by Stephen Dafoe
Tyler Edwothy returned to Morinville last week with a silver medal in Jiu-Jitsu. The local athlete took part in the World Masters Tournament hosted by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) in Las Vegas Sept. 25 and 26.
The Masters Division is for competitors 30 and up. Edworthy competed in the purple belt super heavyweight category along with 14 other competitors. One competitor not showing for the tournament gave Edworthy a bye in the first round of competition.
“I had three matches,” Edworthy said, adding he competed against some familiar faces from other international events. “The first one I landed a nice throw. I started doing a lot of judo, and I landed one of the throws I’ve been working on. I hurt him on the takedown, and he submitted due to discomfort once I started putting a little more pressure on him.”
In the second match, Edworthy found his opponent pulling half guard on him, which the Morinville athlete had some trouble with at the start. However, Edworthy was soon reversing his moves and putting his opponent into submission. Edworthy’s third match found him facing a challenger from Michigan. It would prove to be his first loss of the tournament.
“We had a pretty long time on the feet. It took us a long time to get to the ground,” Edworthy recalled. “There was less than a minute left in the match before we were finally on the ground. He ended up on top. It was a pretty nice takedown. Once we got to the ground, I actually felt pretty confident, but I just ran out of time. He wound up beating me by the two points he got for the takedown.”
The athlete has spent the last couple years refocusing his energy on Jui-Jitsu and taking the sport as far as he can. “It’s been a long road,” he said. “It takes anywhere from 10 to 18 years to get a black belt in Jui-Jittsu. There are so many aspects to it. I think that’s the biggest draw for me.”
