Southend 2004

The groundfighting category in our national championships is becoming more and more popular. Gone are the days of simply dumping on your opponent and hoping for the best. These days, to even stand a chance, nearly everyone has to train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu – there simply is no other way to win. This year was no exception as it seemed almost everyone wore a BJJ Kimono replete with fierce looking patches. But I was not to be outdone. I had something no one else had – my very own personal (and bona fide) BJJ instructor right beside me giving me support.

As soon as Eddie turned up, I could sense the whispers and looks of interest. If they did not know who he was, he certainly made sure donning a fetching Royler Gracie T-shirt and accompanying tattoos! For once, perhaps the usually all dominant Irish team were looking a little nervous?

Well, I certainly couldn’t say I did not prepare. The past two months have seen me train intensively in BJJ, concluding in a seriously mind-blowing private session with my coach. The details of the fight I have left on the main club website [link]http://www.whitewall.fsnet.co.uk/southend2004.htm [/link] but suffice to say that in my mind, I did well to counter and almost beat an experienced BJJ specialist in my first ever ground fighting contest.
The atmosphere surrounding our mat was very special as Eddie and co sneaked on to my mat and, together with Kev and Wayne, we suddenly became a very vocal and supportive ringside team. Brilliant, just like a real BJJ contest.

Ok, so I never won my fight and the Bronze slipped out of my grasp, but I think, I gained something more important. I succeeded in proving that I can hold my own in a sport that is very new to me and is still very much in the novice stages. I realised that all they say about positioning, timing and technique will allow the smaller individual (read, always me) to defeat a bigger person. The Gracies were right in believing this and proved so.

But let’s not forget what our main style of (Japanese) ju-jitsu has and continues to offer me. The other night, as I drilled my juji-gatame escapes, so common in BJJ, a nagging thought that I had seen this technique before. Then it dawned on me – white to green belt kata, shows this very same escape, only contained within a flowing kata. Wonderful stuff, so actually, it was in my syllabus all along. What other nuggets of wisdom are waiting to be discovered? That’s why I am happy to train in both styles and marvel at both the differences, and similarities between two arts that on the surface, share only a name in similarity.