Joey Payeur
Grace Petsnick wasn’t going to the West Edmonton Mall just for the shopping, but she came home with some most impressive jewellery nonetheless.
One of four Borderland Judo Club members competing at the Edmonton International Judo Championships from March 7-9, Petsnick went 4-for-4 in her bouts to claim the gold medal in the U16 female under-63 kg division.
“My expectations were probably the same as everyone else’s in that entire tournament–high,” said Petsnick.
“The fighters present were there because they have the ability to fight at that level,” she noted.
“I know that you can’t go into a tournament like [Edmonton] expecting timid, mediocre opponents in your division,” Petsnick stressed.
“So even with all this in mind, all I was expecting of myself was to fight my hardest and hopefully have something to show for it.”
Petsnick caught what she felt was a big break when it came to her schedule at the massive event, which drew more than 900 competitors from several countries, including 40 black belt participants representing Japanese universities.
“I fought the second day, so it was much easier after being in that atmosphere for the first day to really just let it all sink in that I was really actually there,” she reasoned.
“Even with tiny local tournaments, your heart’s in your throat during the few fights before yours, so I’ve had plenty of practice suppressing the jitters and just getting out there,” she noted.
“There were so many people just everywhere,” she added. “You could hardly get to your mat; just a tsunami of humans.
“I’m thankful for the [observation] level above [the competition] because my mom could film and spectate from,” Petsnick said.
“There were a lot of people looking down onto the mats but with four mats, it wasn’t like there was 1,000 eyes on just me.”
Petsnick, who won her division at the U.S. national championships last year and already has won gold at the Ontario Open and Saskatchewan Open this season, as well as at her club’s home tournament last month, disposed of Jordan Warner (Campbell River, B.C.) in 1:55 in her opening match.
“The first fight set the bar pretty high for the rest,” said Petsnick.
“Mostly all the opponents were shorter and stockier than me, which limits the throws I could do compared to someone the same size,” she explained.
“She [Warner] countered one of the throws and got the first point, which was mostly my fault.
“Watching the fights now, I had one throw I was doing over and over and, jeez, unprofessional,” she laughed.
Petsnick didn’t give Mira Calder (Fair Lawn, N.J.) a chance to even get warmed up in her second bout–claiming victory in just 33 seconds.
“The second fighter, she wasn’t as aggressive,” noted Petsnick.
“I took her to the ground and held her there with Sensei [Chuck MacDonald] shouting, ‘Walk her around, hold her there’ until the ref told him to be quiet,” she chuckled.
In the semi-final, Petsnick feasted on Judith Russell of Judo Yukon, whose already-injured ankle meant another short match.
That put her up against Isabella Shepansky (St. Albert, Alta.) in the final in a match that caught Petsnick off guard.
“She was an underestimated yellow belt that really took me by surprise,” she admitted.
“Me and Sensei had been watching her fights, laid down a basic idea of how I should fight her, but then it just left my head,” Petsnick added.
“She was really strong and aggressive and one of the hardest fights.”
Petsnick didn’t rank the victory ahead of any of her other accomplishments, but was proud to have represented her club so well–and doing so in front of both family and friends.
“Being able to have my auntie and uncle, my two little cousins, my grandparents, and my whole ‘judo family’ there to watch and compete, as well,” she noted.
“It just made the whole trip so much better.”
So how did Petsnick celebrate her newly-won title?
“First thing was to go eat whatever I wanted,” she smiled.
“I made weight but it was tight,” she admitted. “I had to eat really healthy and light to make sure I was under 63 kg to fight in the right weight category.
“[Teammate Jaden Woolsey] and I went and unofficially weighed in numerous times the day before and the day of, just to make sure,” Petsnick noted.
“I finally weighed in at 61.9 kg.
“I had been eating at ‘Freshii’ if I wanted to eat, just a wrap of brown rice, spinach,” she recalled.
“It was exhausting. I don’t know how so many athletes eat that stuff, three meals a day every day,” she grinned.
“So after the last fight, I went and ate a couple of burgers and a milkshake, fries, candy apples,” Petsnick said.
“Best victory celebration I could ask for.”
Bennet MacDonald, meanwhile, captured silver in the under-12 male Group 8 division.
“Bennet scored in his first international bout but lost the fight in the end to a skilled green belt,” Chuck MacDonald recalled.
“His second match had better results with him coming away with a win.
“In his third bout, Bennet competed well but lost to a strong orange belt.”
Woolsey wound up finishing sixth out of 15 entrants in the U16 male under-55 kg division–despite missing his first fight against Nathan Demaere (Lethbridge, Alta.) due to a schedule change of which the local fighter was not informed.
But he rebounded to beat Christopher Tamar (Nunavut) and Jessen Brust (Lloydmister, Alta.) in his next two fights before losing to Seth Norbert in his final match.
And Brayden Clink lost both his fights in the U18 male under-66 kg class to Christian Hill (Lethbridge) and Damien Wiens (Moose Jaw, Sask.)
“[Clink]had a very high skill level of competitors in his 29-man division,” noted Chuck MacDonald.
“This was Brayden’s first exposure to high-level competition and he competed well, holding his own on the mat.”
MacDonald was thrilled with his team’s overall performance.
“I’m very proud of all of these kids to be able to compete at such a high level of judo and do so well,” he lauded.
“We have proven that we can compete with the best in Canada.”
Local judokas will take part in upcoming meets in Kenora and Portage la Prairie, Man.
Petsnick and Woolsey also are gearing up for the national championships in Calgary in May.
