Kids European BJJ Adventure

Coming to you from 30,000 feet on the way home from Lisbon and the European Championships today. The usual Monday blog is running 2 days late due to a little trip away to the Kids European Championships. 

First up, our kids did great. Joshua Ryan was first up on Saturday. Imagine, your first international tournament at age 9. He didn't get to showcase his skills as much as we'd have liked, but he loved the trip and the experience of travelling away with his family and his team.

Imogen Cleary (Teen 1) is one of those kids we have to drag off the mats. Already training part time with the adult women, she submitted her first opponent and then lost out in the final. EUROPEAN Silver Medalist!

Reuben Oglesby is of course my own son, and he's already easily eclipsed any tournament successes I've had. He's added European Silver medal to his collection this weekend. He'll move on to the adult events next in the Juvenile 1 category. What a way to graduate. 

Jack Daly (Juniors) rounded off our weekend. He had a dominant performance in his first match, and followed it up with a tough final against a very high level opponent. What a weekend for Jack, taking home another Silver medal. 

3 European Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships Silver medals coming home to Kyuzo. Extraordinary. 

To explain the level of kid at this event, some are full time Jiu Jitsu athletes, even at under 10s. You'll hear terms like "elite", "home schooled", and "full time" thrown around. 

This isn't our philosophy at Kyuzo. We focus on fun first, prefer to see our kids playing other sports if they can, and really don't begin to use words like elite until they're in their teens. Even then, it has to be their choice. We're not worried they'll be left behind. The Jiu Jitsu world is full of World Champions who didn't begin training seriously until their late teens. 

That's not to say there wasn't an opportunity for gold in each of the kids who fought on Sunday. On another day, the medals could have changed colour. Or guys are operating at a really high level! 

I was a very happy coach, of course, but not just because of the performance of the kids.

I was walking up to the venue on Sunday, in coach mode, with my son, in the sunshine in Lisbon, my family name printed on his back, to go to do a job that isn't really a job. I turned to him when he looked nervous and I said what I say to anyone in those moments:

You're here with people you like, doing something you love, on an adventure you chose. Enjoy every second.

I was only kind of talking to him. 

See you on the mat, 

Barry