INTERNATIONAL FLAIR
Southside Martial Arts owner Myers coaches Knuths, Team USA at Worlds
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The Fort Dodge-area community helped get Nalayna Knuths to Thonon-Les-Bains, France for the International Combat Organization World Championships earlier this month.
Knuths made sure the trip was well worth her while.
The 15-year-old Southeast Valley freshman secured two silver medals and a pair of bronze as well in the competition, which featured some of the best youth jujitsu athletes from around the globe.
Representing Southside Martial Arts in Fort Dodge, Knuths advanced to Worlds with a gold medal at a Submission Challenge Tournament in Des Moines this past summer. She was entered in the ICO’s Gi and No-Gi submission only brackets, as well as the Gi and No-Gi points competition.
"I couldn't be more proud of Nalayna," said her coach and SMA owner Nik Myers. "She has overcome so much adversity in her young life, so to see her shine on the world stage was priceless."
Knuths was joined in France by her adopted parents, Roger and Barb Knuths of Moorland, as well as her younger brother, Bentley. They were all able to make the trip thanks to the fundraising efforts of Fort Dodge's C3 - Creating a Community of Champions.
The organization raised $5,000 for the Knuths family and Southside Martial Arts, which covered plane tickets, hotel accommodations and other expenses.
In addition to leading Knuths, Myers also served as a Team USA coach. He helped athletes in the Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Muay Thai and MMA competitions.
"I got to personally coach multiple athletes all the way through their brackets to them becoming world champions," Myers said. "I didn't come home with my own medal, but I guarantee my heart was just as full thanks to the ones who did."
Myers added that the event almost didn't take place at all.
"The thing that stood out to me most from this whole experience was when the French government originally shut the championships down due to paperwork issues. It looked like they were canceling the whole thing at one point," Myers said. "A lot of people were very upset. The day the championships were supposed to start (October 14), they didn't. Everyone wondered what they were going to tell their sponsors, as well as family and friends who had given them money for the trip.
"Instead of sitting in their rooms and sulking, the athletes from all around the world came together at a park and trained together for most of the day to get ready. It was beautiful. After that, diplomats from all around the world - and from what I'm told, (Secretary of State) Marco Rubio from the White House - got involved. They made some changes to the rules and let the championships continue."
Athletes from 35 different countries participated in the ICO World Championships - an event founded in 2009.