A city jiu-jitsu club returned from a competition in Las Vegas this week with 16 medals awarded to seven St. Albert athletes.
The Hayabusa Training Centre sent a team of seven to the American National No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2015 and American National Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2015 and came out on top with three gold, nine silver and four bronze medals.
“Every single personal medalled,” Luke Harris, coach and competitor said. “It was our best result ever.”
The tournament took place in Las Vegas between July 9 and 11 as part of an Ultimate Fighting Championship fan expo and was part of a promotion for their upcoming fights. The competition was hosted by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation and teams from all over the world competed for gold.
Luke Harris was one of the three gold medallists, winning the black belt division of No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu and now holds the title of American National Champion for his division. He also walked away with two silver medals in both the Absolute competition and the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt category. The other two gold medallists were Alyssa Krahn who won the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blue belt category and Nancy Ma who won the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu white belt category.
The team that travelled to Las Vegas prepared by increasing their training leading up to the event. They were practising daily by simulating matches, practising longer rounds and focusing on scoring points and drilling positions. The competitors who went took their training very seriously.
“We are open seven days a week,” Harris said. “We train for one hour sessions for each class and some people stay for two or three classes. Nobody missed any practices. You get out what you put in so they were all serious and very competitive and all did well.”
It wasn’t all business in Las Vegas. The team took some time to unwind and bond as a team while they were there.
“Everyone had a lot of fun,” Harris said. “We go as a group and go out and eat together and have fun at the pool afterwards. In 10 years no one will necessarily remember all the results, but they are going to remember that they had a great time at the strip.”
The Hayabusa Training Centre is seeing growth in the sport locally and nationally. They currently have 25 professional fighters training at their gym, as well as 250 other registered students. Harris credits the community atmosphere and the fitness challenge for the increased interest.
“I think people get a little big bored going to the gym and lifting weights,” Harris said. “It becomes a little bit repetitive. This is something that you can really challenge yourself with – get more fit doing it. It’s a challenge that you can do at any age and you get to become part of a community. You are part of a big group here.”
The next tournament on the books for the Hayabusa Training Center is the Metamoris Tournament from Sept. 11 to 13 in Vancouver. The first round is a qualifier where they will be hoping to be eligible for further levels of the tournament. The final contest will go from Nov. 6 to 8 in Los Angeles where the winners will be awarded $10,000.
