Lennard Supernault placed second in the Masters 35 and Over jiu jitsu division recently at the King of the White Belts at Kelowna’s Pacific Top Team Martial Arts Academy.
Supernault, a member of the Williams Lake Indian Band, competed in three divisions at the tournament: The Absolute Division, the Masters 35 and Over Division and the King of the White Belts Division.
In jiu jitsu, participants score points by getting dominant positions such as taking an opponent’s back, gaining top control or getting them in a dominant hold, including submissions.
“Things went pretty well and it was a great experience for me,” Supernault, a white belt in jiu jitsu who’s been practicing the sport for just shy of a year, told the Tribune.
“I did kind of bite off a little more than I could chew competing in the three divisions, though.”
Supernault’s tournament started in the Absolute Division — an open belt and open weight class division.
“There were all the way from white belts to black belts competing against each other,” he said.
“I won my first match, went against a blue belt, so that means he’s been in the sport for probably around five years and I beat him on points.”
Supernault then lost against a purple belt by arm bar in that division.
In the masters division Supernault said he lost his first match by one point, however, rallied to finish second in the division.
“The guy [in my first match] was strong and aggressive but in the last two minutes I was able to turn the tide,” he said.
“But in the end he beat me.”
In his second match, Supernault said he dominated top control throughout the match and pulled out the victory.
“The tournament was then running out of time — they had way more competitors than they were expecting — so they had to do the last two divisions, masters and King of the White Belts, back to back so I didn’t get any rest between matches.”
“My first King of the White Belts match I ended up injuring my knee. I made it to the finish but lost on the ref’s decision. The match was even but the other guy was a little more aggressive. I had to take it easy because of my knee so I was basically just surviving and had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury.”
That said, Supernault said he’s looking forward to continuing his training and returning to the tournament next year.
“I learned a lot about myself,” he said.
“The mental part of it. All through my life I’ve always been very physical and in good shape but this was the first time I’ve been pushed to the mental limit like that.”
He added he was lucky enough to have his daughter, Moonlite Supernault, 15, there encouraging him and cheering him on.
“She was the one who got me into judo and jiu jitsu,” he said. “When I wanted to quit, that was enough to spur me on.”
Supernault, who trains at the Penticton Judo Club where he currently lives, has also been training in judo for the past year and a half and is an orange belt.
