Brooksville 7-Year-Old Wins Silver at World Martial Arts Games in Oslo

Jay Earle had been competing in martial arts for only a year and a half when he stepped onto the mat in Oslo, Norway last November. He left with a silver medal.

The Brooksville seven-year-old finished second in continuous sparring in the ages 6–8 bracket at the World Martial Arts Games, a field that drew competitors from countries ranging from Germany to Mexico. His father, Jason Earle, told the Hernando Sun how proud the family is of what Jay has accomplished.

The rise has been swift. Once Jay joined the program, Jason said, he earned "belt after belt after belt" until reaching the rank of blue belt. He was chosen as a member of the United States Martial Arts Team in May of last year and remains on the roster today. Before Oslo, he had already shown he could compete within Florida, placing at the Mayan Challenge in Clearwater.

Away from the mat, Jay attends Challenger K-8 in Brooksville, where he is enrolled in the Quest Gifted program. His dream, according to the Hernando Sun profile, is straightforward: become a black belt and make it onto an Olympic team.

That goal comes with an ambitious schedule ahead. Jay is set to compete at the Freedom Cup in Georgia in March, the U.S. Open in Orlando in July, and the International Martial Arts Festival in Daytona in October.

A silver medal at a world competition at age seven, earned less than two years into the sport, suggests the calendar is going to stay full for a while.