Anderson’s Primary School pupil Myles Wallace (10) lands double gold for SBG Moray at Scottish ADCC Open in the sport of Brazilian jiu jitsu
He competed in two different weight categories at a major international event and won two gold medals - and he’s only ten years old.
Forres schoolboy Myles Wallace is becoming a force in the sport of Brazilian jiu jitsu, as well as being a member of the Scottish wrestling team.
The Anderson’s Primary 7 pupil landed double gold in the Scottish ADCC Open, part of a series of prestigious events run by the Abu Dhabi Combat Club and often referred to as the ‘Olympics of Grappling’.
Myles loves his martial arts, and is also a star in the sport of wrestling where he won a bronze medal at the Scottish Open Championships in Largs.
“He started off at taekwon-do at the age of three and then just kind of progressed from there and developed into jiu-jitsu and wrestling,” said his mum Vicky.
“His dad (Steve) has always kind of been into martial arts and his older sister (Freya) has done it as well.
“Whether he’s training or competing, he just is delighted. He's always interested in telling you what he's learned that night at jiu-jitsu or if he's won a competition, like he'll just be absolutely over the moon.”
Myles trains at the SBG Moray club in Elgin, where he is coached by two of the club’s top competitors in BJJ, Kevin McAloon and Martin Donaldson.
He trains five days a week, including a session at the HMAC mixed martial arts gym in Inverness.
Vicky says her son’s dream is to become a world champion in his sport one day.
His performances at the Scottish ADCC Open suggest that he has a very bright future ahead of him.
“The competitions are always busy and he had to jump up weight in one of his competitions because it goes by age and weight category,” Vicky added.
“He actually had to jump up two weight brackets to be able to compete. So he was like the lightest and youngest in his weight category.
“But he still managed to win double gold.”
“Brazilian jiu jitsu was just something that he tried out and he absolutely loved it and just kind of progressed from there.
“He's super strong for the size of him, as he's quite petite but he's starting to fill out, and he does strength and weight conditioning as well.”
His sport involves submission grappling, but he also loves doing wrestling and is a member of the Scottish and British junior teams.
Vicky added: “The two sports are quite different and he attends four camps a year, that's from Friday to Sunday and held four times a year in Largs.
“The Scottish Open was his first wrestling competition and he got bronze.”
The dedicated youngster is setting his sights on competing in the British ADCC Open next, and will be determined to get himself amongst the medals once again.