Hong Kong Royce

The dust has barely had time to settle on my Southend exertions when this week I have been thrust back into training. Today I just attended a seminar by Rolker Gracie down at Eddie's Bethnal Green dojo.What to say about Rolker? He is not as famous or well known as Royce, Rickson or Royler but he exudes the same persona - confident yet approachable, with mischievous sense of humour, and with a unique way of phrasing English words. Today's seminar was free from flash or showbiz, it was straight up basics and getting them done correctly. We learned 3 ways to defend the guard pass. We played with spider guard. We practised chokes from back mount. All very basic - but not to be confused with easy. It is easy to try these and fluff them up, it is harder to do them properly. So something clicked with me today. For the first time in my short BJJ career, I actually managed to use something in real
time sparring that I had only just learned in class earlier. Those simple defences to guard passes really work - and against even the most determined (and heavy) opponent (that's our Greg). So thanks to Rolker, for teaching us honest, good techniques that I will remember easily and use regularly. Next year, there will be a Gracie Brothers Fest - Royler, Royce, Rolker - all together in one room. This kind of thing just doesn't happen - I truly cannot wait. Oh, and the 'Hong Kong Royce' reference - it's the name Rolker used to refer to me. I wasn't sure whether that was a compliment or something else!


One of these guys looks like a hardened fighter.