Three local lads behind Jiu Jitsu Academy promoted to Black Belts
A decade or so ago, Jiu Jitsu was relatively unknown throughout Ireland, In fact, Conor McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, was the only athlete with a Black Belt. Roll on a few years and the sport has grown enormously in Sligo and it’s down to three local practitioners, brothers Ryan and Morgan Smyth and Micky Downs. The three set up the first club in Sligo in 2009 and last September, they opened Sligo’s first full-time Jiu Jitsu Academy at their base in Cleveragh. Recently all three were promoted to Black Belt in Jiu Jitsu another first for Sligo.
The club was initially known as the Alliance Jiu Jitsu Sligo before switching to Atlantic Jiu Jitsu and Ryan says having a full-time Academy shows how much the sport has grown here, they have in the region of 120 names.
With all three recently being promoted to Black Belts by the world-renowned Romero Jacaré, the Alex Ferguson-esque name when it comes to Jiu Jitsu. Having him visit the Academy in Cleveragh was a big coup, Ryan, 36, admits. He told the Sligo Champion: “We are affiliated with the Alliance Jiu Jitsu Association in Brazil, where the sport originated and when we were first forming the club in Sligo, we didn’t have any instructors in Ireland, which meant we had to bring guys from Brazil over to us or we would have to travel over there or to the US.” It was undoubtedly pricey, but their passion and enthusiasm at becoming Jiu Jitsu coaches drove them on and the results have paid off.
Ryan is a full-time professional Jiu Jitsu coach and says the trio receiving their Black Belts was a huge achievement. “It’s very big not only for us but for the club as well. Martial Arts is growing a lot in the Northwest, there is no other Jiu Jitsu club in Sligo. We have around 120 members, 80 adults and 40 or so kids, People comes from all over the Northwest region to our Academy, including places like Rooskey and Ballina.”
Ryan has won four European medals, two Golds and two Bronze for Jiu Jitsu so his expertise goes without saying. “I was encouraged by Morgan, who is three years younger than me to come along and train with Micky who was coaching in the Crib at the time to see if I’d like it. I was around 24 at the time and before that had played a bit of football but I immediately loved it,” he explains. What makes Jiu Jitsu different from other types of Martial Arts is that it is based on a grappling style, as opposed to striking. “The goal of the sport is that you submit your opponent with an arm lock or a choke and the goal is not to knock someone out but instead try and pin them down and get them into a position to submit them.”
He says that with any new sport there is as lot to learn but it’s about building on the foundations. “We have kids from seven onwards and their classes are every Saturday. Then there’s adult ones every evening during the week for beginners and so forth.”
Ryan adds people don’t necessarily have to be extremely fit when starting as the programme will build on their strength.
“It is a six-week programme and it starts slow to get people introduced.” The Academy sent its biggest number of competitors to the National Jiu Jitsu Championships last month and it was a fantastic outing from the Northwest club.
Ryan explains: “We brought 22 competitors to the Irish Open, it was held in the new National Indoor Centre in Blanchardstown. It’s only recently opened and we had 22 with us which was the largest we’ve ever brought.
“We had people competing in all the different age groups, from teens to master divisions.
“The oldest competitor with us was 45. We’ve had women compete in previous years, including Niamh Rooney who was at the European Championships last year but has since moved to Dublin.
“We had some good results overall and there were two Gold medals, I won in the Brown Belt Featherweight, while Daniel Wisniewski also won Gold in the Blue Belt Middleweight.
“There was also a good few Silver and Bronze medals too,” he adds. Patryk Pazdzior and Declan Foy were among the Juvenile medal winners. From the competition it was onto welcoming Romero Jacaré from Brazil. “The Headquarters are in Brazil and we brought him over for a seminar and teaching.
“It was a huge name for us to get and would be like the equivalent of Mourinho or Ferguson, he’s a top coach.
“He came in to Cleveragh for the day and we had 50 people in for training, clubs came from all over Ireland and they said they found it very beneficial.”
It was during this event that Ryan, Morgan and Micky received their Black Belt promotions, a first for Jiu Jitsu in Sligo.
Ryan admits being a full-time profes- sional coach means he doesn’t have that much spare time but he’s doing something he loves.
“The competitions are quiet during the summer and the camp scene will be starting in September. There are more clubs popping up in the likes of Ballina, Westport, Castlebar, Letterkenny and Galway as the popularity grows.”
Ryan says that some of the club’s members are doing very well on the competition front and are keen to train all year round.
“What I see is how Jiu Jits helps them build confidence and we have these very quiet kids coming in who are really shy and then when they start training, their confidence begins to grow from the sparring and that.”
Ryan explains parents too are noticing differences. “I hear from the parents too that they can see the programme is building their confidence. I had one mother whose daughter was so quiet but was really coming out of her shell because of Jiu Jitsu.
“I can see a huge difference in some of them as it’s very beneficial for their confidence.
“We only started the kids programmes a year ago and the uptake has been really big straight away.
“Jiu Jitsu is good for keeping extremely fit a big part of it is developing fitness and strength and it’s not just about Martial Arts, it’s a good activity as well.”
If you are interested in finding out more about the Academy, check out their website on www.sligobjj.com or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
JIU JITS HELPS BUILD CONFIDENCE IN SOME KIDS WHO ARE REALLY SHY