Baby Meerkat is born!

Baby Meerkat was born 18th Nov 2005, 11.40pm weighting 6lb9oz. Her official name is Aimee Yang. Meerkat and Mrs Meerkat are so exhausted it is unbelievable. But she is a joyous little thing.


Words cannot describe the pain and torture giving birth is. Sorry to be frank, but Mrs M went through a torrid time. But she is recovering, albeit slowly.





Meerkat is yet to sleep more than two hours in a row in 5 days. Welcome to parenthood. Tougher than a black belt, harder than the cage.

byMeerkatsu

in

November 22, 2005

Baby Meerkat is born!

Baby Meerkat was born 18th Nov 2005, 11.40pm weighting 6lb9oz. Her official name is Aimee Yang. Meerkat and Mrs Meerkat are so exhausted it ...

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Southend 2005

More details on our intrepid competitors at this year's Jikishin Ju-Jitsu tournament:

Ben, fought Andy Walker, the eventual winner, in his opening bout of the men's sparring and lost narrowly, one judge scoring in his favour, the other 2 against. Ben says that he is 'well chuffed' that he managed to compete and measure up against one of the best fighters in the whole tournament.


Ben with Peter

Aubrey - had a by in his first round but had to fight two more opponents before reaching the final, where he met Andy Walker and lost narrowly, but gained a silver for his efforts. In one of his earlier rounds, a successful takedown by Aubrey unfortunately got the better of his opponent who required medical attention. Luckily it was just a bad dose of being winded and he was eventually fine .


Aubrey, slightly obscured by the referee who looks like Sensei Brian Herbert.

In all bouts both Aubrey and Ben repeatedly managed to effect the shoot, clinch and takedown drills I had shown them and this aspect particularly pleased me. It has taken me a long, long time to figure this out as the missing key to our stand-up sparring knowledge. Gone are the days of wildly flailing arms and legs in the hope of winning. Strategy and tactics are the most important aspect to our style of stand-up fighting. My personal thanks for this vital bit of knowledge must go to my BJJ and MMA instructor Eddie, and also to the many cage fighters I have been privileged to enjoy watching at MMA fights. Hopefully next year, as my knowledge grows, I can even better prepare our next crop of young fighters in 2006.

On to David, who for the second year made his mark on random attacks. Sensei Steph,who watched his performance very closely, commented that his attempts were very good and very little could be separated between him and his opponent. The decision eventually did not go to David, but he later said: 'I am very pleased and really enjoyed it. I was much better than last year because I learned to relax, which enabled me to perform the self-defence techniques much more fluidly.'


David, relaxed

Steph, finally won Gold after numerous attempts in previous years. Always the bridesmaid no longer as she won her bout against a formidable opponent convincingly. Steph says that she specifically went for a tactical approach, exactly as Ben and Aubrey had been doing - of waiting to shoot, clinch then takedown the opponent. Yet again, I am pleased to say, the approach was clearly a winning one, I am very pleased for her.


Steph, judging

More and more I believe that, whilst competing in tournaments might not be for all, the ability to spar at both stand-up and on the ground regularly is a vital aspect of learning ju-jitsu, and one I shall be encouraging more at the club over the coming year.

byMeerkatsu

in

November 15, 2005

Southend 2005

More details on our intrepid competitors at this year's Jikishin Ju-Jitsu tournament: Ben, fought Andy Walker, the eventual winner, in h...

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...STOP PRESS

Results from the Jikishin Tournament 2005:
Aubrey St-Louis wins Silver in the men's sparring!!
Steph Mindel wins Gold in women's sparring.!!

I'm very pleased for all our competitors, including Ben in the sparring and David in the random attacks. It takes a lot of guts, will power and determination to stand on the mat in front of a noisy audience, and against an unknown opponent. All one can do to prepare is to make sure that you train properly and cover all angles. I'm pleased that we managed to do at least that. But the result is more than just about the medals, it is about growing and developing as a martial artist so that in years to come, you can say you were able to stand up and test yourself.

I hope to get a more detailed report soon, right now though, my mind is on other things...when is this baby ever going to get born?????

byMeerkatsu

in

November 12, 2005

...STOP PRESS

Results from the Jikishin Tournament 2005: Aubrey St-Louis wins Silver in the men's sparring!! Steph Mindel wins Gold in women's spa...

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Medically speaking

Last night at BJJ class during end of session sparring, one lad had an epileptic seizure. At first no one knew what was going on as he lurched around the mat arms held infront and fitting uncontrollably. The man he was sparring with freaked out thinking something he did caused the seizure (he didn’t). He soon went to the ground aided by a couple of people and the seizure stopped, though he was some time coming round back to consciousness. The whole class stopped, some seemed to be quite shocked and shout out totally inappropriate advise – like throw a bottle of water over him (to revive him), or pinch his finger (to stop him choking on vomit????). Eddie, and a couple of us basically just sat with him to make sure his vital signs were still ok. He was still breathing, and his skin colour was normal so it seemed there was not much more to do other than wait. The one thing I should have kept track of but forgot was to measure his pulse. Finally he came to and looked a bit dazed and confused but otherwise ok. I am sure it was not his first seizure and he was naughty not to mention his medical condition to Eddie on his application form. But he seemed ok and was driven home. The incident brought home to me the thought that when training or teaching a class of twenty, thirty individuals, there is always a chance there will be someone with a serious medical condition. He/she may or may not disclose this information so it is up to the instructor and other around to be aware and react properly.

Dojo news – I’m hoping our entries to this year’s big JJ tournament at Southend will do well. Two of us, Ben and Aubrey will enter the sparring and I have high hopes as they are very able fighters. One thing I have been drilling with them is to work the shoot and clinch. This type of drill is fairly new to us, though of course it is as old as wrestling, but since I have been training BJJ and a little MMA, I see how important it is. In many ways, it has allowed me to see the light. In previous sparring tournaments, I would kick, and punch, and then rush in for a syllabus style throw. Always without success. It is not that the throw was wrong or my technique, it is the context. In sport JJ, syllabus throws are not effective. In self defence, gloves off and anything allowed, I believe they work as desgined. So, in sport, with good timing, an effective grappling style shoot and clinch should allow tori to throw or takedown the uke with ease. We’ll see if my methods allow Imperial another haul of medals this year.
Our hopes also rest on David, who is entering random attacks this year. As a brown belt, the stakes are raised yet again. Good luck to all our crew.
BTW Meerkat is not competing this year since mini-Meerkat may be born any time soon so I don’t want to risk missing the vital call!!

byMeerkatsu

in

November 01, 2005

Medically speaking

Last night at BJJ class during end of session sparring, one lad had an epileptic seizure. At first no one knew what was going on as he lurch...

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