Prose and Kohn: Sarasota martial artists have choke hold on success

It's intimidating asking questions to athletes who could choke you out at any moment. 

Even though the athletes are 14 and 12 years old, it really doesn't matter. Not when they're this skilled. 

Carter Wright, 14, and Kennedy Wright, 12, are two of the toughest athletes I have interviewed. The brother-sister pair moved to Sarasota with their family in January and joined Ribiero Jiu-Jitsu Sarasota, but their experience with the martial art extends further back than that, back to when they lived in South Carolina. Kennedy started first, when she was 7. She was watching a Ronda Rousey fight with her family and knew she wanted to be like her. It took a few months of persuading, but her family eventually acquiesced.  

After two months of watching Kennedy kick people's behinds, Carter decided he wanted to try jiujitsu too. 

Now it's 2021, and the Wright kids are both wearing gold. Carter and Kennedy won the Male Teen 2 Grey Light and the Female Junior 3 Grey Super-Heavy divisions, respectively, of the Pan Kids IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship, held July 24-25 at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee. Not only that, but both Wrights also won their medals the hard way: by making all of their opponents submit. 

Was the that plan going into the event? Not really, they said. Matches go how they will go. You adjust if you have to adjust. It just so happens that the solution to all the Wright siblings' problems at the championships was "make the opposition quit." The pair did so well, they both received their promotion to yellow belt on the podium. 

They go about their business different ways, in almost every aspect. Carter will listen to classical music during warm-ups; Kennedy usually goes with hip-hop.  Carter likes to get a bottom position and wait for his chance to strike. Submissions are more common for him. Kennedy is more aggressive (or, as Carter put it, she's more "smash, smash, smash") and is fine with winning by points if that's how a match goes. But they're alike in their passion for the sport, the thing that has brought out the best in both of them. 

"It's a chance to move my body in different ways and express my feelings," Kennedy said. "It's a great community."

Carter agreed.

"There's nowhere I am more in the zone and at peace, especially during competitions," Carter said. 

Shawn Wright, Carter and Kennedy's father, said he's proud of the work his kids have done to get to this point. They train twice a day, five days a week. He's also thankful for the lessons the sport has taught his children, like learning how to use failure to bring future success — even if that failure can lead to some awkward car rides. There are no easy conversations to be had when one kid wins gold at an event and the other fails to medal. Thankfully, that wasn't an issue at the Pan Kids event, one of the most prestigious in the sports' world. 

"The thing about jiujitsu is, you don't have to be the best, you just have to have the best day," Shawn Wright said. 

Carter said he would like to try mixed martial arts at some point. Kennedy wants to keep building her jiujitsu reputation and try to repeat at next year's Pan Kids championship. Whatever they want to do, I have faith that they'll succeed. No one with the drive to do what they do is going to fail in the long-term. These kids are winners. 

And they're strong, so try to avoid getting in one of their choke holds.