Sitting Zen - Citizen

Yesterday was a bit weird and raised some questions about what to do during incidents in public. The first incident - I was sitting on the overland train and it was fairly empty. In from another carriage storms a young girl soon followed by her boyfriend. Clearly they were having a serious tiff and the lad was cussing with intense venom. She responded with all of her limited vocabulary to wind him up even further. He resorted to slapping at her possessions, grabbing her hands and calling all sorts of names, the physical aggression was beginning to escalate. I sat there, observing, weighing up the pros and cons of stepping in. But, in the end, I did nothing. Shameful non-action on my behalf? Yes I did size him up but if he started beating her, would I have intervened? I didn’t get to find out as we all got off the next stop and their bickering subsided.
The second incident on the same day – I was jogging late in the evening round my local back roads when I saw up ahead a gang of about a dozen youths ranging in age from tiny pipsqueaks to young men. They were throwing rocks and kicking in a parked car. My running path was heading straight towards them. Several thoughts entered my head – should I intervene? Should I cross the road to run on the other side? Should I do nothing? With nothing on me but my home keys and no mobile I felt strangely helpless to do anything. My dilemma ended when a bunch of guys ran over and shouted ‘Oi!’ and the kids scattered.
These incidents have left me feeling a bit deflated. Mainly because they highlight the amount of nastiness in the world, but also about my inability to do anything about them. Martial arts are supposed to give you the skills and abilities to fight and defend yourself. But they don’t offer much in the way of moral guidance about using them in real incidents. Taking an imaginary path in the two incidents above, I suspect any intervention on my behalf would have been met with a violent response with little to gain on my part.
I don’t think there is an easy answer to these nagging questions. You can only react as you see fit at that moment in time. There have been incidents in the past where I have stepped in to aid a member of the public. I don’t actually recall why I helped on those occasions but there must have been a subconscious assessment going on about the risks involved.
I make no conclusions from these incidents other than to say that there are plenty of idiots, scrotes and scumbags in the world, but why do half of them have to live near me?

byMeerkatsu

in

March 27, 2008

Sitting Zen - Citizen

Yesterday was a bit weird and raised some questions about what to do during incidents in public. The first incident - I was sitting on the o...

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No more fun at Samurai 'R Us

> Martial arts enthusiasts up and down the country are hopping mad about the impending law banning the import, sale and hire of samurai swords. Furious emails circulate, anger spilled amongst forums and petitions signed by the thousand. So why am I the only one supporting this ban?
Well, for a start, I don’t think the new law will affect me (and my jujitsu compadres) since from what I have read, it states that martial arts enthusiasts are exempt from the new law. Secondly, any law banning weapons is a good thing. In fact lets ban all sharp bladed instruments, including kitchen knives, potato peelers, toe clippers and lawn mowers. It’ll save us all a lot of effort – who wants to peel spuds and mow lawns anyway – and it could save billions of needless deaths and domestic injuries every year. Oh and ban paper too, sharper than any katana I reckon.Finally, even though I own an expensively hand-built replica sword, which I do use for kobudo training, I would have no qualms about dumping it and using a wooden bokken instead. It’s far safer and lighter to carry around and I can still play at being a pretend Samurai each week, which let’s face it – is the real reason why MA practitioners are up in arms about the ban – we don’t want anyone spoiling our little samurai fantasy world.

Speaking of fantasy worlds. BJJ training is getting better. I managed to get my first submission at the new club. The recipient of my hack-handed attempt at a triangle choke was only 13 years old though. But he was bigger than me - honest.

byMeerkatsu

in

March 05, 2008

No more fun at Samurai 'R Us

> Martial arts enthusiasts up and down the country are hopping mad about the impending law banning the import, sale and hire of samurai ...

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Black Belt Training

The head sensei of my JJ association decided to call us club instructors in for a session on Sunday. None of us really knew what to expect – except he mentioned something about going over the syllabus to correct mistakes. Maybe we were going to get a grilling, maybe just a lecture (I brought my pen and notebook just in case). Instead, it was a run through of basic common mistakes that Head Sensei commonly sees from the kyu students at each grading and wanted us to be aware of them…and practice them ourselves. In the end, it turned out to be an excellent masterclass of basic ju-jitsu training which had us all sweating buckets by the end. I haven’t been chucked around like that for a long time and I forgot what a really great work-out it could be. When we watch Head Sensei perform a technique, it is pretty phenomenal to watch, the sheer power and efficiency of technique is jaw dropping - that’s why he’s the head of JJ.
My favourite bits were a new way of looking at the first counter to the hip throw and a much improved way of doing the outer winding throw. Head sensei also likes kicks, blocks and stances done a certain way, which made a lot of sense to me.This kind of specific syllabus training sessions for instructors only were never really done before, but now that Head Sensei is going to do them more often, I’m really looking forward to the next one.

byMeerkatsu

in

February 26, 2008

Black Belt Training

The head sensei of my JJ association decided to call us club instructors in for a session on Sunday. None of us really knew what to expect –...

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Gripping Stuff

I’m back on the mat, finally. Last night I returned to Mill Hill JJ to do some BJJ. It was my first session for over 5 months, and boy, did I feel it!Instructor Nick covered basic escapes and then went over some really cool half guard techniques. It seems that in the half guard, prudent use of the gi grip really works wonders for your game. For example, you are half guarding on the bottom but can prevent your opponent passing by grabbing his gi skirt portion and feeding between your legs. Not only do you have a useful block, if he does something silly and gets flipped over, by retaining the grip, you can continue to control him. I learned this to my cost as I sparred with both Nick and wunderkind Daniel (who I hasten to add is now a junior world champion) and found myself being flipped upside down and inside out more times than a Wendy burger. I was pretty rubbish before my 5 month break, now I’m even worse – and everyone has got much better. Having said that, it was a thoroughly enjoyable session and I hope I can keep up the BJJ training.

byMeerkatsu

in

February 19, 2008

Gripping Stuff

I’m back on the mat, finally. Last night I returned to Mill Hill JJ to do some BJJ. It was my first session for over 5 months, and boy, did ...

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Warm winds

Meerkat the martial arts nut is still here...just.
Not been back to BJJ training since DJ was born, but life is beginning to ease up and I may find some free time to get back into gear very soon.
In the meantime, I was intrigued to be asked by some of the office staff to help them get into shape, but they didn't want to do anything too vigorous. In fact they didn't actually want to get into shape at all. They just wanted to not turn into immovable lumps of furniture sitting at their PCs all day. So naturally, I felt obliged to help.
The ladies were all keen and eager and I thought this would be easy, so the first exercise we did was just rotating the shoulders. Oh dear, in between nervous giggles you could hear creaking and groaning and someone saying that it hurt and another exclaiming that one shoulder turned more than the other. This I realised was going to be harder work than I first thought. Mentally I recalculated the drill list to rule out all bar only the very easiest joint and muscle warm ups. The rest of the session finished without incident, but later in the day one of the participants complained to me that her knee really hurt. I felt a sudden pang of panic, oh no was it the one legged squat I made you do? No, she replied, it was most likely a side effect of her ligament knee surgery (that she failed to tell me about beforehand). Gulp, one simple simple session of barely warming warm ups and I have crippled half the work force at my office. I wonder if they'll want to continue next week?

byMeerkatsu

in

February 16, 2008

Warm winds

Meerkat the martial arts nut is still here...just. Not been back to BJJ training since DJ was born, but life is beginning to ease up and I m...

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The 'weaker' sex

The Meerkat is back, well sort of. Two and a bit months busy rearing mini-meerkats and doing sod all exercise means a very unfit and out of sorts kat. So off I went for a run last night, and immediately started wheezing uncontrollably. I was determined to continue so that's when the heart palpatations kicked in. Clearly I am in a poorer state than I imagined. So more running is needed, thankfully it gets dark early so no one can see my pathetic broken frame lumbering through the streets of B'wood.

All my time off has not been entirely a martial art wasteland. Thanks to youtube, I can enjoy more obscure footage, like this awesome vintage jujitsu video. I would say it is 1940's (rather than 1920's-30's as described). Mr Chomley Warner and his Pathe news pals would be proud.



Happy New Year to all my readers.

byMeerkatsu

in vintage jujitsu, women

January 08, 2008

The 'weaker' sex

The Meerkat is back, well sort of. Two and a bit months busy rearing mini-meerkats and doing sod all exercise means a very unfit and out of ...

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The Perfect Excuse

Here is a picture of the perfect excuse for missing training.
Mini-Meerkat No2 was born 03:50am on Nov2nd a healthy 6lb11oz.
He feeds like his dad, poos like his dad, and has very sparrow-like but deceptively strong legs - erm maybe like his dad, maybe.

So, with Meerkat comfortably asleep whilst Mrs Meerkat gave birth (yes I really did fall asleep in the labour ward, waking up just in time to witness the birth) it was up to my troops from Imperial JJ to kick ass at the Southend Jikishin tournament.
And what a show. Rob Line won silver in brown/black belt random attack category. Nazarella, won silver in groundfighting (I predicted she would win a medal), Holly George won a bronze in groundfighting, and Sensei Grant, not happy with 1, won 2 gold medals. Phew! Everyone else did exceedingly well as the field gets tougher and tougher each year. Well done to you all. Meerkat sincerely hopes to join the crew and compete again next year.

byMeerkatsu

in

November 04, 2007

The Perfect Excuse

Here is a picture of the perfect excuse for missing training. Mini-Meerkat No2 was born 03:50am on Nov2nd a healthy 6lb11oz. He feeds like h...

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Blue

My second visit to Mill Hill JJ club last night and Nick worked on guard passing. Now if there is any technique in the myriad of BJJ techniques that reveals the differences between clubs and styles, guard passing is it. At RGDA, one of the passes we learned was the Gracie trademark one arm under one leg and stacking guard pass. Done correctly, it should work a treat, but many people, like me, don’t do it so well and get easily triangled or it falls apart. At Mill Hill, they follow the Roger Gracie ethic and consider placing one arm under as a definite no-no. Instead, they work on opening the guard and pass by walking or hopping over the legs, or the really cool both arms under the uke’s legs and flipping them to the side or the really flash flipping them upside down. I really liked these guard passes, they worked easily and were hard to counter.
Then came sparring. I must admit, I am finding it hard to adjust to the more full-on sparring style here. Many of these guys are just too good (and big) for me and I got swept and subbed by the blue belts with consummate ease. One guy, 85Kilo blue belt Ollie, just ripped me apart with endless subs. I think the most I lasted was about 20 seconds at one point. He finished me off with the evil knee on belly where you use the knee to force down into the gut and he pulls up with both grips so you get squeezed to hell. Then I sparred with a couple of white belts with four stripes (so blue belts in all but name) and they were very tough to break guard and swept me easily, but I avoided the humiliating tapouts of before. The drive home was a bit sombre for me. The new club is a bit of a step up for me and I struggled to cope. I hope I can improve over the coming weeks and months.

byMeerkatsu

in

October 26, 2007

Blue

My second visit to Mill Hill JJ club last night and Nick worked on guard passing. Now if there is any technique in the myriad of BJJ techniq...

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Oldboy, Newboy

Last night, the chance came for me to finally check out the nearest BJJ club in my new location – the Mill Hill Ju-Jitsu Club, a newly anointed representative of the Roger Gracie group run by Nick Brooks. It is only a few minutes drive away from me and I was looking forward to continuing my BJJ training there. I’ve known Nick for several years through ties with my traditional ju-jitsu training, but Nick has converted his club fully into a BJJ and subgrappling club.
So I turned up and the class ran pretty much as I expected – the same as any BJJ class around the world – a short series of simple warm-ups, then drilling of techniques (Nick went through escapes from side control) and then sparring. And it was the sparring that gave people the opportunity to check out the newboy – oh, that’s me. In a slight change to my experience at RGDA, the partners at Mill Hill are chosen by the sensei. At RGDA, we just partnered up with whoever we wanted. So I was partnered up by probably the youngest member there, a slight framed by youthful blue belt called Daniel. Oh my god, within split seconds Daniel had me tied up with omoplatas, rear nakeds and armbars seemingly out of nowhere. All the time, Nick was standing watching over me and I felt a sense that I was being set up with the brightest spark in the pack – kind of a way of sussing me out.
(I’ve since discovered that Daniel is someone with form – he recently won gold at the ADCC UK Nationals to become the youngest ever national champion at….16 years of age.)
The time thankfully ran out and then Nick offered to spar with me. I think I did a little better this time, but was still reeling from the shell shock of being subbed at will by a kid half my age – make that more than half my age. Nick was a little more forgiving, pulling me to guard and trying to sweep or counter which I was more comfortable with and countered myself with almost success. I didn’t get subbed this time, but I’m sure Nick was only playing with me. It was interesting to see the subtle differences between sparring with Eddie and Nick. Both highly accomplished brown belts, but both with quite different games.
Next up was the only female in the club that night, a firey and feisty challenge which had me trying everything I knew just to get out of a rather punishing lapel choke. Finally, I sparred with one of the bigger guys. This time I wasn’t gonna lay around helpless, so I pulled, yes you guessed it, spider guard. He found it infuriatingly tricky to pass but I found it tough to sweep him. We ended stalemate, I was pleased not to get subbed four in a row – that would be humiliating. But I think I mostly held my own.
Overall, it was a good night of training and a good op to blow away some cobwebs. The guys and girl at Mill Hill are a friendly bunch and I don’t think I made too much of a twat of myself. The young prodigious talent of Daniel was jaw dropping, and, since we are roughly similar in weight, I suspect there will be many more opportunities of being – to coin a vulgar term – bitchslapped. Although people were curious about my BJJ background and wanted to check me out, it was also a chance for me to check them out. Nick is a good instructor and explained the techniques very well, so looks like I have found a new BJJ home for the time being.

byMeerkatsu

in

October 19, 2007

Oldboy, Newboy

Last night, the chance came for me to finally check out the nearest BJJ club in my new location – the Mill Hill Ju-Jitsu Club , a newly anoi...

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Gracie time

The MEERKAT is back.
I’m back! After a brief hiatus spent moving home, I am finally settled into my new den in leafy Borehamwood. But before severing my ties with Hackney altogether, I had one more commitment – to attend a seminar at Eddie’s RGDA-UK gym given by the dashing Rodrigo Gracie.
Rodrigo is what some refer to as one of the ‘new’ generation of Gracies. Actually he is a bit older than the current crop of ‘new’ generation Gracies (Rener, Ralek etc), but he is clearly still a fighter in his prime.
The session didn’t begin until Rodrigo completed a TV interview, so we all sat around listening to him bat away some rather strange and off the cuff questions by the WOMA interviewer.
Rodrigo, like many Brazilian BJJ instructors, cuts an air of laid back calm with perhaps the added twang of having spent many years in the good old US of A. He seemed to come alive only when talking about fighting (both sport and ‘street’ fights) and girls - no difference to the rest of us then ;)
The seminar began with Rodgrigo introducing some simple self defence techniques against a head lock, then almost immediately progressed to sport BJJ where you use your own gi to strangle the uke. This was my favourite technique which, although a bit tricky, is probably one of the flashier moves in groundwork. After a few more gi techniques, Rodrigo moved to subgrappling techniques, and it was here that he clearly relished teaching – and spent most time on. I must admit, that my fading energy levels and concentration on the camera lens meant I did not really take in what Rodgrigo was teaching us so this part of the session flew over my head.
After the taught part of the session, Rodrigo offered to roll with students. Sadly, this Meerkat missed out yet again, as there were simply too many queuing up for their chance to be tapped out by the master…and he did not disappoint as tap after tap, all of our toughest guys got subbed within seconds. It was pretty amazing to watch.
The night ended with photos and smiles all round. Everyone warmed greatly to Rodrigo and he carries the Gracie name with honour and pride.
My night was not quite over as I offered to spar with long time training pal Ozy. Oz has just spent a year in Korea and has been training hard in BJJ over there, and cor blimey it really showed as this poor old Meerkat was rather ripped to shreds with Ozy’s now trademark butterfly and x-guard sweeps. Gulp, back to the drawing board for me! But nice to visibly see a fellow BJJer make such a great improvement and rise to his potential. It makes me wish I could devote more time to training. Still, I’m happy to take whatever I can get and this seminar was a great experience. Thanks once again to Eddie and the RGDA crew.

byMeerkatsu

in BJJ, eddie kone, rodrigo gracie, seminar

October 18, 2007

Gracie time

The MEERKAT is back. I’m back! After a brief hiatus spent moving home, I am finally settled into my new den in leafy Borehamwood. But before...

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So long, farewell, alf wiedersehen, goodbye

It's all over. My final session at RGDA-UK finished without incident (ie I thankfully didn't get injured). And, I must say, with a little tear in my eye, I will really miss the club.

For over the past 6 months my house move has been dragging on and on and now it is finally happening, it has dawned on me that due to the distance, I will no longer be able to attend my beloved Hackney BJJ club.

I started training there about 3 years ago and, although I had done a bit of BJJ at Carlson Gracie’s before, I was pretty much a raw beginner and was classic matt fodder as I got subbed time and time again. But I loved it then and I still do now. I’ve enjoyed my training there so much and really appreciate how Eddie and all the crew made me part of their ‘family’. It’s been a great ride. During my time there, I’d got to train with Royce, Royler and Rolker Gracie and rolled with numerous guys and girls who have become good friends. More importantly, I truly adhere to the club philosophy that BJJ should be more than just winning competitions and subbing everyone in sight. It is much deeper than that, and Eddie teaches it the way that Helio, Royler, Royce etc all teach it - as a martial art and self defence system to be enjoyed by all.
Thanks to everyone there, I consider myself very much still part of the RGDA crew and definitely hope to pop down every now and again.

So, the question is, where to now?

A quick scan on google reveals very few subgrapp or BJJ clubs in the Hertfordshire area. It got so depressing at one point I half considered joining a TKD or karate club (which there are in abundance in Herts), but, shudder the thought, I quickly put that one to rest.
There are however one or two clubs within driving distance that I may try. So, a new journey awaits and Meerkat will of course continue to report all his martial arts endeavours for your reading pleasure.

byMeerkatsu

in

September 30, 2007

So long, farewell, alf wiedersehen, goodbye

It's all over. My final session at RGDA-UK finished without incident (ie I thankfully didn't get injured). And, I must say, with a l...

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Poked

New addition to the syllabus?
Actually, this photo, by Ozzie snapper Brenton Edwards, is the 2007 winner of the Commonwealth Photographic Awards, and shows eleven-year old martial arts expert Giang Trong La balances on a bed of swords and spears. An exponent of Chang-Moo-Kwan Academy in Adelaide, South Australia since he was six, Giang has been learning the technique of being supported two metres in the air by eight razor sharp spears and swords for the past two years. This was one of the first times he had achieved this feat. Edwards had to get the image right pretty quickly as he could only tolerate being up there for ten seconds.
They sure to breed 'em tough down under.

Meerkat is gearing up once again for the annual Jikishin Ju-Jitsu Tournament. I may not be able to compete myself as it coincides with the due date of baby Meerkat#2, but it doesn't stop the rigorous training for the rest of the Imperial Club members. Groundfighting is once again high on the agenda and so far, Wayne 'Rage' is offering to represent Imperial in this category. There's a lot to do between now and the comps, so let's wish all out competitors good luck.

byMeerkatsu

in

September 27, 2007

Poked

New addition to the syllabus? Actually, this photo, by Ozzie snapper Brenton Edwards, is the 2007 winner of the Commonwealth Photographic Aw...

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