BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT BCI 44 NOVEMBER 2024 | Page 29

Isaiah Lazaro taking on the world in Jiu Jitsu

with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
Great combat sport movies such as Karate Kid have always been popular . Watching Daniel Laruso in the final fight scene doing the Crane when Johnny tries to sweep his leg is an iconic scene .
Isaiah Lazaro has seen it all . He is a fighter in the world of Jiu Jitsu , fighting at 62kg in the Featherweight division . Isaiah started in the world of martial arts at the age of four when his dad enrolled him in Muay Thai , and he became involved in Jiu Jitsu at seven .
His dad saw that doing martial arts together was an opportunity for them to bond ; his whole family participate in Jiu Jitsu now including dad , mum and his brother and sister . They compete out of
The Iceman about to do the crane on the Duck Man from Karate Kid .
the Gracie Barra Blacktown City in Kings Park .
Isaiah is known as the Iceman . He says that he likes the differences of Jiu Jitsu , which has a lot of floor fighting and manoeuvres like rear naked chokes , arm bars and bow and arrow chokes , which I had the Iceman demonstrate how he applies them to test their effectiveness . Let ’ s just say I was in trouble if this was a real fight ! He ’ s not the tallest guy in the world , 170cm , and Isaiah advised me that he needs to be careful against bigger fighters as they can apply the guillotine choke . Jiu Jitsu is known as the gentle art out of all the martial arts disciplines .
Some of Isaih ’ s idols include Anderson Silva , George St Pierre and Alex Perreira . Isaiah advised me that you really need to get your opponent to the ground and put a submission hold on them as quickly as possible to get the win otherwise they could overcome you .
Competing overseas and in Australia there are differences in the fight style , and you need to work hard on strength and conditioning to break out of submission holds .
Australia doesn ’ t have a national Jiu Jitsu team , and the Iceman competes for the Philippine ’ s national squad in international events . He has fought in international tournaments against
Colombian and Malaysian guys . He has lived the BJJ lifestyle in a camp with Brazilian fighters , where every weekday was competition training for two to three hours a day with weight training in between , and then training with the adults from 2 until 7pm .
This was an intense experience which taught him how to recover . One of Isaiah ’ s biggest fights was the Australian Nationals , for which he had to cut a lot of weight . He has won gold in two weight divisions ; a massive achievement . He also won a bronze in the world championships in 2019 which ranked him at number three in the world .
The Iceman is making more commitment to competing in the sport internationally in 2025 . He has won NSW and QLD state championships , Pan Pacific , Abu Dhabi and a Super Fight in Singapore .
He ’ s currently heading to the World Championships in Greece and then heading to Abu Dhabi after that , he is on the Subversion fight card . There are four major competitions in Jiu Jitsu including the European , Pan American , Brazilian Nationals and World Jiu Jitsu championships , which is known as the ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship which is for grappling - this is every two years .
So far in his fight career Isaiah has had
Isaiah Lazaro with a gold medal at the Australian Championships . over fifty career fights , and many fighters are competing well into their 30s in the world championships . The Iceman loves the scrap and brutality , and says he loves to run towards the fire . He said the best fighter in the world in BJJ is Diogo Reis who is coming through the ranks .
Isaiah loves teaching kids and wants to keep helping the community . Keep an eye out for his matches because he ’ s an outstanding talent in the world of Jiu Jitsu .

Sharon McLachlan developing female game leaders

with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
Most of us watched the Women ’ s Football World Cup last year on home soil and saw how successful the Matildas were . They are the role model example in world sport of how Australians want to see our national teams play and compete . They truly competed like champions and created their own style , and own worldwide brand .
Well , this next lady is not far from this level of stature in the world of refereeing . Sharon McLachlan spent her whole junior life playing netball and even made junior representative squads and it looked destined that Sharon would spend her sporting life as a netball player .
Sharon didn ’ t even kick off her career in the world of football , or soccer as it is perhaps better known in Australia , until 2007 when she started her soccer
journey at Kings Langley ; she
Sharon leading the players onto Blacktown Football Park . Credit : Football NSW . loved it . Her competitive nature shone through as it does in sports ’ nuts . She spent the next six years at Kings Langley before moving on to Blacktown Workers . She then moved on to Marayong Football Club where she is still an active member , Female Development Officer and playing in the Over 30 ’ s women ’ s team . Women ’ s membership numbers are up around 25-27 per cent in Marayong and continually improving across the game .
Sharon went to Marayong to play at a higher level with her team where they can push themselves . It ’ s no surprise that she is extremely fit , and she believes this underpins her overall performance . She loves to stay involved in the game , be a role model for young girls and women who play soccer and referee . Sharon also plays in Friday night competitions to maintain her high level of fitness .
Sharon started refereeing back in 2022 and is now into her 3 rd season refereeing in the BDSFA . She is working really hard to become a Level 2 referee , has done the theory component of the course and just needs to be assessed to achieve this level of refereeing . Blacktown have good referee development programs that are age-based pathways .
Blacktown District Soccer Referees Association have weekly training , and Sharon works hard on her own . She has a mentor and goes through the rule books regularly to make sure that she is all over the 17 rules of the game . She concentrates on learning technique and player management to help compliment her ability to run and control matches .
Her aim is to keep improving and she would like to seek higher accreditation and do some work with Football NSW in the women ’ s space . Sharon has hired an academy to come in and teach girls from u12s – u21s to female football week and wants to focus on game leaders in the women ’ s program .
Sharon is looking to develop the female game leaders . She is refereeing at women ’ s premier league level now and aiming to be the number 1 premier league referee in Blacktown and hoping to referee Premier League 1 next year too .
Her aim is to be the number 1 Premier League referee in Blacktown .
She has a strong connection with the players in WPL2 reserves and is trying to get into the WPL to help refereeing and make a smooth transition for young referees moving into seniors .
Sharon wants to focus more on promoting women ’ s sports . In between the 16-20 age group there are lots of programs to help develop referees , but there are gaps between 25-30 .
The BDSRA had free registration for referees . Sharon is a qualified referees coach for youth , she got this at Bathurst in
Sharon and her daughter after winning a match with Marayong .
2023 coaching all under 12s girl referees . They worked as mentors and could come on the field and give coaching and guidance for three days .
Sharon wants to see more young women come through who want to referee like a girl , just like her .
BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 44 // NOVEMBER 2024 29