It’s Raina’n Gold, Hallelujah

Warren Rosenberg - MetroSports Magazine April 4, 2021

This past Saturday, April 3rd 2021, the Frederick Indoor Sports Center in Frederick Maryland was the site of the most recent event in Grappling Industries’ globe-spanning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. With over 1,000 competitors age 4 through adult masters’ level putting their grappling skills to the test, one young competitor, 10 year old White Plains resident Raina Donatella Tumminello, put on an outstanding performance and brought home two Gold Medals from her four matches, winning three by submission and one on points. To paraphrase the popular 1979 song by the Weather Girls, 'It's Raina'n Gold, Hallelujah."

This young woman, who attends White Plains’ Church Street Elementary School and trains at Essential BJJ in nearby Hartsdale, NY, is no stranger to success in her chosen sport. At the young age of eight, Raina claimed the Silver Medal at the Pan American Games, competing against 13 other girls from around the world. Her justifiably proud dad told us that “she looked good for not having competing in 6 months” due to several cancelled tournaments during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also representing the NY Metro Region this weekend in Maryland was 29 year old Gabriella Gulfin, an experienced martial artist and boxer who took home two Gold Medals after winning seven of her eight matches.

Gulfin, currently ranked the #1 pound-for-pound female MMA fighter in New Jersey and #8 in Pennsylvania by the website, Tapology, is not unkown to MetroSports Magazine, having been included in our coverage of the first annual Ring Masters Championship boxing event at Madison Square Garden in 2018. As a young woman who started her martial arts training at the age of 11, scored her first competitive win in taekwondo at the age of 16, and entered Brazilian Jui-Jitsu at the age of 22, we thought Gabriella might have some advice for Raina. In her own words, Gabriella says, “Raina keep going, it only gets better. Enjoy the process, fall in love with developing your craft as you develop yourself.”

We’ll continue to follow the progress of these two competitors and expect good things in the future.