Pallaton Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu students: Nesa & Daniella

So a couple of weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of coaching some of our students at the 8th AZ International Jiu-Jitsu Open.

This is Nesa in the white gi and her second tournament at white belt. 

 Unfortunately her division did not have anyone in it, but the organizers were able to arrange two exhibition matches for her to fight.  This meant that her first match was against a boy, a few pounds heavier then her.  However,

 victory by armbar!!!

She later went on to compete against another girl from a heavier division and beat her via armbar in 13 seconds, but sadly the photos cannot be found of that match.

This is Daniella, Nesa's younger sister in the white gi.  Also a white belt, but competing in her third tournament.  She only had one person in her division which resulted in them having to do the best two out of three.

 Working on opening the guard.

  

Working the pass!

  



A hard fought victory for Daniella, going 2-1 versus a strong opponent!

Where the heck have I been?

Simply put; training, working, training, coaching, training, competing, and training.  Oh yea, and I am back in college as well!  It has been a pretty busy year, not only personally, but also in the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  

It is amazing that I logged on today and saw that my last posts on here were from my preparation for the World Master and Seniors World Championships from last fall (which I lost first round on account of being penalized for stalling)!  The neglect that I have shown this blog, with everything else that I have been working on so hard is pretty shaming.  So starting today, I hope to start anew and track training progress, post up some videos of the kids I coach competing, interview some great friends in the BJJ community that I think you should know about, and help spread the sport that I love.

Oss and here is to a new start on the blog!

Richard

A Note on the blog title.

The name of the blog is derived from an idea I had about people making the choice to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The hardest part for many looking to learn this martial art is making it to that very first class, however it really never gets much easier.

White belt is an entire belt of being tapped almost constantly. It is almost an entire belt of the injuries associated with being a "spazzy" white belt as well as discovering the injuries specific to the martial art of grappling. It is a tough time in the martial art that I think culls the herd of newcomers so to speak. There has been plenty of times that I have seen an influx of new students to see them slowly whittle down to just a select few.

So we come to that final stage before a white belt becomes a blue belt. Or as what it might feel to some, become something else besides a white belt. Yes there is the phenomenon that we call the "blu flu", but I think once a person has made it to getting that last stripe on his belt he has already come a long way, both physically and mentally.

CLICHE ALERT! CLICHE ALERT! CLICHE ALERT!

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Lao-tzu

And white belt is one BIG single step.

Talk to you soon,

Richard

Welcome to 4 Stripe White Belt

Hi all and welcome to my blog.

My journey through BJJ has been interesting.

I started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when I was 32 years old. At the time, my main reason for taking up the gentle art was to get in better shape. I was unfortunate to have had a very minor heart attack at the young age of 29. Being a former United States Marine, it was quite a shock to have a doctor tell me that I had some major clogged arteries. I had kept in decent shape after the Corps, but a drinking and junkfood lifestyle combined with some truly crappy herediatry gifts got me two stints in my chest nonetheless.

After the heart attack, I made some serious lifestyle changes and resolved to get as healthy as possible. There was a part of me extremely pissed that despite playing club soccer and regularly going to the gym, I had lived a life that had led to a heart attack at such a young age. Getting on a fully regimented health and fitness program helped me immensely however it was just not enough. There was still a part of me that needed to prove to myself that I was still the "Alpha" that had made it through bootcamp, made it through the School of Infantry as a heavy machine-gunner, and into Marine Security Forces as a member of the Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team Company.

Enter Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

My first school was located in a Chuk Kuk Do academy. The BJJ program eventually split up with some people remaining and others going to a newly opened academy dedicated to BJJ. I stayed with my instructor, however with the introduction of new ownership to the academy, the program was practically gutted in favor of Krav Maga. Fortunately, the founders of the Chuk Kuk Do program moved on to open their own academy and offered my instructor a place at their new location to continue teaching a few months later. Bad times were still ahead however.

Due to recurring injuries from training, my instructor was forced to retire from martial arts completely and again I was without an academy. I spent almost a year out of BJJ, only stopping in at different academies in Tucson to roll during open mats. It was a trying time in BJJ for me as I had friends at many of the places or made new ones with each trying to convince me to make one of their places my new home, but I just did not get the right vibe. Don't get me wrong as these people are all great people with great schools, there was just something that was lacking for me personally.

Fast forward to the end of last year and I get a call from my retired instructor with the news that a new Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu program would be starting under Sal Flores at the new Chuk Kuk Do academy. My elation over the news was only doubled when based on reccomendations from my former instructor, I was asked to be part of the new program as a coach for the kids class. Considering that I love teaching the fundamentals and was tasked with helping new students many times previously, I found my new home with Pallaton Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy.

So here I am now. I have been training on and off in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for almost four years. I have competed on and off over those fours years, predominately in the IBJFF tournaments in Arizona with a trip to the Pans in 2009 as a white belt. While I do not know everything, I hope that I can pass on some of my experiences here that will either help newcomers to the sport or provide some laughs/introspect to any practioner of the sport.

Talk to you soon,

Rich