Former college basketball player Drew Dyer decided to give Jiu Jitsu a shot, and began training at The Arena with Master Baret Yoshida. In his first year he competed at the Novice World Championship and won the Gold Medal.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Drew Dyer:
My name is Drew Dyer. I’m from Aurora, Colorado. I went to UCSD and played basketball there and once that ended I wanted to start something new and learn from the ground up. And found I Jiu Jitsu and Master Baret, and Baret submissions, and all it took was a couple of classes to really start falling in love with it and want to run with it as hard as I could.
Coach Baret Yoshida:
When Drew first came in here he started really good athleticism and from the first role that I had with him, he fight really hard. He just has that competitive mindset I would say. When it’s time to practice, he’s all business.
Coach Andy Schnadig:
Drew is competitive in that he really doesn’t like to lose, he really wants to beat the guy next to him. But he’s not going to take any shortcuts. He’s a good person to have around the gym because even though he’s newer to the gym, he’s a leader and people look up to him.
For one, he has good natural athletic, good genetics and two he busts his ass all the time, works really hard. I know he played college basketball and that level of intensity and training, he’s brought to this gym with him.
Drew Dyer:
Being an athlete my whole life I’ve played in big venues, big stadiums, big crowds, but walking into Worlds was a different kind of thing. You can feel the energy and the excitement and obviously people are coming from all over and you immediately can tell that it’s a big deal.
In Jiu Jitsu, it’s you versus another guy. A lot of times I feel like it comes down to will and not having a teammate to rely on necessarily in that moment, in the match really does put a lot more pressure on your shoulders and it’s definitely a challenge, but it’s a nice challenge.
So the medal to me is more of what it represents. A lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of good times with really great people. But more than anything I think speaks about our team here at The Arena and what we do and what we’re about. And it shows what I want to accomplish moving forward. And I don’t want to be just a Novice World Champion, you know I want to be a world champion at much higher levels.
Coach Baret Yoshida:
I think he could get to a pretty higher level actually. You see he’s with it and he just keeps going at the pace he’s going at.