Chatham-Kent is starting to be known as a hotspot for some of Canada's best and upcoming martial artists.
Members of Armstrong Academy of Martial Arts won 55 medals at the 2025 Windsor Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Open this past weekend. The academy came in second place overall with 290 points, but competed in 34 less divisions than the first place team.
"It would go a couple points for us, then it would go a couple of points for them, and couple of points for us... it was super, super close," said Thomas Armstrong, the owner and Head Instructor at Armstrong Academy of Martial Arts.
Armstrong, who also competed in the tournament, was one of three members who won gold in both the gi and no-gi competitions. One of the other two was Rain Pfaff, one of the Canada's top Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu artists. She has won a gold medals at the last three Jiu-Jitsu World Championships.
Armstrong explained Pfaff really showed off in Windsor.
"It was open weight, open belt and she won gold in both," he said.
The other to win two golds was Callahan Browning who was in the 8-9 years old division.
Armstrong's daughter Isabelle also competed in an open weight competition, winning a bronze medal.
"Her first match, she fought an ultra heavyweight girl who was like easily twice the size of her and she's about 103 pounds," he added.
His other daughter Kiera also competed and won a gold medal. The four-year-old was part of the academy's stellar kids group which scored the most points in the competition.
"All the kids did really well, the parents were really impressed with the level of our kids compared to the other kids," said Armstrong.
In total, 23 golds were won by members of Armstrong Academy of Martial Arts. They were Nora Lapp, Keira Armstrong, Katelyn Deryck, Emily Lamarche, Atlas Clelford, Luke Louzon, Callahan Browning, Silas Beatty, Everett Atkinson-Bartlett, Ben Goodwill, Grayson Browning, Weston Dreise, Matt Levesque, Jeff Williams, Cole Vankoughnett, Devon Cornwall, Josh Regan, Alex Kuiper, Thomas Armstrong, and Rain Pfaff.
A total of 26 silvers were won by Franki Mark, Aayah Ahsan, Millie Malcolm, Katelyn Deryck, Will Hundt, Isaiah Kuiper, Atlas Clelford, Colton Secord, Ben Goodwill, Grayson Browning, Weston Dreise, Aiden Cornwall, Matt Levesque, Hunter Regan, Jaymes Brophy, Ryan Mills, Oleksii Surmylo, Jeff Brown, Nicholas Ceccacci, Josh Regan, Alex Kuiper, Francis Yanga, and Jordan Dreise.
Bringing home the six bronze medals were Grayson Dalios, Cole Vankoughnett, Jeff Brown, Aaron Campbell, Andy Park, and Isabelle Armstrong.