Knox Vartiainen with his mum Camilla and dad Scott after a recent jiu-jitsu competition.
Knox Vartiainen with his mum Camilla and dad Scott after a recent jiu-jitsu competition.
When Knox Vartiainen’s mum and dad signed him up for jiu-jitsu lessons in 2020, they were hoping that it would help the then 5-year-old come out of his shell.
Little did they expect that the youngster would excel in the sport so quickly that he’d be taking on an international competition just three years later.
Now aged 8, Knox has burned his way through 19 competitions last year alone, ending up on the podium for 18 of them.
At last year’s Jiu-jistu National Championships, he even placed first among all 5-16-year-olds by points.
Next on his radar is the Jiu-jitsu Con competition in Las Vegas this September, where he’s slated to represent New Zealand in his age and weight category.
In preparation for the competition, Knox will be training 4-5 times a week at Nautilus jiu-jitsu.
He’s burned through the youth classes, so now spends some of his sessions with the adults.
Knox takes it all in his stride, though, and isn’t fazed by older competition.
“He’s very strong, which I guess helps.”
It wasn’t always so easy for the youngster. Camilla said that she and husband Scott Vartiainen turned to sports when they noticed that Knox didn’t find socialising with other children to be easy.
“When he was just a toddler, we realised that he was really shy.”
They tried swimming, rugby and other sports. But he would stick close to his parents and was reluctant to participate. Something changed, though, when they took him to a jiu-jitsu class.
“Jiu-jitsu was the turning point. It saved him.”
Now, Knox is an all-around sports fanatic, but jiu-jitsu has built his confidence more than any other.
