This past May, Jean Paul, as well as his sister Bianca, found similar success at the North American Grappling Association championships in Morristown, New Jersey.
The brother and sister, along with their father and coach Nono, took a Thursday night red eye flight to New York City, where they spent the weekend at a family friend’s lakeside home.
Friday night they visited Times Square and on Saturday water skied on the lake. Their father likes them to relax before tournaments.
On Sunday, 10-year-old Bianca learned there were no girls with her experience in her age division so she fought in the boys 9- to 11-year-old, 70 to 80 pound division. She won all six of her matches by tap outs to claim the gold. Then she moved up to the 11- to 13-year-old girls division.
“I’m going to annihilate you,” the first girl Bianca met told her.
“Poppa, what does ‘annihilate’ mean?’” Bianca asked her father. Bianca ended the match in 32 seconds.
But she met a more formidable foe in the gold medal round. That fight went the full four minutes and ended in a draw, lead to a sudden death overtime.
Bianca’s nickname is snake because of the whip-like movements of her arms and legs. Sudden death to her opponent came quickly when Bianca caught her in a triangle choke hold, forcing the girl to tap.
Nonno teaches his students to always go for a submission hold, rather than leave the decision up to the judges.
Jean Paul competed in the 12- to 13-year-old, 90 to 99 pound division. Despite jiu jitsu’s hundreds of submission holds, Nono attributes his son’s success to his mastery of three basic maneuvers: the arm bar, the triangle choke and the double take-down, which puts the opponent in the guard when the fighters crash to the mat.
“I tell him don’t make it complicated. Don’t be a Jack of all trades and a master of none,” his dad said.
Unlike his sister’s final match, Jean Paul won quickly in both the gi and non gi gold medal rounds.
He ended the no gi fight in just six seconds with an arm bar. The gi fight lasted 22 seconds and also ended with an arm bar, complimented by a triangle.
Both LeBosnoyanis train six days a week in their father’s Pier Avenue studio. Jean Paul also runs the 18th Street hill and pier to pier in the soft sand. Bianca cross trains with swimming, basketball and soccer. During the summer, they participate in Junior Lifeguards.
JeanPaul’s website is JeanPaul2016. In 2016, the year Jean Paul turns 18, the Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, where, for the first time, jiu jitsu will be a part of the Olympic Games. Both Jean Paul and Bianca plan to be there, on the top step of the podium.
This past weekend, at the Los Angeles International Jiu Jitsu Open, hosted by the North American Brazilian Federation at Cal State University Dominquez Hills, Jean Paul and Bianca again won gold in their division. Fellow students at Nono’s Mixed Martial Arts Academy Katy Ascher, Shane Stroyke and Kelly McNamee also won gold in their divisions. Nono’s MMA academy placed second out of 16 competing academies. ER
