encourage kids to ask questions, demonstrate technique for the class, as well as to be kind to themselves and their teammates. Charlie tries to model gender inclusive language and develop relationships with each student so they feel like a valued member of the team, which is something that is special about Unicorn Jiu Jitsu. They feel that it's important to feel like you're winning beyond the mats and matches. UJJ makes Charlie feel this way. 

Charlie attended PSU and graduated with a degree in Anthropology and Gender Studies. They have experience as a classroom teacher as well as a behavioral interventionist. Currently Charlie works for NAYA as the Youth Engagement Specialist, creating programs and interacting with youth to bring them closer to their culture/selves.