FEATURE
Aiden Bartley( top) and Ty Siler( bottom) work through ground control drills.
POWER OF JIU-JITSU
HOW MARTIAL ARTS HELPS EMPOWER KIDS
Story and Photos by Patrick Murphy
Every Saturday morning for 912 days, Aiden Bartley has surged past his classmates in belts.
It has been just two and a half years since he started in jiu-jitsu, a form of martial arts that’ s focused on grappling, leveraging to a higher position and submissions to defeat opponents valuing technique over brute strength.
“ After we got out of taekwondo, my dad and I were thinking I should get involved in a different martial art,” said Bartley, who’ s from Taylorsville Lake, Ky.“ We were thinking that Brad Haynes has jiu-jitsu, so it doesn’ t hurt to go there. I tried it out, found a few teachers that I like and I have stuck with it.”
Bartley first started with taekwondo, a sport that’ s characterized by using fast, high, spinning kicks and punches that also focus on self-defense, physical fitness and mental discipline. He moved up the ranks to become a black belt in taekwondo, with black belt being the highest.
MAY / JUNE 2026 NEWS AND TRIBUNE SPORTS MAGAZINE PAGE NO. 17