Pan Ams 2015: The Best of BJJ

Not Competing, and Missing the First Day of Pan Ams 2015 🙁

Sitting at work on the first day of the Pan Ams, I could not help but stew in bitterness. While happy for my teammates and friends that competed and placed, I was wishing that I was on that mat giving it my all alongside them. Instead, I have spent weeks now babying an injury.

This one is not as bad as others that I have had before it, but as a single parent I could not afford to take the chance at severely injuring myself again. Because of this, I decided to take a some time out of training in hopes that I can recover from this minor injury and return in full force. As a fresh Blue Belt, I want to get out there and really put my Jiu-Jitsu to the test.

Even though I was still healing, I could not stand to be completely away from BJJ, so off I went to support my team!.

The Event!

Despite not being able to compete, I was very excited to see all of the matches that were going to take place during the weekend. With a list of athletes I wanted to watch and acai bowl in hand, the second day of Pans did not disappoint. It is safe to say that the second day of the Pan Ams 2015 competition was packed with some great matches and it made it all the more exciting to watch some of my teammates place and make it to the podium.

While hanging out, I met some great people at the event. How cool it felt to see two lovely ladies repping BJJ GIRL. You ladies rock and totally made my day.

It was great to meet Eric Heath of Jits Grips, who provided some great commentary during the final matches and was just a pleasure to be with. This was also cool because I just got my own “Jits Grips” and cannot wait to put out a review so you guys can check out what I think about them.

On another note, I was welcomed into the Shoyoroll crew in my pursuit of one of their famous Gis. I knew that Shoyoroll was very popular, and that a lot of people loved their products, but this weekend I found out just how sought after these Gis were. To everyone that went on that scavenger hunt and then waited in the endless line, kudos to you for capturing that unicorn! I just hope that next time they anticipate the big crowd and prepare for it so that fans don’t have to spend so much time waiting.

I was honored to finally able to meet Gaby Garcia and Mackenzie Dern, two women I have been a fan of for a long time. It was great to watch these two fight against each other, as the pair is often known as the BJJ “David and Goliath”. They are both very technical, and have a ton of respect for each other. Gabi Garcia won via choke as the final result in this competition.  Props to these warriors on their wins this weekend!

Pan Ams 2015 Fighters, We Salute You!

I would also like to congratulate my friends and teammates Darcie Trejo, Precious Brown, Thomas Cronin, Gene Cook, Lance Cacanindin, Jason Youseph and everyone else that competed and placed at Pan Ams 2015. Although this was the second year I have stayed out of the action, I wanted to thank everyone for the continued encouragement and motivation that has been keeping me on the grind. I really can’t express how much your support means to me.

Until the next comp.

Comment me below and let me know what the best match you saw at Pan Ams was!