Recent News

1st Kids Belt Promotion Ceremony

05.31.08  |  Category: In-School Events

» On Saturday, Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu had its first Children's belt promotion ceremony. We graduated our first 5 Kids to their first belt. Judging by the precision of each student's movements, I know the parents have been working with their kids a lot at home!

Congrats to Isabel Pratten, the Dynamic Duo Sammy and Madison Foht, Nate "Young GSP" Ferguson, and his brother Austin "Wrestling Coach" Ferguson.

NAGA Virginia Results

04.19.08  |  Category: Competition Results

	Age	Skill	Weight	Result
Brendan Bill	Kids	Novice Gi	<50 lbs	2nd
		Novice No-Gi	<50 lbs	2nd
Nathen Ferguson	Kids	Novice No-Gi	<50 lbs	3rd
Chris Jaus	Adult	White Belt	Featherweight (<150 lbs)	2nd
Ben Lipov	Adult	Intermediate	Welterweight (<170 lbs)	3rd
		Blue Belt	Welterweight (<170 lbs)	1st
Ann Pratten	Adult	Beginner Gi	Lightweight (<120 lbs)	2nd
Frank Schittino	Masters	Beginner Gi	Lightweight(<160 lbs)	1st
Timothy Spriggs	Adult	Beginner	Welterweight (<170 lbs)	1st
		White Belt	Welterweight (<170 lbs)	1st

» The kids kicked off the whole tournament as the first division on the first mat. Brendan Bill and Nathen Ferguson both medaled in the Under 50 lbs Novice category. They both had a lot of fun and wrestled hard. Brandon and Nathen are the first two Kids competitors from Crazy 88 so if you see them, make sure to give them a high five!

Chris "Hawaiian Punch" Jaus choked out his first two opponents (choke from back and bread cutter). He controlled position and passed his opponent in the semi-finals to win 3-0. Hawaiian Punch ended up with a Silver, after winning 3 matches.

Ben Lipov countered his opponents takedown attempt and then passed the guard a few times to win his first-ever No-Gi match. In the semi-finals, he faced a strong wrestler named Tripp Seed from Hybrid Academy. 95% of the match was on the feet with Seed hitting a beautiful foot sweep to earn two points. With the seconds running down, Ben changed his strategy and tried to pull guard. As he fell back, Tripp hit a powerful double leg to make the score 4-0. Ben worked aggressively from his guard but there was less than thirty seconds to tie up the match. Ben's opponent for the Bronze medal match did not come out due to exhaustion so our teammate only got 2 matches in the No-Gi division.

With the Gi on, Ben dispatched the first blue belt 8-0, earning him a Finals berth against Mike Reilly (Capitol Jiu-Jitsu). Reilly had defeated Ben twice at the White Belt level so the rematch would be a good indicator of each other's progress. The match was uneventful on the feet and Ben pulled guard (he told me later that he wanted to avoid a situation like the No-Gi semi-finals where by the time the match hit the mat, there was not enough time to work). From the closed guard, Ben worked aggressively for submissions, forcing Reilly to just bury his head. With only a minute left, Reilly finally attempted to open the guard, causing him to get swept and rear-mounted (6-0). Great job by Ben!

Ann Pratten received a bye to the semi-finals where she armbarred the other contestant. It was great watching Ann open up her game against other females her size as she is often the lightest in the class. She would lose on points in the finals but she exhibited great potential for the future!

Frank Schittino won Gold in the Masters division! Frank had been preparing by doing all our in-house competitions and finally jumped out into the mix. He finished his first opponent with an Ezekielle and controlled his Championship round adversary to win the division 8-0!

Timothy "#1 $tunna" Spriggs overwhelmed all his opponents in the No-Gi. He employed a variety of submissions (RNC, armbar, guillotine) and only had one match go the distance in this division.

#1 $tunna then steamrollered all his opponents in the Gi bracket as well. He lit up the scoreboard in the Sweet Sixteen round, winning 11-0. The quarterfinals were close; $tunna pulled guard against a takedown artist who had excellent defense. $tunna tried hard for Umpa sweep and triangles only to have his opponent defend well and get to Double Under. Finally, $tunna just jumped up and muscled him down for the winning two points. To make up for the slow match, $tunna put up 14 points to his opponent's 0 in the next round and got a shot at another sword. He didn't waste the opportunity for two-handed swordplay and finished his opponent with an armbar for the win. Awesome job by $tunna who is only 17 and competing Adult!

Lots of newcomers stepped up to the plate for the NAGA! In addition to those listed above, we also had Darwin "The Bo$$" Saunders and Victor Rivera compete for the first time. Great work by all involved!

Kids Program Launches

02.04.08  |  Category: In-School Events

» Our first Children's class was today at 6 PM. The program will follow a Monday 6 PM, Wednesday 6 PM, and Saturday 9:30 AM schedule.

Team Lloyd Irvin Kids Wow Audience!

12.27.07  |  Category: In-School Events

» As we prepare for the launch of our own Kid's program in 2008, Don Achnick and Nyjah Easton, the head Childrens instructors from Camp Springs, were kind enough to bring up some of their very talented Kids for a demonstration. The Team Lloyd Irvin Kids program is THE BEST program in the country for realistic martial arts and the kids showed it tonight. I don't know what scared me more - the thought of how good these kids will be in a few years or how well-behaved they were.