Tyrone Keeper's recent participation in the Manitoba Open Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling tournament, where he earned a second-place finish, was along time coming.
"This was my first competition out of five years of training," says Keeper. "I started when I was 18 so going on five years."
Part of the reason Keeper didn't enter any tournaments before now was because he was on the move and didn't always have access to training partners and facilities. He usually spent half the year in Winnipeg - where he'd train with other Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighters from the Winnipeg Academy of Mixed Martial Arts - then moved back up north to Split Lake for the summer.
"A lot of it was on and off because I move a lot," he says.
But since last September, when he moved to Thompson, Keeper's been trying to practise his skills more regularly.
"I try to keep it more steady just in the past recent months," he said.
A recent seminar held in Thompson on Brazilian jiu-jitsu has sparked more local interest in the sport.
"My instructor from Winnipeg, Curtis Brigham, he came to town for a seminar," said Keeper, which introduced him to some martial artists from Laban Martial Arts and Fitness Studio who were interested in giving Keeper's chosen sport a try. "They really enjoyed my jiu-jitsu."
Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a form of self-defence developed by the Gracie family, who wanted to come up with a fighting style that could be used by small combatants and didn't depend on strength.
"It's all about leverage," said Keeper. "They say there shouldn't be any power used in your moves."
The key to winning a fight using Brazilian jiu-jitsu is to capture your opponents in a submission hold.
Keeper doesn't practise exactly the same type of Brazilian jiu-jitsu made famous by the Gracie family through their participation in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.Most notably, he doesn't perform in a gi, a traditional martial arts uniform.
"What I train is no-gi grappling," explains Keeper. "It's a little different than actual Brazilian jiu-jitsu. There's much more holds and locks to do with the gi."
For one thing, fighting with a gi means you and your opponents both have numerous handholds, usually inside the lapel of the uniform or somewhere along the sleeve.
"No gi, you can't really do that.
To do well in a submission grappling tournament, says Keeper, the key is to look like you're winning.
"You've got to be in the dominant position a lot in tournaments," he said, explaining that at the Winnipeg tournament, fights consisted of one eight-minute round, with points able to be scored for the first four minutes. Keeper had two matches, ending the first one in two or three minutes when he got his opponent into a guillotine choke, which involves hanging on to the head and pulling your arm into a choke position around the opponent's neck.
"He also scrambled to two or three positions trying to get out," said Keeper.
The next match went the distance, with his opponent outscoring Keeper 6-2 by twice passing his guard.
"He controlled my legs and my hips very well and passed my guard," said Keeper. "I got myself two points for the sweep."
The sweep is a move where a fighter moves from the bottom position on the ground to the dominant position on top.
Keeper figures a little better training prior to the competition would have been of some benefit.
"I could have finished the match if my positioning was a little different," he said. "Training would have helped to stop him passing my guard. I didn't train how to pass guard or maintain guard which is how I lost."
The lessons he learned at his first grappling competition helped Keeper recognize his weaknesses and motivated him to improve on them prior to the next tournament he plans on entering, which is in October.
"I'm going to enter that one and try to get first," he said.
In the meantime, Keeper is training at Laban every Tuesday and Thursday and helping introduce beginners to Brazilian jiu-jitsu and techniques of mixed martial arts fighting.
"I am hoping that more people show up and get interested," he says. "It's not about hitting or actual wrestling. Even small people could come in and learn these moves."
That said, Keeper admits that opponents around his size - slightly over six feet - are often difficult to control.
"What I noticed is that I do have a hard time with taller guys - my height or taller."
He also says he needs to do more cardio training.
"Even in the tournament I got pretty tired," Keeper explains. "For sure I'm going to need to work on cardio more often. I could roll a 20-minute round with a guy in training. Eight minutes in competition is a lot harder.
Keeper will also be trying to find some sponsors to help him get the gear he needs, which includes shorts, rash guards, hand wraps and shin guards. "I don't have much real training gear."
