Heheheh
Teenager captures Jiu-Jitsu world championship
By LEE CIENIAWA
Bucks County Courier Times
Sixteen-year-old Christopher Wing, who trains at Wing’s Martial Arts Academy in Trevose, has studied martial arts for 12 years. He is a third-degree black belt in Shaolin Kempo, but has only been studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for six months.
Despite his newness to the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wing, who resides in Spotswood, N.J., won the teen heavyweight division world title at the North American Grappling Association’s World Championships held at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, N.J., on March 12. The event attracted more than 1,000 competitors in different age classes from all over the United States and as far as Spain.
Because of his background in martial arts, Wing had confidence that he would be able to do well at the championships.
“I definitely was excited when I won,” Wing said. “I never really doubted myself, because I trained at the academy and with several other people who are experts in Jiu-Jitsu, so I had very intense and precise training.”
Wing won two matches that day, winning his first match with a 2-1 decision and capturing the title by securing an arm lock submission with only five seconds left in the championship bout.
Similar to wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu competitors can win matches by points or submission moves, joint locks or strangleholds. Unlike more popular martial arts such as tae kwon do or karate, Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t teach how to use strength to kick, chop or punch your opponent. Instead, it focuses on wrestling-type skills and submission moves that can allow smaller individuals the opportunity to defeat much bigger opponents.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a relatively new martial art in American martial arts schools, having surfaced from its Brazilian roots from the turn of the 20th century to the U.S. in the early 1990’s.
Despite its infancy to the American martial arts scene and to Wing’s own training, he acclimated to Jiu-Jitsu quickly.
“Jiu-Jitsu is an art of fighting from the ground,” Wing said. “It took a little getting used to, but I’ve been doing martial arts so long, it wasn’t as hard to learn as someone learning from no training at all.”
He trains under the guidance of his father, Jim Wing, the owner and chief instructor at Wing’s Martial Arts Academy. Christopher also trains throughout the year under two Brazilian instructors: Marco Santos in New York and world champion Helio Soneca in Tennessee. He also trains occasionally with Pan American champion Tom McGonigal in Bristol.
His father’s academy has only been teaching Jiu-Jitsu since last September, with 12 current students, including Christopher. It also instructs in the art of Shaolin Kempo. Christopher instructs at the academy, teaching Shaolin Kempo to students from ages 4 through 12 each Saturday.
Jim was impressed with Christopher’s ability to stay composed in the packed St. Peter’s arena that held the competitions and win the title, despite being new to Jiu-Jitsu.
“There were over 2,000 spectators,” Jim said. “It was packed. Just the pressure is overwhelming and it can be very intimidating. Guys can look great in a gym and fall apart in competition. But Chris didn’t do that. I was very pleased he won. I was not surprised because I knew he could be competitive.”
Lee Cieniawa can be reached at 215-949-4215 or lcieniawa@phillyBurbs.com.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/108-03292005-469227.html
BJJ matches go to decision? I thought most comps were on a point system.