One year after capturing a gold medal at the World Jiu-Jitsu championships as a blue belt, four-time state wrestling champion Teshya Alo is looking for another title in a different division.
The Kamehameha graduate, who beat BJJ black belt Mo Black in the main event of the Fight 2 Win grappling event at the Hawaii Convention Center two weeks ago, now has her eyes locked on the IBJJF lightweight world championship at purple belt later this week in Long Beach, Calif.
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According to Alo, the recent victory over a respected opponent, along with knowing what to expect in her return trip to the sport’s biggest stage, provides her with belief and confidence heading into Long Beach.
“I was surprised last year because I only had like a month to prepare for worlds. Now that I know what you have to do in order to win a gold medal, I’m like, wait I have to do that again? It’s crazy to me. It’s like, ‘Oh my God, are you serious? I have to go through all of that again?'” Alo told KHON2 sports director Rob DeMello. “That’s five matches. I think it was six minutes each, and it was like ten minute breaks. … It was five matches in less than an hour and I have to do that again. But luckily, I’m confident in my training, and put my trust in my coaches.”
Alo, who also the ASICS High School Wrestler of the Year in 2015 and 2016, has earned the respect of coaches, teammates and competitors as she carries the mantra of leaving it all out in training.
“I’m just confident that I’ll get what I deserve,” she said. “There is this quote that I thought of…that you train so hard during practice that your your competition becomes easy. So I always keep that in my head because it’s like if this is where I have to lose and cry, that’s fine. It’ll be easy out there to get the medal, then I’m going to train my butt off in practice and I do. I really do. I really do put in the work.”
Alo’s middleweight/purple belt division tournament will take place on Saturday at the Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State University.
For a look at the schedule and more information on the IBJJF World Championships, click here.