Thursday, September 30, 2010

Train for training's sake.

One of the things I have come to realize over time is that martial arts training needs to be a habit. A ritualised, repetitive activity that is part of your daily or weekly routine. And that to be fulfilled in your training you need to be able to train for its own sake. Competitions are great, grading to your next belt level is great, being able to get your favourite submission is great but at the end of the day unless training is a ritual or a routine, when these external motivations are removed, and trust me and some point the goal posts always move, your desire to train will fade. Learn to enjoy the process of learning and testing techniques positions and ideas. Thats where the juice is in my opinion. And when you get good enough at something then share it with the next person. That way people move forward as a group and progress occurs. I remember when I got a black belt in karate at 16 years of age after almost 9 years of training and I thought I knew something. Well it quickly became clear that it was only the beginning. In BJJ they say the hardest belt is black for the same reason. View training as a life long activity and change your perspective on what training means to you. Make a paradigm shift and see what happens.

WEC 51 Open Workout HL

Gamburyan and Aldo could be a great fight.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

History of Nova Uniao & BJJ

Here is an interesting piece on Wendall Alexander, who was one of the founding members of Nova Uniao. I found it interesting to read how the team was formed to compete against the numbers of Gracie family competitors. Also, I like the fact that it describes a lineage of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu out side of the Gracie Family, something which is often not well recognized. Names like Oswaldo Fadda, which have until recently not been adequately recognized for the contribution to the art. Sometimes to know where we are going it helps to know where we came from.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Magarida v Saulo 2004

Launching Our Junior Program

I am excited to announce that from Tuesday 5th October we will be running a Junior Program at Mornington Extreme JJG. Classes will run on Thursday evening at 6pm and Saturday morning at 9am. Classes will be aimed at junior athletes from 8-15 years of age. Classes will run during the school term and will be conducted by David Cassar and Paul Smith, both David and Paul are long time students, experienced competitors and coaches. Gradings will be conducted at the end of each term according to the Junior Syllabus that has been developed. As is standard in other BJJ schools belts will go from White to Yellow to Orange to Green to Blue. Classes are structured to develop skills, fitness, confidence and co-ordination in young people in sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Wrestling. Once a student has reached the rank of Blue belt and 15 years of age they can continue to train in the adult classes. This new program gives us a tremendous opportunity to develop junior athletes and take the club to the next level. A number of people have made requests for this program so please support the new classes. I will put together an information package shortly. Osu

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Coach John Donehue Workshop

A big thanks to all those who made the effort to attend another workshop by Coach John Donehue. The topic of transitioning to back control was covered in great detail over two hours and included set ups from mount, side control and turtle. There is plenty of room to review and refine these techniques over the coming weeks. I will get another date set for the end of the year soon.