You may know him best by his Instagram handle @blindgrappler or, if you’re a follower of juvenile competitor jiu-jitsu, “Aurora’s dad.” Competitors in New Zealand and Australia already know him as a force to be reckoned with, the purple belt who rolled into the Pan-Pacific championships this year and took gold in his division and silver in open. And as of yesterday, Clinton Terry can be known as that new brown belt to look out for.
Terry was promoted by coach and black belt Pedro Pacheco Fernandes, head of TuKaha BJJ.
Terry has had a banner year, medaling at the Pan American and Masters Worlds championships in addition to his performance at the Pan-Pacific tournament. He’s a five-time national champion in New Zealand, and was named the 2019 Blind Sportsman of the Year.
Not bad for a guy who picked up jiu-jitsu around five years ago as a way to avoid having to compete against the wrestlers he was coaching. As he told JJT back in 2017:
“I lost about 40 fights without scoring a single point in my first two years. The whole time I kept telling people I would be a national champ, and despite many people laughing at me, I kept on and ended up winning 10 wrestling national titles and so far I have three jiu-jitsu national titles as well as international titles in both. So, I say keep at it and chase your dreams despite the doubters!”
Congrats to Clint and his team.
