Trent Lewis Seminar

Last night at class we had the privilege of having a black belt by the name of Trent Lewis do a seminar. He has been all over the place and trained with some great Jiu-Jitsu practitioners like Robson Moura and Marcelo Perreira. World CHAMPS!
He had a really cool new school meets old school game. Showed us some nice attacks from guard that attacked both arms. It really left you in a triple attack position. I believe he is going to try and put out a video instructional so I wont get into more detail. If you have the chance to train with Trent I highly suggest it. Great guy on and off the mat.
Shawn Smith also got another stripe on his purple belt. I really can't say enough about Shawn he is a monster on the mat. He destroys me every single time we roll. Maybe one day I will be able to give him somewhat of a workout haha. Grats again Shawn keep it up!

The Path of Least Resistance

Sometimes I think humans just naturally take the easy way out. I think it's an evolutionary trait that was meant to save energy and make us use things that will have a greater chance of success. In Jiu-Jitsu I think this is natural as well. In this case though it can stunt growth and slow progress.
The reason I have been thinking about this is lately my triangles have become better and I find myself snagging people with them a lot more often. This is a good thing, but at the same time it's hard to pass up a submission when you know you have it and try for something different that you don't have much success with. This way of thinking opens up your game more and forces you to become better in other areas. I have a feeling this way of thinking is also the difference between a blue belt and purple and higher. I certainly do not think of myself as a person who just goes for the tap, but I find it hard sometimes to think in a catch and release type of mentality. Thinking back now, one of the reasons I have become good with the triangle is because I used to be good with the armbar and have since opened my game up and moved on.
Matt got his brown belt tonight. Quite an achievement. I think I heard him say that he has been doing bjj for over 6 years and grappling for over 20. That is just amazing. His take downs are slick as shit, and he transitions so well for a big guy. He is great to have around on the mat and has so much to give in terms of knowledge. The Foundry is lucky to have him as an asset.

Back on The Mats

It's been a few days since our trip out to Cali and it's been great to get back out on the mats. It's also nice to be able to roll again full speed without having to worry about them tweaking something before such a big tourney. We have had some really good new guys showing up that are starting to learn some fundamentals and it's great to see. A few of them got their first stripe last night and you could tell they were happy by the look on their faces. I remember getting my first stripe and how good it felt.
We had a couple guys go to the Naga Worlds right after we got back from the Pan Ams. Shawn did great as always, placing 2nd and 3rd in various divisions. He is a great competitor and it just shows the reward of competing often. I can't wait to see him in class next time to ask him more about his wins.
The weather is getting nice outside and it's almost time to start running again. As crazy as it sounds once I get in the swing of running I actually like it a lot. It's one of the few things that are so simple, just you and the track. No distractions.
Like the good weather changing, the club is going through some changes as well. Noel and Missy are moving to DC in pursuit of a better life (one outside of Farmington Maine.) Justin and John will be taking over the club and keeping the Foundry name going. The location will eventually change and where to is still up in the air. This all makes me sad, but happy for them and I wish them the best of luck.
My game seems to be changing again, I can no longer play De La Riva guard on Justin he is figuring out a way to counter it right off the hand shake. I still play open, but its morphing into a more scissor type guard. One thing I feel, is as my guard has become better my escapes have become worse. This could be very true or it could just be the people who pass my guard are skilled and are getting better every day.

The Pan Ams Experience

The trip has come to an end, we arrived back in Maine at 1AM Monday morning. It was a very long day filled with lots of time to reflect. I think of myself as lucky, to be a new blue belt and be exposed to the level of Jiu-Jitsu that was at the Pan Ams.

DAY 1

The alarm went off really early on Thursday morning, 4AM to be exact. We had packed the night before so we just had to shower and wake up before headed over to the Danforths. We all met up there and packed the car and crammed into the back seat. The ride to Manchester airport went a lot faster on the way there then on the way back. Our flight left around 10AM and had a layover in beautiful Newark NJ. From there it was on to Cali for bjj, beaches, and Brazilian butts (female of course). There was a small problem we discovered that Noels bag had not been checked properly and was not there for us in NJ. This was an even bigger problem because it had his Gi and belt in it and without them he would not be able to compete.
When we landed at LAX we headed down to the baggage claim to see if his bag had somehow by some miracle reached LAX. It had not. Missy filed a claim for it just in case they were to find it somewhere. We then headed over to the car rental place wondering how we were going to patch together a Gi for Noel to compete in. The car was a black Dodge Caliber, and to our delight it had plenty of room for us. Day one ended with everyone down in the hot tub and me passed out on the bed in the room. I was so tired from the trip.

Day 2

Friday we had Bri and Justin competing. Bri was at 1:30 and Justin was set to go at 3:30. We had some time in the morning so we headed over to the venue to check their weights and also get a feel for the scene. Both of them were going to make weight just fine. Justin was happy because he had enough of a buffer to eat a good breakfast. We headed to grab some food at this wonderful place called Jamba Juice. This place had fresh fruit that they blended up for you and topped with granola.
Bri stepped on the mats a lil later then she was scheduled for, but it wasn't to bad. Her fight went better then her past couple. She really controlled the standup like she had wanted to. She also almost passed the girls guard twice. Wanting to stand it back up she allowed the girl to get back to her feet. At this point Bri was tired and shot for a double leg and the girl sprawled on top of her. She ended up taking Bri's back and getting a choke. It was heartbreaking to see the disappointment in her face. I could tell she was emotional about it so we all gave her some space for a while.
Justin had a bi in the first round and I think that ended up being a downfall because he had to wait for over 2 hours in the bullpen by himself. It takes a lot of work to get warmed up and mentally prepared and to then be put on ice and made to wait for over 2 hours isolated to some extent can't be helpful.
Justin came out strong with his stand up and his opponent was forced to shoot for a double from way out of range. He managed to snag a leg and Justin went to half guard. From there Justin recovered his full guard and started to work for a high guard. His opponent started to pass and Justin was back in half guard. At this point Justin was working an old school sweep and we were all cheering, but in the transition the other guy set up a darce choke. Justin tried to fight it as he came up on top, but it was to deep and he had to tap. Again it was very emotional and as sissy as it might be to say, I was choked up and it was hard to look at him. I knew he had trained so hard and sacrificed so much to give it a shot. It's just hard to see.

DAY 3

The weather was amazing on Saturday. It was about 75-80 with a light breeze and no humidity. Missy didn't have to compete until 7ish that night. So we had been in touch with our friend Mike Tomacelli who used to train back in Maine and now has his own gym in Cali. Mike and his wife Shannon were nice enough to show us around after a short training session to warm Missy up. They started off by taking us to a place called Sharkys in Huntington Beach. This place had amazing Mexican food. I double fisted a pair of Coronas because it just seemed fitting and it all hit the spot. From there we walked down to the beach. It was an amazing time, lounging on the beach talking Jiu-Jitsu and soaking up the sun.
Soon it was time for us to head over to the venue again so that Missy could warm up for her match. When we got there though they had already called her division and Missy had to jump right into the bullpen without much of a warm up at all. Again this would mess with my head, damn you bullpen! Missy went up against a girl who looked like she could bench press me and was rather hard on the eyes. Unfortunately the girl was also very strong at Jiu-Jitsu. She pulled guard on Missy and went straight to a high guard set up. Missy worked hard to defend a cross choke that looked very painful, but ended up getting caught in an armbar. We left shortly after her match and headed back to the hotel to enjoy the hot tub and grab some food.

DAY 4

Noel was the last one of us to compete and he had to go at 9AM and we all were in agreement that was too early. Once we got there he had enough time to warm up before his division was called. He had an extremely close match and ended up losing by 2 points! They had very similar games and seemed to be going for the same stuff.
After the match we all got to kick back and enjoy the black belt matches. I can't even tell you in words the amount of amazing Jiu-Jitsu in that one building. There was a very touching moment of silence for Helio Gracie and Rickson came out and gave a great speech about his dad and the sport.
I recommend buying the DVD when it comes out because there were so many great matches and subs and sweeps. After a long day we headed back to the hotel for a bit. Noel and Missy went over to Mike and Shannon's place, but Bri and Justin and I were to exhausted to go out. We ended up going and picking up some beer and taking it back to he room and getting a nice buzz before enjoying the hot tub one last time.
The trip was a success in my mind. We may not have done as well as we wanted to, but there were many small victories. Besides the Pan Ams came second in my eyes, spending time with great friends and meeting great people came first. After seeing the level of BJJ at the Pan Ams I have to wonder if it's for a hobbyist. Someone who struggles to make it to 2-3 classes a week. Competing against people who train 3 times a day, 7 days a week. Not to mention weight train and stuff. That's something I'm still thinking about and have not come to an answer yet.