This last weekend I had the pleasure of competing in Utah's first NAGA event. These guys put on the best tournaments in the nation hands down. If you ever get a chance to compete in one of their shows, don't miss it. They travel with a crew, and their own mats and equipment. They have trained referees on their payroll so that there is no confusion, or controversy over favoritism or team loyalties.
A few words of advice when attending NAGA would be, show up early. Because unlike other BJJ tournament organizations, these guys start on time, and they are organized, efficient, and always on point. I have competed in their events twice. Both times they started on time, finished up ahead of schedule, and had the mats rolled up and out the doors before I had even changed out of my gi! In other words, they aren't on "Brazilian Standard Time".
At any rate, it was an amazing weekend for Team Absolute. We showed up with 11 killer competitors in our arsenal, ranging from the kids white belt division, all the way up to our big guns, none other than the killer himself, our 2nd Degree Black Belt Professor, Pedro Sierra.
As of our last count, of the 11 competitors that attended, our team brought home 12 First place finishes, 4 Silvers, and a few Bronze medals to top things off.
We had some pretty awesome highlight reel finishes throughout the day. My vote for the "Submission of the Day" would be our resident light weight assassin Cameron Dansie in the Purple belt gi division. Who sunk in a standing collar choke, and dragged his opponent to the ground like a Panther affixed to the throat of his latest meal. Thus promptly putting the Boise State wrestling champion to sleep. Earning himself his second First Place finish for the day, and a shiny new belt for his quite extensive award
collection.Rebecca Rodriguez made her most anticipated return to local competition as well, and found little to no resistance on her way to dual First Place finishes in both the Gi and No-Gi divisions. And though she lobbied for a spot in the mens lightweight division, apparently the NAGA officials felt the fragile male ego would not withstand the blow of eminent defeat via her feminine ferocity, and chose to prohibit her from entering.
But I think the most honorable mention of the day has to go to Erik Keyes. In spite of the fact that Erik has only been training at Absolute for a matter of weeks (6 or so), he has been right there beside the competition team, sweating it out, and training his ass off for the entire tournament camp. He is always eager to learn something new, shows incredible humility, and on top of his amazingly positive attitude, whether he is winning or loosing he always greets you with a smile.He had two really tough matches at NAGA, and though he didn't come out the victor, he most defiantly earned the respect of his team mates, and opponents. I look forward to watching Erik's BJJ evolve and progress, because with that kind of desire, and determination, he will undoubtedly be among the best at Absolute, in a very short while.
As for myself, I only had one match this time around, against a very game Unified BJJ player named Zach Boskovich. Zach and I have faced off twice before in previous submission only tournaments, and he gets better and better every time I see him compete. And this time around was no exception. Though I came out on top 7-0 on points, he fought a damn hard fight, successfully evading (what I thought) was a deep collar choke, and a few other sloppy submission attempts.
I respect the hell out of Zach and his whole team, they are absolutely full of individual talent from their professors all the way down through the belt ranks. Team Unified is full of killer BJJ practitioners, and they are undoubtedly one of the most decorated, and competitively active teams in Utah. Not to mention they are friendly as hell, and an awesome bunch of guys all around.
Special thanks to Rob Norbutt for the amazing action photography.Check out more of his work @ www.theinfinitymachine.com
