HENDERSON, NV — In a ceremony described by attendees as “heartwarming” and by two others as “exactly what we expected,” Ironguard Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu & Fitness held its Sixth Annual Student Recognition Night on Friday, awarding Best Student to Caden Trindade, 19, the professor’s nephew; Most Improved to Steve Okonkwo, 41, a three-stripe blue belt who has trained at a different academy in Scottsdale for the past six years; and Most Dedicated to Frank DeLuca, 58, the man who holds the building lease and attends Tuesday-night fundamentals roughly one Tuesday out of every three, when he doesn’t have a prior commitment.
The ceremony was held in the lobby area between the front desk and the sock shelf. Fourteen people attended. Three of them came specifically to receive their awards. One wandered in looking for a vending machine.
“Every year we go through a very rigorous selection process,” said Professor Miguel “Meio-Kilo” Trindade, 44, who has run Ironguard since 2014. “We look at who really embodies the spirit of this academy. Who brings positive energy. Who makes us better. And sometimes you just find that the people closest to you are the ones who deserve it most.”
Caden Trindade, this year’s Best Student, has held a single stripe on his white belt since January 2024. Academy records reviewed by this reporter show he attended fourteen classes in the past calendar year, seven of which fell on Sundays when his uncle was teaching and his mother dropped him off before running errands at the nearby Target. He received his stripe in August at a promotional ceremony that also included his cousin Dylan, who has since stopped training to focus on “other things,” a phrase no one at the gym pressed further.
The award’s posted criteria — laminated, sun-faded, pinned between the April 2019 tournament results and a flyer for a seminar that never happened — list consistent attendance of at least three sessions per week, active participation in drilling, and a demonstrated commitment to helping newer students.
Destiny Plummer, 31, met every item on that list. She has trained five days a week for two and a half years. She has competed at four local tournaments. For the past several months she has stayed late after Thursday class to help beginners drill basic movements, without being asked. She was listed as a nominee.
“It’s really nice that Caden won,” Plummer said, when reached by phone. “He trains hard.”
She then said she had to go.
The Most Improved award was presented to Steve Okonkwo via video call because he lives in Scottsdale. Professor Trindade described it as recognizing “a man who has never stopped growing, even when life takes you somewhere else.” Okonkwo trained at Ironguard from 2007 to 2019 before relocating for a job in logistics. He now trains at Desert Floor Grappling, a competing academy ranked second in the Phoenix metro area, and returns to Henderson approximately once per year around the holidays.
“I texted Mig — I mean, I texted Professor Trindade — like three weeks ago and he just goes, ‘Bro, you’re getting the award,’” Okonkwo said over video call, his Desert Floor Grappling hoodie visible for approximately four seconds before he noticed and turned off his camera. “I thought he was messing with me.”
When asked how Okonkwo had improved over the past year given that he trains at a different gym and visits Ironguard once annually, Trindade said improvement is “not always something you can track in class hours.”
“Steve and I came up together,” he said. “You don’t forget that. Some bonds go beyond the mat.”
Okonkwo is currently a three-stripe blue belt. He received his first stripe at Ironguard in 2012.
The Most Dedicated Student award went to DeLuca, who has held the building lease since 2017 and who has been around this building longer than Trindade has. DeLuca, 58, trains on Tuesday evenings when available. His most advanced technique is a rough approximation of an Americana from side control, which he has been working on, by his own account, “for a while now.” He accepted the award with what witnesses described as genuine surprise.
“I just show up,” DeLuca said, holding the plaque with both hands. “I mean, I try to. When I can. It means a lot.”
DeLuca is also the reason the gym’s rent has not increased since 2021, a fact Professor Trindade mentioned twice during the award presentation and once more during the pizza portion of the evening, each time with a brief pause to let the significance land.
Four others were nominated but did not place. Among them was Gus Hernandez, 27, a purple belt who has spent the past fourteen months volunteering as a fundamentals instructor on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, without pay. He was on the Most Dedicated ballot.
“No, I get it,” Hernandez said, when approached after the ceremony. “Frank’s a great guy. He’s really — he’s been here a long time.”
He then asked if there were any pizza boxes that hadn’t been opened yet. There were not.
Also nominated: Tamara Voss, 35, a blue belt who went 17-4 across three rulesets in the past twelve months and was on the Best Student list; and brothers Marcus and Elijah Pryce, both white belts who have attended every class offered since September, including the 6am Saturday session that typically draws three people.
Professor Trindade announced that Ironguard will begin accepting nominations for next year’s awards in January. The selection committee will be chaired by his brother-in-law, Rodrigo Furtado, who joined the academy in March and is, by Trindade’s account, “really coming along.”
“We want this to be community-driven,” Trindade said. “That’s what Ironguard is all about. Family.”
The event ended with a group photo: Caden Trindade held the Best Student trophy aloft, Frank DeLuca stood with the Most Dedicated plaque pressed against his chest, and Steve Okonkwo appeared as a small rectangle in the upper corner of a phone propped against the water cooler — already disconnected, the call having dropped sometime during the pizza.