It may come as a surprise to some that Mikey Musumeci’s mom, though supportive of her son’s training and time spent on the mats, was not always enthusiastic about the prospect of him competing.
Mikey revealed why – it all comes down to the usual parental worry about their youngsters’ well-being:
My mom didn’t even want me to compete.
I was, like 13 or 12 years old.She’s, like: “Please, no more competing.”
She hated it, she she was horrified of me competing.
But Musumeci kept being persistent, mostly by arguing for “one more”:
She’s, like: “Alright, just win one more tournament and then no more competing, please.”
I was gonna be competing at NAGA at this time and I’m, like: “Mom, I want another belt.”
I won another belt, so I fought again and then I’d win a belt.And then I’m, like: “Wait, wait, one more tournament, please!”
And then I ended up just keeping competing.
It was exactly this non-pressure based environment that managed to help Mikey and his sister, Tammi, develop love for the Gentle Art:
My parents never pushed me to compete or train.
My mom just wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer, honestly.She didn’t even want me to do Jiu-Jitsu, so I feel like because they didn’t push us, it came from us to actually want to do this.
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