August 3rd, 2010 | Author: iCompete
This article was originally published at iCompete. Copyright: iCompete.
We are doing this event at a discounted rate to give back to the Martial Arts Community. We will not be giving event shirts to the competitors, but we will have them at the event that can be purchased for $15 each or two for $25.
This is still a Championship series and we still will be giving Championship shirts to everyone that wins their Division. Also We will be giving 13 Team Trophy.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brown And Black Belt Competitors: Grappling Experience is pleased to announce that we will be allowing all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brown and Black belts to compete for no cost.
Rickson Gracie advises an attendee at his seminar in Brazil. All photos courtesy Dev Kostal.
Rio De Janeiro, 21 July 2010
I’m going to start this review by prefacing everything I say with this: I am a blue belt. I have just enough experience to know that I don’t have nearly enough experience to have gotten everything I could have out of this incredible seminar. So for everything I missed, or didn’t understand… I apologize.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way…
Master Rickson Gracie’s seminars on “Invisible Jiu Jitsu” have become the stuff of legend. Pirated bootlegs of older seminars have made their way through the underground market to our clamoring hands, because it always seems as though we just can’t find anything. Is he a ninja? Is he a ghost? Shrouded in mystery, it seems as though no one has ever actually attended one of these mythical seminars… maybe The Man himself doesn’t even exist? Except that he does. And he’ll be the first to tell you: There is no secret. Just technique.
I had the extraordinary opportunity today to attend a seminar given by Master Rickson Gracie. The seminar was the first time Master Rickson has presented in English in Brazil, and the intent was to appeal to the visiting international competitors who are here for this weekend’s Rio Open and Master/Senior Mundials.
Apparently the seminar was put together only 9 days ago, and I’m not entirely sure the word got out enough. That said, Master Rickson will be conducting another seminar this coming Monday, 26 July 2010. I’m hoping this review will help get the word out, and I know they’re going to announce it heavily during the tournament.
A who’s who of black belts was in attendance, not least of which were Kron and Kyra. I’m guessing about 100 total people were in attendance, and there was a film crew there, apparently recording it for a future documentary. Choke II, anyone?
We started off with a series of drills revolving around the concept of “connection.” In every movement in jiu jitsu, be it sweep, escape, submission, there is a fulcrum point (my word, not his) around which your body must move to be successful. We all know “hips, hips, hips,” but in many cases, the hip movement is enabled by the connection of another point of your body on your opponent’s. A shoulder, or a hand, etc.
Beginning from standing, he demonstrated these concepts through application in basic escapes or control positions, then we worked in pairs to drill them. Collar control, defending a rear choke, and a few others.
Everything after this revolved around that same idea of connection, and focused on the tiny details in basic movements.
We then went to the ground. We began with the simplest movement, the upa, and its use in the escape from mount. Master Rickson showed how just the smallest adjustment of head position can make this movement that much easier for the person trying to escape.
Much of the time was spent in side control, and we worked details and connection points for escapes from head-control kesa gatame with arm control and without, kesa gatame with far-side underhook with near-side arm control and without, and several other types of top side control. Master Rickson demonstrated how a connected shoulder or hand can control the position enough to get your hips out, or under, your opponent, depending on the situation. We also worked several techniques from bottom guard.
Since this is my review, I’m going to tell you what I took from the seminar. As a blue belt, I grasped this (new-to-me) concept of connection, and the idea of solving the problems from each position by enabling your hip movement with those points. As a concept-oriented person, this really took on the life of Master Rickson’s “invisible jiu jitsu.”
Additionally, one practical thing he highlighted really struck home with me, and that’s shoulder movement. I know it probably seems elementary, but the amount of difference in some of these escapes and movements that is created with larger shoulder movement was astonishing to me.
At the end, Master Rickson sat down and provided several thoughts on his BJJ philosophy: the larger concept of using jiu jitsu for self-defense – which is his entire focus as espoused, of course, by his father Master Hélio. And he discussed jiu jitsu as a metaphor for life, the idea that while these techniques benefit us for self-defense and tournaments, the larger picture is that we can use them to build confidence in ourselves and in our children, our friends, our coworkers.
So… the mysticism? Secret ninja techniques? Nope. What we got was even more valuable: a way to think about each movement, a way to connect our bodies to our opponents’, and enable our own techniques to work better. A way to think about jiu jitsu. A way to carry ourselves. I don’t want to make it sound like I’m pulling back the Wizard’s curtain. What Master Rickson showed us today is there is no curtain to pull back.
I feel privileged and honored to have attended this seminar and shared the mat with 100 of the most professional jiu jitsu practicioners out there. Many, many thanks to Master Rickson for his time and patience, and for providing us the opportunity to attend.
PS I apologize for the pictures, too. In my own defense, I was more worried about training than filming, so I only got the camera out during breaks. And my obligatory picture with Rickson didn’t come out, darn it all. Sorry.
Devlin Kostal is a blue belt under Daniel “Ventania” Thomas at Zeus BJJ in Monterey, CA. He has been traveling through South America, and has been fortunate to train in Lima, Peru, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. His blog, Fueled By Fear, can be found at http://devbjj.blogspot.com.
Dev Kostal and Kron Gracie. Dev: “Why yes, that IS a ‘Fueled By Fear’ patch on the front of my jacket. Thanks for asking!”
June 9th, 2010 | Author: iCompete
This article was originally published at iCompete. Copyright: iCompete.
We are pleased to introduce the 2nd stage of the II Open Euskadi BJJ Tournament , which will be held on 3 July in the Sports Hall of Txurdinaga in Bilbao.
Medals, trophies, shirts, fantastic cash prizes (up to 700 €), Tatami Fightwear gifts … And jiu-jitsu, free admission to facilitate people to come to know our sport and encouraging.
Paid hotel for the first ten black belts signed up.
Polideportivo de Txurdinaga
Calle Circo Amateur Del Club Deportivo 2
Bilbo 48004
Spain MAP
Michael Langhi (Alliance) defeats Phillip della Monica (Gracie Barra) at the 2009 World Championship.
Remember the word back in 2008 about the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation ramping up its push for membership? This year the IBJJF is taking some very concrete steps in that direction which affect the way the 2010 BJJ World Championships will be carried out. I’ll post them below but as you read them, if you have any questions about them, please email them to me by Monday! I will be interviewing an IBJJF representative this coming week on the matter!
Starting at the worlds 2010, at any IBJJF event. It is mandatory for all the black belts to carry their federation membership id cards. Its required to present the I.D card to the event official prior to the match.
IBJJF Membership ids and affiliated federation ids accepted for this event; IBJJF (for non US, Brazil, Japan, France and Portugal residents the IBJJF id is applicable), USBJJF for US residents, CBJJ for Brazil Residents, Japan federation for Japan residents, France Federation for France residentes Portugal federation for Portugal residents, Australia Federation for Australia residents.
For the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2010, IBJJF will release complimentary membership ids for the black belts registered in the world jiu-jitsu championship 2010. This includes the coaches with athletes registered in the event.
If you do not follow the guidelines, IBJJF reserves the right to deny participation of any athlete in this division. All registers in the Black Belt division are under IBJJF approval.
On Sunday during the black belt finals, coaches will be allowed next to the mat for the first time. Here are the rules about coaching that are new.
In any event, when coaches are allowed to be inside the competition area, the coach must wear the vest supplied by the event. The coach must present his/her black belt membership id from the authorized entities, valid for the current year. The coach must return the vest once he leaves the competition area, after the athletes match is over.
There will be 2 chairs located by the score keepers table per ring area, behind the publicity panels, where the coach will be seated.
The coach is responsible for the athletes conduct from the moment you enter and exit the event.
The coach’s action inside the competition area is limited to the communication to the athlete. Tactics and strategies advises, motivating, instructions to umpredictable situations, injuries.
The coach must remain seated during he whole match.
More details about the coaching situation can be found here, and full details about black belt registration requirements are here.
Like I said, if you have any comments about these changes, please email them to me as soon as possible so I can get those questions answered for you.
I know that sometimes when a student reaches achieves the black belt ranking in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, some schools stop charging them to come to the school. I suppose the reasoning is that they have paid enough over the years already and now their presence is valuable enough to the school that they should not have to pay for classes anymore. Maybe it is also to minimize the desire for those new black belts to go to another school or to start their own! Who knows.
In any case, what is it like where you train? Let us know in the poll or in the comments to this post.
April 15th, 2010 | Author: iCompete
This article was originally published at iCompete. Copyright: iCompete.
Adults -
$60 For One
$90 For Both Gi & No-Gi
Pre Registration until Wednesday June 9th, 2010 at Midnight. Add $15 Late Registration After Wednesday June 9th, 2010. (Please note add $15 for Each Absolute Divisions.)
Kids 5-17 -
$55 For One
$85 For Both Gi & No-Gi
Pre Registration until Wednesday June 9th, 2010 at Midnight. Add $15 Late Registration After Wednesday June 9th, 2010
Spectator Tickets: $10 Adults $5 Kids
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brown And Black Belt Competitors: Grappling Experience is pleased to announce that we will be allowing all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brown and Black belts to compete for no cost.
Rodrigo Cavaca (Check Mat) has his hand raised after defeating Andre de Freitas (Gracie Fighter) at Grapplers Quest in 2009. Both will be competing at this weekend’s 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
To limit the influence of super large jiu-jitsu teams overwhelming a certain bracket to ensure points for earning a medal, each team can only enter two competitors in a single division.
Here’s what I mean. Let’s imagine that you manage a large team of Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitors and have a dozen black belts that can compete at medium. While having a dozen competitors in a single division on one’s team does not absolutely ensure a medal for any of them, it would make the work of a team with far less competitors much harder, reducing the chances that they make it to the podium at the end of the day. Because the tournaments are supposed to represent who the best individual fighters are and not whose team is the largest, the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation prohibits you from entering all twelve of those athletes under your flag in the event. Your team’s leadership can only pick two of them.
Here are a couple of examples coming from this weekend’s 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship. Take these competitors in the notoriously competitive lightweight division:
Alliance Lucas Lepri Alliance Michael Langhi Alliance Atlanta William Cooper
Gracie Barra Bruno AmorimGracie Barra Sergio Rodrigo de OliveiraGracie Barra America Joao SobrinhoGracie Barra America Rodrigo Freitas Gracie Barra Long Island Joe Scarola
You’ll notice that there are only two names listed next to Alliance, and two names listed next to Gracie Barra. This means that if Lucas Lepri or Michael Langhi earn a medal, only their points would go to the Alliance team points. (A gold medal earns 9 points, a silver medal earns 3 points, and a bronze medal earns one point.) If Bill “The Grill” Cooper wins a medal, his points would be accumulated with everyone else’s who was registered under the team named Alliance Atlanta.
The same thing goes for Bruno Amorim and Sergio Rodrigo de Oliveira. They bear the responsibility for bringing home the points for Gracie Barra’s main team.
Of course, should Cooper, Sobrinho, Freitas, or Scarola do well and bring home a medal, we in the public will still associate them with their parent organization (Alliance or Gracie Barra). But in terms of how their points are counted this weekend, only two athletes will be under that pressure. They are their organization’s “A Team”.
March 1st, 2010 | Author: iCompete
This article was originally published at iCompete. Copyright: iCompete.
Professor David Adiv will be teaching a seminar at St. Peters. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity. As an instructor, David teaches all aspects of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the self-defense aspect to Sport Jiu-Jitsu, Submission Wrestling and on to Vale Tudo. He is considered by many to be one of the most technical black belts today.
