Every time Arizona Brodie plunges into the pool, she is reminded of just how far she has come in the past two years.
With each stroke her body is healing and the 25-year-old is determined to return to full fitness and join her team mates again.
For Arizona was once on her way to becoming world champion of Brazilian jiu jitsu, and trained with the Gold Team on Great Northern Road in Aberdeen.
She fell in love with the male-dominated sport after watching her brother compete, but injury put Arizona’s dreams on hold.
Throughout her time in the sport, she also battled serious mental health problems including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Having taken time out to recover from surgery, Arizona has since sought help and even set up her own business.
She is now the proud recipient of the spirit of enterprise award from the Elevator Awards, and hopes to sell her skin care products online in the coming months.
She believes talking is key in dealing with mental health problems, and is also encouraging more women to take up jiu jitsu.
ARIZONA’S STORY
Everyone always asks me how I got my name. My mum called me Arizona because she thought people would remember it.
So I’m called Arizona and I’m doing a sport completely dominated by men – pretty unusual.
I actually got into jiu jitsu because my brother did it. We used to go and pick him up so I’d see the last 15 minutes of his session, and I just thought the sport seemed wonderful.
There’s this misconception that martial arts is brawling but it’s a lot more skilled than that.
It’s really a mental game which is controlled and focused on problem solving, something which I think women are very good at.
I got addicted so quickly but I was also struggling with my mental health.
I moved to Poland where a lot of training takes place, but I also needed some space to get back on track.
I just needed some time out and took about three months trying to get to grips with depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder while I was training.
Just as I thought I was coming out the other side, things went pretty wrong for me.
I suffered a serious disc herniation in my back when I was carrying luggage on my way home from Poland, it wasn’t even from training.
At the time I felt like I had come so far mentally, I didn’t want to give in despite the pain I was in.
I carried on training but in the end, I couldn’t ignore the pain.
I could barely walk and lost all sensation down the side of my left leg.
My dreams for the world championship were destroyed and I could feel myself slipping back into depression.
The only way forward was surgery and this took place at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
My back was cut open and I had microdiscectomy.
The disc had completely ruptured and because I had left it for so long, calcium had built up around it alongside fluid.
I spent about five days in hospital.
“During the recovery process I wasn’t completely confined to bed but there were a lot of days when I could barely do anything.
I went from being pretty successful in a competitive sport to struggling to move.
I had started swimming before the operation and when I felt well enough, I returned to it.
Swimming felt like therapy, I realised that I hadn’t really dealt with all the core problems when I was in Poland.
I actually took some time to try and sort things out, and there was this realisation that poor mental health can’t suddenly be cured.
It’s something I’ll always need to work on but thankfully the bad days are few and far between.
I work part-time in security but it was because of swimming that I struck upon a business idea. It was a complete accident really, I was trying to find a product that would help with skin problems caused by chlorine. I decided to make my own and it just went from there. The product is currently undergoing safety testing but once that is completed, I hope to start selling it online.
My big goal is to get back on the mat for jiu jitsu, I’ve really missed the team.
I’m very lucky to have a brilliant support network around me, and I think people are far more open when it comes to talking about mental illness now. There’s not such a stigma attached to it.
For anyone struggling with their mental health, I would say talk to someone. Whether they’re impartial or it’s a loved one, talk about it.
Exercise also helped me, and jiu jitsu could really do with more women on the team!
I’m so proud I’ve got this far, there have been some really low times but I’m now far better equipped to deal with things.
