EMA success at the Devon BJJ Open 

EMA took a relatively new and inexperienced competition team to the Devon BJJ open held in Plymouth at the weekend. Nine of our adults and five cadets/Juvenilles made the hour journey from Exeter. With only three of them in total ever having competed before in BJJ and one of these, Lee Hambleton fighting at Blue belt for the first time as only grading last weekend I was expecting them to gain alot of experince but not a huge medal haul.

How wrong was I !

Everyone excelled going in with a win or learn attitude. The day got off to a stunning start with Max getting an arm bar submission in the first 15seconds and the day just got brighter from there.

Special mention goes to Olivia and Violet due to lack of teenage girls competing where placed in brackets with teenage boys however this didnt phase them coming away with silver and bronze respectively against the boys in the gi comp.

I saw huge performances from each and everyone of my team most of who medalled but some who didnt like Will who made the semis for his weight after winning two fights in his first comp.

Here are the medal results 

Lee Hambleton adult medium heavyweight blue belt masters  bronze

Olivia Rowntree  teen 2 silver  gi and  teen 2 no gi bronze

Violet Howson  teen 2  gi bronze and teen 2 no gi  bronze

Lewis Gale   juvenile middle weight  no gi silver 

Brandon Clarke  adult  light weight white belt  gi bronze

Karl Sharpe teen1 gi silver and teen 1 no gi silver

Max Pochereon Adult  feather weight white belt  gi silver

Reuben Cock  teen 2  gi silver and teen 2 no gi bronze

PJ Dundass adult heavyweight white belt gi bronze , adult heavy weight no gi  silver 

Simon Hill  adult  super heavy white belt gi bronze and Adult  super heavy no gi gold

Rich Martin adult featherweight white belt gi bronze

Adam Bright adult light feather white belt bronze and light feather white belt no gi bronze

So in total our team achieved a huge nineteen medals , eleven  bronzes, seven silvers and a gold. Which is massive for EMA and our biggest podium haul in BJJ to date. However experience was the biggest winner with all getting invaluable competition practice which will make them all even stronger next time out.

As head coach to see these young and not so young :)  athletes perform was a pleasure and I am so proud of them all for stepping up to the plate and showing themselves and the world that they CAN DO. The talent and grit of these guys and girls promises a bright future for EMA BJJ and southwest Brazilian jiu jitsu. #EMAfamily #SidneySilvaBJJ

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