The Gracie-Barra Andalucia team traveled to Lisbon, Portugal this past weekend to compete in the 2008 European Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships, and performed very well! Medal winners included Matt (gold, brown-belt, senior 1), Jose Antonio (bronze, brown-belt, master), Hans (bronze, blue-belt, adult), Aida (bronze, blue-belt adult) and 15 year-old (!!) Andres (silver, blue-belt, juvenile). In addition, both Javi (not pictured above) and Juan competed, and although they didn’t medal, both fought very very well, and are sure to do some big things in the future!
Our coach, Edson Jorge, unfortunately couldn’t compete due to his recovery from an earlier injury, but he of course traveled with the team to the event, and gave all the encouragement and coaching that we could ask for!
The Spanish BJJ community was very well represented overall. You can read more news about the event here (in Spanish):
http://www.fightsol.com/foro/index.php?topic=6313.0
A general observation from everyone that went, was that the BJJ level in general is really increasing. Every category from white to black was full of very talented competitors. It was especially fun to watch the black belts! That alone was worth the trip! Several big names were there, including Roger Gracie and Fabricio Werdum (neither of whom competed), and Renato “Babalu” Sobral (who competed in brown belt.)
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion, Rômulo Barral, is coming to Marbella, Spain to give a one-day seminar, on January 19, 2008.