Tillsonburg woman second in world jujitsu

Tillsonburg resident Rebecca Dyck displays the jujitsu medals she won at the world championships held in Greece a few weeks ago. (Jeff Helsdon Photo).

By Jeff Helsdon

Placing in the top three in the world in any sport is a rare and colossal achievement, but doing it after only competing for three years is almost unheard of.

Rebecca Dyck did just that, winning second in the no gi division at the Jujitsu International Federation World Championships, held in Crete, Greece from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5. She started in jujitsu only three years ago.

“I started mainly for self-defense reasons and I wanted to compete in the sport so I started training pretty hard,” she said.

She trains at Brasa Bowen BJJ in London and St. Thomas. The 20-year-old Tillsonburg resident would like to work in law enforcement in the future and heard martial arts could help.

Dyck started by doing extensive research on martial arts. She tried kickboxing, but she didn’t want to get “kicked in the head.” Jujitsu is a form of grappling, like wrestling, and doesn’t involve striking. The goal is to get the opponent to the ground and have them submit or put a joint lock on them.

“The challenge attracted me because it is a super difficult challenge to master,” she said.

Training involves traveling four times per week, and up to six times leading up to the worlds. A training session is usually two to three hours long and involves a warm-up, drills, and live sparring. She also did strength training at Lightweight Gym in Tillsonburg before the world competition. Working at Courtland Bakery, she said her schedule works well with training.

When she entered her first tournament, she won silver. At that time, someone raised the idea of her going to the worlds. She dismissed the concept for many years.

“It took it really seriously from the start, and I think that made a big difference,” she said.

Canadian competitors need to place gold or silver at the Canadian Nationals to qualify for the worlds. She won silver in the under 70 kg U-21 class for the gi competition. Gi competition involves wearing a gi – the robe-style garment common to martial arts. No gi competition is in shorts and a t-shirt. By qualifying in gi, Dyck could compete in both divisions. She said some differences exist, such as using the collar on a gi to take down opponents.

“The concepts are the same for both,” she said. “There are some things you can do in no gi and vice versa.”

Although one would think that the government would support youth sports competitors, Dyck said the opposite is true with jujitsu, and there is no support for competitors on the international stage if under 21. That meant she had to raise funds for the $6,000 cost of competing. Courtland Bakery held a fund raisers and collected donations. Lightweight Gym also supported her and she raised enough money to cover her expenses.

Her parents and family have also been supportive, although they were initially skeptical and didn’t want to see her injured. Along the way, she did have a few injuries, including her rotator cuff, tearing ankle ligaments and black eyes.

With a world championship behind her, Duck wants to continue to compete. She has her sights on the IBJJF Worlds in the U.S., which don’t require pre-qualifying, and other tournaments.