Now he is a three-time national champion.
The 15-year-old King’s High School pupil won gold in the juvenile men’s green under-73kg grade at the New Zealand grappler no gi national championships recently.
His title adds to the juvenile men’s orange gi and boys orange teen gi titles he won last year.
Brinkley was rapt to win the green title, considering it was a step above his usual bracket and his opponent, Caleb Fawcett, of Tukah Rotorua, was two years older than him.
"It felt pretty good, actually," Brinkley said.
"The guy... was a belt above me as well. There was no-one in my orange bracket, so they put me up."
Brinkley, who is working towards his blue belt, took up the sport about six years ago at the BJJ Ōtepoti Dunedin club, having previously tried taekwondo but realising it was not for him.
He credited jiujitsu professor Philip Lindsay, Stuart Marks, who now lives in Nelson, and coach Hamed Hawwari for helping him go further.
"I’ve got a good bunch of people in my club to hang around with."
Jiujitsu is a self-defence martial art and combat sport. It combines grappling, ground fighting and submission holds, and is gaining traction internationally, predominantly in the UFC, and nationally. BJJ Ōtepoti Dunedin has had several athletes competing at the national championships.
Bailey Wills won silver in the men’s white heavy under-92.30kg bracket, and Andrew Wills came fourth in the men’s white ultra heavy over-98.4kg.
Wanaka’s Tibor Boda won the men’s blue masters three medium heavy under-86.2kg title, and Queenstown’s Indy Deavoll won the girls grey 6-to-teen under-55.8kg title.
Former King’s pupil Rayyan Balasmeh also won the juvenile men’s white under-86.8kg division.
