Twenty years after he first won the Pan Pacific black belt adult title in 2006, and eighteen years since he did it again in 2008, Coach Rodney took a team of ten from Southern Cross Jiu-Jitsu Academy down to the IBJJF Pan Pacific Championships at MSAC in Melbourne (16–18 October). Eight athletes competed, in both gi and no-gi, and every one of them stepped onto a podium.
The SCJJA team at MSAC. Photos by Peter Hinton.
| Athlete | No-Gi | Gi |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew Williams Master 3, Purple, Super Heavy |
🥇 1st | 🥉 3rd |
| Cholo (Edgar Acevedo Jauregui) Master 3, Brown |
— | 🥇 1st Open Class 🥈 2nd Ultra Heavy |
| Rodney Ellis Master 4, Black, Medium Heavy |
🥈 2nd | — |
| Jon Gray Master 6, Black, Middle |
🥈 2nd | 🥉 3rd |
| Brendan Townsend Master 2, Blue, Middle |
🥈 2nd | 🥉 3rd |
| Zachary Diefenbach Adult, Brown, Super Heavy |
🥈 2nd | — |
| Shane McGovern Master 3, Purple, Super Heavy |
🥉 3rd | 🥉 3rd |
| James Phizacklea Adult, White, Light Feather |
— | 🥉 3rd |
Results as listed by the IBJJF for the Pan Pacific IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship and the Pan Pacific IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship 2026.
Brown belt Master 3. Gold in the Open Class and silver in Ultra Heavy: the only athlete on the team to medal twice in the same gi tournament, and one of only two gold medals for the academy.
The same weekend, the same brown belt, a second podium. Hard to ask for more from one tournament.
Matthew took gold in the no-gi Super Heavy division — the team's top result in no-gi — and both he and Shane left with bronze in the gi as well. Shane added a no-gi bronze to make it two medals each.
At just 18, James won a tough first match and fought well in his second to take bronze on his first big stage. One to watch.
Silver in no-gi and bronze in the gi, both against black belts in the Master 6 division.
Coach Rodney made weight at 85kg after months of old-school training and felt good out there. A legal move in the opening seconds — one he uses himself — ended his match inside 30 seconds through injury, and he finished with silver in the Master 4 black belt no-gi division.
Scott Cowper was meant to compete too, but injured himself in training two weeks out. He came to Melbourne anyway to support the team, and has since been awarded his black belt. That's the team we're proud of.
Thanks to Brendan, Cholo, Jon, James, Matthew, Shane, Zachary and Rodney for competing, to Scott for coming along anyway, and to Peter Hinton for photographing the whole weekend.
We're already planning next year's trip, and we hope it will be bigger and better.
Next year's team starts here. White belts to black belts, 18 to 50-plus. No long-term contracts, no pressure — come and see what training under the Shire's highest-ranked coach actually looks like.
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