Bridgetown MMA club collects junior and senior jiu jitsu medals at South West titles

The Bridgetown Jiu Jitsu club found success at a South West competition last month, with several junior and senior club members bringing home medals. Members of the club competed at the South West Jiu Jitsu Championship, held in Geographe Bay on August 11. Seven-year-old Alice Watson won silver in her category, while Charlotte Zammit, 8, Willa Pantou, 9, Tess McGinty, 10, and Tukaea Liddell, 8, all won bronze medals. In the seniors, Amanda Mitchell and Isobelle Stone, 14, won gold, while Ben Ducker, Norton Schmidt-Hunt took silver, and Corey Moore, Dylan Jones and Natasha Viles secured bronze. Amanda won gold in the no-Gi women’s comp and said “lasting the distance” and anticipating what was coming was the biggest challenge. “(The hardest part) was anticipating what the other person would be like,” she said. “You had to play your own game and not get too nervous.” Viles, who won bronze in the women’s 79kg+ Gi competition, said the event was a “different level of crazy” compared to her training. “It was my first time competing, so it was an entirely new experience and I had no expectations really of what I was stepping into,” she said. Charlotte, 8, said she was happy winning the bronze medal in her category, though she will keep aiming for gold. “I felt really happy, but I wish I won the gold medal,” she said. “It was quite hard since I went with a really tough girl.” Schmidt-Hunt, who got second in the under-84.5kg class, said silver was a “good reward” for his and the crew’s efforts. “It was nice to go out and perform to how we have been training, compared to the first (competition) we went to,” he said.