New jiu jitsu tournament Prime BJJ Series took over the British Columbia Institute Of Technology (BCIT) last weekend.
Prime BJJ series is a local jiu jitsu tournament that is fast growing in the community. The event is run by jiu jitsu enthusiasts Ian Hamill, Rafael La Porta, and Eduardo Cadena.
Their most recent event took place February 11th at the BCIT Burnaby campus. The owners of the event said BCIT was a great fit for their tournament:
“BCIT is becoming a very popular location to setup and run Brazilian Jiu Jitsu events, most organizers seem to come here now. The staff are very helpful and with experience behind them from many other tournaments they are very knowledgeable to our requirements, a big shout out to Mikayla Wong, who was our direct contact, thank you. The facilities are exactly what we require, with access to change facilities and washrooms, making the day easier for everyone. Location wise it is fairly centrally situated for people to get too, access is easy, with plenty of parking available and EV charging spots as well.”
The tournament was a very well run event. This was largely due to the large staff the tournament had to help out, live streams of all the matches that took place throughout the day, and the owners constantly running around to help out with every competitors needs. Even with a professional run event though, all tournaments come with difficulties. Ian Hamill decided to amplify his difficulties and responsibilities for the day by challenging himself to compete in the event at the same time he was running it:
“Well, I will admit it was hard, it was a long Friday setting up, and an early start Saturday solving issues and completing setup, my matches started at 11:15, I weighed in no problems then waited my turn, I had a tough opponent in the Masters 3 Division (yes I’m old), but overcame his skills to win 2 out of 3 and take the gold. From there it was a dash to the podium and change to get back to work to help make the day success and special for all the other athletes.
But I have to say that without the amazing volunteer staff and extremely knowledgeable and professional Referees we would not have had this event work as well as it did, so the thanks from the Organizers goes to them.”
Prime BJJ Series did a fantastic job of allowing all competitors the chance to showcase and test their skills in a competitive, professional environment.
Their next event will be held on June 3rd at the BCIT Burnaby campus.