Whangārei Brazilian Jiu-jutsu athletes bring home haul of medals

All from left, front: Chace Stanton,7, and Breez Smith, 6; middle: Jonny Smith, 11, Liam Bodman, 10 and Thane Heenan, 10; back: DJ Ellis, 15 and Garth Heenan, 15. Photo/Tania Whyte

There were plenty of gold medals knocking around a Whangārei Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym after a winning trip to the nationals.

The Whangārei gym, called myBJJ Whangārei, entered eight children - seven boys and a girl, who was the youngest member of the tight-knit team - and six adults.

The team headed to Auckland to take part in the New Zealand Grappler Nationals on August 11.

Head instructor James Cherrie was happy with his team's performance, which saw three quarters of the children come home with medals - five of them gold.

"Six out of eight's pretty solid," Cherrie said.

Fifteen-year-old DJ Ellis won the Kids Z 992 Division for yellow belts under 90kgs, while 11-year-old Jonny Smith won the Kids P Divison for Grey and Yellow Belts 11 years and under.

Liam Bodman, 10, took top spot in the Kids U Division for white belts 10 and under.

The squad's two youngest members chipped in with a gold medal each as well. Chace Stanton, 7, won the Kids C Division for white belt 7-year-olds while Breez Smith, 6, won the Kids FEM-A Division for white belts 6 years and under.

Thane Heenan was third in the Kids Z Division for white belts 12 and under.

The adults weren't far behind with their results.

Gavin Kelly won the adult white belt under 63kg division, while Jamie Lang picked up second in the adult white belt under 95kg division and Hugh Heenan was second in the Masters white belt under 88kg division.

Jini Burt won a special match where she fought up two weight classes against a girl who was a belt rank above her.

"It's the best Gi result we've had so far," Cherrie said.

Cherrie said there were 700 athletes at the competition, in what he said was the biggest Gi competition New Zealand has had. He put that increase in part down to the increase in popularity of MMA and UFC.

While he is proud of his team's most recent achievement, he is driven to go further.

"I just want more competitors and more medals."

Cherrie said he wanted to start looking overseas for competitions to take his athletes to.

"Two probably could compete on the world stage."

One of those, Jonny Smith, said he had been doing extra training at home to prepare for nationals.

He had to win three fights on his way to the gold medal.

"My final was close, we had to go to extra time because there were no points."

Athletes are awarded points for dominant positions.

Smith said he had been doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for around a year and a half.

"I just like it in general. It's really fun, easy to learn."

He said he just wants to keep on going with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and make it to the world championships.