NANAIMO — Island Top Team won the overall team standings at the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Canada Open in Richmond on Oct. 24.
It’s the largest No Gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu event in the country, with nearly 90 teams competing from Canada and the United States.
Nanaimo’s Top Team coach and competitor Rob Biernacki was thrilled with the outcome.
“Our club has now won this event three of the four years it has been held. We are the only club in Canada to have won three adult team championships. On Guard BJJ, which is run by one of my black belts, Matt Kwan, took the kids team title, and has now won three kids team championships as well.”
Biernacki himself dropped a couple of weight brackets to compete in the Men’s Master 3 advanced 83 kilogram division.
En route to a gold medal, he won his quarterfinal match 4-0 and finished with submission victories in the semifinal and final.
“This was my third ADCC Canada Open gold,” Biernacki said. “I announced my retirement from local No Gi competition afterwards. Over the course of about a decade and ten total events, I have never lost a match when competing on Canadian soil.”
There were three other gold medals for Island Top Team athletes
Jamus O’Brien, as a purple belt, won the Men’s Master 3 Advanced 76 kg division with two dominant points victories.
In the Men’s Master 1 Intermediate 76 kg category, Stefan Gerwin took first place with back-to-back submission wins.
Mathew Camp needed only nine minutes and 30 seconds to win four matches via submission to earn the Men’s Beginner 83 kg title.
Silver medals went to Mike Childs in the Men’s Master 3 Intermediate +100 kg division, as well as Monica Bonczak in the Women’s Advanced 60 kg category and Diana Nadeau in her Women’s Beginner 65 kg bracket.
Biernacki was quick to credit coach Cory Burton for the success of ITT’s younger competitors at the Canada Open.
“He coached our kids and teens to two gold and two silver medals. Leo Matthew took gold, Ronin Hawley gold and silver, Daniel Jin, silver. Cory also coached myself and all our adult athletes. Cory’s work, along with Gary Gilbert, one of our other assistant coaches who was instrumental in our team’s preparation, Cory did a brilliant job on Saturday.”
Biernacki had an emotional week in the lead-up to the competition, dealing with a death in the family.
“Competing under such circumstances was unbelievably difficult, and the performance myself and the team ended up having was utterly unexpected, not to mention bittersweet.”
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