As May closed out we attended the Kumite Classic in Pittsburgh
thanks to Promoter Bill Viola. Although it doesnt get the publicity that a GQ gets it is a event that has attracted International interest.
A school from Canada called Nexus was in attendance. I tried to talk to the coach but he was otherwise indisposed. I had planned to leave it there but when people get out of control it brings a cloud over everything else.
I dont mean to harp ( I guess I really do) but this coach was more involved with the officiating than the preformance of his students. He actually made one official walk off the mat and stop refereeing. And the bad part was the Referee was doing everything according to the rules. There was no favoritism, or bias involved. Just the fact that his students lost.
This was troubling for me since I am new to the sport. have been to many events and the one element that has pulled me in, is the passion. The passion these athletes have for the sport. From the beginner to the Pro's, they all have the passion to compete. They all want to win, but when they dont they do not lay blame on the officials. So when I see someone try to act this way I can only think back to the last Little League game I watched my nephew in. The visitors were up by two in the 5th inning and the home team ( my nephew) came back. The winning play was a called safe at the plate, because the catcher dropped the ball. But from the bleachers the visitors became very aggitated and unruly. All this did was tarnish the win of the home team and take away from the visitors who played out their hearts.
I think the way that Promoter Bill Viola handled it was masterful. He calmed the situation down, explained ( the best he could to an irrate coach) the rule that was invoked, then Bill Viola turned the event back to where it was meant to be. The Athlete's. And the rest of the event went forward in a very proffessional manner. Sometimes people get out of control but this was too extreme for even his own students.
At this same tourney I watched as one coach, John Rozzi of Rozzi SDC take the blame for his students loss. Jeri Wehtli was in a match when her foot was caught in her opponents Gi. Jeri tapped out to avoid injury. After talking to Jeri, Johnny remarked that he hadn't told his students what to do in this scenerio. He said what you do is tell the ref and he will take your foot or body part our of harms way and let the match continue.
Instead of blaming everybody else Mr. Rozzi calmly told his kids "Just tell the Ref " and admitted that it ws a coaching error. One that hadnt come up before.
But the point being is the Coach is the TEACHER.
Whom would you rather have instructing you, or your child? The coach who blames everybody else and rants and raves, or the coach who tells you that it wasnt your fault, and he takes the blame. Unfortunatly for the Nexus students the coach kept on the rest of the tourney. But Jeri and the rest of Team Rozzi went on to make their mark.
I think sometimes people forget that these may be athlete's BUT they are still kids. I dont know what the end result was for the Nexus team but the Rozzi Team went on to make some serious noise. After the calming effect Johnny gave to Jeri, she proceeded to finish Third in the Gi competition, with a fervor that would make ANY Athelete stand up and say "WOW".
This young lady pulled from way down deep and made the feature of this months Coach's Corner, with the Anatomy of an ArmLock.
Young Jacob Clausen ( Team Nexus) had Jeri on her back in a choke hold. I watched as her eyes started to roll back into her head. With the ref close to stopping the match and Johhny Rozzi yelling " Jeri grab the hand" this fierce young lady went from being almost choked out, to rolling Jacob Clausen (Nexus) into a text book armlock. This can be viewed on the Rozzi SDC website. Even though she finished Second it was enjoyable watching. Then in the No-Gi Jeri went on to win Second.
It is always a pleasure to watch the kids in these events. As always Rozzi SDC was very well represented. With a team of four students they came away with Five trophy's. Rozzi also had two newcomers to competition. The first wa Wes Baisley. As nervous as he was, in his first tourney Wes was able to come out on top. Winning First place in his first event. This young man had a smile that lite up the whole building. Like he said " It's like what we learned in the gym".
Another Rozzi student who was in his first tourney was Curt Fitzgerald. Curt made a very strong showing that did himself proud. The only reason this young man didn't finish higher was because he inadvertantly applied a knee lock which is illegal. This DQ dropped Curt into third place. But that is still very good for a first time.
The last and certainly not least Rozzi student is Ryan Campbell. Ryan like Jeri finished First at the Arnold Classic. Because of a snaffu in the brackets Ryan was placed with younger competitors. Since this was fair he ask to be put in a higher bracket for the Gi. But that event had started so Ryan missed the Gi event.
When the No-Gi came Ryan Campbell was ready. Boy was he ready. Ryan finished out with the First place trophy. This young man is all energy, and perpetual motion. If you look at the Executive toy thats displayed at the top of this page, he is like that. He never stops. After the event and we were watching the Blue Belts one of the students remarked " When you watch the White belts they are like jumping around and getting ff balance, But when you watch the Blue Belts and higher, it looks just like what we do in the training room." What more can you say.
Meanwhile in Long Beach, California the ADCC was being held. I tried to get an invite to cover the event but didnt get a response in time to make the trip. So all we can do is put up the link for you to review the results.
Our next event will be the Grapplers Quest Southeast Championships in Richmond, Virginia on July 9th and on the 10th.
And as always if you or your school has been to an event and you want to post a story or results just email us!
See you all in Richmond Virginia.
