Dean Barry set the tone early, dominating 3 opponents with ease and collecting his 3rd Premier BJJ Championships Gold medal. (Dean was the Cork leg of the event absolute Gold Medalist, and won his weight at both the Newcastle and Bristol events)
Head instructor Darragh O Conaill took to the mats next. Submitting his first opponent in just over a minute with a Bow and Arrow choke from the back, Darragh took home Gold after submitting his final opponent by guillotine! Gold number 2 of the day.
Marcus Phelan and Sam Mcnally continued the form as the closed out the Light Feath Blue Belt division without being scored on. Then Coach John Sheridan and David Phelan made quick work of the Lightweight Blue belt division, closing it out with 2 submissions each on their way to the final. This brought the total to 4 Gold and 2 Silver.
Niall Mullen, fresh off the plane from Brazil and due to injuries, a 6 month break from competing set out to prove his competition game is as strong as it always was. Niall defeated his first opponent by multiple points, scoring sweeps and guard passes as he began to find his rhythm. His next match finished quick with a footlock. The final was going to plan as he led on points, but then lack of conditioning caught up with him as he was caught in a scramble, leaving him with a Silver medal. Total now 4 Gold 3 Silver for the team.
The White and Blue Belt Open Weights began with more medals on the teams minds. After a tough loss in his division, Steven Byrne came back for more in the White Belt Open Weight earning himself a Bronze Medal. The Blue Belt Open began as planned with both Coach John and Marcus picking up convincing wins in the early rounds. After a day of hard battles, the semi finals of the open weight were made up purely of East Coast Jiu Jitsu Academy team members. After hitting the most submissions during the day, the Team nominated Marcus Phelan to take home the Gold, Coach John to take the Silver and Sam and Niall to share the Bronze.
An awesome days work and mission thoroughly accomplished!
Team East Coast finished on 60 team points total, close to double that of the team in second place. With only 8 competitors 12 medals were taken home and a lot of hard work paid off!
Next stop for our Competition Team will be the IBJJF London International Open and the IBJJF NOGI European Championships on the 20/21st of October. The mission is the same! Gold Medals and The Team Title!
