By 
THREE members of SBG Strabane enjoyed a successful trip to Grappling Industries’ Dublin tournament on Sunday when they each won two medals.
Lisa Houston and Garath Vaughan were using the event as preparation for their forthcoming trip to the 2025 World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship in Las Vegas next month, while Garath’s 14-year-old daughter Lucy, was making her competitive Jiu-Jitsu debut.
The youngest member of the trio, Lucy, was thrown into the deep end on her first ever tournament appearance, having to set up a weight division on Sunday when she came home with bronze medals in both the Gi and No Gi events.
“She competed for the first time and she’s the first of the kids out of the gym, which is something we’re going to do more of in the future – taking more of the kids to competitions,” Lucy’s dad Garath explained.
“She had four matches and ended up with double bronze – bronze in the Gi and bronze in the No Gi.
“I’m just glad that she went out and done it because if you’d asked her this time last year, she was never going to compete and then all of a sudden, she came to me three months ago asking to do a competition.
“She had to move up a weight bracket because there was no one her size – she weighed 105 but the bracket she was in was 115lbs – but the main thing is she enjoyed it and she was asking me on the way home if she can enter another one next week!”
While delighted by Lucy’s performances and successes on Sunday, Garath was also pleased that he came home with two gold medals in the black belt divisions of the Gi and No Gi competitions, even though he was a late entry to proceedings.
“I got double gold in the black belt division, so it was a good day out,” he beamed.
“To be honest, I wasn’t even planning on doing it but with Lisa competing and Lucy going too I decided, when I’m there, I might as well do something to keep myself active.”
And Lisa Houston also excelled on the mats, winning gold in the Gi section before defying the odds to take silver in the stacked No Gi event.
“Lisa had a fantastic day. She was in the purple belt, right up to black belt division and she’s only a purple belt.
“She won her Gi division very well but in the No Gi division she got into the finals and faced one of Ireland’s black belts.
“She put up a good fight and got silver, which is fantastic because she was fighting way above her level,” Garath explained.
“It shows that she’s there or there abouts and last week, in her own Purple belt division, she got gold in the IBJJF Dublin International and gold in the absolute.”
Garath and Lisa’s recent successes have not only helped them add to their medals collections but it has boosted their confidence ahead of their trip to America for the World Championships in December where they will be aiming for more silverware.
Both of the Strabane fighters have international success to draw on, with Garath being crowned World Champion in 2023 before losing in the quarter-finals last year.
“[Losing in the quarter-finals last year] has made me more determined,” Garath admitted.
“I actually got beat by a fella who won it four times before and he went on to win it last year again, so hopefully I can go one step further and medal again this year.
“And Lisa would like to get one at the World’s too because it’s a big, big accomplishment. In Northern Ireland, there’s only a couple of people have medalled and at No Gi, I think I’m the only person to get a gold and Aaron Devlin [also from Strabane] won gold in the Gi.
“So hopefully we’ll do good again this year.”
