Long time no see! I've been... away from my blog for a while, I've missed you. I got a bit board of the same old same old, and a bit addicted to this little computer game called diablo. Mix that with being in a pretty bad place mentally because of various injuries and it leads to a very neglected blog.
Annnnyway, that is a story for another time. Today, we are talking about the IBJJF Worlds / Mundials that start this THURSDAY MAY 29th 2014.
I wanted to take some time and highlight some of the Ontario and local competitors who will be competing. There is ussually lots of article out there about the big names to look out for, which are always fun to read, but no one ever talks about the slightly lesser known, but likely just as entertaining competitors from the local scene. I can't possible talk about everyone, there are dozens, so please don't feel bad if I don't talk about you, it's probably because I don't know you well enough, or I just ran out of time.
I'm going to start with 3 awesome ladies who kick my ass. The ladies never get as much press and it's time for that to end, plus, they kick my ass, so I know a bit about them :)
Alison Tremblay
Alison fights out of Alpha MMA which is a BTT Canada afiliate out near Ottawa, ON. She's a brown belt under Fabio Holanda. At the 2012 Worlds she won gold in the purple belt medium heavy division. She took home double gold at the nogi pans in 2012 and 2013(at purple belt). Worlds will be her first Major IBJJF competition at brown belt and she will be competing in the Super Heavy division. I'm looking forward to seeing how she has adapted her excellent half guard (top and bottom) game to be competitive at this new level. I've had the pleasure of losing to Alison on 10 or 12 separate occasions and I have learned sometimg every time. As a side note, her brother Mike, will be fighting in the Purple medium heavy division as well. He's been steadily improving on his results on the scene here in Ontario and I think he'll be a force to reckon with this year at worlds.
Yacinta Nguyen-Huu
Yacinta is a purple belt who is originally from the Toronto area, but is currently in Montreal, competing out of the BTT Canada head quarters there. She's coming off of a Dominant performance at the Ontario open, where she won the purple+ absolute and also fresh from Abu Dhabi where she won her weight class. Her excellent Judo and insane preasure will make her a contendor in the Medium Heavy division at this years worlds. I have only had one match with Yacinta, at the pro trials in montreal this past February. She won on points, but I spent a good 4 minutes in a very tight triangle.
Sissi(Siprachanh) Phatsana
Sissi is also a purple belt from BTT Canada. As blue belts we had a couple matches and they were competitive and evenly matched. Since we have both become purple belts, she has kicked my butt pretty badly. She's definitely stepped up a notch and has had amazing results over the last year or so. Double silver at the last nogi worlds, gold at nogi pans, and a silver, losing a very close decision to Erin Herle at the pro-trials in Montreal last February. Sissi will be taking the heavy weight division by storm at this years worlds.
Some other awesome local ladies to look out for:
Delphie Dugal-Tessier(RCJ Machado): Fighting in the purple light-feather division. Delphie won the purple+ light absolute at the ontario open to win a trip to worlds. She's got some impressive wins on her resume and is worth keeping an eye out for.
Sarah Draht(Pacific Top Team): She's in purple medium heavy, beat me for the gold at Pans. She's got a solid guard, is super strong and is really nice to top it off. I'm quite intrested in seeing how she follows up her dominant pans performance.
Marie Fanton(Gracie Barra Montreal): Marie is coming off of a silver medal performance in the masters purple belt feather weight division. But don't let the fact that it was masters fool you. at pans, some of the ladies masters divisions were just as big as the adult. She's got great jiu jitsu and I'm looking forward to watching her.
Jessica McNeill(BTT Canada): She's in blue belt - feather. She's been climbing the ranks locally and is one of the top blue belts in the country. I have competed against Jessica once, back when we were both blue belts. She's WAY smaller then me and gave me a run for my money. She's got a mean guard and will be a contender this year.
Terri Shauer(BTT Canada): Terri is coming off winning the lightweight blue belt absolute at the Ontario Open earlier this month. I've had a couple matches with her in the past (when we were both blue) and I think she has a great chance at the podium. She's competing in the blue belt light weight division.
Ayisha Issa(BTT Canada): I'll be honest, I don't know to much about Ayisha. I have never had an opportunity to compete against her, but I have seen bits of her matches and she's got a solid game. She will be competing in the blue belt heavy weight division.
Sarah Smith(Body of Four): Sarah has only been training for just over a year, and is taking the scene by storm. Her natural athletisim combined with her dedication and solid technique won her gold at pans. I expect her to do the same at worlds. She will be competing in white belt, medium heavy.
Emily McGivern(Nova Uniao): Emily also won gold at pans in white-belt middle. She's strong, patient and really well rounded. I would not be surprised to see her on the podium.
I hope I have time to write another post like this one for some of the local guys, but worlds is sneaking up fast and there are demons to be killed in Diablo(I'm only 1/2 joking).
To EVERYONE competing at worlds this year, good luck, have fun, and enjoy the Acai and BBQ!
Sarah Smith(Body of Four): Sarah has only been training for just over a year, and is taking the scene by storm. Her natural athletisim combined with her dedication and solid technique won her gold at pans. I expect her to do the same at worlds. She will be competing in white belt, medium heavy.
Emily McGivern(Nova Uniao): Emily also won gold at pans in white-belt middle. She's strong, patient and really well rounded. I would not be surprised to see her on the podium.
I imagine I missed a few, I don't really know the girls outside of the ontario/quebec scene, so I apologize for that. Please don't be offended if I didn't mention you! It's likely because I didn't know you were competing!
I must give an honourable mention to one awesome lady, who isn't Canadian, but comes up here to compete and is super cool.
Val Aspaas(Alliance): Val is from buffalo and she won pans at blue belt light weight. Then she came to the ontario open and won the blue belt heavy absolute for a trip to worlds. She also competes in ammy boxing and mma. Infact she has a ammy title fight in Luisianna 3 short weeks after worlds.
You can see all the divisons on the competitor list and the schedule, the brackets, and order of fights are all online as well. They used this system at pans last year and it was awesome. Just pick which day, then you can filter and it greys out the non-filtered ones so they divisions you want are easy to pick out. I find using CTRL + F to search the pages makes finding the people you are looking for really easy. White and blue belts are mostly day 1 and a bit on day 2, purple is mostly day 2 with the open on day 3, brown and black are on day 3 and 4.
I hope I have time to write another post like this one for some of the local guys, but worlds is sneaking up fast and there are demons to be killed in Diablo(I'm only 1/2 joking).
To EVERYONE competing at worlds this year, good luck, have fun, and enjoy the Acai and BBQ!
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