Mildura jujitsu champions Giselle Spencer and Tyler Carter to compete in Japan, America and the UAE

Two local girls are hoping to take their jujitsu careers overseas after qualifying for tournaments in Japan, America, and Abu Dhabi.

Mildura jujitsu stars Giselle Spencer and Tyler Carter are hoping to head overseas to compete in LA, Japan, and the UAE. Picture: Sam Dirkis

Mildura Brazilian jujitsu coach Luke Burnham has turned to the community for support to get two of his students to international competitions.

Due to their success in local and national tournaments, Giselle Spencer and Tyler Carter have now qualified to head to tournaments in Tokyo, America and Abu Dhabi.

However, the scholarship program that allowed them to participate in jujitsu won’t be able to cover the cost of sending them overseas, so coach Luke Burnham has set up a GoFundMe to try and help cover the costs.

The two girls have been training and competing locally for the last 18 months and enjoying every moment of it despite the nerves.

“I love it, travelling and getting to go to competitions win medals and stuff, sometimes I get nervous heading into comps but I’m pretty good a managing,” Tyler said.

Mildura jujitsu coach Luke Burnham is hoping to send two of his best students overseas to compete internationally.

“I love everything about it, meeting different people, the funny stuff that happens in the gym,” Giselle said.

“I’m usually nervous going into a competition, every time going through a competition my heart starts racing, but it’s still fun.”

Mr Burnham said he was very proud of them for coming this far.

“These girls have really excelled, they are actually both ranked number one in Australia at the moment, so we are trying to get them to take on the best in the world,” he said.

“Like with anything at the moment, it’s super expensive so we are trying to raise funds to make it possible.

“These kids are training super hard and they’ve got a community looking up to them of someone to lead the way and show them what’s possible.”

Mr Burnham went on to speak about the scholarship opportunity that was made available for the girls through MDAS.

“We set up the program probably two years ago for Indigenous youth trying to get them involved in safe space,” he said

“Some of the kids really enjoyed doing jujitsu but for whatever reason couldn’t afford it, so we set up a scholarship program.”

“It’s part of the scholarship program, that they have to attend school and behave themselves, and in return, I pay for all their training fees, uniforms, competition registration — all that sort of stuff.”

The girls’ GoFundMe can be found here.