17 YR OLD DANIELLE ALVAREZ WINS TRIP TO ABU DHABI IN 2012! - December 5, 2011
17 yr old Danielle Alvarez wins trip to Abu Dhabi in 2012! On Saturday November 26th 2011, competitors from all over the country made their way into the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, TX to earn one of the 7 all expense paid spots to Abu Dhabi in April 2012. Team Alvarez BJJ out of Arlington, TX had a good handful of competitors that traveled to compete in the Abu Dhabi Pro Trial tournament. Teammates Ryne Sandhagen took 3rd in the Blue Belt Heavy Weight division, Sal Martinez took 2nd place in the White Belt Heavy Weight division, Jay Gloria takes 1st place in Teen Green Belt division, Justin Rebolloso and Tony Lopez took 2nd place in Teen Green Belt division and John Gloria took 3rd in Teen Yellow Belt division. Teammates Jordan Shepler and Cooper Cardinale did great as well but came up short and did not place. Danielle Alvarez started her day off by winning 3 matches in her White/Blue Belt 140lbs and under division to take 1st place and qualify for her place in the Absolute division. Danielle had a couple of hours to recover, hydrate and get her mental game ready for her chance to make history and earn one of the seven spots to Abu Dhabi. With her Father and Instructor, Danny Alvarez, by her side talking to her and putting the necessary thoughts in her head to help get her ready for some of the biggest and most important matches of her young jiu jitsu career to start, she was ready. Danielle received a bye her 1st round to automatically advance her to the semi finals. In her semi finals match she had Tara Talanco that she previously faced earlier in the day that she narrowly beat by a Ref’s decision. As soon as the fight started Danielle was able to get to her close guard where she was able to submit her opponent with an Arm Bar as she tried to stand up to end the match quickly. Now in the Finals, Danielle knew her opportunity to earn the trip to Abu Dhabi was hers for the taking if she could put all her hard work adn experience into this one match. In the finals Danielle’s opponent was Rena Pena fighting out of Corpus Christi, TX. Danielle was giving up a lot of weight to her opponent as Danielle fights as a Light Weight and Rena fights as a Heavy Weight. To start the match off Danielle pulled guard right away where she was able to sweep her opponent to go up by 2 points. Danielle then continued to keep the pressure and score more points by passing her opponents guard and finished the match with an Arm Bar as her opponent pushed up with her right arm. Danielle and her team was estatic as she knew that she was on her way over seas to Abu Dhabi to represent Team USA and Team Alvarez BJJ in April of 2012. Congrats to Danielle on all of her hard work and one of the biggest accomplishments of her young jiu jitsu career.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm3nFpQhP8M&feature=channel_video_title