Students from Tiger Schulmann’s martial arts center in Marlboro recently represented their school by competing in the Challenge of Champions martial arts competition held at the Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown.
The event hosted more than 1,600 martial arts students of all ages, backgrounds and belt ranks to participate in a head-tohead, dual-discipline competition. The event took place in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 3,000 spectators.
“Challenge of Champions is such an important event because it gives my students a specific competitive goal to train for,” said Sensei Johnson, head instructor at the Tiger Schulmann Center in Marlboro. “By providing both motivation and a more challenging setting than normal day-today training, the experience is very positive for those students who decide to compete. The discipline, confidence and skills my students gain from preparing for such a demanding competition is well worth all of their hard work and dedication. And in the end, they’re all champions.”
The areas of competition included submission grappling and free fighting, for juniors (age 15 and under) and adults (all ages).
Submission grappling is similar to traditional wrestling in its clinch and ground fighting techniques, with the key difference of aiming for a “tap out” submission, using various choke holds and joint locks.
Winners from the Marlboro Tiger Schulmann school in the Submission Grappling competition include: Brian Belko, second place; Sylvia Bober, third place; Gregg Caruso, second place; Aaron Colon, first place; Jacob Colon, first place; Madison Colon, third place; Taylor Colon, first place; Danny Fayad, third place; KareemGhaida, second place; Ronny Ghaida, first place; Michael Jannucci, third place.
And, Adrian Javier, second place; Eitan Khromenchenko, third place; Stephanie Marchetti, second place; Erik Medford, second place; Sean Mejorada, second place; Hunter Nemeth, third place; Felix Schteyman, third place; Jason Schulmann, third place; Justin Sherman, third place; James Silva, second place; Linda Silva, third place; Mario Soriano, first place; and Jasmine Wright, second place.
Also featured was the Free Fighting competition with 1,000 students competing in various divisions. This fast-paced sparring competition features participants in full protective gear using strategic combinations of punches, kicks and blocks to cleanly land blows on their opponent and outscore them.
Winners from the Marlboro Tiger Schulmann school in the Free Fighting competition include: Zackary Abbey, first place; Joseph Feldman, second place; Zachary Feldman, first place; Michele Fishman, first place; Philip Franchini, second place; Kareem Ghaida, second place; Ronny Ghaida, first place; Michael Jannucci, first place; Stephanie Marchetti, second place; Erik Medford, second place; Eric Nelson, second place; Felix Schteyman, second place; James Silva, third place; Linda Silva, first place; and Mario Soriano, third place.