Gamila Kanew is a BJJ purple belt from Greifswald, a small town in Germany near the Baltic sea. She started training aged 20 after looking to start in Judo. However, with no local Judo classes available, Kanew decided to try a grappling class at university which is where her passion began.
When playing guard, her favourite position is half guard but also enjoys closed guard. Kanew claims her favourite sweep is the Omoplata sweep from closed guard when the opponent stands.
Whilst on top, she also enjoys smash passing which involves constant pressure against the opponent to make a breakthrough. In terms of submissions, Kanew also favours chokes – especially the Bow and Arrow choke when the opponent gives their back.
Kanew’s main teacher is the Ecuadorian Alain Pozo who is currently the head coach of the ZR team in London. Because of this, Kanew is also a ZR member and owns her own ZR gym in Germany where she teaches in her home town of Greifswald. Kanew notes Gabriela Fechter as her most influential grappler due to her speed and strength which she tries to emulate.
Away from teaching, Kanew is also an avid competitor who regularly competes at the 62KG weight. To date her biggest achievements include a silver medal at UAEJJF World Pro Championships in 2019 and bronze at Nogi Worlds in 2018.
She also lists Iasmin Casser as her toughest opponent who hails from the legendary AOJ gym in California and says dislocating her AC joint is the biggest injury she has faced.
In terms of future goals, Kanew sets her sights high aiming to be a future black belt world champion and with her previous accolades perhaps this is a real possibility. She finally adds “I think I am kind of special, because I manage to teach myself and also teach other people.
I love to compete all over the world, living the Jiu Jitsu lifestyle and becoming the best version of myself.
Although competing is my desire, I also love the philosophy behind Jiu Jitsu and the whole community. Being a female instructor is such a nice experience for me and helps me a lot to improve my Jiu Jitsu as well.
One day I want to be a good example that you can achieve everything, even under bad circumstances. You just need to train hard, believe in yourself and never give up!”
