Joel Hadden of the Ottawa Academy of Martial Arts is training for the world championships.
Two local athletes are training to compete in the 2012 Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Submission Wrestling World Championships in Abu Dhabi next month.
Both Joel Hadden and Brandon McGourty won their divisions at the ADCC pro trials event in Montreal to qualify.
Not only did they qualify, but they will also receive an all expenses paid trip to compete in one of the world’s most prestigious grappling events from April 13-15.
“It’s going to be a huge tournament,” says Hadden. “I’m excited to see Abu Dhabi from a tourist point of view and obviously the tournament is going to be an unreal experience.”
It’s been a long year for Hadden, who came up short in his attempts to qualify last year, losing by official decision to the eventual champion.
“I was that close, one decision away,” says Hadden. “We’ve worked all year to correct those mistakes, competed a lot more frequently, and this year I’ve got a lot more experience under my belt.”
McGourty has also had a tough path to Abu Dhabi. Although this was his first attempt to qualify, his final opponent outweighed him by about 100 pounds. In jiu-jitsu tournaments there are weight classes, but there is usually an absolute division, which includes the winners at each weight. Fighting a bigger opponent can be difficult, but McGourty says jiu-jitsu is about a lot more than pure strength.
“Jiu-jitsu can work for the smaller guy if you can use leverage and technique to your advantage,” says McGourty. “But if a big guy knows jiu-jitsu it can be really tough.”
What makes their accomplishments even more impressive is the fact that they’ve only been competing for a little over a year.
Both McGourty and Hadden began training in jiu-jitsu about three years ago, saying they originally started because they were interested in mixed martial arts. But as soon as they started jiu-jitsu they fell in love with it and decided to focus on a single discipline.
They train at the Ottawa Academy of Martial Arts (OAMA) under black belt Pat Cooligan, who they attribute much of their success to.
“He knows what competitors need and likes to push us,” says McGourty. “He goes with us on all the trips and it’s a big edge to always have a coach with you in tournaments.”
Although they started competing over a year ago, it’s only been since August that they’ve really increased the number of events. Almost every other weekend the team travels across North America and even as far as Portugal to compete.
It’s because of all that experience, their expectations are high heading to Abu Dhabi. Both Hadden and McGourty are close to moving up another belt level and winning is the quickest way to get there.
“Our coach wants us to be world class athletes and keeps us at the belts until as long as it takes us to win world championships,” says Hadden.
“We both had a shot last year and failed, so we’re coming back this year to get it done.”
Matt Hache is a brown belt at OAMA who teaches jiu-jitsu. He’s worked with both Hadden and McGourty as they’ve developed.
“They’re both hungry athletes, eager to learn new techniques,” says Hache. “And the best part is they actually listen to their coaches.”
Hache says that an important part of their development has been the strength of their team as a whole.
“You can’t get better in jiu-jitsu by fighting the air, you have to have a team that has your back and will support you,” says Hache.
Although Hache won’t be joining them in Abu Dhabi, he looks forward to watching their matches online and says he expects they’ll do well.
“They’ve already seen the best in the world and they’ve proven they can come out on top,” says Hache.