The Horsemen Descend on Dallas

You know one thing I love about these guys pictured to the right? They make me feel like maybe I'm not all that crazy. After signing up for the NAGA Worlds Championship in Dallas, I called my good friend Jules and our conversation went something kinda like this:

Me: JUUUULLLLES! Whats up bro!

Jules: STEVE! My man! How have you been?

Me: Good man real good.  So hey check it out I decided I'm gonna take a stab at this NAGA Worlds thing and see what it's like.

Jules: Okay I'm in.

Me: Are you sure? That'd be dope man, but it is all the way in Dallas, and it is next weekend, and

Jules: Yeah man I already just signed up.

Me: Are you serious??

Jules: Yeah, oh and Miles coming with too.

If there are mats to throw down on and competition to be had, these guys are down for it regardless if it is a five-hour drive or a five-hour flight.

The gang gets back together
The picture on the left is the Wakizashi crew down at Portland, Oregon back in March of this year. Ariana, unfortunately, couldn't make it out this time. The picture on the right you have three of the four horsemen 9 months later, and with the typical results.

The team did phenomenal! Together we claimed four NAGA World Championship titles with 4 golds, 2 silvers, and 2 bronzes. Also, the three of us had a team placement of 10th out of a total of 106 schools! It demonstrated how much the team has improved since I've been on hiatus, and the guys put on a brilliant display of JiuJitsu that had the whole crowd engaged in their matches with big takedowns, flurries of transitional movements, and crisp finishes.

Accomplishing a Dream
 It may only be a NAGA, but it felt good to not only pick up my first "World Championship" title but three of them that day. It felt especially good too coming out of a deployment environment where training was limited. I've barely worn a gi over the past five months, and I felt that m performance in gi was significantly better than in no gi. I definitely appreciate all of the schools in the San Antonio area that have let me train with them over the past few weeks. Particularly 10th Planet San Antonio. I put in a lot of work with them over the past week to polish my game up before the tournament, and I felt like that was a determining factor in scoring some wins.


The Rest of the Weekend
While tournaments are always the main focus of our trips, they never end up being the highlights for me. Instead, it is all the conversations (Some that last until 4 in the morning), the adventures, the good food, and just the riot it is hanging out with the team. I'd say that one of my favorites though was getting to drop into an open mat at 10th Planet Dallas with Miles and Jules. I almost always go into new schools by myself, and it was dope to get to do it with teammates.



Overall, another great weekend with the team, and an unexpected and great way to close out the competition scene of 2019. Looking forward to running the next one with these guys when I get back in 2020.

About the Author:

Steven McMahon earned his Kyuki-Do Black Belt in 2011 from Grand Master Kim at Kim's Black Belt Academy and his  BJJ Purple Belt in January 2017 under Professor Charles Nunley. He currently trains out of Wakizashi BJJ in Oak Harbor under Professor Eli Trevino. He is an active competitor at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Army Combative tournaments