Ninja Girl! My Life

Millions of kids all over the world are hooked on martial arts.

And I'm one of them. SHE CRIES OUT

'In a few weeks' time, I'll be competing

'in the World Championships.

'I really want to win gold, especially in the points fighting,

'which I am doing for my very first time.

'Being a ninja is tough, but I love it.

'My name is Jessie-Jane and I am ten years old.

'Don't try this at home.

'It's taken me years of practice.

'You might know me as JJ "Golden Dragon".

'I've been to lots of countries to take part in competitions.

'I've won hundreds of medals and trophies, and I'm a world champion.'

Martial arts just means the world to me.

It means everything.

The world champion.

I couldn't do any of this without my dad.

He's the best ever.

I started martial arts when I was really young.

Well, when I was three I just spotted these people doing karate.

I just kept asking, "Daddy, can I go to karate, can I go to karate?"

And he said, "No, no, karate's too dangerous."

So I just kept asking and asking.

Finally, Daddy, he just thought

maybe a couple of weeks will do her and

she'll forget about it, but that didn't happen.

In the last two years, my world's been turned upside down.

I've been on Britain's Got Talent.

Britain's Got Talent was just incredible.

Ant and Dec were really, really funny.

Simon seems grumpy on TV, but he's not in person.

He's really, really nice.

But it's my sword that I'm most famous for.

When I was eight, I taught myself the sword.

Daddy was a bit scared at the start.

He was like, "Oh, no, what if she chops her leg off

"or chops her head off or chops her arm off or something like that?"

Wow, excellent!

This is my school in County Armagh.

Everyone is so supportive of me.

Wow!

Your swords, do they...

Are they actually real?

Yeah, but they're blunt.

-Oh.

-They're not sharp.

But, like, with Britain's Got Talent,

were you, like, "Oh, my God, I'm actually here!"

-Like, I'm on stage, and like, this is so weird!

-Yeah.

I live with my mummy, my daddy and my three sisters.

Sugar-Rae, she's four, but she's nuts.

Rocca-Liu, she's 11 months and she's just adorable.

My sister Molly-Mae, she's eight.

In the middle of my training, maybe Molly-Mae would start singing

or dancing or something like that!

SHE SINGS

..49, 50.

Eight more. I would, like, help her do her sit-ups and her pull-ups and,

like, help her do her training.

Your granny could do better than that!

Molly-Mae's really strict, but I love a strict teacher.

Another ten.

To become world champion in martial arts,

you need to do other sports, too.

I do trampolining and gymnastics.

It helps me with my flips.

I'm working really hard at the minute.

I'm training every single day.

So the World Championships are coming up in two weeks.

This year, I'm doing something different.

Before this it's my first year fighting, so I'm very, very excited.

She's well covered up, that's the main thing.

With a mask and all on her.

In points fighting, we try to strike each other to get a point.

The person with the most points wins.

Can you get up tight...?

Now we're going to put your leg right up.

-Up, up.

-'This is Gary helping me stretch.'

Hold it straight.

Bring your foot right round.

Right round. Right round.

Hold it there.

'And this is Davy.

'They're two of Ireland's top coaches.'

But you know what?

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

'Me and Daddy travel a lot.

'We always go to different tournaments together.

'We've been in 30 different countries.'

It's chaos in the car.

These World Championships are for under-18s,

and there are teams here from all over the world.

I'm 13 years old and I'm from Slovenia Maribor.

I'm from South Africa and I live in Hartbeespoort.

Some people say, "No, it's a boys' thing."

When actually there's almost as much girls doing it as boys.

It gives you self-discipline and it's the only sport

I really like doing.

It's just a great experience.

Competing is great and the result is great,

but I think at the end of the day, it's just great having friends from

other countries.

Everyone gets together at the opening ceremony.

There's so much to see.

The excitement is unbelievable, and I can't wait to get started.

Focused? Yeah.

Ready to show the world how good you are?

Let's go. This is what all the training's been for, right?

Before I go to do a big performance, I just feel so pumped.

I just feel like I'm ready to do this.

My first fight is against Lili from Hungary.

And there's two rounds, one and a half, OK?

Fight!

So you move around. You're just kicking a wee bit far away.

I want to see you at least five points more, OK?

And I beat her 4-0,

which means four-nought.

Now I have to fight Bega from Germany.

Let's go. Step it up, step it up.

Fight!

Oh, body jab! Oh!

Oh! On the drop, on the drop!

Oh!

'And I beat her 5-3.

'It was a tough fight, but I am through to the final.'

I really, really was so proud of you.

Proud of you, pet, all right?

Get ready to rock and roll again.

Well, I think today's gone very, very well.

It was really, really exciting.

Really, really fun, I really enjoyed it.

I've made two Italian friends, but they don't speak English,

so it's very hard to make friends.

But, like, we still are friends and the Russian girl that was in my

category, we're also friends.

But she, again, doesn't speak English, so we're kind of friends,

but we can't really talk!

I do miss my sisters, but we always have FaceTime.

And now I'm just going to relax and just look forward to tomorrow.

Today I am defending my world title

that I won last year in the weapons competition.

It's my favourite category.

And if I win, it will give me a boost

for my points fighting final later.

The weapons are blunt, but they're still very dangerous.

And it takes loads of practice to get it right.

The competition this year is very strong, especially the Russians.

I can't make a single mistake if I want to keep my world title.

Before I do a big performance,

me and Daddy have a wee handshake that we do.

It's just, like, this, this and then this, that.

And we call it Team Daddy and JJ.

OK, Team Daddy and JJ.

Go JJ!

APPLAUSE

Hopefully I've done enough.

Judges, please.

Your marks for second performer.

Ready, up.

I've won!

APPLAUSE

Double champion.

I'm the world champion in weapons,

but I still have my points fighting final to do.

It's nearly time.

I'd really love to win.

So you feeling good?

-You confident?

-Yeah.

Sharp?

Is that us?

This is it.

Remember, no matter what happens with the referees...

'It's my toughest challenge yet.'

You can't change the past, all right?

I'm fighting Vivian, who is from Hungary.

She's 12, so she's two years older than me.

And she's the current world champion.

I'm going to do my very best.

Let's go, JJ.

I was feeling very, very excited but at the same time,

she was a lot taller than me.

And her legs were just so long!

-Fight!

-Just trying to keep my distance away, but she was very,

very experienced so she just kept, like, backing off.

She knew what I was doing.

I felt like I just want to get this point back.

And I got one there which got me a bit of a boost back.

That's good, JJ. That's it.

Do you need some water?

-Do you need some water?

-Whenever there was a break,

I just felt like I want to get up and just keep fighting on.

All right? Got it?

-All right, JJ.

-Right, so let's go.

Let's see that, let's believe in it, OK? Believe in it.

Whenever she was kicking, it just got me really frustrated,

because I was just kind of like... "Errrh!"

She's biding her time.

-Be ready.

-Oh!

JJ, let's go, let's go!

Oh!

'At the end when there was about ten seconds left,

'I just couldn't get four points back.'

JJ, it's OK.

'I tried to, like, read the fighter and that,

'but she was just too smart.'

'And she beat me 5-1.

'I knew that I did my best, and that's all I could do.'

All right? Well done.

That was a super effort, JJ. Super effort.

You should be proud of yourself, all right?

Yes, I did really want to win it,

but then you have to give everybody a chance.

You can't get everything you want.

'I got a silver in my points fighting.

'Not bad for the first time.'

Go on, JJ!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

'And gold medals in weapons and extreme forms.

'So I kept my two world titles.'

-Good weekend, pet?

-Yeah.

Coming home to my trophies and medals was just class.

Mummy and my sisters were all so proud of me, and we had a big party,

so it was unbelievable.

'After a week away,

'being back home with my family is the best prize of all.

'Well, sort of.'

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