Coach: Nicky Taylor
Nicky was awarded her Blue Belt in February 2024.
She started training in late 2016, and with just a few months training entered her first competition, the IBJJF Munich International Open. In a category of 4, Nicky lost her first fight to the eventual gold medalist and so collected the default bronze. We normally don’t celebrate default medals at TCA, but when a student travels to Germany for their first competition, to compete in an IBJJF event, it’s worth a mention.
Nicky has since built up a solid competition record with the following results.
2024 National Masters Champion (Master 5)
2024 National Masters Champion (Master 1)
2022 English Open Silver Medal
2017 Hereford Open Champion: 2 fights, 2 wins.
2017 National Masters Champion: Straight final.
2017 Hereford Open Absolute Champion: 3 wins.
In 2018 Nicky gave birth to her daughter Mia, who now trains in our Tiny Taz class. So her own training and competing took a bit of a back seat. Nicky was just getting back into the swing of training when Covid arrived.
At the first opportunity Nicky returned to training and in 2022 entered the English Open, defeating her semi-final opponent before losing to a teammate in the final to collect a hard earned silver medal at one of the toughest competitions in the country.
Nicky runs our women’s self-defence / fitness classes, and is an assistant coach in the Tiny Taz and Junior BJJ and MMA classes.
Outside of the club Nicky is a senior lecturer and head of Criminology at Hereford Sixth Form College. She is an accomplished author, and has written for many of the leading criminology publications in the U.K. and beyond.