From Paris to Dublin: four Ilkeston European Jiu Jitsu champions

Ilkeston can claim to be the home to European champions after recent successes for a locally based martial arts team.

The Gracie Barra group, which also works out of Derby, has recently attended the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation’s European Championships in Paris & Dublin, and enjoyed considerable success, returning with as many as four European Champions – 13 year old Imogen Poxon, 15 year old Gracie Mae Whitfield, 15 year old Mateusz Wojtowicz and 57 year old James Colson. 

Athletes from the age of 11 to 57 made the journeys to both cities, including 6 females and 14 males, collecting 4 Gold, 3 Silver and 9 bronze across their respective divisions.

Christine and Stephen Martin are the Head Instructors.  In a statement sent to Erewash Sound, they said: "We are immensely proud of the whole team, who are all either in full time education or work and manage their training 5-7 days a week around this! It is a fantastic display of hard work and dedication amounting to incredible success, but we also hope this will raise the profile of the sport which has so many fantastic benefits for all members of our local community! "

• Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is described as a very effective form of self defence, especially for women and children as it teaches individuals to control or escape an aggressor without engaging in striking.
• It is great form of exercise for both mental and physical health and can really help to empower and build people’s resilience, even away from the dojo due to the nature of the training and this can have huge impacts on people’s self confidence! 
• A really inclusive sport, using mats, everyone at the group trains with everyone, regardless of background, race, age, gender and this builds such a fantastic community for people to feel a part of.