Junior Championships 2 Results

Our Kids team headed down to the US Grappling Junior Championships in Richmond, VA. First up was Brendan “Spike-a-Doodle” Bill. Spike didn’t have the results he was hoping for but he put up a good fight in all his matches. He walked away with a Silver and a Bronze.

Next up was Elijah Romaine. Elijah did well, placing 2nd and 3rd. He was scoring a lot with hip tosses and Osoto-Gari’s and was right in the hunt in all his matches. Elijah was hoping to repeat on his performance back in September but he still learned a lot and will be back stronger then.

And last up but certainly not least was Austin “American Idol” Moore. Austin started the day in the No-Gi Division, using good wrestling skills along with sharp Jiu-Jitsu. Austin was able to get to the finals where he was able to pull out the win and bring back the Gold medal. This is Austin’s first Gold medal in BJJ so this was big for him and for 88BJJ. In the Gi division, Austin made the finals but was denied the Gold this time, so he comes back with a Silver. Not a bad day for this young fighter.

"American Idol" Receives Last Minute Advice from Mr. Danny

Jon Delbrugge – Fastest Blue Belt So Far!

Jon “Devastator” Delbrugge receives the Blue Belt.  Jon started training with us at the beginning of the Summer and has been improving at a remarkably fast pace (not surprising given his work ethic).  Devastator will not rest on his laurels and will put his new belt on the line in the next few weeks.

Crazy 88 Battles Breast Cancer

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Crazy 88 team members did their part to support a good cause, running in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 5K race.

Let’s recognize Cathy Tran, David Zwanetz, Jon Delbrugge, Joshua Plaschkes, Jeff Mueller, Jason Moore, CJ Melton, and Zach Perret (and wife) for waking up early and braving the elements to make a difference! Bravo!

Go Josh!

Brendan Bill Debuts in Submission Tournament

For those of you that don’t know Brendan “Spike-a-Doodle” Bill, he is one of the toughest and hardest working kids on the Crazy 88 team. He is coming off of double Gold medals in the VA Naga tournament and a Gold medal at the US Grappling summer tournament. All the tournaments in the past were without submissions holds and Spike was looking for more of a challenge so Julius and Danny decided it was time to take him to some bigger tournaments and to put him into the submission divisions.

So the Bill family along with Coach Danny made the 5 hour drive to Wayne, NJ for the Grapplers Quest tournament, one of the toughest and largest BJJ competitions around. As always, Spike didn’t disappoint. He brought back 2 silvers medals in both Gi and No-Gi. He had 6 matches in all and won two by armlock, one by rear naked choke and one by points. He came up a bit short in the finals but he tried his best and had some great matches. Way to go Spike!

The best part is that he’s only been training with submission holds for 2 weeks! Look for more great things to come from this fine young man who is climbing the rankings fast!

Rodeo Brian Promoted to Blue Belt!

“Rodeo” Brian Neal gets a pummelling and a Blue Belt. Make sure you give him a nice pat on the back tomorrow for such a great accomplishment!

Special thanks to Tyler Neal for signing the Intent to Promote form.

No-Gi PanAms Results

Mike Atkin went back to his No-Gi roots and drove all the way to New York City to compete at the 1st No-Gi PanAms. It was a small tournament and Mike only had 2 matches. Mike faced an old foe from Alliance NY. Mike had defeated this grappler at the PanAms and looked on his way to do it again but the referees had other ideas. Our teammate would lose 2-0 amidst some controversy. Luckily, Mike had a chance at revenge in the Open, and he avenged the loss later in the day to win the Open Gold.

Cynthia O’Rourke finally returned to competition! Cynthia submitted Kristin Murphy from Rail City MMA in the quarters and outpointed Ashley Proctor from Gracie Barra in the semis. In the finals, she squared off against the highly-decorated Hillary Williams (Westside Fight Team). Hillary controlled position on Cynthia to win the tournament but our teammate had a solid armbar attempt to make it a fight. Phenomenal comeback performance!