Jiu-jitsu coach and master has passion for the discipline and holistic benefits of the sport

l EARLVILLE | Isabella Guzman Gonzalez

EARLVILLE resident and highestranked jiu-jitsu coach in Cairns Troy Manning is striving to bring more visibility to the sport in the Far North.

Mr Manning, the owner of Fight House Gym, became a third-degree black belt coach this year, making him the best-prepared and highestranked coach in Cairns. He wants more people to turn their attention to jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts as a great competitive sport.

Having studied Brazilian jiu-jitsu for over 24 years and training in martial arts for over 30, Mr Manning has a profound passion for the discipline and holistic benefits of jiu-jitsu.

“Jiu-jitsu is good for everything,” he said. “It’s good for the mind and the body. Also, if you’ve just had a hard day, you train and forget everything.

“Plus, I love coaching. I love seeing people succeed and see how their confidence comes up.”

Despite not being a big sport in Queensland and even smaller in Cairns, Mr Manning started his own gym, Fight House, four years ago and has raised some of North Queensland’s best jiu-jitsu athletes.

“Last year, we had six North Queensland champions in different weight categories,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot of success with MMA. There are different associations in Australia. There’s ACFA (Amateur Cage Fighting Australia), XFC (Xtreme Fighting Championships), and we’ve had titles in a few of them.”

Mr Manning said jiu-jitsu wasn’t as prominent in Cairns and he wants the community to support the sport.

“We have to travel to the state level, we did last year, and we have a current student under 77kg state champion in blue belt division, and there are two females who’ve gotten second in absolute and second in their division,” he said.

“Because it’s so far away, we don’t do competitions as much and up here is not nearly as big as down south, so it’s sad that the local jiujitsu community don’t support each other as much. I’d like to see more people get behind the events.”

After reaching the milestone of third-degree black belt, Mr Manning said he hoped to attract more people into jiu-jitsu and Fight House gym.

“As long as I’m coaching, I’ll keep working to reach a higher ranking,” he said.

“To people looking to get into jiu-jitsu, I would say, find a good school and find a good coach.

“I love this gym, and I’d like to keep building an awesome team, and eventually, I’d like to push jiujitsu in Cairns.”

For more information, visit the Fight House Cairns Facebook page.