22 Nov 2006

The life of a working professional martial artist is not all it is made out to be. Some have jobs or full time dojos to support their income, but for most of those who are actively competing, full time training is the only way to be the best. But most tournaments in the grappling world pay no more than a token prize and that’s only if you win. Sponsorship helps, but it’s not huge sums. Sure, some of the top guys can earn tens, maybe hundreds of thousands through televised MMA events such as Pride and UFC. And there is of course the Abu Dhabi tournament which is pretty well funded. But for the rest, well, they’re doing it for the love of the sport rather than the paltry money.
So when the 10K Ground Clash Challenge was announced, everyone’s ears shot up. What? £10,000 pounds and only one winner. And here in little old Blighty? This was surely interesting enough to attract the attentions of the best in the world. And sure enough this event, being held in Hackney next March will include the very best current exponents of grappling in the world. It won’t be easy, there are no weight categories, something often referred to as the ‘absolute’ division and there is only one winner from a pick of 32.
Full marks to the organisers who are trying to make ground fighting - submission grappling - BJJ etc reach a wider audience.
Of course such an event cannot go un-recorded so guess who is to be an official photographer at the 10K Clash? Yours Meerkatingly truly! One just hopes the soon to be acquired new camera gear works properly.

Ten thousand

The life of a working professional martial artist is not all it is made out to be. Some have jobs or full time dojos to support their income...

17 Nov 2006

One of the more interesting ‘perks’ of running your own club is that you get asked to participate in interesting stuff. In the past I have been asked, though sadly had to turn down, a spot on a TV reality program, an interview with a magazine and an offer to be the private instructor to one of the biggest bigwigs in the City. But last week, I was asked by a sales company to take their sales staff on a team bonding session involving ju-jitsu. Now this I couldn’t refuse. The challenge for me was that I had to incorporate their sales ethos into my session and somehow relate martial arts to being a good sales person. Hmmm, a tricky challenge, but with my previous sales experience, I thought I could give it a go.

Well, the evening was a success. 13 sales staff from Magentanews came down to the dojo not knowing what to expect. After the obligatory ‘Welcome to Fight Club” announcement I got the team stuck in to various ju-jitsu drills and, with a little help from my systema training, some non-jujitsu drills. It was all very good fun and I even managed to use martial arts skills as metaphors for handling tough clients or negotiating a sales deal. The men and women seemed to take to the drills with much enthusiasm and merriment. Most of the drills were based on simple wrist lock defences, which always go down a storm with non-jitsuka. There was also a basic rear naked choke, simple straight arm locks, some padwork and the handshake of death grips I picked up recently. I really wanted to introduce groundfighting too but I ran out of time.

I was pleased that they all left the dojo with big grins on their faces and half a mind to try out their techniques on some unwitting office colleague the next day. For me, I enjoyed the challenge and the opportunity to reach a wider audience and show them ju-jitsu.
Who knows what to expect next in Meerkat world?

Closing the deal

One of the more interesting ‘perks’ of running your own club is that you get asked to participate in interesting stuff. In the past I have b...

8 Nov 2006

Following last year’s popular seminar, Eddie Kone popped down to Imperial dojo again yesterday. I asked him this time to begin with the Gracie’s take on self defence before moving onto sport BJJ. He was happy to oblige and began with defences to a two-handed strangle and pushes against the chest. There was something of a muted appreciation from the students. Uh oh, I thought, maybe they were giving the old ‘seen it all before’ attitude (we have very similar techniques in our white belt), but before long, these simple starters quickly progressed to more diverse techniques that got our crowd wowing with jitsu glee. From the hip throw, Eddie showed various restraining methods from the knee on belly hold down with armbars and chokeholds aplenty. After a brief interlude, the second half of the session was dedicated to sport BJJ starting with a standing takedown so cheeky it surely would never work (but it does!), counters, some simple chokeholds utilising the lapel, triangles and knee bar submissions. Eddie also showed that many of these could be done without the gi. The finale, was a very quick demo of the cartwheel guard pass (done properly, rather than my lame effort at the comps) and a takedown that somehow ended up in a foot lock that defied belief – and to the gasp of the audience. The session was clearly a big success with all the Imperial students chattering away about how cool the techniques were and asking Eddie for details about his classes.
Ju-Jitsu styles fall under many names and each purports to be the definitive art.

For me, IMHO, they are all valid and one should open the eyes to all the other systems out there and learn as much as one can. This will make you a better martial artist.My big thanks to Eddie, and to Greg and Brian from RGDA-UK who assisted. Eddie is off now for a whirlwind tour of Europe giving seminars and promoting the Gracie style of jujitsu. We wish him luck and hopefully another return to Imperial next year.

Cartwheels and strangles

Following last year’s popular seminar, Eddie Kone popped down to Imperial dojo again yesterday. I asked him this time to begin with the Grac...

3 Nov 2006

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!

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One of these guys looks like a hardened fighter.

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 ...

 

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