The Citizen, 2018-6-7, Page 9Sports
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2018. PAGE 9.
Londesborough man earns BJJ purple belt
of the BJJ business to the
introduction of self-defence classes,
Gregory and his colleagues were all
set to "roll" at the end of the session.
(Rolling is what BJJ martial artists
call the free time at the end of their
sessions where they spar against one
another.)
The participants lined up and
Britto called Gregory up to him so
he could scrutinize the patches of the
back of his gi (the suits worn by the
martial artists). As Britto looked
over Gregory's gi, O'Shea stepped
in front of Gregory and it was clear
something was going on.
Gregory says that when teachers
decide their students are ready to
receive their next belt, in BJJ it
usually comes as a surprise.
O'Shea then pulled a purple belt
out of his gi and handed it to
Gregory, who was overcome with
emotion and began crying.
After his years of hard work,
Gregory said he couldn't contain his
emotions any longer, especially
when he thought of all that his wife
Sarah and children had sacrificed for
him in recent years.
To make his way to a purple belt,
especially after a longer -than -
normal amount of time at white belt,
feels like a great achievement,
Gregory said.
Not only had the purple belt been
elusive for Gregory, but it is one of
the more elusive achievements in
jiu-jitsu, he said. Known as the
"Blue Belt Blues", many jiu-jitsu
professionals make it to their blue
belt, but then quit the sport before
putting in the years of work it takes
to get to a purple belt.
Gregory stuck it out and put in the
work, finally reaching the purple
belt level.
A Windsor native, Gregory went
to journalism school there before
moving to Huron County to work in
Seaforth. In opening Huron BJJ, he
says he has been able to live a life
balancing his two passions:
Brazilian jiu-jitsu and journalism.
For more information on Huron
BJJ, visit huronbjj.com.
A banner year
Shaun Gregory made a promise to himself to enter 10 Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments over the
course of the coming year and has won several medals for his trouble, all while reaching
purple belt status in the martial arts world. (Shawn Lou
gnRln photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
After nearly seven years of hard
work, a Londesborough man has
reached purple belt status in
Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), which has
been called the most frustrating belt
in jiu-jitsu.
After a stellar six months, Shaun
Gregory of Londesborough has been
rewarded with one of BJJ's highest
honours and it came as a complete
surprise to him.
Not only has his Clinton -based
Huron BJJ grown by leaps and
bounds, but he's collected three gold
and two bronze medals in five
provincial tournaments in the last six
months.
It has been this success in both the
business and personal aspects of his
martial arts life that led Gregory's
mentors Jorge Britto of Toronto BJJ
and Ryan O'Shea of Stratford BJJ to
honour him with his purple belt.
The purple belt is the third-highest
belt in BJJ and denotes the ability to
teach others after spending at least
two years as a blue belt.
From his humble beginnings
renting space two days a week at Jen
Fleming's Workhorse Strength and
Conditioning, Gregory now has his
own storefront on the town's main
street for Huron BJJ, which boasts
numerous students from Blyth. Over
the past year, his student base has
grown from a handful of adult
students (14 and up) to 15 adults and
over 30 children.
While he has been busy growing
his business, in addition to working
his day job as a reporter for the
Seaforth-based Huron Expositor, he
made a commitment last year to
personally enter into as many
tournaments as he could manage in
order to further challenge himself
after winning the bronze medal at
the Ontario International Open last
year.
Gregory, who is 33, made the
decision to compete in the younger
division, taking on fighters in their
20s who posed stiff competition.
Placing third amongst nearly 30
competitors who were all younger
than he gave him the confidence to
beef up his tournament participation
in the coming months.
He aimed to take part in 10
tournament in the coming year. In
the five tournaments he's competed
in since, he's collected three gold
medals and two bronze, never
finishing off of the podium.
Gregory returned to his natural
division, called the Masters Division
for competitors between the ages of
30 and 40. The 33 -year-old saw
tremendous success at tournaments
in Toronto and Niagara Falls and his
confidence grew every time he took
to the mat.
His most recent success was a
gold medal at the 2017 Ontario
International Open, the tournament
that started it all last year. The
biggest jiu-jitsu tournament in
Canada, Gregory says it has grown
in recent years to annually attract
over 1,800 competitors of all ages
from all over the world.
Gregory competed against 11
others in his division, winning all
three of his matches on the way to
the gold. He won his first match by
forcing his opponent to tap out and
then beat his next two opponents on
points.
After his tournament win, Gregory
travelled to Toronto for a two-day
coaching clinic at Toronto BJJ, the
parent location of both Stratford BJJ
and Huron BJJ. After two days of
education on everything from the
administrative and financial aspects
An emotional moment
Shaun Gregory, left, of Londesborough was overcome with
emotion when his mentors Ryan O'Shea and Jorge Britto
handed over his hard-earned purple belt at a special
coaching seminar in Toronto. (Photo submitted)
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