November 30 th sees our coach John Will return to GSW for the last of his seminar series for the year.
Along with the usual outstanding content, we can also expect a few promotions as the school continues to grow in both numbers and talent.

Then on the 9th & 10th of December we are once again hosting BJJ legend Robert Drysdale. And this time his wife Sophia McDermott-Drysdale is coming down with him. That means that along with the Gi and No-Gi sessions run by Robert on Saturday, the Ladies have an opportunity to train with Sophia on Friday night!!

Numbers for Robert and John are strictly limited and first with the money gets the spot. Both John Will and Robert Drysdale sessions are only open to GSW and Will – Machado members.
Sophia’s session is open to any Ladies who want to improve their grappling. The session cost is $50..

For more info, posters and to express your interest jump on our facebook events page >>..

10 min rounds
No points
Submission only
No Submission? no winner
Finals, no time limit
Minimum of 2 fights for everyone
3 mat areas running
10 am start.

White over 80kg:
1st: Spencer Cameron
2nd: Adam Eruera
3rd: Tim Pointer

Blue under 80 kg:
1st Pat Te Tau
2nd: Andrew Hausmann
3rd: Melvin Chand

Blue Belt over 80 kg:
1st: Fiso Siloata
2nd: David White
3rd James Toaolamai

Purple Belts:
1st: Scott Lyons
2nd Eduardo Campos
3rd: Phil Stenhouse

Videos going up to our youtube account now
http://www.youtube.com/user/BJJNZ
And photos can be found on our Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/GSW-Martial-Arts/72268139002

Conrgats to everyone who jumped in.
Special mentions to the following.
Jemima and Ester, for getting in with the boys.
Fiso and Dave for the 28 minute final!
Thanks to Jarrod and Glen for helping with the officiating and also to Glen for bringing a crew out from Porirua Submission.

Well done everyone, well see you at the next on in a month.

Finals will be no time limit..

The idea is to encourage submission attempts and not points wars. Fight goes until someone quits or time runs out.
The idea for this comp came from Gerald Burton-Batty a Will – Machado Black Belt. Gerald ran this comp to great success in Melbourne 10 years ago.

I will run 3 fight areas on the floor so everyone should get a couple of shots at it without taking up the whole day..

Enter online here >>
http://www.gsw.co.nz/comp_entry.html

Discuss in the forum
http://www.gsw.co.nz/members/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2213

But the really big news for the facility is that Lockdown Mixed Martial Arts Coach, Gareth Lewis, will be running MMA classes in Wellington!

Starting Tuesday the 11th January Mixed Martial Arts sessions will be held from 6.30pm.

New Members are welcome at either the BJJ or MMA sessions and full details of timetable and fees can be found on this site.

I am absolutely stoked to have Gareth teaching MMA from the same facility and look forward to sharing the mat with our Lockdown buddies.

Welcome aboard!

A preliminary timetable is below.

Timetable

GSW Wellington L2 272 Taranaki St

Monday
7.00 – 8.00 pm: BJJ Fundamentals (new members)
8.00 – 9.00 pm: BJJ Advanced (Gi – grappling)

Tuesday
12.00 noon: BJJ Advanced – By arrangement (Check Facebook)

6.30 pm – 7.30 pm: MMA Fundamentals (New Members)
7.30 pm – 8.30 pm: MMA Advanced

Wednesday
7.00 – 8.00 pm: BJJ Fundamentals (new members)
8.00 – 9.00 pm: BJJ Advanced (Gi – grappling)

Thursday
12.00 noon: BJJ Advanced – By arrangement (Check Facebook)

6.30 pm – 7.30 pm: MMA Fundamentals (New Members)
7.30 pm – 8.30 pm: MMA Advanced

Friday
7.00 pm – 9.00 pm Open Mat – By arrangement (Check Facebook)

Saturday
10.00 am – 12 noon: BJJ Intermediate (Gi-less – grappling)

Sunday
6.00 pm – 8.00 pm Open Mat – By arrangement (Check Facebook)

Wednesday covered foot locks, toe holds and knee bars. Robert also answered questions from seminar participants covering Triangle escapes and a preface to Brabo and Darce chokes. Thursday was Brabo setups and executions which was gold. Robert once again answered questions from participants. The seminars were packed and extremely well received by everyone.

In a stunning coincidence Roberts first BJJ instructor was Steve da Silva, the same guy that gave Geoff and Ko their first taste of BJJ. Even more stunning is the image of Steve on this page was used by Robert in 2006 for an article in a Japanese magazine about his instructors!
Flickr set from the No-Gi session
Flickr set from the Gi session
Flickr set from Roberts Chopper excursion to the south coast

While that has been going on we have had another visit from BJJ royalty. Rigan Machado once again graced our mats for a seminar after being in Australia for the Will / Machado Nationals. We have also recently had another visit from our coach John Will. We managed to shift some mats into the Taranaki site and run a seminar with over 50 people on the mat! As always the session was epic, but what made it more so, was the promotion of GSW’s first BJJ Brown Belt – Hemi Pou. Never has our mat seen a more deserving rank handed out.

This month while we hope to put the final touches on the new location, we will be hosting one of the biggest names in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the world!
Robert Drysdale is coming the GSW for two nights and running a No-Gi session on Wednesday the 8th and a Gi session on Thursday the 9th. It took a bit of work to get him down to NZ but he was in Australia doing a series of seminars with Will / Machado schools and after several back and forward emails between various people, he agreed to pop over for a couple of days.

I have to thank Gareth Lewis for talking to his contacts and getting the dialogue started and also Sophia Drysdale for all her hard work behind the scenes in getting it all finalised. Thanks you both.

This is a huge coup for GSW and Will / Machado in NZ and we have kept these first sessions with Robert closed to our members only, (I’m hoping that there will be more opportunities to train with Robert in 2011) and the response has been overwhelming. As I write this, the Gi session is fully booked and the No-Gi has only a few spots left. Looks like it’s going to be an enormous couple of days. Hopefully I’ll have time over Christmas to update you on the seminars and progress of the school.

For current members, please be aware, Sunday 5th and Monday 6th classes will be at Taranaki St. Wednesday and Thursday will be the Robert Drysdale seminars (don’t just turn up expecting to get a spot) then we will be changing everything for the following week. Check Back!!

Till then Take Care and I’ll see you on the mat sometime.

Geoff

As you should all be aware it’s a costume party. You can choose anything starting with the letters
G
S
W
Thats right Caglan, any of those letters.. I have already booked my ‘Slash’ costume from “The Costume Company” and there are several other company’s in the Wellington region that offer costume hire. Try Google >>

Here’s a list of ideas >>

As an added incentive, although costume is required, I am offering up a cash prize for the best costume. The winner will be selected by Richard Norton, as he’s played ‘dress-up’ more times in his life than any of us…
$100 1st place and $50 each for 2nd and 3rd…

Also on the night we will be having a small auction to raise funds for the new location, items being auctioned will include Books, DVD’s, Gis, Gear Bags, Private training sessions and other assorted goodies. If you have any item or service you would like to add into the pot please contact me as every little bit will help.

Also in conjunction with the Party on Saturday night we will be hosting a couple of Richard Norton Seminars during the day.
The seminars will run at GSW Lower Hutt, 11am for the Whites and 1.30pm for the coloured Belts. Cost is $50. Coloured Belts will finish at 3.30pm which will allow everyone to get home grab a bite to eat at be at the Corner Store for 7pm.

I know this will be a big a day and a bit of money will be spent but as I’ve mentioned at class this week, I’m not a big one for parties, I shout the occasional pizza, pool night and Blue Belt dinner but this is the first serious party I’ve ever thrown for the GSW crew and I’m looking forward to celebrating everything we’ve achieved over the past decade!

See you there

Geoff

The new place needs bit of a tidy up and ‘many hands make light work’ so I’ll be calling on EVERYONE to help with a couple of working bees in the not too distant future.

But more than that is the need for mats!

Jamie Smith has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to make this all happen. Apart from single-handedly organising the location and landlord he has also been in contact with mat suppliers overseas and secured super cheap mats for us.

Now I say super cheap but that’s relative! The mats will cost somewhere around $15000!! On top of the new lease and cost of getting the new place ready I’m going to be stretched beyond my means. So I’m going to do something I hate, but what several of you have suggested, and ask for help.

The main thing that everyone has said is they would be prepared to buy one mat. So if you are able and willing to donate to the fund or buy a mat then please feel free.

If you want you can donate online you can click the donate button below or talk to me at class. Or you can buy one of our new GSW Rash Vests or the new BJJ Gis. Or just tell me to piss off!!

Or even better, if you run a company or work for a company that wants to sponsor New Zealand’s Biggest BJJ school, then I can offer some incentives. Pages or Banners on my sites, signs up at the schools, Patches on the Gis and many more ways of getting your companies name out there!

Think about it.. every little bit helps!

Thanks

Shihan Geoff

Target 200 square mtrs
Total @ 4th August 2010

Richard Norton is known by many in the Martial Arts world as a Action Movie Star who has appeared in over 60 movies, alongside greats such as Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yasuaki Kurata, Benny “the Jet” Urquidez, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, and Cynthia Rothrock. But personally Richard is more than just a name and a face on the big screen.

In 1996 Ko and I traveled to Geelong to attend seminars by Jean Jaques Machado run at John Will’s academy. Richard Norton was in attendance as well and he took the time to assist us both as we struggled with the concepts and ideas that JJM was trying to instill in us. It was a profound time in our training. Meeting legends in the Martial Arts and forging stronger ties with our coach John Will.

Recently Richard has returned to Australia from his home in LA to start work on Mad Max 4. Richard also started running seminars for local Martial Arts Schools, so I approached him about coming to NZ for a couple of sessions at GSW.

Richard ran 2 sessions for the GSW crew, one for the white belts and one for the coloured. As we have had so many sessions with John Will we did not know what to expect from Richard. But very quickly it became clear that while Richards teaching style was different from John’s, his skill and ability was beyond awesome.

While I was personally disappointed with the turn-out from both the GSW crew and our associated schools, the students that did attend were rewarded with an inspiring and thought provoking set of skills and drills. Richard was engaging and entertaining in his delivery and, like John, his stories and anecdotes reminded us why we are so privileged to be a Machado school.

Through our association with John Will and BJJ Australasia, we have been granted access to BJJ royalty and those that were there at the beginning of the BJJ revolution as we know it. Not only can we claim a direct link to the source but we have trained with those that help create the BJJ that we know and love.

Richard session covered many topics as he gave us what he called his ‘tea tasting’ in other words a broad range of skills and insights into concepts for our games.

For me personally it was a great look at things from a different perspective and the next day the feedback from everyone has been nothing short of astounding. Everyone knows that John Will is the very best coach and we are well versed in John’s delivery and execution of his seminars, which is why they now cater for 80+ people, but Richard provided a fresh insight into old skills and new twists and tweaks as well as new concepts. invigorating to say the least.

I won’t run through a list of what he covered as the group that made the effort can claim those things as their own, this is not a hiding of skills or a keeping of secret knowledge but an acknowledgment to those the gave up their time and took a punt on the unknown.

Richard also ran a session for the local Zen Do Kai students and instructors, held at GSW. Through sheer diplomacy I will keep my opinions to myself, other than this.

I cannot express how validated I feel in my decision to run GSW as I do, our mat culture is awesome and the people who attend our classes and fit the ideals of the school should hold their heads high and revel in their ability to absorb information and encourage the outpouring that this attitude inspires in our visiting instructors. You Guys and Girls rock.

Photos from the sessions can be found on our flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25573780@N02/>>

Richard Norton GSW BJJ seminar >>

Richard Norton GSW Zen Do Kai Seminar >>