We were told to turn up at 9.30am for weigh in and a start time of 10am. The day finally got under way at 10.40 after a few teething problems but ran smoothly for the day. Although with 150 competitors it was always going to be a very long day. The mats were extremely small, the rules were very vague and the reffing had it’s usual ups and downs.

All in all it was a pretty good day and a slight improvement on the previous round. There are still issues with the Brazilians vs the rest mentality and the way they formulate and run the draws leaves a lot to be desired. But the GSW crew went up for the experience and to have a shot. Most of the GSW crew were competing for the very first time and everyone conducted themselves extremely well.

In the team were: Blue Belts: Cain Harland, Scott Lyons, Adan Tijerina

Michael Hourigan competed under his new team from Auckland but he will always e one of our brothers and we can take pride in his gold medal in his division.

Also competing for GSW were: Patrick Te Tau, Thomas Ockens, Brad Hendra, Dan Ruck, Cam Macgregor, David White, Fiso Siloata and Brad Kora.

Results each in their respective weight class:
Cain Harland: 2nd
Scotty Lyons 3rd
Cam Macgregor: 1st
Brad Kora: 1st
Brad Hendra: 2nd
Thomas Ockens: 3rd

Well done to all the crew for your efforts on the day. Special thanks Lee Warden for the transport and to the boys for helping with the videoing and coaching.

For videos check here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25573780@N02/

for Photos check here: http://nz.youtube.com/user/BJJNZ

Gareth & Hamztar

Little Kane & Yeow (Chinese Steve)

Hamztar & Fran

Gareth displays his Kickboxing prowess

Oli Gogoplata’s jamie m@d1

Crazy Sweeps Fran

Miguelzinho kills Roblong

Roblong = ded

Gareth plays the Munter card on Little Kane

umm?? Roblong

Miguelzinho kills Yeow

Hamztar

Knitting circle

Miguelzinho meditates

Miguelzinho poses

4 Omopalata drills
Get the elbow
Keep the elbow
From mount via reverse side mount (with bonus sweep)
From sidecontrol also via reverse side mount but finishing on the other side

4 Arm triangle choke (or head arm choke) setups/drills
From crossface
From sidecontrol
From head to head
From underneath

Before the seminar got under way we took the opportunity to promote a few of the GSW crew.

Congrats to new Purple Belts Jonny Bares and Jason Murphy and new Blues Brendan Pfahlert and Cain Harland. Well done boys. At the end of the session John ambushed me and awarded me with my BJJ Black Belt.

I would like to thank everyone for their kind words, emails and comments over the last few days. I’ll have to admit that I’m still a bit dumbfounded and it hasn’t actually sunk in yet I think. Thursdays class was the same as always but any time I caught a glimpse of the Black Belt it surprised me all over again. I’m sure it will take some time to get used to.

Here are a few shots from the night as well as a video of John ambushing me using a chocolate cake as a prop. I’ve edited my speech from the footage because I waffled like a raving idiot.

Firstly John took the time to promote two new Blues on the GSW mat. Congratulations to Steve Yee and Ivan Yarslov. Both boys have been training at GSW for almost 3 years.

This time around the mat was not over flowing but with over 30 it was still full. John got under way with some new warm up and motion drills, before launching into another fantastic series of techniques. What made this session different is that John was teaching more than just the usual stunning array of skills and techs, he was teaching the skills involved in training ourselves to be better at everything we do.

John gave us an overview of several teaching models and then showed us a better way of drilling and learning and perfecting the techniques we learn and already know. John has covered these ideas in his BJJ Blog on a couple of occasions but it’s one thing to read it and quite another to have it explained and broken down for you in person.

Johns technique for delivering these concepts was the X-Guard, a great set of techniques to demonstrate the idea that he was trying to put across. As always with John there were some stunning pointers and little details on not only the techniques but also the concepts he is delivering.

Remember!

20 bucks! = seize the moment
Practice makes permanent
Stress
Live +1

Also on the GSW mat we had 3 members of one of NZ’s best bands, KORA. The boys were in Wellington putting finishing touches on their long anticipated album. Needless to say they have been bitten by the BJJ bug and Grappling is now a huge part of their lives. Thanks for coming guys.

And once again thanks to John Will for continuing to deliver world class information and knowledge in a way that even the newest students can grasp and make work.

Geoff