A MILDURA Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete who won the Victorian and New South Wales state titles this year has added Queensland to his collection, taking home two gold at the master’s No Gi White Belt weight & absolute divisions.
Kris Tonner and his son Tristan made the trip to Queensland last weekend, with Kris winning two gold in the no Gi competition and his son winning bronze.
Kris was on track to win gold in the Gi the following day, before pulling his hamstring and ending up with a bronze.
Coach and owner of Mildura Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Luke Burnham, said Tonner had been working hard in the gym and deserved all the success that had come his way.
“He works hard, and it is something special he gets to do with his son,” he said.
“You get out of most sports what you are prepared to put in and Kris works really hard and so does his young fella Tristan, they very rarely miss a class.”
Burnham said one of the biggest challenges the club faced was travel but they were continuing to succeed against the odds.
“Back when we started jujitsu there was probably four jujitsu comps a year but now, they are every weekend and those gyms in the city get to compete every weekend,” he said.
“For us, it is a very costly ordeal to travel and compete. Two of our scholarship athletes are travelling for a comp this weekend so we will pay for them, and it ends up becoming a pretty expensive process.”
“Despite this, I think we have been successful because we have a good training environment for our guys, it is very inclusive.”
Burnham said they were continuing to look for financial support for their scholarship athletes.
Tonner is now looking ahead to win the SA and WA state titles later this year.
