It was about a month before the Western Kids Open that Control Jiu Jitsu decided to try something a little different with their training regimen.
With the local Brazilian jiu jitsu and martial arts school generally focussing on gi training, athletes from the club would take part in tournaments and perform well in that discipline of the sport. But the no-gi division was proving to be difficult to conquer, largely because of the lack of experience local competitors possessed working without the traditional BJJ uniform.
So Control coaches Donald Booth and Shane Kivol decided to mix things up a bit in preparation for one of their largest tournaments of the year.
“We started working on specific no-gi training and the kids just loved it, because it was something different and it’s a lot of fun,” Booth explained. “Then when it came to the tournament they were excited for it, were a lot better prepared for it, and ended up having a pretty massive showing.”
Just how massive?
Control Jiu Jitsu ended up sending 32 competitors to the high-profile event in Regina, bringing home no less than 39 medals, including an impressive 21 gold -- 11 of those in the no-gi side of things.
The end result saw the Jason Church-led school not only come home with an incredible haul of medals, but also the team championship for the first time in Control history.
“We were really proud of all our participants, some were competing for the first time even though they’d been training with us for quite a while, because things were shut down due to the pandemic,” Booth said. “It was a really good event, and it was the first time we’ve won a tournament as a team, so we were really happy about that.”
Eight competitors ended up winning gold in both the gi and no-gi divisions, including Parker Craig (7-8 years old, white belt, under-53 pounds), Hawkins Jacobson (11-12 years, white belt, 98-114 pounds), Paxton Nelson (13-14 years, grey belt, under-105 pounds), Dylan Bandet (15 years, yellow belt, 142-158 pounds), Elora Booth (5-6 years, white belt, 43-55 pounds), 9-10 years, grey belt, 80-92 pounds), Lexi Fabellon (9-10 years, grey belt, 80-92 pounds), Paisley Patrosh (11-12 years, grey belt, 98-114 pounds) and Kenzie Woods (13-14 years old, grey belt, under-105 pounds).
Beyond their no-gi work, Control also spent time focussing on simply developing a winning strategy based on previous tournaments. That led to a focus on positioning and gathering points as opposed to constantly battling for submissions, with impressive results.
“We had taken a look at what wins at that age, and a lot of it is getting the takedown and working on your position,” Booth said. “We focussed really hard on that and we actually had a few matches where it was amazing to see the amount of points that were scored. I think the highest was 31 points and one of our kids won a match 31-0. I couldn’t believe it when I looked at the score, I knew he was doing well, and it was ‘holy smokes, that was something else.’
“Our adult program is heavy pressure and kind of wearing the other guy down and grinding them into the mat, so we’re teaching our kids how to do that and it’s really paying off.”
The key now will be to continue working to improve and ideally see similar results the next time they take the mats at a tournament this coming June.
“It’s combat sports, sometimes it’s your day and sometimes it’s not, but a lot of kids are really excited for the next tournament after what we did in Regina,” Booth said. “It’s given the kids who didn’t want to compete the confidence to do so, too. They saw the success of their teammates and with some luck we’ll have an even larger team next time.”
For more information on Control Jiu Jitsu, be sure to visit their website at www.controlbjj.com and for full results from the Western Kids Open, be sure to check out www.smoothcomp.com/en/event/6698/toplist.
