NAGA NYC Results & Ivey League Goes Green…

This past week we sure did keep busy here at IL. Over the weekend we loaded up the Ivesmobile and hit the road in search of the best BJJ/Grappling competition in the land, we happened to find it in one of my favorite places, NYC.

We brought with us a team of 7 students and came back with a 86% medal ratio. All of our kids made it to the finals of their divisions with 3 of them placing 1st.

Below you can find the results from the tournament. And below that I included a write up for each of our NAGA champions. 1st place winners are in bold.

• Michael “Mouth” Garlington – 1st Place (Expert)
• Duece Boucher – 1st Place
• CC Fowler – 1st Place
• Scarface McKann – 2nd Place
• Sean “Ladies Man” Garlington – 2nd Place
• Magnus Benz – 2nd Place
• Emily Hollister – DNP

Deuce “Bigalow” Boucher

Long time students and super awesome kid Duece Bigalow made his tournament debut and didn’t disappoint. In fact, he dazzled us with a wide display of skills and a never-say-die attitude.

The key to Deuce’s success had a lot to do with his match tactics and high energy style that did a great job of wearing out his opponents.

When it was all said and done he stood atop the podium and let me assure you, this kid was beyond happy! The smile he was rocking was priceless and something I’ll never forget.

Cynthia “CC” Fowler

CC came to NYC with something to prove since her last outing in Pennsylvania didn’t go so well. I’m happy to say NYC was a huge improvement!

CC’s technique looked spot on and she was able to displace some new found guard passing skills which pretty much won her divisions for her.

Lot’s of pressure passing and heavy hips keep opponents in check and I must say she definitely looked like a carbon copy of Miss Teresa. Way to go CC!

Michael “Mouth” Garlington

Yup, this little tomato can got the job done once again, he returned to Maryland undefeated for the day in NYC. I’ve gotta be honest, he made it look almost too easy out there.

He was dominating the other kids so bad that at one point his father and I started talking about the weather and our plans for X-mas.

Mouth’s been training extra hard and it showed. Like I always say, hard work will always beat talent when talent refused to work hard. Mouth is a VERY HARD WORKER that’s for sure.

Our lone adult competitor was up and comer Emily Hollister. Sadly Emily came up short placing in the top 3 of her division but in the end she learned a ton and that’s going to help her big time.

In other news, IL has decided to go green in 2014!

By green I mean a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) Green Belt Promotion! Not only that but our very first BJJ green belt promotion in the history of the IL Kids Program.

That honor goes to long time student, Pan-Kids Gold Medalist and really awesome kid Alexia Lara!

I’m not gonna lie, I started to choke up during this promotion. Alexia is very special to not just myself, but also my wife Teresa, the kids and pretty much everyone else that trains with us.

Everyone was delighted to see her move up in rank. Just to be clear, a BJJ Green Belt is nothing to sneeze at. It’s the rarest belt you’re going to see in BJJ.

I’ve only met a handful of other kid green belts in 20+ years of training. And I’ve never promoted one either, anywhere. So to have that honor go to Alexia, who’s simply a fantastic person overall, made it that much sweeter.

In closing, great results at the NAGA, a new Green Belt and some upcoming R&R makes for a very happy Ivey League Mix Martial Arts!

We’re very proud of all our students and I’d like to say thanks to all that make IL the place it is today. The is only the start, bigger and better things are on the horizon, you’ll see 🙂

Check out some pics below. Feedback is always welcomed, leave it on our facebook page (click this link to go there).