The Kaiapoi club was a great venue for the first NZ Grappling and Wrestling Championships with two mats and a warm-up mat upstairs and full meals and refreshments facilities running continuously downstairs.
Friday night the Greco-Roman wrestling was fast and furious with some spirited competition and the competitors enjoyed the non-stop action and this code being over in just two hours testament to the new processes.
This enabled everyone to get away smartly rest and prepare for Saturdays competition.
Saturday, November 19th and the day started with freestyle wrestling and gi grappling.
There was some real talent on show and the ten to 13-year-old freestyle wrestlers showed skill way above their years considering their time in the sport.
Competitors from the fight shop team in Palmerston North competed in both freestyle wrestling and grappling and you could see the results of Kesta McLaughlan’s coaching and just how good these new wrestlers were.
The gi grappling had good numbers of entries in most divisions.
There were many different gi’s and colours and styles of gi featuring many club and grappling style prints and patches making it a most colourful competition.
Some leading BJJ competitors and judo international Jason Koster who has qualified for the Olympics were in attendance and testament to the calibre of competitors along with Commonwealth games competitor Sam Belkin competing in both his sport of Greco Roman wrestling as well as freestyle wrestling and submission grappling.
Fellow Commonwealth games competitor and a leading NZ wrestler Stephen Hill was in attendance and part of the host club organising committee with his contribution being very much appreciated.
It was great to see father and son Kevan and Kesta McLaughlan respectively at the organising table together working as such a good team.
There were some very big lads in the gi competition and to see so many over 100 KG competitors was unusual to say the least.
I have been reporting on events for the NZ martial arts magazine and Australasian martial arts magazine now the Fight times e-mag for the past 17 years and this tournament was best wrestling and grappling championships I have been to and hosted a lot of very good competitors.
Such a friendly atmosphere helpful people and committed competitors were very apparent as soon as you walked in.
The female gi and non-gi grappling was good to see even though the numbers were not as high as we would like and this is something we need to work on.
The non-gi female grappling produced some good matches that were very close.
Like in international MMA competition the benefits of wrestling showed through with the grappling providing some definite advantages.
There have been a lot of wrestlers grappling this season with good success but not so many grapplers trying wrestling competition and we hope to encourage more to try it out in 2012.
The new king and queen of the mat titles where a competitor must win both the senior freestyle wrestling and non-gi grappling titles in their respective weight division made for some excellent matches.
There were two Kings and one Queen of the mat for 2011 and they were all wrestling stylists in Scott McGregor, Sam Belkin and Jessica Todd.
These three really were the best in both codes on the day and fully deserve the titles of kings and queen of grappling and wrestling at the 2011 NZ Championships.
Click here to see the results
Click here to see the photos
Outcomes and to the future.
2012 will be huge if the 2011 Championships accolades and joining enquiries are anything to go by.
A new era in combined grappling and wrestling competition has been and the future is looking great.
November 18th and 19th set new standards in the conducting of National Championships for combined submission grappling and wrestling.
Friendly and very competitive was the nature of the event.
Never before have so many grapplers been entered at a combined national wrestling and grappling Championships.
The New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association in its first year as a national governing organisation for grappling and wrestling already has more member clubs than any other combined grappling and wrestling governing body in New Zealand and by considerable.
These the first national Championships have created a lot more interest and we expect many more clubs to join the New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association in 2012.
The association has many member clubs competing internationally year round in a wide range of combat sports codes.
There were several major clubs that put in apologies as they were away competing overseas or returning from international competitions that made them unable to be at the nationals and yet we still had over 200 entries.
The New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association is a completely democratic organisation run by the members on a majority decides majority rules referendum basis with every member club having a single vote for all major decision making.
The association is completely transparent with all member clubs receiving complete referendum outcomes.
There are no annual registration fees for clubs or competitors in the People’s Association as we call it. Member clubs are listened to and changes made when the majority decides. To many this is very different to the way they have known things to been done in the past. User friendly and cutting unnecessary red tape has made all the difference and the results show in the numbers of member clubs coming on board.
We have the support of combat sports corporates in NZ and abroad and this has provided some top line sponsors and future negotiations are underway that will grow our combat sports codes in NZ.
We even had a visit earlier in the year from a CEO of a major US corporation who publically spoke to attendees at the Kodiak cage wars promotion that he sponsored of how he intends to get behind combat sports in NZ supported by his business partner in NZ the Todd group and Fight times.
Amongst our supporters and sponsors is a media leader in a category that focuses on combat sports and they like the changes we have made and the way we are doing things.
Registering club and club member is all done online as is with placing tournament entries.
The old draw systems that were complex time-consuming and killed forests have been replaced by systems that have all but made pair masters obsolete.
All that is needed now is minimal support to manage the user friendly draw and results systems.
This was brought about by new association members with expertise in running major international tournaments with several times the numbers of entries of national Championships offering their assistance to improve and speed up competitions.
The grappling clubs support and assistance with the draw systems at the New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association championships made an immediate difference and brought us out of the dim ages.
The nationals with over 200 entries and five combat sports codes were over in just under nine hours of competition over one evening session and one day session.
We have really made the New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association the peoples Association by taking on board the suggestions of members with experience and making such changes that meet Kiwi requirements and benefiting from listening to our rank and file who have much to offer. We still have some major changes to make in relation to things like the timing of the competitive season.
2012 could see a change to a summer sport and have most competitions on Saturdays as well as unifying the grappling and wrestling weight divisions so athletes will be more likely to compete in both grappling and wrestling codes.
We allow competitors to wear wrestling singlets or grappling shorts and rash guards.
They can opt for wearing wrestling boots or compete in bare feet.
Weigh in options can be on the day before or on the day of the competition and medals will most likely be presented by the referee at the completion of the match finals to avoid lengthy prize giving’s after competitions that hinder visiting competitors return travel.
There are many more positive changes that set the New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association apart as a ground breaker and prove the importance of listening to the member clubs and making the changes that improve things that make all the difference to the success and growth of the organisation.
Times have changed and so have we in there is no looking back only forward to more growth and even more innovations to make wrestling and grappling more user-friendly and appealing.
We have training camps overseas competitions and visiting coaches planned for 2012.
There was a string of seminars immediately after the nationals hosted by Yoshi and conducted by his Master, Master Kenji Ogusu MMA world number 2 Pro Shooto and BJJ black belt and Asia champion From Japan.
To have so many clubs approach the organisers and congratulate us on organising what they called the best national Championships they have been too is extremely positive and satisfying and a reflection of Kevan McLaughlan and the Rangiora wrestling clubs hard work.
They certainly deserve praise and congratulations for conducting tremendous national Championships.
Those that could not make it missed out on a real championship experience and no doubt will be lining up for next year’s nationals once the members have voted and decided on the location.
Now we just need to furnish our reports on the first season to the required official organisations and in the off season conduct our camps and have our member clubs decide on the required changes to the competitive season and other aspects of the association methods of operation.
