A Tiverton girl recently won a bronze medal at the North American Grappling Association (NAGA) Kids World Championships in Morristown, N.J., placing near the top of the 876-competitor field.

“It was an honor just to compete” said Julia Lavery, 13. “It was some of the best competition that I have faced up to now and I’m excited just to have won a medal against all the other girls. I’m lucky to have good training partners that prepared me.”

When she arrived at the tournament, Julia was notified that due to a lack of participants in her own division, that she would have to move to a more experienced and higher weight class division in order to participate. Undeterred, she accepted the challenge.

“I’ve had to compete against bigger and more experienced people in the past, so it really didn’t bother me. I just wanted to compete” she said. 

Julia got into grappling following brief stints in soccer, dance  and gymnastics, when she found her true passion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a self-defense system that specializes in grappling with and submitting opponents. The sport provides participants with many benefits from helping to increase confidence to improving both physical and mental toughness.           

Julia started her training in January 2023 at Danny Savery Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. 

“She fell in love with BJJ on day one” said her father and biggest fan, John Lavery. “After a couple of classes, Julia says to me “Daddy, when you punish me in the future, you can take away anything you want from me ... except jiu-jitsu!, OK?’  That’s how important BJJ is to her, she’s passionate about it.”

Julia competed in her first grappling tournament in June 2023, only six months after she started training, where she earned her first medal. 

“I love being able to test my skills at tournaments” she said. “It’s the only way you find out how good you really are.”

Since then she has competed in several grappling tournaments throughout New England and has earned numerous medals. When the 2024 grappling tournament schedule was announced in January, Julia circled the NAGA World Championships.

“At the tournaments that I have competed in so far, I end up competing against some of the same girls from around the area multiple times. I wanted to test my skills against other people, from all over the world.”

In her bronze medal match, Julia defeated a girl from the Philippines. 

“It was really cool seeing and competing with people from all over the world,” she said. “I saw flags from Australia, Brazil, Japan, the Philippines and all the ones I didn’t know.”

Unbeknownst to Julia, her dad arranged for a large family contingent and her best friend and training partner, to attend the tournament. 

“I was so surprised! I had my own cheering section at the tournament. I had family members that I haven’t even met before cheering for me like crazy!  It was awesome and definitely gave me energy!”

Lavery continues to work on her technique and is looking forward to future competitions and challenges.

“I’m hoping to be promoted to my next belt soon,” she said. “I’ve been working hard, doing good in class and in competitions so I think I will get my new belt soon. It’s up to my coaches though and when they think I’m ready, then they’ll promote me. Once I get promoted there are other competitions that I will qualify to compete in and I’m really looking forward to that.” 

Said her father: “I’m so proud of her. She had the heart of a warrior this weekend.”