When Romolo Barros began organizing jiu-jitsu competitions in Hawaii nearly twenty years ago, there wasn’t as much local interest in the sport.
Barros, president of the Hawaii Triple Crown, of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, will host the Kauai Open at 10 a.m. Oct. 12 at Kauai High School.
The formats at the open will be “Gi,” (without uniforms) and “Nogi,” (with uniforms) for the tournament, registration will be $60 for children and $80 for adults, and the registration deadline will be midnight on Oct. 9. The price for closing registration will be $90 and $70.
Tickets will be $10 for adults, $5 for children, and kids under five will have free admission.
Kauai, which is the ninth stop of the tour, continues to witness the growth in popularity of the sport, and now the most prominent demographic Barros sees participating are kids.
“20 to 25 years ago there were only two (academies devoted to jiu-jitsu) in the state of Hawaii,” Barros recalled. “Today, there are many schools something like 80 to 100. When you look around the world, there are events everywhere in the world in places such as South Africa, South America, and there a lot of kids that grow up with the sport.”
The academies that will be involved with the open include the following:
KTI Jiu-jitsu Academy, ESAKI Jiu-jitsu Academy, Longman Jiu-jitsu Academy, New Breed Jiu-jitsu Academy, Lions MMA Academy, Gracie Kauai Jiu-jitsu Academy, and RK Sports MMA Academy.
Barros attributes the growth of Jiu-jitsu in Kauai and the other islands to the life lessons the sport teaches.
“It’s one of the fastest-growing sports (in the community), and it used to be kids used to be 40% of the event, and now it’s more like 60 to 70% of the competition,” Barros said. “It’s been such a great thing for kids because they learn the discipline and respect they learn from the academy.”
Oversimplification aside, you had it backwards. A gi is the clothes (heavy full body fabric), No-gi or “no gi” is wearing something other than that. No gi usually ends up being shorts, but not always.