Kids Results For The 2015 Pan Kids BJJ Championships in California

Keeping up with the busy month of February we took a team of kids out to California to compete in the toughest kids Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) tournament in the world, Pan Kids!

We’ve been going to this tournament every year since the beginning. This is one tournament that’s only gotten tougher and tougher each and every year.

Tough competition is what we seek out here at Ivey League (IL). We always look forward to taking the kids out to California to compete against the best kids in the game.

After all, If you wanna be the best you’ve got to beat the best. And the best children come to Pan Kids.

The IL youth team consisted of the following students:

Micheal “Mouth” Garlington
Sean Garlington
Patrick Ellis
Austin Hartman
Jameson Gerrity
Seton Gerrity
Tierney Gerrity
Joal Marquez
Joaquin Marquez
Magnus Benz

The Results

We don’t wanna get your hopes up about our Pan Kids results. Sadly, it wasn’t the day we’d hoped for medal-wise. Overall we took a pretty good beating and when it was all said and done we only claimed one gold medal.

We’d hoped for at least three golds. Unfortunately things don’t always go your way and results don’t always meet expectations. So goes life. The show must go on!

Even though it wasn’t our best performance I’m of the mindset that you either learn or burn. We (IL Staff) learned a lot about what the kids need and what direction to take the program, and that’s something big right there.

The MVP for IL at 2015 Pan Kids goes to the pride of Arnold…

The star for IL and our lone gold medalist was none other then Youth Team Captain and 2014 competitor of the year Michael “Mouth” Garlington.

Mouth was outstanding in route to winning the gold medal in Teens Yellow Belt. He faced three different opponents from all over the world including Minnesota, Colorado and Canada.

In the finals Mouth built up a good lead on points before finishing his opponent with his favorite technique, the bow and arrow choke!

After he received his medal and tons of congrats from all walks of life including friends, teammates and family, he was promoted to the new rank of BJJ Orange Belt by Head Instructor of Ivey League, Danny Ives.

That promotion took place right on the steps of the Pan Kids venue. It was inspiring for all in attendance. His mom (Darts Garlington) cried like a baby in joy for her winning son.

Oh and we’ve pretty sure his old man (Wolf Garlington) did too haha. Wolf can deny it all day long but we heard from more then one person in attendance that the tears flowed.

It was a magical moment that no one will forget. Thanks to Mouth we kept up our tradition of winning a minimum of at least one gold medal every time we compete in California.

After Pan Kids we took that following day to hit up Universal Studios for lots of fun as a team. The kids got to ride the transformer, get soaked in water during the Jurassic Park ride and even take a tour of some movie sets.

Slowly the sad faces of kids from the previous days event turned into smiles once again. That’s okay by us and it’s always nice to turn that frown upside down 🙂

We’re already back in Maryland, training hard for next years Pan Kids. Again, we wouldn’t dare call this years results a success, because that would be downright lying.

We’re going to put 2015 Pan Kids into the category of “Learned a lot”. Now it’s up to the coaching staff and kids to put what was learned to good use for 2016 Pan Kids. Hopefully we’ll come back with much better results.

Success requires a lot of hard work, hours spent training, many hours studying and mental toughness. Our kids know this full and well.

There’s no doubt the kids are fired up and ready to use their experience at Pan Kids to help them achieve even greater success, on the tournament mats and far beyond.

Don’t worry We’ll keep you posted on what’s sure to be a great year for the youth programs at Ivey League Mix Martial Arts. Stay tuned 😉