Greensburg Jiu-Jitsu Instructor Is Making A Run For #1 Spot In IBJJF

GREENSBURG, Pa. - Aug. 25, 2013 - PRLog -- Greensburg based Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Instructor, Casey Leonard, is on track to achieve the #1 ranking in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. As a brown belt in BJJ under Professor Vicente Junior, “Coach Casey” has been hammering away at the highest levels of International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition since 2012.

Being the resident head BJJ trainer at Pennsylvania Combat Sports http://www.pacombatsports.com (located in Westmoreland County Pa) he’s been working out his game plan for dominating the Brown Belt Senior 1 Division in the IBJJF since earlier this year.

“The only international event I had entered was in 1998. I had only been a white belt for a few months and didn’t do so well.”

 Fast forward to 2012…

“From the time I began working with Professor (Vicente Junior) I knew I would have the best training and opportunities for jumping back into that level of BJJ competition.”

As a Purple belt, Casey had a “Double Gold” performance at the IBJJF New York Open, winning his weight class and the absolute division (which is an open weight class) on the same day. That day he would also be promoted to BJJ Brown belt while on the podium in NYC.

The goal to reach the top of his new BJJ division came from a fluke discovery. One day while looking to see who the top ranked Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitors were in the world, he saw a google hit for the IBJJFRankings.com website. It showed who the current Black Belt ranking for IBJJF, but it also had a complete breakdown of ALL active IBJJF competitors.

“I typed my name into the athlete search box and sure enough, there was my name and my NY Open results for Purple belt.”

 Another discovery would prove to be the catalyst for this latest pursuit.

“Looking at the rankings, I see that I was in the mid 60’s out of a couple hundred competitors in the Purple belt division. So being a new Brown belt, and with the rest of the 2013 season ahead of me, I decided to make a run at the #1 spot in IBJJF.”

What’s transpired so far has been a cross country IBJJF tour thats resulted in numerous Gold medal finishes and ton of high level BJJ experience. So far (as of August 24th) the medal count stands as such…

2013 New York Spring Open
Silver (Middleweight) Silver (Open)
2013 Dallas Summer Open
Gold (Middleweight) Gold (Open)
2013 New York Summer Open
Gold (Middleweight) Silver (Open)
2013 Las Vegas Summer Open
Silver (Open)
2013 Chicago Summer Open
Gold (Middleweight) Bronze (Open)

Casey has been steadily moving up the ranks in his division since last spring. Going from #39, then up to #21 and the #9 spot, he now holds down the #3 position in Brown belt Senior 1.

 “Well theres only a handful of IBJJF events left on the (United States) calendar this year, so its time to make every match count if I want to reach my goal.”

With plans on competing in Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles (in just the next 4 weeks!) there may be a new IBJJF competitor holding down the #1 spot very soon.

Casey Leonard teaches beginner, advanced and competition Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes at Westmoreland County based Pennsylvania Combat Sports. Pa Combat Sports is located in Greensburg, Pa.

Conact Pa Combat Sports by calling (724) 420-5199 or visit them at 114 East Otterman St. Greensburg, Pa. 15601