Saturday, Oct 3rd was the date of the Bluegrass open and what would be a wonderful day also turned out to be a wonderful week.
I decided literally the very last second to compete. Because it would be a chance to perform in front of my head instructor, Black belt Allan Manganello, 5 time Pan-Am Champ Luis Heredia and one of the few Red and Black Belts in the world, Professor Pedro Sauer. I entered the competition confident as usual, but had no idea how well things would go. I competed at 185lbs and completely skunked my division submitting all four opponents. One by arm bar about 30 seconds in, and the rest by choke from the mount Roger Gracie style.
Luis Heredia was the ref at every one of my fights, and was supremely impressed with my ability to maintain position, control, and finish. He mentioned it to my head instructor. It was an incredible honor to have a 5th degree Black Belt be so impressed with my skills. Little did I know, Professor Sauer also watched all my matches and was also very impressed, with not only me, but with how everyone under the Pedro Sauer flag performed at the competition.
After receiving a Gold Medal and having it signed by Professor Sauer would have been an awesome day by itself. But after speaking with my head instructor he thought it would be a good idea to enter the Open Division and see how I faired there. So I entered the Open Division and what would turn out to be another 6 matches! Which I proceeded to submit them all and end up in the finals matched up with a Brazilian (Go figure!). What turned out to be a pretty epic match which consisted of both of us getting take downs, and me almost finishing him with a triangle before being reset after going out of bounds. The match went into over time as we were tied at 5points each and an advantage each, but the Brazilian would prove a worthy foe, submitting me with a few seconds left in over time via Triangle.
So I bring home a Gold medal in my division, and a Silver Medal in the Open division. And wait. Does it get better than that? Yes it does. The Pictures tell the story.
Congrats to Tim, and Ted who also were awarded their Blue belts.
After leaving my heart on the mat and submitting scores of people my Head instructor Black belt Jim Kelly, with Professor Sauer and Luis Heredia’s approval, bestowed a merited Blue belt around my waist. Our academy still has very high standards so all three of us still had to test for our belts, showing knowledge of about 250 techniques.
Which as you can see all three of us passed!
‘Cheers’
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