ROBERT SANTIAGO (1974-2012)

Our judo training partner, Robert Santiago, died on Monday, 6 August.  Jason, David, Greg, and I attended his funeral on Saturday, 11 August at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Orange Park.  The reality of Robert's death is tragically horrible for his wife, Sarah, and their young son, Benjamin (Benji).  I wish them peace.

Ἀμήν.
Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός, Ἅγιος Ἰσχυρός, Ἅγιος Ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς.
Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός, Ἅγιος Ἰσχυρός, Ἅγιος Ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς.
Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός, Ἅγιος Ἰσχυρός, Ἅγιος Ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς.
Δόξα Πατρί καὶ Υἱῷ καὶ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι.
Καὶ νῦν καὶ ἀεί καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰώνας τῶν αἰώνων, Ἀμήν.
Ἅγιος Ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς.

WOLFPACK BJJ TUSCALOOSA SEMINAR

Charles Dos Anjos' Tuscaloosa/McCalla affiliate, under the direction of purple belt Clint McJenkin, hosted me for a seminar on Saturday, 4 August.  I got to share some of the techniques I've learned or discovered over the years with a group of excited and dedicated BJJers.  I look forward to training with them again. 

SATURDAY, 14 JULY 2012

We had five people in class for BJJ tonight.  It was nice to see Josh M. return to BJJ training.  We covered one of the standing passes from last week's BJJ seminar with my instructor, and I went over two half guard techniques not covered during that seminar.

In judo, we had a full mat with eight people.  Josh stayed for judo, and Daniel & David A. came in.  We went over basic ippon-seio-nage, kumikata, and we were permitted to do footsweeps during a modified randori.  In the "actual" randori session, due to three novices on the mats, we modified the rules and did only ippon, but without the throw.  It was a good learning session.

CHARLES DOS ANJOS SEMINAR 7 JULY

My instructor, Charles Dos Anjos, made a trip up here to Orange Park for a seminar with Orange Park Wolfpack and Smiley's Combat Athletix.  A special thank you, again, to James Smiley, BJJ black belt and owner of Combat Athletix, for hosting my instructor for a second time.  James Smiley has provided a welcoming environment to me, my students, and my instructor, and I value his friendship and thank him for helping me in my BJJ journey.

I was actually sore after the seminar for two days.  We convered a lot of drills to assist with passing and holding guard from a standing position, and worked on three techniques from the half-guard (a weakness of mine).  16 people attended the seminar, so thank you to them.  I trust that everyone took something away since I, as a 4-stripe brown belt, took a couple of principles that will help my game.

Special thanks to Tony T., a Wolfpack BJJ black belt, for coming from Sarasota with Charles and rolling with me so I can see where I stand at this point in my development.

MONDAY, 4 JUNE 2012

Josh and Elizabeth attended their first formal BJJ class under James Smiley's guidance at Combat Athletix.  We must remember: "You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great."  I am proud that they wanted to go, and even more that they want to continue.

SATURDAY, 2 JUNE 2012

We had a good turnout of regulars on Saturday night (6 in the house for judo), and Greg returned from the heathen land of Hawaii. 

We got in a good practice for BJJ.  I taught an escape from the bottom of half-guard that I want to work over the next few weeks to perfect.  We also examined Nick's "scissor guard" to see how to attack it.  I have some ideas, and while one worked, it was not as crisp as I would like.  I also practiced the leg-drag series when I rolled with Dave, and I worked DLR as much as possible as well.

I judo, Greg corrected/fine-tuned a detail on ippon seio-nage that I think will add some danger to my opponents' life.  I also worked on "finishing" throws with Greg and Jason.

CONGRATUALTIONS TO ETHAN FOR GRADUATING FROM RIDGEVIEW HIGH SCHOOL ON FRIDAY, 1 JUNE 2012!!!!!

TRAINING WITH NICK

Thursday, 26 April 2012

Nick and I trained for about 1 1/2 hours on Thursday.  It was just a grappling session where we were able to work our respective games against each other.  I learned a few things that Nick uses to defend himself against me and will work on incorporating them into my personal game.