Victorian State Championships 2015

The Victorian state championships are held in Melbourne every year around April. Previously it was a stand alone event put on at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre but this year they have combined with the Fitness Expo to help raise the profile of the sport. Two hundred metres of blue and yellow tatami's are laid out, in between the powerlifters and female body builders. The sound of clanging weights mix with polite applauses and team chants, compounding the atmosphere and heightening excitement. Individual and team glory is now on the line in a very public way.

I have settled into South Yarra since moving from Mornington to the city, but will still represent Nova Uniao as I have been able to train regularly with both Caulf and Marc. Who to represent is becoming something that I have to mentally contend with, but for now I am registered with the Australian Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation under Nova Uniao and haven't had time to look or consider submitting changes. While no one is making issue of my lack of commitment, I find it difficult to be suddenly receiving so much support from the head coach at South Yarra and the usual penance is representation and shared competition results. However, I'm lucky that everyone is so relaxed, which is very unusual in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world.

I competed in two divisions today, the purple belt No-Gi and Gi event, u76kg. I haven't had a lot of time to implement the learnings garnered from the last competition but I have started looking at my approach and adding a few new techniques into my game, specifically top pressure passing to counter the highly popular open guard game. Ironic considering I left a club full of heavy pressure passers and it's only now, seventy six kilometres away from them that I begin adopting their game.

I had around six fights in total and took gold in both divisions. I am lucky to be coming off a strong few weeks of training and will put my head down to implement the next progression and see where that takes me. I won't be heading to the world championships this year because of         a wedding I have to attend but the big goal will be the Pan Pacs here in September.

WPJJ Quals

In my last blog I signed off with a, “see you at the WPJJ qualifiers.” I was so close to not making it. I uhm-ed and ahh-ed all up until the nth hour booking last minute. Flights were expensive and because the event coincided with Chinese new year, accommodation was scarce, But, when push came to shove (and there was a lot of welcomed shove and support from my team mates and coach) I really wanted to be there and just needed to believe that I could be competitive, in both my division and the open. So I whipped out the credit card and quickly clicked toward the point of no return

Two weeks prior to the event, I competed in the local renegade comp, my first as a purple. It’s a no pressure round robin, with fresh bodies. A good opportunity to test my game. The event went well and I placed second, with two submissions, a cross collar choke from mount and an inverted arm bar, loosing one fight to an ankle lock. My ankles are particularly susceptible at the moment and one thing I have learnt over the last two weeks is that I have no confidence in them or my ankle lock defence.

Additionally, I hesitated because like many young athletes I undermine my previous success’. I significantly down play them and this mean I am often physically over prepared but mentally ill-equipped. Dealing with this is no quick process and something I can begin to long term plan for, but requires exterior help. I would describe myself quite sound of mind and grounded, I don't get nervous in the bull pen and I am comfortable performing at big and small events. However, if I judge the competitor as potentially dangerous or even better than me I really struggle to find my rhythm and game plan. Rather I spend the whole game waiting for them to enact the inevitable.

Over the weekend, I placed 3rd in the open and 2nd in my division against tough opponents and further confirmed these ideas. Craig totally overwhelmed me and out fought me, which is very disappointing. But, I've uncovered an interesting part of my competition psyche, which is just as a valuable as the ticket at this point of my jiu jitsu career and something I can continue working toward.

And that's a wrap, 2014 in BJJ!

So. 2104 ended with me gaining a purple belt while 2015 started with an injury. A pretty good one as well, to the point it has relegated me to blogging about BJJ rather than doing it. I’ve been off the mats for about a month and will probably be at least another week before I can roll again, but that’s contact sports. What started with a tinge to my left knee’s medial healed into a collateral on my elbow and has finished as a ruptured calcaneo-fibular. Things seem to come in threes, so hopefully I will have a good run following this last stint.

Despite the shoddy start to the training season I’ve had a fantastic 2014. After getting back from the worlds I had a few weeks to breathe and then was thrown straight back into comp. It certainly felt like a coming of age as a blue belt and a huge learning curve on preparation.  I’m no longer fearful of the comp atmosphere, in fact I quite enjoy it now. But conditioning and peaking seems to be something to work on.

As a competitor, the highlight had to be winning my weight divisions at the Aus Cup in Gi and No-Gi. I had eight or nine difficult fights and finished in most, which seems to be the key going forward. I also managed 3rd in the open, which was nice. Just got to work harder on my small guy jiu jitsu. Or perhaps put a bit more weight on. Keenan seems to be bulking which says to me that middle heavy is the place to sit for open weight victory. Not that i’m eyeing off Buchecha…yet. 

However, I did win my first open weight competition, taking a neat little pay packet and a gold medal at the Melbourne Regional Championships. I had been working hard on my standing game in lead up to that competition so was really pumped when I hit a few fireman throws. It’s a shame that Judo don’t let you do those otherwise i’d be willing to have a go. Regardless, I think 2015 will see me wrestle more. Watching Caulf medal at the Asian Open affirmed to me that a good wrestling game is a must in modern day BJJ. 

I also returned to the Pan-Pacs this year. It’s been a while, it was my first competition as a white belt, I remember six months in to my training heading along to MSAC, totally under prepared and over fed, but with all the gusto and confidence I have today. I had to grit my teeth for this tournament as I was well past my peak, in fact I had peaked two weeks prior, training at Marcelino’s in Noble Park and could feel my body winding down. So I was well out of touch and spent a lot of the day defending and waiting to score. My first fight was spent escaping a triangle. Not ideal, and it set the tone. It carried me to the final but physically I couldn’t find that little extra piece to take first and ended up second place for both. Still very happy and will look to win the tournament one day..soon. 

Along with a few other little tournament wins here and there I feel i have made some murmurs in the blue belt division and hopefully shown of our brand of BJJ. I was honoured to receive Competitor of the year from the guys at Peninsula Extreme. Every time I fought I would go out in my mind representing the team and wanting to do something they could be proud of. I figure the guy on the podium is the pointy end of a lot of efforts (training partners and mainly coaches) so it was great to receive the acknowledgement but I would never have been as successful with out the time and support Jason Caulfield and Jeroen Lynders have given me since coming to the club.  

However, I have moved which means a new training premise. Absolute will be my new home for 2015 and I will do my best to step up and work as hard as ever on my BJJ. I’m still an NU guy and will compete under this banner. The training is fierce and competitors are many, meaning i should be in good stead coming up a division. I have really started work on my spider guard and feel that this will be a central part to my 2015 game. See you at the WPJJ qualifiers! 

Atos Training Days 1 & 2

“Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means ‘a whale’s vagina.’” — Ron Burgundy

Well into the last leg of my trip, after an emotion fuelled evening at the worlds, watching Buchecha squeeze past Rodolfo to claim an epic third open weight tittle, I jumped on the pacific train line and strapped in for a two hour ride down to San Diego from LA in search of more gold. This time from the star studded Atos crew. Unfortunately for me Galvao's gym isn't exactly in the heart of San Diego, It’s about a twenty minute drive from downtown, or in my case a fourth five minute to an hour bus ride along the free way and through some of the cities more suburban areas. Which definitely allows you to get off the tourist track and see some real life San Diegoians in their natural habitat. While a bit of a timely affair, totally worth it when you think about the practitioners who line the edge of this particular mat.

The gym itself is a personification of its professor and the Atos ethos. Humbly nestled in the corner between a Chinese restaurant and a FedEx, the only signage is the a small bill board on the roof which reads "Free 30 day trial, Jiu Jitsu" . You would have never even known that one of the best BJJ practitioners of all time operates out of this space. Until you set foot inside  and notice that high up on the walls, boxed and presented, ADCC, WPJJ and a host of IFBJJ and Brazilian national tittles. Most importantly or most visible are the recent team tittles, a Pan-Ams first and yesterdays second at the worlds draw your attention , and after hearing Andre speak, these two accolades in particular seem to be a his most valuable achievements. His success appears to be a secondary factor to that of the teams results, or as he calls it ‘the family’. And funnily enough, what grabs your attention most at the club is the checked mat space, perhaps a symbolic representation of the gyms mantra, i.e together our Jiu Jitsu talks loudest.

I wasn't sure how busy it would be considering the worlds finished just yesterday and whether Galvao would even be on the mat, but this guy lives for his students. Sure enough at 6.15 he and his newly appointed black belt wife strolled through the door laughing, talking and shaking hands with everyone. I need to make a point of how available he is to his students and how willing he is to teach, work and praise everyones efforts. It could be quite easy for someone of his stature and success to sit back and allow others to run the class (think Keenan, Leira, Carbullido, Samson, JT) or to rest on his laurels. But, he is on the grind working just as hard as a coach, as he does a competitor. With technique as well, always learning, and not afraid to admit where he doesn’t know something. 

So monday we begin the class with a packed group of approximately twenty. Mainly purples and browns with a few blues hanging around. Galvao, splits his classes so that the whites work together in a separate fundamentals session, until they know the procedures, (like 1-2-3 clap to commence a technique), how to do basic movements and all the basic positions. In both rooms a syllabus hangs on the wall. Galvao’s is a bit more loose, but focus’ on six week cycles, working with particular concepts, drilling the techniques that flow into these concepts and applying them in a competition format. The whites have quite a bit more structure, for example; monday week one-back takes, tuesday, review back takes, thursday back escapes etc. 

Our training is very comp focused. Even though everyone is winding down after a big few weeks preparing for the worlds, the way we train is all for sport bjj and application within the match circumstance. Starting with a quick movement specific warm up, we flow straight into a popular DLR technique and transition. Similar to Cobrinha, drilling is done to time, five minutes for my partner and then five minutes for myself and probably about two reps of this cycle. Then we spend 5 minutes hitting it at competition speed. Hitting the technique like we would in a match, with Galvao putting emphasis on speed, power and most importantly not waiting, taking the position as soon as you can, again 5 minute rounds for two-three cycles. The final exploration of the technique is done working the position, letting your partner set their grips up to hit the sweep, while the you defend and try to pass. This is very important and we spend a good three to four two minute rounds doing this, until finishing with about four, seven minute free rolls. Galvao himself is a monster. On the second day we had the chance to roll together and even though he went pretty light, (I figure on his scale of light and hard I was probably just scratching the surface!!) the tightness and transitional pressure was always there. And his knees. His knees are like concrete pillars, which he uses to control you, always changing the angle of his hips to create space, and moving, constantly until he decides its time to stop, clamping down like a vice on your hips. It was an awesome roll and I got a lot out of it, trying to pass and play guard with one of BJJ’s best competitors. 

Our second session there was taken by the big man Keenan himself. Of course we got a preview of the worm guard and the reverse and another inverted version. Heads up, this is the progression. If you are not working it out start playing with it because if you thought the berimbolo was it, well, wait until you feel the control of this. We drilled it in a similar fashion to the last class, which meant Galvao showed some of his counters, but if you are not sold on it, watch how Keenan controlled Buchescha at the WPJJ, or how he destroyed leandro in the open at the worlds this year. It will be another standard positional technique in the next 12 months because of how effective it is, so get BJJ Scouting to understand the position, or check out his website because he has some cool breakdowns on it!

I travel back to LA today and fly out tomorrow. I am weighing up weather to go out to Kron’s but am carrying a few niggles which might deter me. So perhaps this might be my last training camp post and if it is, reflecting back I think the truest statement about the difference between our gym and any of the gyms I have trained at is; (and this is something Coach Jeroen has said often) the training partners. We have great facilities, excellent technicians and coaches who help develop our games. Take solace in knowing that everything we are doing at home stacks up overseas. Our BJJ is totally relevant and applicable on an international level (in my humble opinion). From smash and stack passing to inverted DLR and berimbolos. The only major difference I have found is that at any one time, in these gyms, you can have multiple world champions, pan am champions, seasoned competitors or BJJ pioneers which pushes the training intensity. No resting in the roll, limited resting in-between, no fans means you end up defending in odd positions, getting creative and pushing yourself to find new techniques to combat problems you repeatedly come up against! 

Good training partners make the difference. Not that we don't have that in Melbourne. We have a host of international talent and high-level competition, but if we are to make any head way soon, that all needs to come together under one roof every so often, so as to push the Australian competition team further and further up the podium. However, I digress. The point I wanted to make is that we at Mornington have done ourselves proud and produced an incredible style, which is balanced, on the precipice of technical brilliance, creative and dynamic. Thank-you team for helping me get out here and fly the flag, without you I could have never of got nearly as close as I did. As a parting thought, this was my first worlds, but next year will be my second and I hope to have a team of guys around me, coming out and representing Novia Uniao Australia and Mornington Extreme. As Galvao said, "together, we are stronger as a team!".

Ous.           

The Cauliflower is up!

Worlds 2014, day 3 & 4

The big boys day at the pyramid. Keenan’s worm guard destroyed Lo, but then got him DQ’d in the quater finals. Rodolfo passed, passed and then passed some more. The Miyao boys showed they could berimobolo, foot lock from berimbolo, come up and pass from berimbolo, sleep, eat and live in the berimbolo. But this was all yesterday, and while watching them was awesome, today is finals and everyone knows it. All of the teams making noise, inaudible sounds, chants and foot stamps to show their pleasure or displeasure. A modern day coliseum. In the right corner the Team GB. Sitting directly in the middle is the Alliance crew. Behind mat one is GFT and then at the top and on the right side; Checkmat. Specked between them a few smaller groups (some crew Cicero Costha, a little bit of Lloyd Irvin and some Gracie Humita), and how could I forget! Atos! Who while small in number, have absolutely charged and had medal reps in every caterogry. Where as Gracie Baha have (anecdotally) been pretty quiet up until today, making up for it with a good representation at the black belt level. Interestingly it seemed that each team controlled an area, Alliance looked like it cleaned up in the purple ranks and then Team Lloyd Irvin, as a surprise package (but not so surprising when you think of kumite and the alumni) looked like they owned the brown belts, but who will take black?

However, I have a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. I will get to a list of fights I made (outside of the finals) to go watch but it is the finals that are on everyones mind. This bitter taste, particularly comes as a result of the AOJ boys, the Miyao’s and Bruno’s fight. More so the AOJ, but i recommend you go watch them, because it will divide the BJJ community, for at least the next twelve minutes. Joao and Bruno had a great to and fro battle which ended controversially but at least entertained with a good battle. Joao worked really hard throughout, attacking attacking and attacking. Personally, I was rooting for Bruno after sharing a small space on the mat together, but many felt that Joao should have been the victor. It could have easily been the case. His berimbolo was incredible and flexibility suffocated Bruno’s speed. It was a nervous fight to watch and hard to call, which makes you wonder if the refs are a little partial to those who have established themselves. I think in a normal fight Joao would have won, but you can be the Judge of it.

But it set the scene for Paulo to avenge his brother against Gui. Gui had been fighting really well and Paulo had been his normal aggressive self. As an aside, watching him, his brother and Lo warm up separately was interesting. They all have an abundance of energy. They twitch and move like kids, but with aggression or as if they are amped up on sugar, moving rhythmically back and forth waiting, like little Velociraptors. I think Cicero Costha does something special down there with the water or perhaps the immunisation program. But! This final, Gui V Paulo was berimbolo V berimbolo, and it should have been epic. However It was not. And let me preface that I am not against the evolution of positions. But 50/50. Thats all I need to say. Paulo worked so hard and almost tore Gui’s foot off, while the AOJ black-belt tactically played the ten minutes out, locking the game down with a lapel wrap and 50/50 guard. And somehow, somehow in the last 10 seconds Joao was awarded an advantage for the most aggressive toehold I have ever seen, causing the place to roar in joyous unioson, after systematically booing Gui for his less than fluid movement throughout (which many called out as “stalling”). And then just as quickly as the ref had given it, it was stripped pegging them even. And somehow Gui managed, after the fight, to be awarded an advantage for mirroring the same position. Remarkable. 

The place erupted. Aliance, GFT and checkmate were in arms against the atos crew, heckling Gui even harder than they hard throughout the fight. Boos and hiss’ at him from oneside and a supportive “pow—lo” boomed from about three quarters of the stadium. And Paulo was robbed. absolutely robbed. And he sobbed. The emotion of it all was overwhelming. He couldn't believe it, the crowd couldn't and Gui just ran around with his fingers up showing off how many world tittles he had won. As a comparison, when Rodolfo beat Bernardo, he hushed the crown and comforted the guy. A true gentleman and King of the sport who could teach a few things to his slight companions. I was heading to AOJ but have decided against it. Moral protest. This Also reminded me of the Estima calasans fight, another controversial decision which I have listed to watch. If in doubt…don’t leave it to the refs. I think that’s a dana white quote?

So after watching Gui receive his gold medal to a thunder of boos. Cobrinha stepped up to take on Rafa. This match was a little better, but not too much different. Rafa plated very tactically again, they exchanged sweeps from 50/50 until Cobrinha tried to open the game up and instead of carrying on with the see-saw motion (much to the joy of the crowd)  he tried to pass and work away from Rafa’s guard. However I think it could be argued that DLR and 50/50 transition quite easily  and those Mendes boys are awesome at DLR, so it was quite tricky for Cobrinha to stay away from, and inevitably he lost by the same two points he gave up when he open the guard up. So you have to give it the Mendes brothers. They can play tactics and it works. Four times world champions proves it. If you wanted to win the worlds, or a state comp, pull 50/50, stall for a bit, sweep, hold it, then lie on your side and attack the foot with straight ankle locks for the next couple of minutes. (or toe holds depending on your rank). Or. Start drilling and learning how to play against it and open it up. One things for sure, the loudest AOJ chants where coming from a huge group of 4ft 5 children, meaning that unless the IFBJJ decide they are going to play with the rules to change it, we are all going to have to learn how to avoid it, submit from it, tactically use it and sweep with it. 

But that’s enough of my finals commentary. You can go watch the rest and decide for yourself. In the meantime here are a list of awesome fights to search for, which i really enjoyed (forgive spelling, i rushed to type them and autocorrect has done me a disservice, feel free to correct!) :

Mario Reis V Rafa Mends. (Mario is my new favourite light weight fighter, behind cobrinha. Super technical and really good guard)

J.Miyao V Cavalcanti (?)

JT V Langhi. (Awesome exxhange between the two.I was really rooting for Langhi but alas)

Otavio Sousa V Vitor Oliveira. (Classic octavia. There is a reason why he is the worlds best middle weight and he put on a performance)

Leandro Lo V Santos

Barral V G. Campos (Controversial DQ but up until that point an awesome fight)

Lo V Estima. (This one is for Jase. Lo is pretty flat in this and estima almost tears his foot off with that special lock. Unfortunatiely Cicero Costha injects wolverine metal into his boys joints so no tap. But a great set up and awesome fight)

Simmoes V Bernardo

And for Kate and Sarah, watch these fights, will give you a feel of the intensity to work to in the gym

Ariadne de Olivera  V Bandera. kate this one is for you. super light girls, super technical

Michelle Nicolline V Tammy Muscemi. not for the squeamish. Broken arm in this one. And she kept rolling. Couldn't believe it. 

A

Right this very minute I’m on a train to san diego to catch up with the Atos crew for some fun drill sessions. Yewwww!

Worlds Post, Day I & II

 How can you not get excited coming around the corner to the glassy pyramid at one of the biggest competitions of the year? Our own gladiator’s stadium, a perfectly based battlefield, humming with Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese and English sounds. On one level the competition is about you showing off and giving your brand of BJJ a name and on the other its an opportunity to admire and revel in the awesome displays on athleticism, determination, technique and discipline. What’s more, Xande is sitting over to the right with his brother and a few other guys, meanwhile Rafa runs up and down the stairs, over seeing his AOJ and Atos troops like the fearless General, Who happens to be pacing with the upper echelons of the alliance crowd. And then the Red shirts. Spotted everywhere to remind you that the Gracie name is still strong in BJJ. Despite the lack of active competitors, but hey Roger was just sitting behind me and his leg was bouncing frantically for a long time until he finally got up, rushed down to the barricade and jumped it…But hey, who is going to exit him from the arena?!
My comp day began at 9:00 with a 2 hour train ride from L.A to Long beach. Through Compton (and i survived!!). Once arrived I suit up and enter the bull pen and proceed to warm up lightly. The T.V screens in front of you have each match coming up over the next hour. You enter the bull pen once your match is listed, along with the other hundred blue belt competitors, who are spread out across 12 mats. We stand, some are visible tense, clenched, perhaps moving or twitching. All of us eyeing each other off, looking for patches, tell signs that we might be fighting in the first round. Who is the tallest, the smallest or the lightest? A yellow light next to name means fighters should be on deck. The bull pin filters into two sections, mats 1-6 on the left, 7-12 on the right. I move to the right and pass through the Gi and weight check. This area is smaller and about twenty other guys move around the space. It is hot, from the body heat, with some cometotors having already fought, or just fought. Some of them sit, some lie. I take a quick shot of honey, a swill of water and start moving the body and begin amping my motivation levels up. The gate co-ordinator calling up names. Checks you are there and your ID. Anyone missing is called over the P.A, but the noise is so loud the words get lost. 

Fights turn to orange. You are called to stand in a line, not dissimilar to one you would find at a bank. We are still outside the fight area, but by this point your opponent is opposite you. I don’t really take much notice. A quick physical survey, he’s tall, broader, heavier. All normal when fighting up a weight class. Instead I continue to play with my motivation levels, get them up a little more and think on Coach Jeroen’s advice. Action beats reaction, take the game to where you are strongest. Repeat it. Action beats reaction, take the game to where you are strongest. Green Light. We are led to the field of play. That fluorescent yellow and blue is exhilarating to look at. Especially when you have watched, Lo, Galvao, Marcello, Viera,Buchecha, all step out from similar corners, into these very arenas. You on the right the competitor on the left. The Match preceding finished and you wait. At this point you are allowed to remove your shoes, and only once the ref invites you on may you enter into the ring, and it’s quick. Everyone knows the rules, so no one goes over them you shake hands, the ref looks at the timer and we begin.

This was Something I did three times over, but, alas was not my day to bring home the shiny shine of all that glitters. But. All is not lost. I fought 2 really strong fights, passed really well and took backs. The third I let slip from my hands.It was a good fight but i just didn't or wasn't technically up to it. I leg dragged and had the solid leg drag position, but failed to hold him, or advance and capitalise and let him re guard. Then i got out and pass round his legs to the left, blocking, he was wormy so went to NS and he re-guarded. 3 rd time i pass right and similar sort of story but by this time i'm a little tired and he throws on a triangle position and i think swept somewhere in that but I can't remember. No worries, i go to defend the triangle but he wanted the arm and took it. Doh!!!!!! Still, a great day all in all, and I think with some math that puts me in the top 16 of a stacked division. And I've got something even more out of this that a medal would have only represented, which is my confidence to compete and train hard and go for it. This camp and experience for me was as much about showing up and seeing what came out and because I seriously questioned if I would ever have the physical capacity to compete at a high intensity again.

I felt fit, i fought well and was a breath away from fighting for a medal. The tournament was smooth, slick and easy to partake in and the ifbjj events are something we need more of in Australia. It has an air of professionalism about it, from the rules around the Gi, to the presentation of the arena and officials. And of course the competitors. These events bring the top competitors, especially with the new qualifying rules coming into place for 2015, people want to compete and prove themselves, which filters across the local BJJ ecosystems. It wasn't just Cobrinhas that had world class athletes in its walls. GB was host to the likes of the Estimas, Sanchez and Romulo to name a few. Imagine having just a few of those names annually visit Aus, and what it would do for the local level.   But what can I tell you from the event thus far that you might not already know? If you are not already, start training ankle locks. Inverted, straight and (yes) flying (or jumping). I have seen so many ankle locks, from half guard, inverted guard, berimbolo and they literally cut the comp ready and the not so ready apart…because even if you don’t get it a good one can a) save you from conceding 2 points if you are being swept and really threaten b) give you an advantage. Leading me to the next point. Advantages (like Jase has said pretty regularly) win fights. They are like points pretty much. Rack them up. Because the refs are super tight. So tight. Points are not easily awarded without the criteria being supremely met, where you can demonstrate actual control of the position. So knowing when an advantage is given and how to take them is super valuable. I saw a guys win in the last thirty seconds through an advantage, just wrapping an ankle, or trying a choke hard enough to get a defensive response. 

And here is an interesting one to contemplate. An Aussie guy I have been training with is a brown and won the european No-Gi weight and open just gone. He has been coming to Cobrinha’s since he was a blue. His team mate (who also travels with him annually) told Cobrinha that their were rumours he might get his black if he placed well at this comp. Cobrinha shook his head and said “why is your coach in such a rush? Under me he would still be a purple, let him be a world champion purple belt and have a lot of success.” True to form a lot of Cobrinha’s medaling browns and purples have occupied their rank for three years and up and those that are really good in their division have spent a fair while their. Some browns as long as four years, but consequently are taking the shiny stuff home. I raise this as just an interesting juxtaposition between perhaps the emphasis placed upon time spent at a particular level, in aus compared to U.S and other places. I don’t know the right amount of time or skill ment to be acquired but i think its noteworthy to mention!
Tomorrow we have the blacks. Atos is leading at the moment in the team events. Looking super good. Will get some photos and report back!

Cobrinha Training Camp, Post 2

So its about twelve thirty here in L.A and the endorphins are pumping, two and a half hours after my final training session. Thats right, after around seventeen and a half hours of gruelling mat time the Gi's have been washed hung and will be prepared to enter the pyramid on thursday. One hundred and one competitors have signed up for my division, meaning that I have a run of about seven fights to a gold medal, and if the fights are anything like the sparring we've been doing, they are going to be fast, hard, unforgiving affairs. So one match at a time right!

The training regime (and my regime) haven't really differed since my last post. I have found keeping a routine the best way to ensure a good  balance. Perhaps the only thing which I could have improved was my sleep patterns, but as a result of getting in so late and being on Melbourne time I compromised and just made sure I got nine hours. Between waking up and the first training session I would refuel, and not just as a plug, but the seed mix I got as a care package has been a blessing. Even with getting most of my food from Wholefoods, an epicentre of organic, free range, bio-friendly goodness, its been a constant in terms of having a slow energy burn. Meaning that with the first class at twelve I'm not feeling heavy from a late breakfast, or starving from an early one. After class i'd head home on the bus refuel with an acai bowl, rehydrate (Gatorades are only a dollar here!), smash a plate of greens and beans down and then back in the evening, leaving around six thirty for the eight o'clock class so I can grab a coffee to unfog the mind and get on the mat a little earlier so I can stretch and to do it all again!

(As an aside, they do try their best to do a latte, but alas drinking frothy milk isn't my thing so I've just had to settle for their plain old filtered black 'caw-feee'. Does the trick)

So I spoke about the room being so warm last time, but I have noticed Cobrinha deliberately turning the fans off when class starts, which I thought was so we could hear him talk and it may have been, but no one turns them back on, despite no air flow and it feeling like a small oven. It cranks the intensity of the fight up and also you end up dripping like you've just stepped out of the shower. Most interestingly, one of the guys I was training with who has a physio background argued that it helps prevent injuries, keeps every one supple and limber for the next session. Which, while i have been stretching and using the roller I haven't once woken up sore or unable to move. It also is helping a lot of guys here who are cutting weight. I've dropped 4 kg being here, and im eating and drinking like its going out of fashion. Another week and I could have fought rooster!

So as you saw 'The General' dropped by on monday and with him brought pretty much all of Alliance. What an epic session that was. The room doubled in volume, and the mat space at Cobrinha's is like a long rectangle, I would comfortably bet smaller than ours in total area but you'd have to get your ruler out to be sure. The techniques he showed were layered, complex, relevant and highly effective and we drilled in the same format, seven minutes for my partner then seven minutes for myself. Different to Cobrinha, who showed one technique and then spar, Gurgel started with a fundamental movement pattern, into a technique, into a reaction, then spar. This time we split off into rank. Black and browns for the first round then blues and purples in the next. A real treat to watch some of the best in the world go at it and then perhaps have them watch you.

The high level of open guards have meant I have spent a lot of time passing. You have to one way or another, totally own their hips, give an inch and you will have toe creeping back across your shin and recovering guard, so if you just want to stand and pass then you are going to have to do it fast, un-sequentially and in a manner that keeps them defending for ten, twenty, thirty seconds until you can get round or transition it into a smash or stack position where you own the hips. Exhaustive.

I probably spent the first days wondering what on earth I was doing there. The combination of my opponents skill, the heat, jet lag and new environment had me two or three seconds behind other guys. Fortunately a few other Aussies are here, four from AET and three from Debeen, they seem to have had a similar experiences and its really interesting rolling with an alliance guy and then rolling with someone from home. A stark contrast in tightness and continual movement. These high level alliance guys are like vices and they move to remove space, fast, and are quickly consolidating and advancing position. It really rocked my confidence, but also served as a great lesson in humility. However as time has gone on I have started to hit my pace and grips. Movements began to return to second nature. Less guessing and thinking, more doing, which meant I began to have better rolls,more back takes and leg drags, not so much hipping and defending!

So hopefully this puts me in good stead for the coming days. As its my rest day I'm going to try and put that four kg back on, grab a massage and hydrate the body. I head to Long Beach in the morning and fight in the afternoon, will spend a few days watching the cream of the crop and then head down to San Diego and play around at Atos for  few days. Grab a few waves and enjoy the training!