This past weekend 3 students from the Top Flight MMA Teen Competition Team competed in (NAGA) North American Grappling Champion in Morristown NJ. NAGA is one the top grappling tournaments and it brings out some of the best young (BJJ) Brazilian Jiu-jitsu practitioners. This weekend wasn’t any different, on day one of the tournament Top Flight teens Deidrick Smith and Joe Severson were schedule to compete.
The day started off with Joe, This was Joe’s first tournament and he was nervous but super excited. The first event was beginner no-gi, there were only two people in his division so this match was for the gold. As soon as the bell rung to start the match Joe shot in for a double leg takedown, took his opponent down and transition into mount position. Once he got to the mount position Joe quickly went for the arm bar, to finish the match and won first place in his division. Once nogi was over it was time for Joe to compete in the gi event. This time Joe had three competitors in his division, in Joe’s first match he finished his opponent with a triangle submission from guard. And in the gold medal match Joe lost a hard fought match by one point, give him second place.
Meanwhile at another ring Diedrick was getting ready to compete in his super stacked expert noGi division that feature some of the 7 best grapplers on the east coast. In Diedrick’s preliminary match he showed he was up for the challenge with a dominating performance which got him to the second round. In the second round match Deidrick lost a hard fought overtime match by one point, with the lost Diedrick had to compete for 3rd place, he shook off his previous match and came back with a submission finish to win 3rd place. After a hard fought NoGi division it didn’t get any easier for Diedrick because he had to go against the same group in Gi. Diedrick started off again with a win the in the first round, but losing another hard fought second round match. Diedrick once again showed his mental toughness and ended his day with a win earning him 3rd place.
On day 2 of competition it was time for Top Flight teen Faith O’Donnell turn. Faith’s goal this day was to finally win a first place sword, she has been working super hard and truly believed that this was her moment. In noGi Faith competed in two different weight classes, in the heavier weight class she lost a hard fought match to take second but her goal to finally win a first place sword would be fulfilled when she competed in her actual weight class. Faith started off the match by jumping guard, once faith controlled her opponent in her full guard Faith went for a triangle. Faith’s opponent defined the submission attempt but Faith was ready and switch to an arm bar and submitted her opponent. With the submission Faith took first place in intermediate noGi and finally got her sword.
This weekend was truly awesome, to see these young Martial Artist show hard work & dedication in the gym and to have them accomplish their goals is what the Teen program is all about.