9th ANNUAL
NORTH AMERICAN GRAPPLING CHAMPIONSHIP (NAGC)
October 2nd, 2004, Jersey City, New Jersey:
111 Teams from across the GLOBE made the journey to Jersey City,
New Jersey to compete in the the NAGA’s North American
Grappling Championship (nagc). The NAGA had 614 grapplers compete
in a single day event. The NAGC featured 160 Gi & No-Gi
Grappling Divisions and 57 Championship Belts which drew fighters
from all over the world. This included Katherine Gifford who
flew in from London, England to compete. The ages of our competitors
ranged from 4 years old to 56 years young. John Gorman AKA “Pappa
John” flew in from Jacksonville, Arkansas and took second
in the 50 yrs plus division, John is 56 years young!
What made this event unique was the
fact that the NAGA staff ran 14 rings all at once, throughout
the entire. The NAGA’s closest competitor only runs 6
rings at a time. The coordination and efforts put forth by
the entire NAGA staff saw the entire event end by 5:30 PM.
THANKS TO OUR STAFF:
The success of the NAGA is 100% due to the staff. 600 + competitors
fighting in a single day create several thousand matches.
Add in the fact that the NAGA allows fighters to compete in
multiple divisions and double or even triple that number.
With all the fighters, matches and multiple divisions to compete
in, it was almost unbelievable that the event started at noon
and ended by 6:30 PM that evening. Like many competitors,
our staff comes from distant states. Ray Blackburn makes the
trip every year from Ohio; Dustin Ware, Josh Souder &
Braden Workman from West Virginia; Elain Rodriguez, Mike Cardoza
and Big Show from Florida; Chris Dranka from Illinois to name
a few. The NAGA employed over 70 people to work the NAGC and
the success of the event was based on their commitment. Thank
you!
Check out full coverage of the NAGC
in an upcoming issue of "GRAPPLING MAGAZINE"!!!
SAMBAZON/VARIG AIRLINES & NAGA
GIVE AWAY A FREE TRIP TO BRAZIL:
Sambazon energy drink in conjunction with Varig Airlines and
the NAGA gave away TWO FREE ROUND TRIP PLANE TICJKETS TO BRAZIL
at the event. The lucky competitor to win the tickets was
15 year old John Porter Jr. from Team, Lloyd Irvin. Congratulations
to John!
NAGA CUP
It was a pleasure awarding Team Tiger Schulmann and Team Renzo
Gracie with the huge team cups resembling the Hockey’s
Stanley Cup.
As always it would be impossible for me to name everyone who
made this event a huge success. We wanted to thank our friends
and family who worked the weekend, all the fighters and coaches
who came to compete and finally the friends and family of
the fighters who sat in the bleachers and cheered throughout
the day. The sport is growing at a phenomenal rate and it's
success is because of the dedication each and everyone of
you bring to it!
Our next event, which will be a two
day event at the same venue in March is the NAGA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
at the same location, March 15th & 16th this Spring. Start
preparing yourself today and have a great Halloween!
NAGC SUPERFIGHTS
BOCA (American Top Team) defeated GORDINHO (Renzo Gracie)
by referee decision.
JOE SCAROLA (Renzo Gracie) defeated
Renato Taraves (American Top Team) by rear naked choke.
These and other past NAGA Superfights
will be available on DVD via the NAGA Store
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