“No tournament too small” should be our motto around here at OntheMat, and while that’s certainly true, holding a tournament fifteen minutes away from my home is certainly an easy way to attract my attention.Scotts Valley CA,
“No tournament too small” should be our motto around here at OntheMat, and while that’s certainly true, holding a tournament fifteen minutes away from my home is certainly an easy way to attract my attention. I have fond memories of the Tiger Martial Arts Academy Tournaments thrown by Chris Smith (Charles Gracie) and company, as it was literally the first tourament I ever entered way back in 1997 (I won my match, but barely, and it certainly wouldn’t make any highlight videos).
Seven years later, the sport has grown at an incredible rate, and large tournaments are happening all over the country. Small, in house tournaments like this one are still going to have a place however as friendly gathering of local and new talent to try out their skills in a competition setting for the first time, or for more seasoned grapplers to make a tune up before the big competition. There was a good mix of both today, so in addition to a number of white and blue belts, a few purple belts (including OTM fave Noman Rana) also had exhibition matches here as well. The by nature small turn out of this tournament created some interesting match ups, but when given the choice everyone seemed to relish the opportunity to get on the mat and test out their skills.
Plus we were blessed with the presence of the great Garth Taylor, which surely would make anyone’s afternoon complete!
Short highlight video and photo gallery available on the right hand column, as always.