Eight Days Martial Arts in Whitehorse recently had great success at a jiu jitsu tournament in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

The event, the AVA Grappling Championship, took place March 19 and featured Brazilian jiu jitsu.

Head Coach Robert Woodman and students Andrew Macleod, Ryan Lenssen, and David Pompeo participated in the round-robin style tournament.

Macleod and Woodman competed in the middleweight division. Lenssen and Pompeo competed in the heavyweight division.

Macleod won silver in the Gi Male 30+ Blue Belt Middleweight Division.

Lensenn won gold in the Gi Male 30+ Purple-Brown Heavyweight Division and silver in the No-Gi Male 30+ Expert Heavy division.

Pompeo took bronze in the Gi Male 30+ White Belt Heavyweight division and silver in the No-Gi Male 30+ Intermediate Heavy Division.

Woodman took bronze in the GI Male 18+ Purple-Brown Belt Middleweight Division and bronze in the No-Gi Male 18+ Expert Middleweight division.

In the Gi division, a kimono is worn. In the No-Gi division, you only wear a rashguard and shorts.

Woodman described how the tournament played out for the group.

“It was a very long day. It started out around noonish with Dave Pompeo competing first and he kind of set the tone for the rest of the day because this was his first tournament, so he was very energized and very excited to get going and even leading up to the tournament he was so excited and the rest of us kind of fed off his energy. So he won his first match and it just excited everybody else for the rest of the day. He ended up taking the bronze in that division.

“There were multiple mats going at the same time, so we couldn’t all watch each other cause some of us had to overlap, but it was a very good day,” related Woodman.

“The style that they had was a round-robin, so if you had four in your division, you fought everybody.

“Based on how the match went, you earned a set amount of points. If you won in regulation, you got more points, but if it went to an overtime period, you got so many points. So it was all based on how many points you accrued through the match,” he added.

Woodman said it was “awesome” to win the medals.

“We were kind of nervous coming in because it’s been about three years since any of us really competed. With the COVID ... it made it hard to train and hard to prepare the way we wanted to, but we kept our expectations fairly reasonable and tried to come in as prepared as we can ... that first win for us really helped to push us throughout the whole day. For me, seeing them win and perform at their best, even doing things that they never really tried. Dave Pompeo executed (a) leg lock – he had never tried anything like that ... so I was pretty surprised to see him do that. I was more than excited.”

The athletes didn’t get out of there until about 9:30 p.m.

“The first half was focused on the Gi and the second half was the No-Gi, so we finished up the Gi portion and we were able to go grab a bite to eat and we had about a couple hours to kill before we started the No-Gi – it was a very long night, but very worth it,” recalled Woodman.

He said this recent success will bring exposure to the school.

“It’s gonna help us out, for sure. With having such a little group and being able to perform so well, just speaks volumes for the amount of work those guys put in, in such a small period of time. Thankfully, with the restrictions lifting, we’ll be able to get more and more people to come out. It’s good exposure for us. Just hope to build and take more people out for the next tournament and I want to start taking some kids out to the tournament so they can get some experience and have a lot of fun and hopefully win some medals.”

Needless to say, Woodman’s students, one especially, were pretty thrilled with the results.

“Dave was so excited. As soon as it was over, he told me ‘I want to do that again tomorrow’. He was that excited. He’s already looking into the next one. I’ve got guys that weren’t able to go messaging me in congratulations and already starting to show interest in going into the next one, so everybody’s excited and wants to do it again, so we’re just gonna plan and try and get a whole group of us to get out there and go do something together.”

There are plans to attend more events in the future.

“It’s kind of just a little bit down the road, but we’re looking more for this type of tournaments, because with that round-robin style, it kind of gives us more opportunities for fights. Some of the other tournaments are a single elimination loss and then you’re done. At least with this format, we can get two, three, four fights and it makes the travel and all the money worth going down to.

“I think they’re planning one for maybe May or June, so we’re just waiting on final dates. Then we’ll plan and get a group together and start trying to get a little more serious.”

Woodman added “Both Ryan and David are RCMP and Andrew is in the Canadian military. And I’m hoping with the success of the guys that it’ll encourage more RCMP and any first responders to take up training. Not only for their physical health, but their mental health. Jiu jitsu is great for people suffering from PTSD and is a great stress relief. We already have a strong presence in the gym, but hoping to get the people who are a little hesitant to try. We have both classes for men and women’s and kid’s jiu jitsu, so everyone can reap the benefits of jiu jitsu.”