ST. PETERS--St. Maarten Martial Arts Federation (SMMAF) held the Second Annual Spring Competition on Saturday, May 26th at MPC Gym in St. Peters. The event showcased two combat martial art for adults and children- Muay Thai Kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Competitors hailed from Marco London's Sityodtong Foundation, SXM BJJ/Renzo Gracie St. Maarten’s Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Teams and Saint Barths Jiu Jitsu Team. The Head of the Department of Sports, Jonelle Richardson was present and was impressed with the turnout of nearly 80 athletes.
Stand-out Jiu Jitsu competitors included 8-year-old Keziah Collet-Delanney from St Barths, he won matches against SXM BJJ’s Aiden Wilkie, Miles Cheasley and won a closely contested referee decision (no points scored) against SXM BJJ’s female Keziah Hoeve. Young Keziah Collet-Delanney was awarded his yellow belt from his St Barths brown belt coach Chris Vlang at the event, he began practicing Jiu Jitsu in Australia and is the youngest competitor hailing from St Barths. St. Maarten’s Keziah Hoeve was previously undefeated in the last 5 tournaments she participated in and handedly won her prior match against St Barth’s Floriane Aubin earlier in the day. Keziah Hoeve wowed the crowd with a powerful ‘Tomoe-Nagi’ overhead sweep to land in mount position and finished her opponent with a juji-gatame (arm bar).
Newcomer to Jiu Jitsu, 9-year-old white belt Savanna Ortega defeated Louisa Gautier from St Barths but lost a close match against 12-year-old Amalya Aufrand of St. Barths on points, impressing all the spectators with her bravery and tenacity against a much taller and older opponent.
10-year-old Lukas Hassall of SXM BJJ defeated 11-year-old Clement of St Barths who outweighed him by over 10 kilograms with a ‘triangle’ submission. However, he was defeated by 12-year-old St. Barth’s Manon Aubin who had over 15 kg weigh advantage over the young man. The weight disadvantage was also too much for SXM BJJ athlete Omarion Thomas (38kg) who was defeated by Malo Ballerin, (54kilos) and St Barths orange belt Samana Bidet (65kilos).
Adult competitor Benjamin Di Francisco of St Barths had three matches, winning a gi (wearing a traditional kimono style jacket) and no-gi (submission grappling) match over SXM BJJ’s Carl Delgado. Benjamin was defeated in a no-gi match by SXM BJJ’s 17-year-old Avish Wijesiriwardana. Avish was undefeated for the day, he also earned a victory against Tyson Washington in an earlier Muay thai bout. Avish’s Jiu Jitsu match was a highlight of the day as he overcame a point deficit to earn a victory by triangle submission.
A number of well rounded athletes competed in both the Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu: Jaden Busby, Douglas Pearson, Brandaen Illis, Kyle Lake and Sasha Leal. 7-year-old Brandaen Illis was also undefeated in both events earning a Muay Thai victory over Douglas Pearson and Yerick Elsberth and Jiu Jitsu win over Kzar Willems.
After refereeing for over 3 hours, Wesley Hendrix of Windward Roads donned his kimono and won a dominant match over 125kg white belt competitor Rui Mendes Araujo of St Barths as the last Jiu Jitsu match of the day.
In the adults Muay Thai event- Nicolas Schaede defeated Andre Goberdhan, David Henry def. Mohamed Yousef, Trinity Rombley def. Tino Chung, Moreland Le Blanc def. Geraldo Schade, Nicolas Schade versus Lisa Broxterman ended with ‘No Contest’. SXM BJJ coach Jamie Eloi def. Jahian Winston as a late addition to the fight card. 20-year-old Jami Eloi is an assistant coach for both Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai and is promising athlete to watch, in 2014 he earned a Bronze medal in the IBJJF Jiu Jitsu World Championships (Los Angeles, USA) in the Blue belt juvenile division.
In the youth Muay Thai division an undefeated Jayden Jacobus earned a victory over Nihal Chugani and Jaden Busby. Kartik Sharma defeated Jaden Busby via points. Shafari Carbon defeated Nihal Chugani via points. Kyle Lake defeated both Shaquille Carbon and Sasha Leal. In the 5-8-year-old division, Elijah Codrington defeated vs Yerrick Elsbeth in a close match on points. The only female competitor in the youth category 6-year-old Diandra Peterson made a strong showing against her heavier male teammates edging out a close victory over Yerrick Elsberth and Elijah Codrington. It was the first competition for both young men and they showed commendable restraint in the friendly match.
St. Maarten based Jiu Jitsu gold medals were also earned by: Vlad Ahlip, Selah Romney, Topper Jr Daboul, Maxxwell Somersall, Christian van der Horst, Jaden Busby, Ziro Degrammond, Justice Lawrence, Jaiden Somersall, ‘Sona' Sonakshee Sidhwa, Moises Martina, Izaiah Willems, Kzar Williams, Megan Whyte, Miles Cheasley, Ajay DayDay, Nicholas Florea Hassell, Lukas Hassall, Markus Hassall, Seybian Ortega, Brandon Bertrand, Connor Scripps-Ewing, Thomas ten Broeke, Paul ten Broeke, Kyle Lake, Renard Brison and Shaquannie Vanterpool.
Silver medals were earned by Liam van Windt, Manuel Martina, Douglas Pearson, Eldric Thebe, Jayden Bertrand, Omarion Thomas, Aiden Wilkie, Sasha Leal, Grace Cheasley and Carl Delgado.
SMMAF board of directors Marco London, Melissa Bardfield, Akeem Lewis and Moreland Le Blanc would like to thank all the officials, referees, volunteers, athletes and supporters for making the event a great success. Official sponsorship was generously provided by Heavenly Water. Plans for the next event is in the works for November 2018. For information on martial arts training on St. Maarten please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
