East West Women’s Tournament

review by Charles Smith

East West Martial Arts’ inaugural women’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament was a great success. The event was held on Saturday, April 25 2009 at their school in Canton Michigan. The proceeds went to support a local women’s shelter.

More than twenty woman from the mid-west (and Canada too, I believe) took to the mat for a day of double elimination competition in both gi and no-gi matches with white and blue belt divisions. The tournament ran smoothly, though there were a few delays and some questions about scoring, but nothing you wouldn’t expect from a first time event. The competition itself was high energy and enjoyed by grapplers and audience alike. The highlights included some great technical work by the young women, who are going to be absolute machines by the time they’re adults and a great technical tour-de-force between Abby Bork and Becky Reaver. Once the videos are up, be sure to check out the barrage of flying arm-bars in the matches between Abby and Mona too. The two of them met four times in some of the toughest, knock-down, drag-out action of the day. I’m telling you, these grapplers are hard core!

I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention mixed martial arts fighter Jen Aniano, who’s most recent fight in the Premier League Fighting Championship is on video. Jen does it all: Mixed martial arts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission wrestling, you name it.

After the tournament, organizers had pizza and Xyience (Thanks Becky!) on hand for everyone. When was the last time you got free eats at a tournament?! Below we feature a few photos (with videos coming soon) and information about the next East West women’s tournament.