The long vowels and rolling R’s associated with Portuguese, the native language of Brazil, filled the Coronado High School gymnasium Saturday. The school hosted the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World SuperCup, and the Varallos of Colorado Springs made the tournament a family affair.

The three, father Tim, mother Ali, and daughter Kirstin, all competed.

After winning the Pan American championship for blue belts in No Gi, Tim took third at the SuperCup in the 195 plus masters weight class. Ali placed second at 143 pounds and under. She trained for 123 and under, but switched to the higher class because there were no competitors at 123. Kirstin finished third in the 7-to-9-year-old, 60-pound division.

“They are so devoted to Jiu Jitsu. It’s a natural thing,” their coach Marcelo Motta. “The family breathes BJJ.”

Motta, a Brazilian national champion, co-owns Prime Jiu Jitsu center with Carlos Santos. Prime created and hosted the SuperCup.

The tournament structure dictated that at least one Varallo was fighting for much of the day.

“It can get scary,” Kirstin said. “It’s very stressful if you have a mom here that’s about to compete, or a dad, because you’re always stressed out that they will lose, or they’ll hurt something.”

Tim also dealt with nerves.

“I was just so anxious watching my daughter, and then I had to fight, then watching my wife in two or three fights, then I had two or three fights,” he said. “I was just emotionally exhausted. It was a lot of fun, I’m really glad I did it, but I’m going to need a day off tomorrow just to unwind.”

Tim explained that the combination of having recently competed at the Pan Am championship and cheering on his family may have inhibited his performance. He allowed an early opponent to get a submission, meaning he tapped out because his opponent choked him.

Varallo responded by winning his third-place match. He submitted his opponent with an arm bar.

“It’s always nice to end on a high note, get a finish, a submission, get a medal, get on the podium,” Tim said. “Just kind of reaffirm that, yeah, my work still pays off in the end.”

His family remained supportive.

“He’s going to shake it off like he always does, because it’s always a matter of how you get up, not how you fall down,” Ali said.

Near the end of the day when the stress had subsided a bit, Tim and Ali, high school sweethearts from Greeley, stood side by side cheering on their Prime teammates.

“Now we can just understand each other on a different level than we did before,” Ali said about Jiu Jitsu’s affect on their family. “And my daughter can be proud of me and very similar way that I am proud of her, because she knows what I am doing, and so we just have a lot of family time spent together.”

Madeline Easdon, 2, reacts after finding all six of her Easter eggs as she and about a hundred other kids and parents scoured the Songbird trail for Easter eggs at the Chocolate Bunny Walk and Egg Hunt at the Bear Creek Nature Center Saturday, March 30, 2013. Michael Ciaglo, The Gazette Photo by MICHAEL CIAGLO, THE GAZETTE

MICHAEL CIAGLO, THE GAZETTE