Yesterday I attended Boulder Grappling Academy’s seminar featuring Relson Gracie. This was my first time meeting and learning from Relson. It was a great experience – I left feeling very excited about upcoming classes.

The school was packed and the event brought students from as far as Castle Rock, Colorado (which is about an hour and half from Boulder, depending on traffic). It’s great to see the attention it brought to the dojo.

The content of the seminar was interesting and pertinent. I learned new techniques and improved on some techniques I already knew. I enjoyed Relson’s teaching style – he added (often funny) comments and insights as he discussed details about techniques which are often overlooked or executed incorrectly.

In addition to learning techniques, one of my favorite parts of the experience was hearing Relson discuss some of the wider aspects and contexts of specific Jiu Jitsu techniques. It was insightful to hear his take on the effectiveness (and ineffectiveness) of some techniques gaining in popularity in the martial art.

I was also struck by Relson’s down-to-earth, friendly, and approachable personality. He is a living legend, on the same level as Muhammad Ali or Larry Bird, yet as friendly as approachable as your next door neighbor. It was obvious to me he was glad to be there, to teach, and to meet and talk with the students.

If Relson is holds a seminar near you I definitely recommend checking it out.

pic credit(s): http://relsongracie.com/gallery/view/id_6/field_/title_Relson-Gracie-Pose/

Last evening I finally scored a set of patches from Boulder Grappling Academy. They look sharp and three go to set: one is meant for the chest, another for a pant leg, and a large one for the back. I couldn’t ask for a cooler logo or patch for my school. As an additional bonus, they are pre-shrunk which should help reduce the odds of them becoming warped when sewn on the gi.

I plan one applying these to a fancy new gi / kimono I just ordered (which I plan on reviewing for the blog) which should lend itself to these quite nicely.

After open mat today at Boulder Grappling’s old location, I had the opportunity to help roll out mats at the soon-to-be open new dojo. The mats where laid out so they can settle (new mats need to be laid out to “settle” when new because they expand). I was excited to help – how often to you get to roll out and see brand-new mats? They smell great! So clean too…

The new dojo’s mats will be seamless which will be nice and reduce injuries such as cauliflower ear. I like the choice of black, too.

One of the most important and prestigious Jiu Jitsu tournaments in the world begins today and continues through this weekend: the International Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Federation (IBJJF)’s World Jiu-Jitsu Championship (also referred to as the “Mundials”) in Long Beach, CA. Relson Gracie Colorado is sending a handful of people to compete – including Steve Hordinski (black belt) and Hannes Vetter (blue belt). I wish all participants – including those from Relson Gracie Colorado and beyond – the best of luck.

It is a goal of mine to attend one of the “major” Jiu Jitsu tournaments sometime. It would be fun to watch matches all day, cheer people on, and see how various techniques are applied in a “real” situation – and see some of Jiu Jitsu’s best athletes and practitioners in the world apply them.

I wish results and matches of the tournament where available online. I hope in future tournaments the IBJJF considers net-casting various matches.

I’ll be updating this post as results from the tournament become available.

Updates:

• 12:41 MST – Anselmo Gutierrez of Relson Gracie Colorado has won two matches so far today. His first match was by take down with a score of 2-0. He won his second match by arm bar.
• 12:44 MST – Bridgette, also with Relson Gracie Colorado, lost her first match.
• 12:52 MST – Anselmo lost on points in his third match of the day, taking third in the semi-finals of his division.
• 10:27 MST – Hannes wins his fist match 4-0.
• 10:48 MST – Hannes wins his second match by Rickson choke.
• 10:59 MST – Hannes wins his third by arm bar.
• 11:43 MST – Hannes wins once again via points and Rickson choke.
• 12:11 MST – Hannes takes first! Goes 2-0 in finals.

A BIG thanks to Jason for the updates throughout the day!

pic credit(s): http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathaninsandiego/2561732046/ under a Creative Commons licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en

I love  Dojo schwag. It’s a fun way to support your school and express part of what you are about. It’s ironic, however, that I don’t have any yet. Until a last week, after class.

The head of the school hooked us students up with some stickers, pictured below.

I naturally snagged more than a couple, which will soon be finding themselves at (appropriate) locations all around Boulder.

Now I just need to encourage the production of some new t-shirts and sweatshirts so I can snag some.

This evening I was watching the film Blindness. There is a scene early on when two blind people get in a sort of tussle, a small fight. I thought immediately of Jiu Jitsu.

When I first started Jiu Jitsu there where some moments when I thought how successful one could be when rolling with their eyes closed. In fact, when I roll know, I often think about how much Jiu Jitsu relies on feeling. I contrasted this with my previous martial arts experience where “forms” (like Karate’s “katas”) were a primary form a learning. Obviously, these exercises, like other drills in most other martial arts, rely heavily on vision as you see what you do, and do it, in three dimensional space.

Jiu Jitsu – especially on the ground – is tremendously different. Feeling – more than any other martial art I can think of – has a tremendous role in what happens.

If you have rolled even once you probably understand this. You feel the person trying to manipulate your body and vice versa. Of course, vision has its importance in Jiu Jitsu, too.

Blind Rolling

The natural corollary of this is the idea of having drills or rolling sessions where both participants are blindfolded. It could be a fun experiment. Both participants would have an equal handicap – and both would have the opportunity to improve the “feeling” part of the game. Obviously, safety would need to be considered; having “ground rules” could make the experience safer.

Update (5/31/9): As this video from Jiu-jitsu 365 proves, perhaps “blind rolling” really does have its importance.

pic credit(s): http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewmcvickar/8021849/

I had the opportunity Today to help paint the new space for my dojo where I train – Boulder Grappling Academy. It was also my first look at the new space.

The new space is great – it is roomy and the location is excellent. I certainly expect the location to help the school grow. Here is picture I took of the space as we worked on it.

One of the cool things about the space and the school having its own location – is that it will be the only Brazilian-centered martial arts school in Colorado due to its relationship with Grupo Cafu Capoeira Colorado, which is led by Leomar Mendez, who is also a student of Boulder Grappling Academy.

These are exciting times for the Dojo and I’m grateful to be student there during a time of such change and growth.