Seminarfest 2009

My string of seminars continues.

I really enjoy teaching seminars, especially when I get to go back and follow up six months or a year down the road to see how everyone's doing with the techniques.

Savannah, GA - Saturday, October 24th, 2009

Savannah, GA at Redline MMA was no exception. I've known head instructor Abe Stem since 2004, when we competed together at one of Anhtony Huss's "Tap Factor" tournaments. Abe is a super nice guy with no formal BJJ training, but an excellent grappling base anyway. The focus of this seminar was jiu jitsu to defeat the wrestler, especially when their goal is simply to hold you down. This seminar was well received, and I got to roll with Abe for about 20 minutes (super tough, and a lot more technical than the last time we rolled) and several of the students.

Bristol, TN - Monday, October 26th, 2009

After a visit with my folks in Columbia, SC, I headed to Bristol, TN to teach at Dee Smith's gym, Absolute Jiu Jitsu. This is like a second home for me, and I jumped right into some intermediate techniques. We were working advanced leglocks and Kimura setups by the end of the seminar. I look forward to returning again soon.

Charlottesville, VA - Sunday, November 1st, 2009

Gordon Emery runs Charlottesville BJJ, about an hour west of my gym. Gordon has a great group of guys in this BJJ Revolution affiliate gym. For his one year anniversary in their own space, he had Eric Burdo and me in to teach a seminar. We covered topics Gordon's guys specifically wanted covered - defense from the guard against punches, wristlocks, leglocks, and taking the back. Afterward, we rolled with everyone in the gi.

West Deptford, NJ - Saturday, November 7th, 2009

This Saturday brought me to Rob Mudrak's NextGen MMA gym. Mudrak is a talented Balance purple belt - turned MMA fighter. It was a real honor to teach my leglock seminar here, as my friends Emily Kwok (IBJJF world champion, Ricardo Almeida black belt) and Rick Migliarese (Relson Gracie black belt) were in attendance, among other brown belt stud grapplers such as Derek Leyrer, Josh Vogel (Sloth!), and purple belts Jimmy Cerra (Hobbit) and Chris Romanchick (Turkey Sandwich). Everyone seemed to pick up on the concepts right away, and I look forward to hearing about lots of hobbled opponents (kidding). Training was fantastic and humbling, especially rolling with Rick Migs, who does things that nobody should be able to do while rolling.

Rochester, NY event - October 10th

US Grappling ran our fifth Submision Only tournament in Rochester, NY (actually, Webster, NY) on Saturday, October 10th. The event went really quickly and smoothly. As always, we took some notes and learned a few ways to improve the overall flow of the tournament. I got to know a few of the grapplers in the area, which is really good, since I'll be back up there for a seminar on Saturday, January 9th, and US Grappling will run a referee certification on Sunday, January 10th in Buffalo (a couple hours from Rochester).

Full results are posted.

October's No-gi Pan Ams

These past couple months have taken me all over the place. October 3rd was the no-gi Pan Ams in New York city (Harlem). I lost 2 matches on points - way too much focus on the Kimura gave up mount points and a guard pass in my first match, losing to Marcos Barros (Gracie Barra), and then 2 takedowns in the open division to Aldo Batista. You can see how everyone did at the IBJJF's results page. These matches made me want to win again in competition. I know that might sound kind of odd, but I really wanted to see how what I had been working on in "the lab" (the gym) would play out in competition. OK, cool. I figured a few things out, and now I want to win.

Jon Burnley ("JB") came up with me, and had a couple very good matches to win his division (senior 1 blue belt lightweight)! Huge congrats to JB, bringing home the gold for our team.

Thanks to Alberto "Manto" Marchetti for taking the pic!