Thank you guys. All props goes out to you all and Master Eddie for all your guidance. I think we accomplished what we set out to do in this tournament. We set out to find new kids to fight and to test Cora's skill. She trians hard as you all know, so it only make sense to test it out. She trains hard to compete, she competes so that she has motivation to train hard, thus the cycle continues.
1st No-Gi match, Cora had beaten the boy before. I would think his coach would get him ready for Cora but she finished him the exact same way as last time.
2nd NO-Gi match, Cora was scared of this kid Aden as he was looking really tough against the other boy he went with before her. With that in mind, she was determined to get him out fast before he know what hits him. Game plan worked..
3rd No-Gi Finals match, this was the same kid from the "Rubber Guard vs Wrestling" video, he had gotten a lot better since Dec and was tapping out all of his opponent. Cora was sort of worried but still have the confidence that she can take him. Match was exciting, and she finally slowed his wrestling down and caught him.
1st Gi match- the kids coach seen enough of Cora's rubber guard so he want the kid to pull guard first so he won't end up in Cora's guard. Well he executed his game plan, but Cora does have a top game that noone hasn't seen before because she always on the bottom. I was watching his coach face as cora broke his guard and starting to attack.....priceless.
2nd Gi match- don't let the white belt fool you, the kid been grappling since he was 6, his dad is a black belt, he is now 11. Way more experience than Cora. On top of that, he's a wrestler also. Which you can see by his take down. Everytime Cora put the rubber guard on him, he would head butt her face. So mean!!!! Not trying to get out the right way, he's coach was telling him to smash his head on Cora's face. He did this many times as you can see on the vid. So with time running out, he pass Cora's guard (3pts) then when they got up, he shot in for a take down (2pts). When he keeps on smashing his head on her face, she got mad and whoop up that triangle to armbar and hurt him. She knew he was hurt so she told me she let him go because she feels bad for him. So he end up winning with 5 pts. At the end of the match he was crying in the corner holding his arm, so I went to see if he was ok. He end up at the Finals with the 13 yr old kid and got tapped out super fast because Cora already hurt his arm.
3rd Gi match- this kid is a former teammate of Cora at one of our affiliate gym. They don't see each other much. Only spar with him one time. However, every summer he goes and train at AOJ with Mendes bros. At every tournament he represent AOJ instead of the gym that he trains at most of the year. For that I personally don't like. So needless to say I want so bad for Cora to beat him, but the fact still remain, he is very good for his size. But I have to keep in mind that he is 13!!! Twice now that Cora goes against him, he has shown arrogance everytime he beats her. You can see it on the video. Cora always smile and shake her opponents hand and even hug them after every match, but this kid doesn't even want to look at her, just walk pass her like she wasn't even there or up to his level. At the rate Cora is improving, she should catch up with him by the end of the year, then it will be a good fight. I'm glad she went against him, now we have more motivation to train harder.