JAMAICA HIGHLIGHTS AND VIDEO
Day 4:
Friday night's class was fantastic. Sifu Dwain hosted us and at least one other local martial arts school with an emphasis on Kung Fu showed up. I began class with some basic warm ups and standing up in base. Then I took the students through a demonstration of the basic positions of bjj (mount, side-mount, knee-on-belly, guard, back-mount).
From there, I led the class through arm-bar from the guard. Given the emphasis on translating BJJ through the lense of Kung Fu, I showed the move from and as a defense to an adversary choking the student. After demonstrating the technique, many of the students took to the movements well. One of the students took me to task on my philosophy of wanting to fight from the top but then showing a submission from the bottom...
This led me to show the arm-inside-sweep from the guard. It is a natural progression from an attempted arm-bar, failed arm-bar, or just an implemented strategy to fight from the top. Dan said to me (which confirmed my observation) that he was impressed by how well the class caught on to this sweep. Nearly all of the students were making the sweeps fluid and establishing the mount well.
From there we went on to:
Americana from the mount and its potential defenses and pitfalls.
I ended class by discussing the sport point system and demonstrating a sparring session with Dan and then a no-gi match with Chris. Once class had concluded, Sifu Dwain lined his students up and they ended class in the traditional kung fu manner. It was special.
Over all the this trip to Jamaica was a great experience. I was able to make some great connections for spreading BJJ. More importantly I was able to get to know Chris better, expose Dan to Jamaica, and brainstorm some additional ways to continue this adventure.
Day 3:
Wednesday night class was more like it! When I got to Chris' place, he and Dan were ready to go, but several of the people who had said they would show up had obligations that prevented then from coming. We still had Dan, Chris, Terry, and Stephan. However, the allure of BJJ drew a crowd. Several men stood and watched the class and by the end they were participating.
I taught Kimura triple threat from the guard (Kimura/Sit-up sweep/guillotine) with an emphasis on the MMA applications. We then reviewed some of the guard passes from Saturday. I took questions from the guys watching and let them practice some basic self-defense techniques to determine their effectiveness. They were excited and wanted to know when class was being held again.
I rolled several sessions with Chris, Dan, and Terry, and we finally got Stephan to come out of his shell for a roll. He put the hurts on me ;)
A common request from people here is that the police and security NEED to be trained in this form of martial art. Stories of the police with no confidence are very common and somewhat disconcerting.
Friday night's class was fantastic. Sifu Dwain hosted us and at least one other local martial arts school with an emphasis on Kung Fu showed up. I began class with some basic warm ups and standing up in base. Then I took the students through a demonstration of the basic positions of bjj (mount, side-mount, knee-on-belly, guard, back-mount).
From there, I led the class through arm-bar from the guard. Given the emphasis on translating BJJ through the lense of Kung Fu, I showed the move from and as a defense to an adversary choking the student. After demonstrating the technique, many of the students took to the movements well. One of the students took me to task on my philosophy of wanting to fight from the top but then showing a submission from the bottom...
This led me to show the arm-inside-sweep from the guard. It is a natural progression from an attempted arm-bar, failed arm-bar, or just an implemented strategy to fight from the top. Dan said to me (which confirmed my observation) that he was impressed by how well the class caught on to this sweep. Nearly all of the students were making the sweeps fluid and establishing the mount well.
From there we went on to:
Americana from the mount and its potential defenses and pitfalls.
I ended class by discussing the sport point system and demonstrating a sparring session with Dan and then a no-gi match with Chris. Once class had concluded, Sifu Dwain lined his students up and they ended class in the traditional kung fu manner. It was special.
Over all the this trip to Jamaica was a great experience. I was able to make some great connections for spreading BJJ. More importantly I was able to get to know Chris better, expose Dan to Jamaica, and brainstorm some additional ways to continue this adventure.
Day 3:
Wednesday night class was more like it! When I got to Chris' place, he and Dan were ready to go, but several of the people who had said they would show up had obligations that prevented then from coming. We still had Dan, Chris, Terry, and Stephan. However, the allure of BJJ drew a crowd. Several men stood and watched the class and by the end they were participating.
I taught Kimura triple threat from the guard (Kimura/Sit-up sweep/guillotine) with an emphasis on the MMA applications. We then reviewed some of the guard passes from Saturday. I took questions from the guys watching and let them practice some basic self-defense techniques to determine their effectiveness. They were excited and wanted to know when class was being held again.
I rolled several sessions with Chris, Dan, and Terry, and we finally got Stephan to come out of his shell for a roll. He put the hurts on me ;)
A common request from people here is that the police and security NEED to be trained in this form of martial art. Stories of the police with no confidence are very common and somewhat disconcerting.
Day 2:
Monday was supposed to be a lunchtime training session with a couple of guys, but it ended up being a semi-private lesson for Dan with Chris and Terry stopping by to observe. Needless to say, the workout was great. We again were blessed with spectacular weather, hot and humid, but a sea breeze that quickly blew our sweat away.
Dan and I worked some front headlock attacks (Anaconda and Brabo) then we rolled, worked some various mount escapes and sparred at length. I spent my time focusing on an armdrag to the back series and half-guard to x-guard attacks from underneath. Dan was obviously working his guillotine chokes from the various positions... he had me close a couple of times... gurgling yet able to squirm away with all the sweat.
Chris and Terry are great guys and their questions regarding positions and attacks leads me to believe they are serious about learning the ground game better. Terry will be in San Francisco for 10 weeks where he plans to get some training in at Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu and various other MMA clubs.
More to come!
Day 1:
Dan and I made it to Jamaica on Friday afternoon and my wife girls and I settled in to our hotel. Chris (the guy with whom Dan is staying) drove up and the three of us drove to Chris' apartment. He is blessed with a spectacular view of the ocean.
On Saturday my daughters woke us up early with excitement of spending the day in the pool. We quickly ate breakfast then swam, swam, swam.
After lunch I drove to Chris' apartment where I met with Chris, Dan, Terry and Stephan for some semi-private training. We trained on an old stage overlooking the ocean, Magnificent! It was a no-gi session and we covered: 1. Stack pass, 2. Can-opener pass, 3. Defense to can-opener to armbar 4. Stratta-Pass 5. Introduction to S-mount.
We rolled hard and the heat zapped us! I drove back just in time to have a three year old command me to swim with her some more... Stay tuned.
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