{"id":17068,"date":"2021-12-01T01:49:02","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T01:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=17068"},"modified":"2021-11-30T21:00:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T21:00:35","slug":"tapped-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2021\/12\/01\/tapped-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Tapped In"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lexeigh Dowd, 13, has won her last five state championship jiu-jitsu competitions\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Lexeigh Dowd executes a takedown at a recent jiu-jitsu championship. Photo credits: Lee Anderson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For most central Idaho families, a drive from Twin Falls to the Wood River Valley and back again is a once-a-month trek, at best, a chance to do a Winco run or a ski run perhaps, depending on which direction you go.<\/p>\n

For the Dowd family, that\u2019s a twice-a-week trek that explains how a 13-year-old girl has earned five consecutive state championships, the first happening when she was only 8 years old, and some of them happening against the boys. Lexeigh Dowd, of Twin Falls, is making a name for herself in youth jiu-jitsu and she\u2019s bringing along her actual brother as well as the boys and girls who all train at Lee Anderson\u2019s USA Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Bellevue.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive years in a row is unprecedented. It\u2019s just phenomenal,\u201d said Lee Anderson when asked about Dowd\u2019s victory at the Utah Jiu-Jitsu State Championships. \u201cThink about it\u2014that\u2019s almost half her life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previously, Anderson\u2019s team\u2014despite several successes with second- or third-place finishes\u2014had only won one championship (that would be Dowd\u2019s) per year. Just last week, the dedication and excellence Dowd has been showing went next-level\u2014contagious, spreading to her entire team starting with her brother Treagan Dowd and her teammate Lucca Villa, both of whom won championships in their grouping levels. Two others\u2014Yarety Serrato and Tyler O\u2019Crowley\u2014finished in second place.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s incredibly dedicated. She just absorbs everything we teach her,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cShe\u2019s very smart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI started jiu-jitsu because I saw my brother do it and I thought it\u2019d be good to have self-defense,\u201d Dowd said. \u201cI didn\u2019t win my first (state) tournament but I won my first match and I thought, \u2018Hey I\u2019m actually pretty OK at this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And then she entered the world championships where she knew about a wrestler from Brazil that she\u2019d likely have to match up against. If you don\u2019t know much about the sport, it was originally called by its practitioners Brazilian jiu-jitsu. That\u2019s largely because the family of fighters who put it on the martial arts map\u2014the Gracies\u2014were from there. Anderson\u2019s coach\u2014Fabio Santos\u2014is one of a select few jiu-jitsu specialists who was allowed to live in and train with the Gracie family. So the respect for any opponent from that country is through the roof.<\/p>\n

Dowd ultimately did matchup against the Brazilian. The result? Dowd won. And it was around then that Dowd knew she\u2019d found something she wasn\u2019t just good at, but rather something she loved.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is to continue competing and one day make the U.S. Olympic team,\u201d Dowd said. \u201cI hope by then jiu-jitsu will be an Olympic sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it stands currently, it is not. To be an Olympic sport, it must not be a so-called \u201cderivative\u201d sport. Jiu-jitsu could be considered for the Olympics if it one day meets these specific requirements:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Having an international federation that can be recognized by the International Olympic Committee.<\/li>\n
  • Following the IOC drug-testing policies.<\/li>\n
  • Having an agreed-upon set of rules that appeals to the masses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    For Anderson and Dowd, the current situation is still a good one at the gym.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe want to stress that we focus on team and family here. Anyone is welcome to attend, the competitions are just a bonus to what we do,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

    \u201cYou make a really good family here surrounded by people who love you,\u201d said Dowd. \u201cWhen you have community like that, your life and yourself is a whole lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Utah State Championships Winners:<\/b><\/p>\n

    Treagan Dowd | State champion | 15yr\u00a0 <\/span>Orange belt
    \nLucca Villa | State champion | 10yr White belt
    \nYaretzy Serrato | 2nd place | 8yr White belt
    \nTyler O\u2019Crowley | 2nd place | 11yr White belt<\/p>\n

    Honorable mentions:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Logan O\u2019Crowley<\/li>\n
    • Justin O\u2019Crowley<\/li>\n
    • David O\u2019Crowley<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Lexeigh Dowd, 13, has won her last five state championship jiu-jitsu competitions\u00a0 By Eric Valentine For most central Idaho families, a drive from Twin Falls to the Wood River Valley and back again is a once-a-month trek, at best, a chance to do a Winco run or a ski run perhaps, depending on which direction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,74,18,28,39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community","8":"category-education","9":"category-news","10":"category-recreation","11":"category-sport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17068"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17074,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17068\/revisions\/17074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}