2009 Pan Jiu Jitsu Championships Day 3

Sunday was a great day for Street Sports at the Pan Americans as we delivered a variety of great performances.

Starting off the day, Daniel Rodriguez steamrolled the Brown Belt middle weight division and captured the gold medal! Winning every match by submission (with the exception for the first on points), Daniel proved he is a force to be reckoned with at brown belt now. Congratulations, Daniel!

Kane Tsay also brought home a medal at Brown Belt! Competing at lightweight, Seniors 1, Kane managed to fight off some very tough opposition in his first tournament as a brown belt to bring home the bronze. Way to go, Kane!

Ending the day on Sunday, John Rickel competed in the black belt absolutes. John fought 3 time world champ Fabio Leopoldo and took him to the end of the time period, and finally losing by points. Congrats to John for a valiant effort against a very seasoned black belt!

Daniel Rodriguez

Kane Tsay

John Rickel

2009 Pan Jiu Jitsu Championships Days 1 & 2

Congratulations to all the Street Sports athletes that competed on day 1 of the Pan Americans this year. We didn't bring home any medals the first day, but we did give 'em hell!!!

Congrats to: Charles Martone, Eric Luchtemberg, Michael Ripberger, Ruben Lomeli, and Roberto Zeinum.

Special thanks to John Lamonica for sponsoring our team and for taking these very unbelievable photos!

Charles Martone






Eric Luchtemberg




Michael Ripberger

Interview with John Lamonica

I recently caught up with John Lamonica after a training session at Street Sports to ask a few quick questions about his experience with Jiu Jitsu and his decision to sponsor our team at the Pan Ams.

Thanks to John for his time (and please ignore my very amateur interviewing skills)!

Lamonica's Pizza to Sponsor Street Sports

John Lamonica, owner of Lamonica's NY Pizza in Westwood, has been gracious enough to sponsor athletes from Street Sports Jiu Jitsu competing in the 2009 Pan American Jiu Jitsu Championships.

In addition to providing entrance fees, John has upped the ante and provided some additional incentives for those that bring home a medal.

John Lamonica is not only an avid jiu jitsu player himself, but he's also a photographer and has even had some of his tournament photos featured in Gracie Magazine.

From all of us at Street Sports, thanks John!