Emmanuela Oliveira 
The IBJJF European Kids has a special place in the journey of Gabriel Silva, orange-belt athlete, student and son of Vicente Júnior. Born in the United States, it was at last year’s European Championship that Gabriel fought for the first time in an international tournament, in Dublin, Ireland. Now, in 2023, the athlete returned to the country to defend his title. The result surprised no one: two-time European champion after two fights with two submissions.
Interviewed by the VF Comunica team, Gabriel shared his opinion on topics that follow the achievement of such a remarkable title. Once you gain a prestigious position, you need to continue working to maintain it, as he recognizes.
“To be honest, I think keeping a title is harder than winning it. I heard once from a book by Tim Grover something about winning and confidence. The more you win, the more confidence you get. But, the more you win, the more confidence you’re going to need, because the price just gets higher.”, he says maturely.
Excessive self-confidence can block rise to the top
Still on the same topic, Gabriel admitted that overconfidence, a feeling that can be common among dominant athletes, can ruin everything. “It happened to me. I was undefeated in all competitions last year, but going to a local tournament in February, I lost the streak. You just need to train harder because your opponents will know who they’re fighting against and they’re ready.”, he analyzes.
Demonstrating a Jiu-Jitsu in a state of evolution, increasingly sharp, Gabriel Silva told us more about the polish of his game, a versatile style. In his training sessions led by master Vicente, Gabriel’s preference for guarding was clear. However, the comfort zone is not a place for champions. “I did start it (passing guard) when most of my teammates realized the level of my guard game. I like to play guard a lot, and they started to realize. So in order to trick me and do better in a roll, they tried to pull guard instead of me doing so. That’s when I learned more about the passing game. I knew the basics of it, but I needed to be more advanced with it, tighter with it, and execute it properly, not lazily. Since then I’ve been really good at both guard and passing.”, he reveals.
Gabriel Silva handles training and studies with maturity
The training routine and studies are exhausting, but nothing that stops Gabriel from continuing the fight. He accepts the difficulty of taking on both responsibilities, but manages to balance time outside of training, late at night or early in the morning, to do his homework. “It’s hard to do but I know I have to do it, so that’s what pushes me.”, he concludes.
Regarding grappling, Gabriel doesn’t have anything concrete in mind, but he doesn’t rule out the possibility of competing in the sport in the future. At the moment, the biggest focus is on the gi tournaments, with the goal of replicating the same victorious campaign as this year in 2024.
