ZUMA women's BJJ winning GOLD!

Momo And Lyndsie win IBJJF Gold.

OUCH!

poor pinky!!!!!!

Not only did Momo head down to Portland to compete in her first ibjjf tournament by herself, she stepped on those mats and 53 seconds later her opponent was tapping to an armbar! Then Lyndsie took a flight to Houston and wow what a STRESSFUL two days getting to the podium! From late planes, to driving to the WRONG CITY at midnight then lastly, being told I couldn’t compete because of my belt and having to find someone to lend me theirs. However, it all worked out in the end and won the final match with a super clean wrestling throw! Thank you ZUMATEAM. 1 min into my first match, my finger felt funny and I noticed it was tangled in my opponents’ Gi. Once I got my finger free I knew there was something REALLY wrong with my pinky finger but thank goodness for adrenaline! I was able to compete in all 4 matches with 3 wins and 1 loss to get 1st place in my weight division and 2nd place in the Open weight division. Flew back from Houston Texas and headed straight to VGH to get this finger fixed. Yay “free” healthcare 😉 

New Fitness Toys at ZUMA

We received our order from Rogue Fitness. Just in case class isn’t hard enough we now have a new Airdyne (DEATH) bike and SkiErg to help you find that horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach. We have absolutely no idea what Sarah Kaufman is doing, challenging the machines maybe?

May 2018 ZUMA Highlights

May started off with great news for the ZUMA team. On the 4th our own Sarah Kaufman won her 20th fight as well as her 3rd world title, she finished her opponent in the 3rd round via RNC to secure the Invicta Bantam Weight Title. Sarah and Cris Cyborg are the only two women to have won the Strike Force world title and the Invicta World title. 

May 19th Dan and A A RON flew to Chicago to compete at the NAGA Chicago Open. Yup, the Chicago open is in Chicago!!! Dan had a great showing in his division and then coached A A RON who won the purple belt division securing a fancy shmancy belt. After the tournament they ordered a Chicago  style pizza which completely tapped them both out after they had one slice each. I heard it took them a week to finish the entire pizza!!!

On May 26th many of the ZUMA BJJ students from the Adult and Kids team competed at the Katana Open. Some of you were competing for different reasons than just winning a medal and it was amazing to see! Thank you to all the great competitors, coaches and staff who showed how great our sport of BJJ is. The ZUMA team was very fortunate to win the 1st place kids trophy and the 1st place adult trophy as well as 80 medals.

On May 29th the ZUMA BJJ Black Belts awarded a well deserved brown belt to Aaron Berke. Berke is a fantastic athlete who has won many tournaments at purple belt so we look forward to watching his journey at brown belt. But, more importantly he is a great person who everyone loves to be around. This sounds like the comment you read on a kindergarten report card but it's actually true, the guy is absolutely amazing. We feel that once he learns how to bridge he will be unstoppable!!!!

World Autism Awareness Day

World Autism Awareness Day

Last year our son Leo was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). I can remember trying to be stoic and not react to the diagnosis in front of the doctors and my family when we were told he is on the spectrum. My wonderful wife and I had arrived to the doctors appointment in separate vehicles so when I got back to my vehicle to leave I was alone and I ugly cried uncontrollably, I couldn’t speak, I could hardly find a breath. I often hear people recite the quote “when you have a child It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ” ― Elizabeth Stone. Receiving the Autism Diagnosis for my son felt like watching the wiggles dance on my heart and kick it around, which really sucks because they have so many catchy songs and they all seem so nice. Once I was able to get myself together I realized that I was fearful of how the world would perceive Leo, how our community would or would not embrace him. I had fears that my son wouldn’t be engaged by other children or parents, that he would be isolated, and ultimately that he would be sad. I don’t want my son to be perpetually sad, just the thought of it is horrifying and I felt helpless in protecting him from this possibility. Fortunately over the past year we have found people within our community who have made so many positive impacts on our son and our family. Many of my fears showed me that I didn’t know much about Autism Spectrum Disorder when we received the diagnosis. Please don’t dismiss World Autism Awareness Day, and be inclined to be kind. If you have questions I am willing to share experiences from our journey.