Jiu jitsu tournament on tap this weekend in New Glasgow
It’s perhaps the biggest Brazilian jiu jitsu tournament in Nova Scotia and it’s coming to New Glasgow this weekend.
The two-day tournament will take place at New Glasgow Academy on Saturday and Sunday (9 a.m. start times, both days), with a total of 386 competitors already signed up for the Nova Scotia Open Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Tournament, being run by Derek ‘Kat’ Clarke’s Submission Series PRO.
“It’s a big tournament, one of the biggest tournaments in the Maritimes,” said Jaret MacIntosh, instructor with the Pictou County Titans Jiu Jitsu Academy.
“They’ll be coming from all over the Maritimes, Quebec and Newfoundland, and there’ll be belts on the line.”
About 40 competitors with the Titans Academy are expected to take part this weekend, “ranging in age from 35, all the way down to seven years old,” MacIntosh explained.
Kelly Horvath and Hayley MacLeod will both be competing in the Under-125 pound category (MacLeod in the Advanced, Horvath in Novice).
Horvath has a second-degree black belt in karate and started learning jiu jitsu less than a year ago.
“I like to break off into different styles of martial arts,” said the native of Niagara Falls, Ont., who moved to Pictou County three years ago to work as a corrections officer.
“I’ve been in martial arts since I was seven and I love to compete.”
MacLeod used to run a lot, but after a friend introduced her to jiu jitsu, “it’s become my outlet for stress relieving,” said the New Glasgow resident, who teaches fiddle and violin. “It’s also a huge learning game. It’s become like a teaching tool because you can always learn to do more.”
Watching jiu jitsu competitors during a match might be a little confusing for those with an untrained eye for the sport, but MacIntosh said there’s a fair amount of craftiness involved: planning ahead, trying to keep your opponent off balance.
“If wrestling was like checkers, jiu jitsu would be like chess,” he said.
“Jiu jitsu (requires) a lot of planning, a lot of strategy, trying to keep three, four steps ahead of your opponent, trying to keep them guessing.”