Soul Cup II Competition Team Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournaments Both a Success!
Soul Cup II Competition Team Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournament East Group Shot. White, Belt and Purple Belt teams from Balance Studios, BJJ United, Modern Combat Academy and BJJ Revolution Team. Photo courtesy of www.soulfight.net
When promoters Rose Gracie and “little” Tony Pacenski spoke about something positive and worthwhile for Jiu-Jitsu competitors, they both agreed to organize the 1st competition team style event on the west coast and east coast at the same time. July 29, 2006 was a huge day for Jiu-Jitsu enthusiast around the world. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Mundials were being held, while Onthemat.com was holding a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition of their own in Long Beach, Ca. Rose and Tony decided that the Soul Cup II in Los Angeles and Philadelphia was to be showcased on that day too.
Following the opportunities presented this year, the Soul Cup II promoters invited a few of the best Jiu-Jitsu academies from the Los Angeles and Philadelphia area to bring a powerhouse team representing the white, blue and purple belt divisions. There were no individual competitors fighting for medals. Each competitor was on a team selected by his coach to compete using a weight team limit and respected belt level. Aside from the team tournament concept, what was also added to the tournament was a team scoring system. The system was scored as followed: Submission wins equaled 6 points; Technical wins (15 or more points) equaled 5 points; Major wins (between 14 — 8 points) equaled 4 points; and, Minor wins (7 or less points) equaled 3 points. All submission wins were marked the best using the team scoring system, while fighters that scored high gained the most points for their team. Athletes truly were competing for their team and the Soul Cup II trophy!
The results and feedback from both events were incredible. In Los Angeles, Rose said:
The event (Soul Cup II) was amazing! Unfortunately, because of space we couldn’t fit that many teams at the academy. So we had to turn a few down. We had 6 teams and we had a blast. The tournament ran smoothly and everyone was happy in the end. Instead of tournament t-shirts given, athletes pick out from wide selection of DVD’s and they loved it! We started at 10:00 A.M. and were finished at 3:00 P.M. All our athletes did awesome; the overall winner of the tournament was New Breed Jiu-Jitsu academy with their coach Johnny Ramirez.
It was really nice to see how teams got together and filled in any spots missing in a truly team spirit. Times like these one can see that jiu-jitsu is heading in the right directions with all politics aside. Special thanks go out to the Mt. Sac College students that had a white belt team with only 8 classes under their belt. Also Cory “Casper” Cass with the FightLab; they not just sponsored the event, competed in it, but also brought a restless team! Other special thanks and appreciation goes to: Farfan Gym from San Diego, Grapples Zone, the Silva Academy, Joseph Gutierrez, Rener Gracie of the International Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Federation, Gilberto from Jiu-Jitsu PRO Gear.com and OTM.com all for help sponsoring the event.
In Philadelphia, “little” Tony said:
The Soul Cup II Team Tournament from my observations went great! The feedback has been awesome. Many people voiced the opinion that the Soul Cup II was something special, brought the Jiu-Jitsu community together in a positive way, had a competitive field of high technical level and was a great experience for the teams involved. I have so many people to thank this time around. The competitors need to be thanked for being flexible with the changes of the brackets and stepping up to challenge themselves against different weight limits. Everyone got 3 or 4 (4 was the norm) more matches win or lose and a tournament t-shirt for $ 40.00. On paper, the team concept and team weight limits were different than application during the event in some ways. The tournament staff, coaches and competitors worked well together to problem solve on the spot. The fighters stepped up for their teams though; and this was what made the event really cool. It looked like guys were fighting all day with limited rest periods in between. Moreover, when a team member had to step down, another tied up his kimono.
I want to thank: The Revolution Academy staff and students (friends); All the event sponsors (Ouano.com International, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Federation, Jiu-Jitsu Progear.com, Onthemat.com, Defense Soap.com and all the local companies; The make shift referee team (Andrew Smith and Dan Haney); The score table team; Gary Stewart of www.yourwinningshot.com for coming in and taking over 600 photos of the event! And at this time, the coaches and team instructors, I want to thank them for their efforts during the event and for supporting SOUL CUP II East.
The results from Soul Cup II Philadelphia were as followed:
Most Technical Competitor: Yeshua (Blue Belt BJJ United)
White Belts:
1st Modern Combat Academy
2nd Balance Studios
3rd Revolution Academy of Martial Arts & Fitness
4th BJJ United
Blue Belts:
1st BJJ United
2nd Balance Studios
3rd Modern Combat Academy
4th Revolution Academy of Martial Arts & Fitness
Purple Belt:
1st BJJ United2nd Modern Combat Academy
3rd Balance Studios
4th Revolution Academy of Martial Arts & Fitness (note: only 1 representative)
Overall:
1st Modern Combat Academy (Royler Gracie and David Adiv Association)
2nd BJJ United (Team Lloyd Irvin/Leo Dalla)
3rd Balance Studios (Team Balance/Relson Gracie)
4th Revolution Academy of Martial Arts & Fitness (BJJ Revolution Team-Rodrigo Medeiros and Julio Fernandez)