Nicky Provenzano

Nicky was 80 lbs here he won the 90 lb division and the 125 lb division.

At age five Nicky started  his martial arts training like many children do, the difference was that nicks motivation came in the way of a beating by two first grade bullies, one child held him while the other punched him. Fortunately nicks friend Eric came to his rescue, although Eric was the same age as Nicky he already had some training in judo, and was brave enough to use it unfortunately nicks nose was fractured in the scuffle, buy a accidental head butt, although the fracture would soon heal the motivation and memory of that day would live on. When I arrived home from work that day and found what had happened to my son I was furious, but when cooler heads prevailed I realized he needed to learn how to fight.

 So with a phone call and a introductory class to tiger Schulman karate the journey begins, first with two classes a week than three classes then it became five than seven, soon you couldn’t get Nicky to leave the school, he would take the beginner class then the intermediate then the advanced, he even helped out in the adult class, many nights and weekends we would close up only after washing the walls and floors ( my son volunteered me )his sensei's David Terrilli and Melissa bop loved having him around he would inspire others to work harder and train longer, at the same time getting into the best shape of his life.

At age seven Nicky would start fighting in competitions. First Maui tai kick boxing and then finally grappling. Although the sacrifice of training hard at such a young age is great, the rewards are plentiful, Nicky beat out over a hundred students in a try out for a commercial for tiger Schulman, he was able to jump higher kick harder and faster than the rest, with that Nicky and I were flown to Canada where the commercial was shot and Nicky had the featured role.

He has since then participated in three more commercials aired on nickelodeon, Nicky has done several karate demonstrations including one at Shea stadium , Madison square garden and the meadowlands arena, just to name a few. Nicky also appeared on good morning America where he did a karate demonstration for film star and martial arts great Jackie Chan. Here is a short list of nicks accomplishments to date and some tournament he has competed in and won.

challenge of champions /1999-2005
garden state grappling championship/2001
N.A.G.A. north American championship /2002
rolyer Gracie/ david adiv tournament /2004
grapplers quest- beast of the east/ 2005
grapplers quest- us nationals/2005

hurricane in Hackensack /2003
new jersey state championship /2002
royler Gracie champion ship/2004
Lou neglia,s “battle of the armatures” /2002
N.A.G.A. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP- 2003,2004,2005
the martial arts classic / 2002

 Nicky has trained with tiger Schumann karate for over seven years where he is CURRENTLY ranked a second degree black belt in mixed martial arts and is a member of the T.S.K. fight team. Nicky also trained at montclair brazillian jujitsu/instructor mike mrkulic-a royler Gracie affiliate school and most recent Nicky trains and fights for team renzo Gracie academy N.Y.C. where he is ranked a yellow belt in Gracie jujitsu.

In January 2005 u.f.c. and Abu-Dhabi champions Royce Gracie and brother renzo Gracie were inducted into the grappling hall of fame .on that same night Nicky was one of a small group of children to receive a certificate of official national ranking from the n.a.g.a. ( Kipp koller  president ) where he is ranked one of north Americas top ranked grapplers but anyone who knows Nicky will tell you with all his talents and accomplishments he is just a really nice kid, he is extremely well mannered and humble.

 Nicky is currently on a break from grappling only training a couple time’s a week so he can train for a another passion of his which is baseball, yes baseball ! I know it is the middle of winter but he is currently training with the NJ mariners a tournament travel team coached by Seattle mariners scout and talent evaluator Scott luna. This team is a select group of athletes from the NJ area each player is of all-star caliber, hand picked at a rigors try out, to play in tournaments in Maryland , coopers town NY, Fla., just to name a few places, for a full schedule go to www.njmariners.com