At first glance it seems like ice cream and cartoons are the primary things that can make 8-year-old Krissy Lolonis happy, but actually making fellow jiu-jitsu opponents tap out is pretty high on her list.
Lolonis is a second grader at Sierra View Elementary School during the day and in her free time the Oakdale resident has become a championship caliber fighter in two styles of fighting.
Most kids are focused on every day kid things that don’t include heavy training in discipline and training, but to walk away from the Royce Gracie Jiu-Jitsu School of Fresno Tournament with a medal, discipline and training are key.
Lolonis made quite the impact in her most recent action, winning first place with a 3-0 run through the championship tournament in early April. Lolonis has garnered a great deal of success in just her second year of fighting.
“As soon as she got on the mat and started rolling around,” Oakdale instructor Tom Theofanopoulos said, “I saw a lot of potential in Krissy. She just dominated everybody, from the boys to the girls.
“Often times she would make kids cry because she’s so dominant.”
Lolonis is clearly making strides in the right direction, turning in a quality performance in Fresno, where she beat three boy opponents on her way to the title.
The Sierra View student took out her first opponent by points, stopped her second opponent with a collar-choke submission hold and earned the first place honor by out pointing her final opponent.
Hopping into physical battle with boys and girls sometimes older and bigger than Lolonis has not seemed to detour the youngster as of yet and the success that she has experienced so far has paved out a quality lane for Lolonis to travel through life on.
“I actually got very nervous the first couple of times she fought,” her mother, Eleni Lolonis, said. “I started to panic, but now I’ve really gotten used to it.”
Mom Eleni said enjoys the amount of success her daughter is having, but her level of comfort truly came from one particular aspect of the sport.
“This is really about self defense,” Eleni said. “If she needed to she could break someone’s arm, she could choke them out.
“I feel that everybody should take it.”
Lolonis got a thrill out of her second bout in the Fresno tournament, able to close the deal through submission.
“Right when I first started,” Lolonis recalled, “I just took him down and got him in the choke. It didn’t take long, he just tapped.”
Things are looking bright for Krissy Lolonis … and not so good for future opponents.
Lolonis is a second grader at Sierra View Elementary School during the day and in her free time the Oakdale resident has become a championship caliber fighter in two styles of fighting.
Most kids are focused on every day kid things that don’t include heavy training in discipline and training, but to walk away from the Royce Gracie Jiu-Jitsu School of Fresno Tournament with a medal, discipline and training are key.
Lolonis made quite the impact in her most recent action, winning first place with a 3-0 run through the championship tournament in early April. Lolonis has garnered a great deal of success in just her second year of fighting.
“As soon as she got on the mat and started rolling around,” Oakdale instructor Tom Theofanopoulos said, “I saw a lot of potential in Krissy. She just dominated everybody, from the boys to the girls.
“Often times she would make kids cry because she’s so dominant.”
Lolonis is clearly making strides in the right direction, turning in a quality performance in Fresno, where she beat three boy opponents on her way to the title.
The Sierra View student took out her first opponent by points, stopped her second opponent with a collar-choke submission hold and earned the first place honor by out pointing her final opponent.
Hopping into physical battle with boys and girls sometimes older and bigger than Lolonis has not seemed to detour the youngster as of yet and the success that she has experienced so far has paved out a quality lane for Lolonis to travel through life on.
“I actually got very nervous the first couple of times she fought,” her mother, Eleni Lolonis, said. “I started to panic, but now I’ve really gotten used to it.”
Mom Eleni said enjoys the amount of success her daughter is having, but her level of comfort truly came from one particular aspect of the sport.
“This is really about self defense,” Eleni said. “If she needed to she could break someone’s arm, she could choke them out.
“I feel that everybody should take it.”
Lolonis got a thrill out of her second bout in the Fresno tournament, able to close the deal through submission.
“Right when I first started,” Lolonis recalled, “I just took him down and got him in the choke. It didn’t take long, he just tapped.”
Things are looking bright for Krissy Lolonis … and not so good for future opponents.
