The thing that makes me most proud about my association isn’t the titles we win, or any single accomplishment of any one person, it’s our sense of team. In the good times and the bad we are always here for each other. This past weekend Yuri, who was still recovering from his injury from No-gi worlds, made the trip to Long beach to coach and support the team.
No one likes to talk about why they can’t compete, especially at a place like the expo, but Yuri wasn’t going to let the team down. Anything we needed, Yuri was there. I feel so blessed that he is part of my team and my life.
With that said, the person who made me most proud this weekend was Queixinho. I always knew he would do great things, and this weekend he proved to the world what we all knew. After winning no gi worlds he followed up his performance by winning the pro league. In the final, he beat a very tough Paulo Miyao who many had picked to win the division.
Although I was extremely happy for Queixinho, that’s not why I’m proud of him. What many people didn’t realize is that Queixinho came at 9am knowing he wouldn’t fight till after 5pm. He coached just about every competitor. When we give, no matter the outcome we always win, in this instance he won twice. Congrats to Queixinho and everyone from CTA, this is just the beginning!
