Some foothills area athletes were totally tapped out after competing in a jiu-jitsu tournament. However, they can’t wait to get back on the mat in the near future.
Nick Blair of Okotoks finished fourth in the adult novice lightweight division (under 150 pounds) at a jiu-jitsu tournament in Lethbridge on March 31.
“This was my first tournament ever for grappling,” said Blair, who trains out of the Foothills Training Services in Okotoks.
He lost the bronze medal match to teammate Tyler Kinghorn.
“Tyler beat me with a neck-lock,” Blair said. “I got into a bad position and I just tapped out.”
A jiu-jitsu match consists of one five-minute round. However, an opponent can tap out, that is slap the mat, to say ‘uncle’ so to speak, to end the match.
Jiu-jitsu is a form of submission grappling; it’s also about self-defence. A match can end by getting an opponent in a stranglehold or by a joint lock — to bend a joint past its range of motion.
However, Blair stressed it is a safe sport.
“It is very controlled,” he said. “There are referees watching very carefully. The whole point of grappling is to get them to tap out or have control and win on points.”
Blair joined Foothills Training Services a month ago.
“I was allowed to compete early because I am in pretty good shape,” said Blair, who was a receiver on the Holy Trinity Knights football team last fall.
Kyle Luedtke of High River won the silver medal in the adult novice lightweight division.
Luedtke beat Kinghorn in the semifinal match before losing in the final.
Luedtke would go on to win the silver medal while Kinghorn settled for the bronze.
“I got a decision call against Tyler,” Luedtke said. “The match went for the full five-minutes. I got more points by controlling Tyler during the match.”
Kinghorn took up the sport after wrestling at Highwood High School in High River.
“I was in wrestling at Highwood (in High River) and then I switched to this,” Kinghorn said. “I tried judo for a while but I went back to jiu-jitsu, it (judo) just didn’t have enough intensity… Jiu-jitsu is extremely tiring because you are going full out for the full five minutes.”
Tom Gillis, the sensei at Foothills Training Centre, said interest in jiu jitsu has grown due to the popularity of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).
Gillis said many of the moves from jiu jitsu are used in MMA — minus the kicking and the punching.
