Saturday, April 13 at the Edgar Centre Dunedin the NZ Combat Sports School hosted the New Zealand Grappling and Wrestling Association National Championships.

There is a selection of photos at the bottom of this article from the nationals.

This was the largest combined grappling and wrestling styles championships ever to be held in Dunedin, if not New Zealand.

With over 200 entries in freestyle wrestling, female wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, submission grappling and gi submission grappling, there was plenty to offer for both competitors and spectators alike.

The New Zealand Grappling and Wrestling Association in its second season has really achieved some excellent results.

The Association is owned and operated by the clubs and there is no registration fee for clubs or competitors.

Major decisions are made by referendum with each club having a single vote with majority ruling and deciding.

The Association very much listens to its members and this has brought about the change to a summer season and Saturday competitions, as well as the preferred knockout draw by member’s request.

The New Zealand Grappling and Wrestling Association now has more than 50 member clubs nationally and is receiving regular enquiries and new clubs joining up.

There were many highlights at this year’s national championships ranging from some very young and talented up-and-coming wrestlers, through to some highly skilled and seasoned grapplers.

Officials at the national championships came from competing clubs and the atmosphere and environment, although fiercely competitive, was extremely friendly with clubs quick to recognise and applaud competitor’s standout skills.

The support the Combat Sports School received from participating clubs was greatly appreciated and added to the smooth running of the national championships.

With the New Zealand Grappling and Wrestling associations IT online registrations and entries functions available to all member clubs, makes the conducting of a tournament for club fundraising possible, especially with the assistance of member clubs providing their members to officiate.

There were so many standouts, but none more outstanding than Scott MacGregor of the South Canterbury Olympic Wrestling Club winning four gold medals, and as such four national titles in freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, submission grappling and gi submission grappling.

I have never heard of any individual from any NZ grappling and wrestling governing body at a national championship previously achieving this.

The King and Queens of the mat, where competitors must win their division in senior freestyle or female wrestling as well as submission grappling was once again taken out by two wrestling specialists in Scott MacGregor and Jessica Todd.

There are minor hosting improvements that can be made but they are only small improvements and with every competition and season we grow in clubs, competitors, officials, and resources and the future looks truly positive.

In these busy times host clubs do not expect to receive emails and phone calls of gratitude for hosting competitions, however this has been the reality since the nationals were conducted at the Edgar Centre and this is a most pleasing status and testament to the appreciation of our member clubs.

It is truly an endorsement of the association and what has been achieved to date.

The automated online entry system and knockout draw has made the conducting of championships that much more efficient and user-friendly.

With competitors competing in multiple styles on the same day the old round robin draw system simply does not work and will not fit into a manageable and reasonable timeframe.

Mainly wrestlers are competing in both wrestling and grappling styles at present but we hope to have more grapplers competing in wrestling styles as well, once we have conducted more combined high-performance grappling and wrestling training camps.

The practices we have experienced of previous with long days of spread out competition followed by tedious prize givings and social functions simply do not work well today for our members where people are working long hours and often more than one job.

They also have tight budgets and travel considerations in relation to flights often affect their abilities to stay away at competitions any longer than necessary.

They simply want to participate and get away as quickly as possible.

The change to the knockout draw system also enables the younger competitors to be able to leave without having to wait around all day for post competition presentations.

Parents have applauded this new initiative and clubs have advised they would prefer the certificates and medals to be forwarded to the club post competition so the club can present them to their members.

The week before the national championships, the hosts of the National chairmanships, the New Zealand Combat Sports School purchased and received from overseas yet another full size Olympic wrestling mat, adding to the two other grappling mats enabling major competitions to be conducted in Dunedin.

Now to some of the highlights and standouts of the national championships.

In wrestling Kasib Murdoch of New Zealand Combat Sports School was a crowd favourite with his enthusiasm, commitment, and high level of skill for a young wrestler of just 12 years of age.

Jacob Smith of the Rangiora wrestling club provided some powerful performances in freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling.

Ben O’Brien was at his usual best taking gold in the under 74 KG senior male division of freestyle wrestling.

Jessica Todd took gold against her long-term top line opponent in Tayla Ford and these two leading national female wrestlers will only prosper from training with each other in the elite South island squad at upcoming South island training camps.

The Fight Shop Club grappler/wrestlers from Palmerston North performed extremely well with Joshua Fitzell placing second in the 10 to 13-year-old 47 to 53kg freestyle wrestling division and Shekayne Rees winning the 10 to 13-year-old 59 to 66 KG freestyle wrestling division with fellow Fight Shop club member Regan Chambers taking second in the same division.

Shekayne Rees took gold in both his gi and no gi grappling divisions with fellow Fight Shop club competitor Joshua Fitzell taking gold in his no-gi grappling and a silver in gi grappling.

Regan Chambers of the Fight Shop club took silver in his 12 to 13-year-old no gi weight division and picked up gold in his 12 to 13-year-old gi grappling division.

A very proficient grappler and strong competitor in Rena Secco of Carlson Gracie Queenstown took gold in the 84 KG gi grappling division as well as the gi and no-gi grappling absolute divisions.

Forest Goodwin took the silver with Jason Smith taking the bronze in the senior male gi grappling 84 kg division.

In the senior male no gi 84 KG division Peter Menhinick took silver and forest Goodwin bronze.

There were 22 competitors in the grappling no gi 84 KG male senior division with 18 competitors in the 84 KG senior male gi grappling division.

Jessica Todd and Tayla Ford had wins in their respective no gi grappling divisions.

Stephen Hill of the Rangiora Wrestling Club took out the under 96 KG senior male freestyle division against willing opponents and is a major driving force behind the South Island Grappling and Wrestling Club and the selection of a South Island elite training squad.

The Senior 74 KG no gi grappling division was taken out by Scott MacGregor South Canterbury Olympic wrestling club on his way to achieving his four national titles in four different styles with second place going to Maddison Prattley of Shoot Grapple Roll Christchurch and third place to the Kort McNaught. Strike Force Canterbury.

Philip Lindsay of Gracie Oceania took out the Grappling no gi veteran 96 KG division showing his many years of grappling training and competing.

In the Grappling no gi veteran 84 KG division a versatile Benoit Auvray of Gracie Oceania took first and also competed in freestyle wrestling.

In the Senior no gi 96 KG division Brogan Anderson of Hammerhead MMA Mosgiel took gold with fellow team member Joel Gibson taking bronze to the Silver medallist Chris Sage from Strike Force Canterbury.

Senior no gi 66 kg division Stefan Callaghan. Ground worxBJJ Christchurch took gold with Luke James Carlson Gracie Queenstown taking silver and Craig Wright Hammerhead MMA taking the bronze.

In the Grappling no gi senior 120 KG division a very capable Ashley Clinch Gracie Humaita took gold with Eddie Hei Hei Ultimate MMA Invercargill Taking silver and Johnny Aldworth South Canterbury Olympic wrestling club bronze.

There were so many standout performances but for sheer improvement and determination Gary Dellow was a stand out taking second in the 74 KG senior grappling gi division to fellow team member Scott MacGregor.

He also took fourth in the senior 74 KG no gi division up against a very strong field of competitors.

The most successful club at the national championships was the NZ Combat Sports School Dunedin taking six gold medals, nine silver medals and six bronze medals.

The New Zealand Grappling and Wrestling Association in the South Island will now select an elite squad of wrestlers and grapplers to attend three planned upcoming training camps to be conducted in the South island in the next several months.

With the New Zealand Grappling and Wrestling Association now having the South Island grappling and wrestling club registered with the New Zealand Olympic wrestling union this will provide even more competition for the selected elite wrestling and grappling squad.

The second-tier grapplers and wrestlers will attend the training camps and over time with the increased competition and available coaching expertise at camps, force their way into the tier one squad.

This will future proof grappling and wrestling in the South Island and hopefully not only achieve growth but also raise standards. We have had North Island enquiries from member clubs and new joining clubs of the New Zealand Grappling and Wrestling Association wanting to do the same in the North Island as the model is truly working.

We have managed to conduct two full seasons and two national championships with a zero budget proof that getting back to grassroots and listening to the coaches and competitors has worked for us and does not require a big budget and committees and subcommittees.

There are now many opportunities and invitations to compete internationally at our disposal and having an elite squad in the South Island will really provide many advantages including increased funding prospects.

The results and photos from the nationals are on the New Zealand Grappling and Wrestling Association website.

Thank you to all the clubs competitors officials spectators parents and supporters of the New Zealand Grappling and Wrestling Association national championships 2013.

Clubs wanting to join the NZ Grappling and Wrestling association which is free registration for your club and club members can do so on-line at: https://grapplingwrestling.org.nz/