Instinct competes at Battle of the Beach

Instinct MMA Fitness competed in the NAGA Battle at the Beach No-gi and Gi jiu jitsu tournament in Wildwood August 5 and 6.

Led by coaches Alek Zaborowski, Bill Doyle, Wing Ma, Shyne Ygana, Nicole Stanek and Ocie Norman, out of 100 teams that participated in the tournament, Instinct MMA Fitness placed 14th.

Conor Sigloch took home gold in adult the No-gi division and despite suffering a broken thumb in the semi-finals, won silver in the adult Gi division. JJ Mitchell won double gold in both divisions of the tournament and is undefeated in the grappling portion.

Ashton Seitles won double gold and both Mia White and Jace Zinkevich won gold for the kids in the tournament. Other medalists include Jaiden Seitles, Casey Seitles, Noel Sanchez, Chase Collins, Josh Ygana, Skylar Ygana, Gio DeStefano and Phillip Grasso.

Coach Alek Zaborowski praised the hard work and dedication of the kids and teenagers that participated and said that the support from the parents and the team was special to see and also said that even some parents started taking classes in order to better understand jiu jitsu.

Zaborowski said that it’s important for kids to learn jiu jitsu at a young age as it teaches self-discipline and self-defense, helping create self-confidence in them.

“It gets them off the couch, off their phone screens for an hour to do something good for their physical and mental health,” Zaborowski said. “It also aids in developing problem-solving skills because it teaches them how to escape bad or vulnerable positions.”

Zaborowski said that kids can learn from an event like the NAGA Battle at the Beach tournament.

“They can learn how to deal with pressure as an audience watches them compete,” Zaborowski said. “They learn about sportsmanship, how to deal with wins and losses. Maybe most importantly, they have fun and build lifelong relationships with their teammates.”