Sarreal Siblings at World Grappling Tournament
Michael and Samantha Sarreal of Millington competed in the NAGA World Championship Tournament in Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown, NJ on Sunday, April 24, 2022. NAGA is the North American Grappling Association and is the world’s largest mixed grappling tournaments with over 700,000 competitors worldwide. The World Tournament in NJ was a 2-day event with over 1500 competitors for adults and kids from all over the country.
Michael, 13 years old, competed in the youth Advanced Skill level for both Gi (Brazilian jiu-jitsu) and No-Gi (all submission grappling styles, such as wrestling and judo) divisions, as well as challenged himself in doing extra divisions. Michael also bumped up from the Advanced skill level to the Expert skill level in the No-Gi division (which is the highest skill level bracket). Mikey won 3 Gold medals for all 3 divisions that he competed in. He also won the NAGA Championship belt by winning first place in the Expert division. Michael won a tough match by defeating a competitor who is a 4-time International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation Pan Am Champion and 3-time IBJJF American Kids Nationals Champ. Michael won the match by doing a triangle submission on his opponent.
Samantha, 11 years old, competed in 4 divisions and won 2 Golds and 2 Silvers. She competed in Gi and No-Gi divisions and challenged herself by bumping up to the Boy’s bracket and higher weight class. Samantha competed in the Intermediate division and received a Katana Samurai sword for winning first place. She defeated the 2021 Pan Am IBJJF Champion in the No-Gi division.
Michael and Samantha will be training hard for potentially competing in the IBJJF Pan-American Championships in Florida this summer. The Pan Am Jiu Jitsu Championship is the largest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament held in North America and one of the most prestigious BJJ tournaments in the world. It has been held annually by the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation since 1995. Last year, nearly 2,000 kids from all over the world competed in the 2-day event.
Michael and Samantha are trained and coached by 6 time-World Champion Vitor Shaolin Ribeiro and National Champion Andre Motta at the VSBJJA Academy in Scotch Plains. Recently, they have also supplemented their training with Judo under 2x Olympic Judoka Colton Brown in Warren.
