Newtonians Jack Roberts (15) and Lewis Parker (16) are both John Paul Cockrill and Dave Cunliffe’s first ever students and have come out of their first ever grappling competition with a silver and gold medal!
The boys have been training hard over the last few months at various locations in order to keep their training levels high. Both John Paul and Dave travel the northeast to train with only the best coaches in wrestling mma and bjj. Jack and Lewis started training with them and decided to enter the NAGA grappling tournament which is one of the largest in the world from America.
This is the first ever UK event which had some of Europe’s best grapplers. Both Newton Aycliffe lads were matched against very experienced opponents and had tough matches. They showed how well they had trained by winning medals in both their divisions which delighted their coaches. The boys hope to be entering more tournaments in the future and possibly competing in other combat sports which shouldn’t be a problem with their dedication and mature attitude towards the sports. Well done lads you deserved the wins!

Dave F