Team Assault's April 2013 GrappleThon in Denton, MD, USA

Event Report #2, by Jennifer Gardner, from the Denton GrappleThon in Support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

On April 27th, 2013 Team Assault hosted its first GrappleThon in Denton, MD. What an amazing opportunity to “roll” for a cause!

In January, we were approached by a candidate of The Man & Woman of the Year Campaign, which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, to host an event to help raise awareness and donations. This hit very close to my heart, as I lost my closest friend to a battle with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when we were only 17 years old. This society does spectacular things in way of donations to help fund research and educate patients and their families. We were excited to be able to help.

After talking with our students and getting their ideas, we decided to hold a 12 hour GrappleThon. We invited students from other academies and had registration open to the public. Participants could register at the door, or online at TeamAssault.net. We charged a minimum fee to participate, with the option to also make a donation. We also set up an online link where anyone could donate.

The day of the event, we set up a food table with sandwiches, fruit, protein bars, drinks, and snacks. The items were for sale to all spectators, but free to participants. It was important to keep the participants energy up!! In an effort to raise money we also had raffled off a Team Assault t-shirt and a Team Assault Gift Certificate.

We had a great turnout and most of the participants stayed the entire 12 hours!!! The turnout of students from other non-affiliated BJJ schools was impressive. What a great feeling to have so many participants from different backgrounds come together and work towards the same cause. Everyone was exhausted, but kept going! It was such a fun event to spend the day doing what we love and helping the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

We are excited to host another GrappleThon event and are planning our next one for October 2013. We definitely learned so much after our first event, and cannot wait for the next one to be even bigger and more successful!!!

Jennifer Gardner is the owner of Team Assault in Denton, Maryland