Meet Annika Meyer: From Police Commissioner to German Jujutsu Champion

As of: April 10, 2024, 1:47 p.m

Von: Sylwia Ramona Golebiewska

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In combat, Annika Meyer has to concentrate on many things at the same time. The trick is to remain calm and focused inside. © private

Annika Meyer is a police commissioner, jujutsu fighter and, since mid-March, German champion. Now she has other goals.

Dreieich – feet in the air, hands on the floor, the facial expression concentrated: Annika Meyer does a handstand on the mat in the dojo on Oisterwijker Straße in Sprendlingen. This is part of her training, even though she specializes in jujutsu. “My old coach always said: Every good jujutsuka has to be at least acceptable in gymnastics,” says Meyer and laughs. Heavy metal music plays from her cell phone as she does one handstand after another. The music motivates her. She spends most of her time in the premises of the 1st Sprendlingen Judo Club; the dojo is her second home. This is how athletes who practice a Japanese martial art call their training facility.

Annika Meyer is 25 years old, a jujutsu fighter and newly appointed police commissioner. In mid-March she won her first German championship title and was also named the best technician of the tournament. At the individual jujutsu fighting championships in Gelsenkirchen, she beat her opponents in spades and brought home a gold medal. A great success, not the first and not the last. Because Meyer has achieved many successes in her long career and plans to be on the mat for a long time to come.

Meyer was eight years old when she said the following sentence to her father: “I still want to kick and punch.” At that time she was doing judo, also a Japanese martial art, but unlike jujutsu, it was all about that to defeat the opponent with little effort. She finds that boring. “My father was chairman of the club at the time and encouraged me to start with judo,” says the woman from Dreieich. For about a year she took part in judo, once a week, then she started jujutsu. And can finally “hit” and “kick” – just like she wanted.

The battles you gain the most from are the battles you lose.

It takes a while until she competes in a tournament for the first time. She’s still too young for that. “I kept asking: Where can I win the medals and the trophies now?” she remembers, a smile playing on her lips, her eyes shining. “I annoyed them for so long that I was eventually sent into competition training,” she says with a smile. After about a year of training, it’s time for her first tournament. A new world opens up for the young jujutsu fighter. She comes into contact with many people and makes new friends.

Regular training, one tournament after the other: she dedicated her childhood and teenage years to her passion. Sometimes she comes home with a medal, sometimes empty-handed. Or with an injury. That doesn’t discourage her. “The fights from which you gain the most and learn the most are the fights that you lose,” says the athlete.

She juggles between her job and competitive sports: in the morning she swaps her combat gear for a police uniform, and vice versa in the evening. She has recently started working as a police officer in Frankfurt, where, among other things, she is busy declaring war on paper files and pushing forward digitalization. She also stands at the mat once a week as a trainer and passes on her knowledge to children.

Annika Meyer (second from left) gets gold – a milestone in her career as a jujutsuka. © Berthold Groenert

In 2019 she will start her studies in a sports support class. Competitive sports are encouraged by the police. “Almost all of my coaches and most of the people I know are police officers. “Those were my role models,” explains Meyer. This shaped her in her youth and led to her choosing this career herself. Especially since Ju-Jutsu was developed for police officers. “Unfortunately you can’t make money with jujutsu,” says the athlete. Police work and Ju-Jutsu – this is how the woman from Dreieich has currently found her calling. “I like helping people,” she says.

Meyer is wearing a black T-shirt and colorful leggings. She tied her hair in a ponytail. She changes the exercise. Their feet scurry quickly over the so-called coordination ladder, loud stomping can be heard: two steps forward, one step back. “Just like in real life,” says the 25-year-old. At first glance, this has nothing to do with jujutsu. But the sport is so complex and not only requires a lot of strength from the body, but also speed, balance and flexibility, among other things.

Passivity is punished. Who does not fight has already lost.

Meyer trains six times a week and has a regular daily routine. Meyer has to have a lot of discipline to pursue her passion. But that doesn’t bother her. It is a path in life that she consciously chose. “The great thing is that the sport can be adapted to any body shape. I think that’s great. I can fight someone big just as well as someone small. “It’s all about technology,” explains the athlete. The most important thing in Ju-Jutsu is to be active, to do something rather than nothing at all. And respect – which you show and learn just by bowing. “Passivity is punished. If you don’t fight, you’ve already lost,” says Meyer. An attitude that she takes seriously and that has brought her far. Now she has a new goal – to win the World Championships in Paris.

2024-04-10 12:42:54
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