First, We would like to thank you for your continued practice and support of our art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The daily efforts you put forth will be the foundation upon which progress will be built in this sport.Charles and Ralph Gracie, in conjunction with our sponsors, would like to enthusiastically invite all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academies, instructors and competitors, regardless of nationality, race, creed, color, religion, age or sex, to join us at the 6th United Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Tournament, to be held on Saturday May 6th, 2006 at the historic Kezar Pavilion Gymnasium located in Golden Gate Park at 755 Stanyan St., San Francisco CA 94117 at 10AM.The tournament is open to all BJJ martial artists. Working together, making steps towards bringing in more professional tournaments, professional referees, better and qualified instructors and academies, all over the US. It will be a long process to organize it on that level and we could use your support. NEW for 2006!01 – TEAM COMPETITION: The United Gracie will be reintroducing the team competition to the tournament. The top five schools will receive Team trophies to display in their respective academies. All Athletes, in first and second place, will be awarded gold and silver medals respectively. In addition to awards, all athletes will receive free tournament T-shirts. The Champion of the Champions winners, will be awarded with a Championship Belt, plus a new GI.02 – WHITE BELT NOVICE DIVISION: This year we will have something new and exciting. Instead of just the regular traditional general divisions for each belt, we will also have the new ‘Adult White Belt Novice Division’. We want to give beginners a chance to compete and enjoy the atmosphere as a competitor and not just a spectator.The Adult White Belt Novice Division will be divided into sub divisions with respect to weight, age (adult, master and seniors); but all competitors will simply be White Belts with no more than SIX MONTHS training. Of course, we will still have all the same traditional WHITE Belt divisions for experienced students and practitioners but we always look for ways to help NEW students develop and grow in the sport.Remember that the Adult White Belt Novice Division will be for the Adult Competitors of six months or less experience Only! The regular white belt divisions for more experienced students will still be part of this tournament.Our preliminary discussions with various Academies, who have had their students compete in prior United Gracie Tournaments and other Jiu-Jitsu tournaments, has indicated a surprisingly large amount of interest. This could be come a perennial event.03 – BLACK BELT PRO DIVISIONS: The Men?s Black Belt Pro Division will feature a Light Weight Division (181lbs. & under), and a Heavy Weight Division (181.1lbs. & over). Anyone interested in competing in the Men?s Black Belt Pro Divisions should contact us as soon as possible.04 – CHAMPION OF THE CHAMPIONS: This will be a championship within each belt division. To qualify for the Champion of the Champions a competitor MUST take 1st or 2nd place in their weight division. The Champion of the Champions division will have two weight classes, (181.0 lbs and under) / (181.1 lbs and over). White Belts will compete against other White Belts, Blue Belts compete against Blue Belts, etc…The EARLY registration deadline for competitors is Wednesday, April 26th 2006 by Midnight.Adult and Juniors (male and female) will be charged $60.00 and Children $35.00.The FINAL deadline registration is Monday, May 1st 2006 by Midnight. ALL late registration received from April 27th through May 1st will be $75.00 for Adult and Juniors (male and female) and $50.00 for Children. The payments MUST be done at the SAME time of registration, and we have to receive the registration form and payment NO later than May 1st. NO EXCEPTIONS! The United Gracie Tournament has been going strong for the last 5 years. In 2005 we had record numbers of almost 500 competitors and 2,500 spectators to view one of the most completive and skillful Jiu-Jitsu contest. The best Jiu-Jitsu fighters are patiently waiting for this year’s Champion of the Champions Division. The United Gracie Team would like to take the time and thank our sponsors American Home Mortgage, Buffy/Sparacino Bail Bonds, Chronomix Timers, Digital Edge, Preferred Building Services, Red Bull, Sambazon Acai, Service West, Strategic Office Solutions, Sniper Submission, Spine Docs, The Windows Restaurant, Zebra Mats for their support and there will be more to come. With their help and support we are going to have the best United Gracie Tournament to date! Once again, if are a Black Belt interested in competing in the Men?s Black Belt Pro Divisions you should contact us by email or by phone at (209) 832-9996 as soon as possible.If you are interested in helping the sport grow on a consistent and professional level then join our Tournament on Saturday, May 6th, 2006!
