This past weekend, one of our newest athletes competed for the first time at Fuji BJJ’s Raleigh Fall Championship. As of today, 12-year-old Alex Corbin has only been training with us for 4 months and 16 days.
His division came down to a best-of-three series against another first-time competitor who had been training for more than a year. Alex won it in two straight, finishing both matches by submission:
Match 1: Straight Armlock at 2:38
Match 2: Americana at 0:40
The results are only part of the story. His opponent had more mat time, but was a little smaller. To Alex’s credit, he never muscled his way through their matches. He was very coachable, stayed composed, trusted his technique, and competed with real maturity and emotional intelligence. We work hard to build the kind of culture on our mats that lead to performances like that, and Alex represented it as well as anyone could.
Want to see it? Members can watch Alex's matches, along with many of our other athletes, on Monitor One in the lobby. Give him a fist bump next time you see him!
Thinking about competing? We've put together a downloadable resource to help first-time competitors and their families get ready. It's coming to members soon, so keep an eye out for an email.
Congratulations, Alex. We're proud of you. This is only the beginning.