FUJI Tournament Weekend
The FUJI CT Open took place yesterday, December 2nd. We had a great showing with 12 competitors (5 adults and 7 kids/teens), some of which were competing for the first time. As a team, we took home 18 medals: 9 gold, 6 silver, and 3 bronze. Without further ado, here are the results!
- Adults:
- Esteban "Steve" Alvarez: Silver (Gi)
- Mike Bafuma: 4th place (Gi), Bronze (No-Gi)
- Danielle Gambardella: Gold (Gi), Silver (No-Gi)
- Osei Hinds: Silver (Gi)
- John Trammell: Gold (Gi)
Mike and Osei were both first-time competitors with less than six months of experience. Regardless, they had the courage to step onto the mats and give it their all. They both did great, and we are super proud of them. John added another gold medal to his collection, while Steve and I had some great matches to take home silver and gold/silver, respectively.
- Kids/Teens:
- Gabriel Alvarez: Silver (Gi), Gold (No-Gi)
- Jaxsen Bailey: Silver (Gi), Gold (No-Gi)
- Logan Bailey: Gold (Gi), Silver (No-Gi)
- Gabe Benacquisto: Gold (Gi), Gold (No-Gi)
- Logan Mala: Bronze (Gi)
- Vishruti Patel: Bronze (Gi)
- Carlos Sanchez: Gold (Gi), Gold (No-Gi)
Of our youth students, Logan Mala was our only first-time competitor. He barely looked nervous and did amazingly well despite being part of a big bracket. Carlos took home two gold medals in his second competition. The rest of the youth students in this list are veteran competitors, and they all did great, as usual.
We are so proud of everyone who competed, not just because of medals earned, but because they worked hard leading up to the event, had the courage to take part in something so intimidating, and gave it their all during each match. Thank you, coach Marty, for taking over Saturday classes and to Steve and John for helping coach our teammates when we had multiple matches happening at once. Also, thanks to those who did not compete for drilling and sparring with all of us leading up to yesterday! I can't wait to grow our competition team even more and see what we can do next time!
