Summit Grappling Academy’s Midlands Triumph

Summit Grappling Academy travelled last week for a training camp with Total BJJ Nottingham.

Total boasts several full time professional BJJ athletes, IBJJF World Championship medallists and current IBJJF European Champions.

Total’s coach and former World Champion black belt medallist Sean Coates has visited Summit Grappling Academy team for the past eight years.

With a strong relationship with the team, a group of 18 juniors and adults from the island travelled to Nottingham.

Training Camp

There they benefitted from four days of advanced training and coaching, with and from top level athletes and coaches.

To round off the trip, five of Summit’s junior competition squad attended Empire Grappling’s Midlands Open in Wolverhampton on Sunday (April 13).

Clearly spurred on by the training camp, all competitors put on a performance.

Midlands Triumph

Oscar Nation took a first round points win of 7-0 to claim silver, his strongest result at grey belt competition.

After his recent success in Manchester, Nathan Ferns claimed another gold medal with two strong wins, one on points 6-0 and the second with a cross collar choke submission finish.

Aden Dunkley-Nation, with an ambition to gain as much competition experience as possible, took a win on referee’s decision after an active second match to also claim himself a silver medal. 

Familiar Faces

Alan Greenhalgh, a regular on the competition circuit, displayed his usual calm and collected style, making a comeback in his first match from being down on points, only to pull off a sweep to mount in the last 30 seconds of the match to take a 6-2 points win.

In his second match he built up a big points lead of 12-0 before executing a submission finish for a more than convincing win and a gold medal.

Hana Henson, current IBJJF European Junior Champion, was the star of the day, as she continues to enjoy the spoils of her hard work and training.

As a grey belt, Hana was unable to obtain an opponent at her belt level and as a result was merged into the most advanced category on the day.

Hana’s Match

In her first match she faced a yellow belt competitor. Undaunted, Hana showed control and determination, dominating the match and securing a slick kimura submission after a controlled and precise positional sequence and setup.

In her second match, she faced an even higher graded orange belt, with 10 years of training experience. Many wouldn’t have accepted a match with such a grading difference, but Hana channelled her nerves and her well known fierce refusal to be beaten, scoring 2-0 to claim gold.

Hana is the first junior competitor on the island to achieve a result of this level, and continues to push the standard of jiu-jitsu on the island as she gears up to fight to retain her European title next month.

Medal Haul

With just five competitors, Summit Grappling Academy brought home three gold, two silver and one bronze, placing them as 4th ranked overall Gi academy champions.

The athletes only missed out on third place by a single point, despite having 13 fewer matches than the third placed academy.

Summit Grappling Academy thanked The Crown Group for their sponsorship of the competitors.