The Copa De Marianas was held on Oct. 3, 2015, at the Father Duenas Phoenix Center. Close to 1,000\u00a0spectators and 200 competitors attended the event.<\/p>\n

This tournament included a no-gi division with 30 competitors vying for gold.<\/p>\n

The team that came out on top was Purebred Jiu-jitsu, taking first in the adult and kids division.<\/p>\n

Purebred is the oldest jiu-jitsu gym on island and this is their 16^{th<\/sup> consecutive Copa De Marianas win taking home the adult and kids team championship trophies. \u00a0This marks the longest winning streak in jiu-jitsu on Guam.<\/p>\n}

Figo\u2019 Jiu-jitsu took 2^{nd<\/sup> place in the adult and kids division for the third time. Figo\u2019 is a gym that has been open for three years. They have become one of the largest academies on island with nearly 100 students.<\/p>\n}

While the coaches of Purebred, Figo\u2019, Vida, and Carlson Gracie are competitive on the mat, they are all humble leaders. Stephen Roberto coaches Purebred, Luis and Elijah Reyes lead Figo\u2019, Gabe Baker is the head of Carlson Gracie, and Josh Santos teaches at Vida.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are there from 8 a.m. coaching the kids and till 4pm coaching the last adult colored belt goes up,\u201d Elijah Reyes of Figo\u2019 said.<\/p>\n

Children\u00a0start training jiu-jitsu as early as the age of five.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt amazes me how much these kids understand the sport and put their skills to the test by competing\u201d said Jasmin Guerrero, a Figo\u2019 competitor. \u201cIt takes a lot of guts.”<\/p>\n

The referees take the kids division very carefully.<\/p>\n

There are many moves that kids are not allowed to do, such as shoulder locks.<\/p>\n

Also, when a child locks in a position, the referees won\u2019t allow them to fully submit their opponent so they can avoid injuries, even minor ones.<\/p>\n

Six kids from Purebred, five from Figo\u2019, two from Carlson Gracie, and one from Vida got gold in the kids and teen division.<\/p>\n

The female division is open to competitors who hold\u00a0the same color belt at any weight class.<\/p>\n

The Figo\u2019 women swept the white belt division with Emilie Ocampo taking Gold, Neomi Wolford taking silver, and Sea\u2019hara Cruz taking bronze. Jerica Cruz, also from Figo, took home gold in the blue belt division. There were only two competitors for the purple belt division and both were from Purebred.<\/p>\n

In the adult white belt division, Vida won the most gold medals.<\/p>\n

Spike 22 and Vida were tied with both three medals each in the blue belt division. Purebred took two out of four gold medals in the purple belt division and all the gold medals in the brown.<\/p>\n

There were 28 gold medals, and in total, Purebred won nine, Vida won six, Figo\u2019 won five, Spike 22 won four and Carlson Gracie won two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Copa De Marianas was held on Oct. 3, 2015, at the Father Duenas Phoenix Center. Close to 1,000\u00a0spectators and 200 competitors attended the event. This tournament included a no-gi division with 30 competitors vying for gold. The team that came out on top was Purebred Jiu-jitsu, taking first in the adult and kids division. … <\/p>\n

Read more “Guam jiu-jitsu accelerates through Marianas Open Competitions”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[280],"yoast_head":"\n