10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 13 (Swimming in the Deep End)

(If you haven't read the previous part, you can find it HERE)

I just got wrecked in the Welsh Open by a guy half my size. F***! Never mind, back to training I go.

Me and my brother went back to training for a week or two, and then something happened which at first kind of shocked me. However, it turned out to be one of the best experiences if life. My instructor asked me and my brother if we would like to move into the adult class. Man, I was a little shocked to say the least. Bear in mind, me and my brother were only 14 years old at this point. Heck, my voice hadn't even dropped. 

To be honest, we didn't really think about it. We just said yes. At this point, there was nobody our size in the kid’s class and now we would be going into an environment where everybody would be stronger and bigger than us. That aspect of it I didn't really care about. If it would make me better and get me closer to green belt, I would do it. 

The whole day before my first adult class, I was so nervous. I'm talking like competition type nervous. I don't even know why, but I was shitting myself. Even though I had trained in the kid’s class for years, I didn't know what to expect from the adult class. 

When we arrive, there were about 20 - 25 people there. In those days, there were hardly any blue belts on the mat at one time. You would be lucky to have five on the mat at the same time. If I remember correctly, there were about 3 blue belts there on that day. 

The warm up was pretty much exactly the same as the kid’s class. Obviously, it was a little harder, but it wasn't too overwhelming. 

I remember the technique we did like it happened yesterday. We covered de la riva guard with some sweeps and the transition to the back. I remember just sitting there being so baffled. In all my years of doing Jiu-Jitsu, I had never seen de la riva guard before. It was like I had been eating from the same menu for years and then suddenly somebody took me to a buffet where there was so much more variety. I was exposed to a whole new world.

Man, I've never had so much fun doing a technique. It took me a little while to get it, especially the correct angle, but man it was a blast. I think that is one of my most memorable moments in Jiu-Jitsu as crazy at that might sound to some people. 

After doing technique for about 30 minutes, we got onto rolling. The first roll was just with my brother, so nothing unexpected about that. The next round was with a guy called Chris, who at the time was a one stripe white belt. Actually, he wasn't really that much bigger than me, but he was super skinny. In short I got absolutely wrecked by this guy. But honestly, I had so much fun! I realised that everything from now on would be a challenge. There would be no easy rolls. 

Next round, same thing again, I get totally trashed by this bald headed short guy. I didn't even know his name, but he just completely schooled me. I still had a blast though. I finally realised here that I couldn't just use my size to my advantage like I did in the kid’s class and just bully everybody. No, now I had to really develop technique if I was going to stand any sort of chance with these guys, or I would just be smashed every time. 

At the end of that session, I finally 'got it'. I realised why people loved Jiu-Jitsu so much and why it consumed their lives. As a kid, I would hear adults all the time say they loved Jiu-Jitsu and they were obsessed with it. However, I couldn't really understand that. There were times where I hated Jiu-Jitsu, and I didn't want to do it anymore. Even during times where I liked Jiu-Jitsu, I was never completely in love with it and it didn't consume everything I did.

But that evening, I got that Jiu-Jitsu 'bug' which infects all of us. I got to experience firsthand what Jiu-Jitsu was. It was like I had been living in a black and white world, and finally somebody showed me a world of colour. That was one of the best days of my life and something I will never forget. 

I hope you guys enjoyed this part of 'My Jiu-Jitsu Journey', and the next part will be uploaded soon.   

Catch you later,

Giordano 

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 12 (Welsh Open 2009)

(If you haven't read the previous part, you can find it HERE)

Now, after being graded, I was super motivated to train hard and eventually get to green belt. Even if that meant staying in the kid’s class for another two years, I just didn't really care. All I wanted to do was get my green belt prior to my 16th birthday.

The next day (Friday) I actually took the day off school. I don't remember exactly why, but I was probably 'sick'. Anyway, around 5 o'clock in the afternoon, my dad got a phone call from my instructor saying that he was running a competition and wanted me and my brother to compete in it on Sunday. I was a little shocked to say the least, just because it was two days away and I don't like doing things last minute (I've always been that way). 

Reluctantly, I agreed to it, and that was that. I didn't know anything about the competition, how many people were in my division, what weight I'd be fighting at etc. I actually didn't know what the competition was called until I got there. 

Up until this point, I'd only ever competed in one BJJ competition (the others I competed in were Japanese Ju-Jitsu competitions because there were no or very few BJJ competitions run in the UK in the early to mid-2000's) and that actually went really well. I took silver and submitted two of my opponents. I saw this as a good opportunity to test my skills (or lack of) against some people my own size for a change. I still had no idea about weight classes, the rules, the point system or any other stuff associated with competition. 

Fast forward to Sunday morning, and we arrive at the venue in Newport. I was a little shocked because there were no kids or teenagers about. Only me and my brother, sitting there like a bunch of lemons with my dad. I then found out that there were only four of us in my division, and it was open weight due to lack of entries. So at least either me or my brother would walk away with a medal, even if it meant fighting each other.

About 2 hours later, I was called and my division was about to start. 

My opponent was a kid who was the same age as me, but much shorter and skinnier. I thought this was going to be an easy match, but I soon ate those words. The match starts and we start to try and take each other down, mainly with foot sweeps. Back then I had no game. I was neither a top nor bottom player. I literally just did anything and my technique was quite sloppy. I cringe just thinking about it now. 

After about two minutes or so, the guy lands a killer foot sweep and lands straight into side control. F***! Now I really am well and truly screwed. I couldn't escape side control to save my god damn frickin' life. I tried to shrimp but I sucked at that as well. I looked like a dead fish just flapping around out there. After about two minutes with the guy on top of me in side control, he gets an armbar and that was it. 

This was really a reality check for me. I needed to do something with my training or I was just going to continue to get killed out there. The last time I competed I did so well, now I got absolutely schooled by someone half my size. As frustrating as it was, I wasn't too disheartened. All I wanted to do now was train and get better.

My brother's match went actually pretty well. He fought a guy from Roger Gracie Academy who was around the same size as us and an orange belt. He eventually got submitted with a triangle about 4.5 minutes in, but it was a good match. 

Now, there's actually footage of me versus my brother, so I thought I would share that rather than explain the match fully. The quality of the footage is abysmal! But if you are interested you can take a look. I'm the one on the bottom the whole way through.

(If you're viewing on a mobile device, please click HERE)

Another competition over with... But then something happens a few weeks later which change my Jiu-Jitsu game forever. 

I hope you guys enjoyed this part of 'My Jiu-Jitsu Journey', and part 11 will be published next Wednesday.   

Catch you later,

Giordano 

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 11 (I Came Back)

(If you haven't seen the last part, it can be found HERE.)

So... I decided to come back. At this point, it's January 2009 and I had just turned 14 years old. Even though I had only been gone a few months, I had changed a bit. I started to take life a bit more seriously. Realistically, I was in the eyes of most people still a kid, but I felt like I was maturing as a person and everything wasn't just a game anymore. So when I returned to training at the start of 2009, I was extra determined to make the best of what I had around me and start to become good at Jiu-Jitsu. 

At my academy, my instructor’s mother is always at the front desk to collect payments from each of the students as they enter the academy. On my first lesson back, I remember her asking me where I had been, to which I replied nervously "Uh... I had exams at school" which was the best thing I could come up with on the spot at 14 years old. 

When I came into the academy itself, a few things had changed. Firstly, the bare jigsaw mats we used to have were now covered in a nice blue covering, which we still have to this day. Also, my instructor was now a brown belt, which I had no idea about. I know I could have probably found that out on the academy's website or on Facebook, but hey, I was 14 years old! The only thing I used the internet for was to go on YouTube or play games on Miniclip.  

After a few weeks, progress was going okay, and I could feel that I was improving. I forgot to mention this last time, but around April 2008, I was promoted to white/orange belt, which is a white belt with an orange stripe going through the middle. The kid’s belt rank system was different back in those days, and a white/orange belt was the next belt up from yellow.

It was around this time that my instructor told me that there was a grading coming up one Saturday around mid-February, so that made me a little excited about the prospect of becoming an orange belt (that's at least what I thought) and getting one step closer to becoming a green belt.

Fast forward to mid-February, and the day of the grading was here. In terms of a grading, it is everything you would expect from rolling to demonstrating techniques from a variety of positions. Although, one thing happened during the grading which I'll never forget. Whilst my brother and I were demonstrating some techniques from the guard, my instructor turns to me and asks me to show him how you would pass spider guard.

Man, I can remember looking at my brother in total confusion. The truth was I didn't know what spider guard was. After about 30 seconds of umming and ahhing, he had to come and show us what spider guard was and said "You should know this guys" in a rather displeased tone. The spider guard pass we showed was just awful! It was just botched together. That was one of the most embarrassing times I've ever had in Jiu-Jitsu. 

The truth was I was stuck in the past. I had been doing the same moves for the last 4 - 5 years all from a copy of a Wallid Ismail DVD that my dad bought on eBay. I had my set of moves in my head and I didn't want to change. 

Once the grading had finished, we were told that we would receive our new grades on Thursday. Now, in my mind I thought I would be receiving an orange belt, but that's not what happened. Instead, on that Thursday evening, I received an orange/white belt (an orange belt with a white stripe through the middle) and somebody else in the class received an orange belt. Oh boy, disappointed was an understatement. 

I don't know this for a fact, but it must have been down to not being able to pass spider guard. I mean, what else could it be? 

From that day, I was determined to change my game and get better as a whole. I see that day as the turning point in my Jiu-Jitsu. The next day however, I received a phone call.

I hope you guys enjoyed this part of 'My Jiu-Jitsu Journey', and part 11 will be published soon.

Catch you later,

Giordano 

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 10 (I Give Up!)

(This is part 10 of this series. If you haven't seen part 9 it can be found HERE.)

So... I medalled in my first BJJ comp! Talk about ecstatic, I was on a high for a few days after the competition had finished.

It was moments like this where I realised maybe I could be good at Jiu-Jitsu. Even though in the past few previous competitions I had my ass handed to me, and I looked like I had never spent an hour on the mats, for some reason on that day I was a different person. On that day I felt almost untouchable, and I wasn't going to get annihilated out there. This accomplishment was exactly what I needed to fuel my fire to keep on training and carry on my journey to get the prestigious green belt.  

I kept training for about 3-4 months after the competition in good spirits. In that time, all I wanted to be was good at Jiu-Jitsu, and was going to try my best to be as good as I could ever be. But after that period, probably around July 2008, I had a drastic change of heart towards Jiu-Jitsu, and as far as I was concerned I was done. Even though I carried on going for a few months after that, I didn't really want to be there. I was just going through the motions as I did previously and each session just felt like one big coast and I wasn't really going anywhere.  

Now, there are a few reasons I didn't want to carry on with Jiu-Jitsu. The main reason was the kid’s class. The fact was there was no competition. I was thirteen at the time and quiet big for my age and the rest of the kids were eight or nine. I could just dominate everyone with ease, and not rely on technique. This is probably why I picked up so many bad habits and when I went into competition I would just get smashed. I did always have my brother with me, but how often can you roll with him before it just become predictable?

In short, I had outgrown the kid’s class. However, I was at that age where I was too young for the adult’s class and maybe too old for the kid’s class, so I was in a weird predicament. Anyway, those decisions were not up to me, those were up to my instructors.  At the time though, I never even thought about the adult class. The thought never even entered my mind. I thought I would move into the adult’s class when I turned sixteen, but that would mean waiting three and a half more years and quite frankly I didn't think I could carry on going for that long.  

Another reason was I just didn't like Jiu-Jitsu anymore; in fact I would even go as far to say I hated it. There so many times I remember just not wanting to go and literally had to drag myself there. I mean what was the point? I'm not getting any better, there is no competition, my technique is sloppy, and my determination is zero. I know I said I had a moment like this before, but this was different. This time around I was older, and going twice a week to roll with a group of eight year olds just didn't appeal to me. As far as I was concerned I was done with Jiu-Jitsu, and sometime in August 2008 I stop going. 

Now, I want to make one thing absolutely clear, it had nothing to do with the instruction I was receiving. The instruction at my academy was, still is, and always will be top notch! And that's a FACT! 

Obviously, I did go back as otherwise I wouldn't be writing this right now.

For a few months after I left, I didn't think about Jiu-Jitsu at all, it was the furthest thing from my mind in all honesty. But then in December of that year, I started to miss Jiu-Jitsu. I couldn't even tell you why! But for whatever reason I just did. However, because I was thirteen and a stubborn little s***, I thought it would just a moment and it would pass and got back to playing Call of Duty: World at War (which is a great game by the way).  

After Christmas had passed, and I returned to school in the New Year, I made the decision to return to BJJ and carry on my journey for the green belt. I would put this down as one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life, and since that day I have never looked back. Even if that meant going back to the kid’s class and being much older than everybody, I was willing to make the best of what I had and continue the journey. 

I hope you guys enjoyed this part of 'My Jiu-Jitsu Journey', and part 11 will be published soon.

Catch you later,

Giordano 

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 9 (Braulio's Competition Part 2)

(This is part 9 of this series. If you haven't seen part 8 it can be found here.)

Okay, so I get called to fight. Now, I am feeling really confident. The match starts and within 20 seconds I get a standing guillotine, but Victor Estima, who was the referee, stops the match and gives me a warning, as it was a neck crank. Really, I had no idea that was illegal, as I didn't fully know the rules.

So the match restarts and I attempt to get a foot sweep. After a few botched attempts I finally get it and land straight into side control. I didn't have much success with double leg take downs in my previous competition history so I didn't want to take the chance and attempt one.

Now that I am in side control I could use my weight as a bit of an advantage (back in the day I was a little chubby). When I was younger, for whatever reason I loved to do the cross face choke (I think that's what it’s called). Basically, I put the blade of my forearm across their throat and apply pressure. Still to this day I don't know why I liked this choke so much, I mean it sucked! It was just so sloppy and untechnical, but to me as a thirteen year old it was the greatest submission on the planet.

It was whilst in side control trying to apply my crappy ass choke that I discovered something peculiar about the score board. I looked up and could see I was winning 5-0, but next to the five were numbers in red. Obviously, I now know they were advantages, but since I didn't know the rules, I thought they were negative points (for no other reason than they were the colour red). I just couldn't understand why he kept giving me negative points. I thought maybe it was because of the cross face, but honestly I didn't know.

Whilst distracting him with the cross face I transitioned straight into mount, and shortly after the match ended. I win 9-0. I think the time limit was only three minutes, but it might have been four, I can't really remember, but it felt like forever. I also remember being just flat out exhausted! It could have been just a big adrenaline dump or the fact that I was fat or maybe a combination of the two. 

Now, the second fight was kind or boring, as nothing really happened. It was pretty much a pushing competition on the feet for 95% of the fight and near the end I somehow bullied the guy to the ground to achieve two points and win the match.

The third round (or semifinal) was the most memorable fight of the competition for me, and was the first time I ever submitted somebody in a competition. When the match starts, I try my foot sweep again which I must have tried dozens of times throughout the competition by this point and ultimately, they all failed. Then out of the blue, the guy shoots a double on me and I panic. I try to sprawl but it was too late and in my sense of panic we somehow end up in a scramble and I bully my way to the top. 

I land in half guard with only my foot stuck inside. After a few seconds I manage to free my foot and get into side control. By this point everything is going 100 MPH, and it’s all just one complete blur. For some reason, I was so desperate to get into mount and in the process I get reversed and now the guy is in my guard. Oh s***!

Back in the day, my guard wasn't the best to say the least and pretty much the guy opened my guard in around 10 seconds and from there tried to pass. Now, at this point I know if the guy passes I'm pretty much screwed and there would be no way I would be able to escape. So out of desperation I immediately shoot up for a triangle and lock it in. After a few seconds the guy taps. I must say at this point I was pretty ecstatic! 

So that was it! I had made it all the way to the final. And my final match would be against the orange belt who I mentioned in the previous part. He pretty much wrecked everybody in under a minute on his way to the final but I was determined this wasn't going to happen to this fat kid from Skewen. 

I said before when I started the competition I was feeling confident, but now I was nervous, and I mean REALLY nervous. But what did I have to lose? Nothing! All I had to do was go out there and showcase my Jiu-Jitsu (which wasn't very much), but my Jiu-Jitsu got me this far, so you never know I might even win, but if I didn’t get submitted in thirty seconds that would also be an accomplishment.  

The final was here! The referee for the final was Otavio Sousa but at the time I had no idea who he was. To me he was just a tanned guy wearing a cap.

Straight off the bat the guy pulls guard on me, and you never guess what happens? I get arm barred in thirty seconds. Honestly, as soon as he pulled guard on me I knew I was screwed. He was just so much better than me. 

So that was it... I had lost in the final AGAIN! However, I wasn't that disappointed. I mean I beat three guys, submitting one of them and made it all the way to the final.  I didn't care about the gold medal; the experience was a thousand times better than that. 

After this day a lot of stuff changed. Probably the biggest thing was I started to become a guard player. All I wanted to do now was get better and carry on the journey.

 I hope you guys enjoyed this part of 'My Jiu-Jitsu Journey', and part 10 will be published soon.

Catch you later,

Giordano 

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 8 (Braulio's Competition Part 1)

(This is part 8 of this series. If you haven't seen part 7 it can be found here.)

So I am now a yellow belt...

I mentioned last time that I was promoted to yellow belt by Braulio and Victor Estima in October 2007, as the regulations had changed.

Fast forward a few months, and it is now January 2008. I found out that Braulio was putting on his own kid’s competition in February for all -16's under Gracie Barra. Now, if I'm honest I didn't really want to do this competition at first, but somehow I always come round to saying yes.

I guess I was hesitant at first as this would be under IBJJF rules, and this would be my first ever competition doing so. Actually, as a thirteen year old that meant nothing to me, all I knew was there would be submissions involved, which I was a bit nervous about if I'm honest, as we didn't really roll that much in the kid’s class with submissions, only if Chris told us too.

Nobody else entered in the club, it was just me and my brother. Actually, my brother was ill the week leading up to the competition, so now it’s just me. 

The competition itself was held in Gracie Barra Birmingham, and as always, it took forever to get there. Now, other than my first ever competition, this was probably the most nervous I have ever been leading up to a competition. Probably because this was something completely new, and I guess I didn't know really what to expect.

For some reason, I didn't actually own a yellow belt. When I was graded, they gave me a yellow belt, we had a photo, and then they took it back. Actually, at this time I only trained nogi, so I didn't really need one. So, instead Chris gave me an old white belt to use instead for the competition. Actually, Chris was supposed to come up, but for some reason he didn't.  

So, we finally arrive and the place is rammed. I mean literally you cannot move. There were loads of teams there that day. Every team had loads of competitors, at least 20. I on the other hand, had my ill brother, and my dad wearing that AWFUL purple coat, (one day, I am going to burn it!). So if nothing else at least I had some good corner men (jokes!).

Basically, they weighed all the competitors, and then separated them into categories. I was in Teens A (13-14) heavyweight division, as I was pretty chubby at that age. For some reason, they did IBJJF rules and time limits, but not age or weight divisions. There were a decent number of competitors there that day, so they probably could have done proper divisions.

Now, I didn't really know the rules all that well, and I definitely did not know what advantages were. Neither did I know what submissions were legal or not, but I wasn't too worried about that, as most of them I never really did. Back in those days I didn't really have a game, just try and get on top, and somehow pass the guard. And if I'm honest, that game SUCKS! And I found that out when I started training with the adults. 

So, now I am there dressed in my Gracie Academy gi, with Carlson Gracie and Brazilian Top Team patches on, at a Gracie Barra competition. Yeah, people must have thought I turned up to the wrong competition. But all jokes aside, today I felt really confident. I just knew today I was going to win!

My division was actually pretty big, and since we all pretty much started again in terms of grade, everyone was either a yellow belt or lower. Except for one guy, who was an orange belt, and was in my division. Great!

Okay, so I get called to fight...

I hope you guys enjoyed. Part 9 will be uploaded shortly.

Catch you later,

Giordano

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 7 (Braulio's Grading)

(This is part 7 of this series. If you haven't seen part 6 it can be found here.)

 

It's time to start over...

 

As I mentioned previously, the BJJ ranking system for kids changed in autumn 2007, and we were required to be graded again. This meant taking a trip to Gracie Barra Birmingham, and be graded by both Braulio and Victor Estima.

 

Some of you probably never got the chance to go to Braulio's old gym, but personally I had the opportunity to go there a few times. I've been there for a grading, seminar, and a competition, but funnily enough never a class.

 

Obviously, we wouldn't be the only team at the grading. Pretty much, every kid’s team under Braulio would be there to be graded. The matted area in that particular gym was pretty small, so were given times slots as there were numerous teams to get through. I can't remember the exact time since it was over six years ago, but I think off the top of my head it was about 10 o'clock.

 

This would be the first time I had ever been to Gracie Barra Birmingham which was in Acocks Green, Birmingham. Naturally, all of the team met at one location. This time it was Stadium garage in Skewen, and from there we would follow Chris to the club itself.

 

One thing I remember in particular about this trip was how long it took to get there. I mean hours. We hit some traffic about half way through, and it literally seemed to go on forever. One thing that sticks out in my mind is needing to go to toilet really bad, and my dad refusing to stop as "we'll lose Chris".

 

So, we finally arrive, and late in typical fashion. The place is absolutely rammed with kids, and there was pretty much no place to get changed, except for on the stairs. The building itself consisted of two floors. On the ground floor you had Gracie Barra Birmingham, and on the top floor you had a gym which was called 'Stevie B's'.

 

So there me and my brother are getting changed on the stairs like a couple of melons with all these roid heads coming up the stairs, which was a little awkward. If you didn't know, me and my brother get changed really slowly, so it was especially awkward.

 

Now we finally make it onto the mats. Basically, the grading consisted of them showing a few techniques and us demonstrating them. To my amazement, we didn't actually do any sparring, which personally I thought they would. They had a lot to get through that day, so maybe they just didn't have any time.

 

The highest rank to be given out that day was a yellow belt, which both me and my brother both achieved. For some reason, I remember being really disappointed with 'only' receiving a yellow belt, which seems a bit daft to say now, but that's how my 12 year old self felt at the time. However, seeing that the kids BJJ system is really yellow, orange, and green, it was actually pretty good.

 

Actually, the day itself was pretty good. I got to travel to a different club and get graded by a world champion, which is pretty cool.

 

A few months later, I would return to Gracie Barra Birmingham, this time to compete. This was actually my first competition under IBJJF rules, and with submissions, so that was an eventful day to say the least. And I shall get onto that story next time.

 

I hope you guys enjoyed.

 

Catch you later,

 

Giordano

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 6 (I Don't Like It Anymore...)

(This is part 6 of this series. If you haven't seen part 5 it can be found here.)

So, everybody left...

In my last post, I mentioned that we moved to a new gym, and all of my training partners pretty much left. So now it was pretty much me and my brother, and if I'm honest that's the way it stayed up until April 2009 when I moved into the adult class.

So, we are now in this new gym. We didn't even stay there for that long, less than a year I think, I'm sure we moved again sometime in mid-2007 to Fforestfach. Anyway, not a lot actually happened during my time at the gym in Cwmbrwla, I'm not sure if I even competed during my time at that gym. But one things for sure, I didn't like that gym, and I was glad that we moved.

Now we are somewhere in the middle of 2007, and we move to Fforestfach, Swansea. Not where we currently are now, but around the corner in one of the middle units of the Celtic Trade Park. Again, we were not there for very long either, probably about 4-5 months, maybe even less. But it was around this time where I started not to like Jiu-Jitsu anymore. I mean I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it like I used to.

Probably, the reason for that was all of training partners has pretty much stopped training, and it was just me and my brother, and there was no sense of real competition. I mean there were lots of kids training, but they were all much younger and smaller than me and my brother. So you couldn't really test yourself against anyone, and there's only so long you can roll with your brother for.

I mean it’s hard to explain but I didn't want to stop doing Jiu-Jitsu, but I didn't really enjoy it all that much either. In a sense, it was part of my routine. So I just carried on doing it hoping I would enjoy it more, and this was just a phase. And to be honest I did start to enjoy it more, but nothing like I used to. It just kind of felt like I was going nowhere, I wasn't improving and in a sense I would never be 'good' at it like I wanted to be.

And really all it boiled down to is, I had no real sparring partners but my brother, and it really showed in competition. I mean when I competed in 2007 I just got wrecked! I mean I just got totally dominated in all of my fights. It almost felt like I had never done Jiu-Jitsu before in my life.

At this point, I just wanted to give up, and do something else with my life. Although in a sense Jiu-Jitsu was just a part of my life I couldn't live without. I kind of knew if I stopped doing Jiu-Jitsu after a while I would just go back to it anyway. So I just carried on going, even though by this point I really didn't want to.

Only a few months later we moved again! This time we moved to the same block as we are in today. But not where our gym is now, but the middle block, where the Fit for Life gym is today. It was about that time where the grading system for kids changed, and would have to be graded again. This meant we had to travel to Gracie Barra Birmingham and go through a grading by Braulio and Victor Estima.

The one thing Chris said was the regulations had changed, and if you made it to green belt before you turned 16, it meant you could automatically be promoted to blue belt when you turn 16. To be honest, I guess that kind of reignited a spark in me to keep on training and get to green belt. That would mean I would eventually be a blue belt, which to me at the time was a really big deal, as back in those days there were not that many blue belts, I would say less than ten. So the thought of someday potentially being a blue belt really motivated me to keep training, and do the best I possibly could.

But before all that, we first needed to take a trip to Acocks Green, Birmingham.

I hope you guys enjoyed!

Catch you later,

Giordano

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 5 (We Moved Gym)

(This is part 5 of this series. If you haven't seen part 4 it can be found here.)

Woop woop! I won something!

So, as I explained last time, I won my first medal in competition. And that feeling of victory in competition is amazing! It's something like no other. In my experience, once I have won my first match in competition, pretty much all my nerves melt away and you feel way more comfortable out on the mats. Obviously, they don't completely go away, especially in a final. Although, sometimes I think it is good to have some nerves, it just makes you feel more alert of everything that is happening.

That competition was in November, and Christmas was coming up in a few weeks, so naturally my dad thought to buy me and my brother some BJJ related gifts. Now, our team is Gracie Barra, but not according to my dad. To him anything with the word 'Gracie' in the title is obviously related to our team. So he gets me and my brother a Gracie Academy gi each, and a book called "Gracie Jiu-Jitsu".

If I'm honest the book was okay, but it featured lots of 'street' Jiu-Jitsu stuff like how to block punches from the guard, how to close the distance in a fight etc. Which to be honest is useful, but is not relevant to what I do. The book also featured lots of weapon defences, which I would say are particularly questionable, as most of them are not from real situations.

Now, to be honest my dad got those shipped over from California, so that couldn't have been cheap.  

He also got some patches for my new gi; they were a Carlson Gracie patch, a Brazilian Top Team (BTT) patch, and two Brazilian flags made by Vitamins & Minerals. So here I was fighting for Gracie Barra but with a Gracie Academy gi on, and with Carlson Gracie and BTT patches on. So my gi had three different teams on it, and none of them were my team. As a kid I didn't really understand, but if I'm honest I must have looked like a total tw*t!

So in the years 2005 and 2006 not a lot really happened. I entered a few more competitions, and I won a few more medals, a couple of bronzes and silvers, but I could never win gold! It wasn't until 2010 until I won my first gold. Every time I would make it to the final I would always lose, and it was extremely frustrating. My technique got better as a result of training, and I thought at the time I was making decent progress, and doing well against everybody in the kid’s class.

But in October 2006, our club moved to a new gym in Cwmbwrla, Swansea, which we used to share with my old kickboxing gym. I thought I saw the end of my days at that kickboxing gym, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be there again doing something completely different. Actually, we weren't at that gym for very long. I'm pretty certain it was less than a year. To be honest, I absolutely hated that gym! It was quite narrow but really long, with lots of mirrors on one side. For you guys, who didn't have the pleasure of experiencing it, watch the two videos below from a Braulio seminar in 2006:

 

 

Did you spot anyone? Most of the people in these videos do not train anymore, or have move moved elsewhere.

Once we moved to the new club, I did an Eddie Bravo and ditched the gi. For some reason I only wanted to train nogi, probably because I watched too much UFC. Actually, I didn't go back training in the gi full time until early 2008.

But then I hit a bump in the road. All of our good training partners stopped coming, and really the only decent training partner I had was my brother, and maybe one or two others, and from there on in lots of things were about to change.

I hope you guys enjoyed!

The next part will be uploaded soon.

Catch you later,

Giordano

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 4 (I Finally Won Something!)

(This is part 4 of this series. If you haven't seen part 3 it can be found here.)

I guess you live and learn...

 

So, I got whooped in my first ever competition, which I'm sure many of you have experienced. But, I never quit training, I just carried on.

 

When I was in the kid's class, there were many kids of similar age and size to me, and even a few older kids, who were obviously much bigger and stronger than me. So when I trained, I always pretty much had good training partners and good rolls.

 

Now when I look back on it, none of those people are training today. Actually, most of them stop training after only a couple of years, some even less. I guess as a kid you want to try everything, or do the same things as your friends are doing. Every time I tell somebody I do Jiu-Jitsu, the usual response I get is "I used to do karate when I was a kid", or some other martial art. Not a lot of kids actually stick with any sport, not just martial arts. Most of my friends as a kid tried lots of different sports, and guess what? None of them are doing any sort of sport today. So the fact that I have stuck with this sport for a decade of my life is actually pretty impressive.

 

When I was a kid, I pretty much had no real 'game'. I just tried to get top and use my size to force my way to a dominant position where I could try and make good use of my weight. Obviously, as I got older, I realised that this strategy doesn't work all that well. Actually, it sucks!

 

So, as I said previously, I got smashed I my first competition. But, there was another competition coming up on November 14th, which was a day after my tenth birthday. And it was in the same place, and run by the same organization, so I thought I would give it another shot. Actually, after my last experience, I was a bit hesitant to say yes, but my dad did eventually encourage me to say yes.

 

The night before I went out for my birthday, and woke up early the next morning to drive to Worcester, my new favourite place! (jokes). Actually, I used to really hate those drives to Worcester. It used to take over three hours to get there, and I always used to get travel sick, so it wasn't exactly a pleasurable experience before I got to the competition.  

 

So, we finally get to venue. The good old Perdiswell leisure centre! That name will forever be tattooed on my brain. And it's pretty much the same procedure as last time, get there with my heart almost beating out of chest, wait in a massive queue to weigh in, and spend hours waiting to be called to fight. So, as you can tell morale was at an all-time high.

 

After hours of waiting around, I finally get called to fight. As always at these competitions the categories were pretty big. Surprisingly enough, I actually wasn't as nervous as before, probably because I knew what to expect, but of course I was still nervous. But this time I felt different, I really wanted to win! And I felt pretty pumped up, and pretty sure that I was going to at least make it to the final today, even if it kills me. And guess what, I actually did make it to the final! I won three matches straight to make it to the final, and lost by two points to take silver. I'm not certain what the score was, but I definitely know I lost by a two point margin.

 

After I lost in the final, I was pretty gutted to say the least. I mean I made it all the way to the final, and to lose at the last hurdle was so disappointing. But a silver medal wasn't bad for my second competition, and it was a pretty nice birthday present!

 

 

Last time I got completely smashed, and this time I did pretty well. I can't really remember all that much about the matches themselves, as it was nine and a half years ago, but I do remember lots of failed double leg attempts, which were pretty embarrassing! But I actually managed to hit a few. To be honest I absolutely suck at takedowns! Still to this day I can't do them to save my life. Hence why I resorted to becoming a guard player.

But, I finally won something!

I hope you guys enjoyed.

Catch you later,

Giordano

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 3 (My First Competition)

(This is part 3 of this series. If you haven't seen part 2 it can be found here.)

So I competed for the first time...

 

My first ever competition was on Sunday, October 10th 2004. The competition itself wasn't even a BJJ competition, but a traditional Ju-Jitsu competition run by the NJJC (National Ju-Jitsu Council). Back in 2004, I don't think there were any BJJ competitions run in the UK, or very few. I think the only BJJ competition to run at that time would have been the Gracie Invitational, which runs at the SENI show in London. My first time ever competing under total IBJJF rules and with submissions was at a competition Braulio put on himself at his club back in February 2008, but that is a story for another time.

 

The competition itself was held at the Perdiswell Leisure Centre, Worcester, which is about a three hour drive from my house. Actually, the night before was my friend’s birthday party, and after it finished we got in the car and drove straight to the hotel in Worchester, which was around a five minute drive from the venue.

 

They always say the first time is always the worst, well that cannot be truer in this case, as I pretty much had no sleep that night, as I was just so nervous.

 

When I woke up in the morning, I was very nervous about what was about to happen, as I had never competed before, and didn't know what really to expect. So, when we finally get to the venue, the place is packed, and I mean packed! Hundreds and hundreds of kids were there to compete, and at this point my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest.

 

The hall at the leisure centre was actually pretty big, and I think there must have been at least eight mats running, maybe more.

 

Now, in BJJ your category is based on your rank, age, and weight. However, in this competition it was only based on weight, and each weight division went up in fives e.g. -35kg, -40kg, -45kg etc. So, if you were pretty big for your age, you would be stuck in the people who are way older, stronger, and more experienced than yourself. Which in theory sounds okay, but if you were big for your age, as I was, it didn't seem really all that fair.

 

Another thing I can always remember was the massive waiting time, I mean literally hours. All the categories were pretty big as well; I remember categories with 40+ people in them. So, when your category was called you would pretty much all sit around mat and wait to be called, which sometimes could take a while.

 

As this wasn't a BJJ tournament, kids weren't allowed to do submissions, so you could only win by points. There might have been a rule that if you accumulate ten points then you automatically win, but I'm not really all that sure.

 

So after hours of waiting around twiddling my thumbs, I was finally called to fight. I remember it pretty clearly, I was in the -45kg division as a nine year old (yes, I was pretty fat as a kid) and the guy I was against must have been at least thirteen, maybe fourteen. This moment was probably the most nervous/scared I have ever been; I don't think anything else has probably come close. It sounds a little bit stupid saying that now, but I was actually terrified.

 

The fight itself was complete domination; the other guy just totally wrecked me. In the first ten seconds the guy gave me a hip throw, and the side of my face smacked the mat giving me a nose bleed. After that, the guy landed straight into side control. When the referee saw I had a nose bleed he stops the match, and calls the medics over to clean up my nose, and we restart in side control. Basically, back then I couldn't escape side control even if my life depended on it. Back in those days I didn't even know what a shrimp was. Shortly after the guy transitions to mount, and stays there until the fight was over.

 

If I'm honest I was just glad the fight was over, and I could go home. That feeling of adrenaline was nothing like I had experienced before or since. But on the plus side I've never been that nervous in competition again.

 

In reality I wasn't that disheartened, I still carried on training and competing, and I got better as time went on.

 

I'll stop there for now, and I'll pick up the story next time.

 

I hope you guys enjoyed!

 

Catch you later,

 

Giordano

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 2 (The Early Days)

(This is part 2 of this series. If you haven't seen part 1 it can be found here.)

 

So, I was about to have my first ever BJJ lesson. Obviously, since I had never trained any 'traditional' martial arts before I didn't have a gi. So, I wore basically the same thing that I wore to kickboxing, which were Thai shorts and a vest.

If I'm honest, I can't really remember much about my first lesson of BJJ. The only thing I can remember is Chris coming out and introducing himself as the head instructor. To be honest, all along I thought Mike was the head instructor, so I was a little shocked when this young guy came out.  
 

At this time Chris was wearing a black belt, as this was his rank in Japanese Ju-Jitsu, and then some months later he started to wear a purple belt, as this was his rank in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The reason for this was because at this time our club became an official Gracie Barra club, and then we changed to the BJJ ranking system.
 

At this point, there were pretty much no coloured belts. Actually, I think the only coloured belts were Chris, who was a purple belt, and Mike, who at the time was a blue belt. There might have been one or two more blue belts, but none I can say for definite.
 

When I started in the kid’s class, there were quite a few of us; I would say at least 20 in an average class. Back in those days there were only three days which classes run on. They were Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. There would be classes for kids and adults on a Tuesday and Thursday, and an adult only class on a Sunday.
 

After a few months of training, me and my brother were invited to come train for an hour every Sunday in the adult class. Obviously, since we were nine years old we didn't train with the adults, but Chris would come and teach us a few techniques, we would drill them, roll a bit, and then we would leave. Now and again Chris would come over and roll with us, but for the most part it was just me and my brother.
 

When I started BJJ, I didn't really get it. If I'm honest I couldn't really see how it could be used in a real fight. The only time I really saw its effectiveness was when my dad bought the Gracie's in Action series on eBay. Obviously, they were not originals, just a few copies some guy had made to make some quick cash. But none the less, I was still pretty impressed.

 

On the subject of my dad, it was around this time when he pretty much bought everything he could for me to get better at BJJ. I remember he bought me and my brother a DVD series by Wallid Ismail, which was okay, but most of the moves if I can remember were very basic, and some were just very low percentage moves. Something else that he got us was a three volume series by Rorian Gracie, but most of that was really BJJ for self defence rather than for sport Jiu-Jitsu. But some of the moves I had success with, but most of them not, and if I'm honest I use none of them today. He did buy us lots more stuff to improve our knowledge, but I'll get to that at a later date.

 

In the first few months of Jiu-Jitsu, we didn't do any submissions, rather just basic sweeps, transitions, and escapes. At that time, I trained on a Thursday and Sunday when I was in school, and then on a Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday when I was on school holidays. And that training schedule I still follow to this day. Now and again I might train in a different class, but for 99% of the time this is the schedule I go by.
 

It didn't take me that long to get my yellow belt, and back then the kid’s belt system was nothing like it is today, it was pretty much only yellow, orange and green. These days you have way more belts, in fact there are a total of 12 belts, not including white.
 

After a while, everybody started talking about the idea of competing, so I did. My first competition was on Sunday 10th October 2004. And I shall tell you all about that next time.
 

I hope you enjoyed!

 

Catch you later,

Giordano 

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10 Years of BJJ - My Jiu-Jitsu Journey - Part 1 (The Beginning)

So I have being doing BJJ for 10 years! I don't know the exact date when I started, but I know it was in April 2004, and I was 9 years old. Actually, except for three other people, me and my brother are actually the longest running students at our academy (Chris Rees Academy/Gracie Barra Swansea), which is quite weird when I come to the think about it! There were loads of people training before me, but for whatever reason they just stopped and I carried on.

 

So I thought some of you might be interested in how I got started in Jiu-Jitsu, so I thought I would share my journey with you.

 

So before I started BJJ, I did kickboxing for around a year, and started when I was 8 years old. If I'm honest I didn't really like kickboxing that much and I only really did it since my best friend at the time was doing it, and it was chance for us to hang out after school. Anyway, the club was at a small gym in Skewen, which is a small village in South Wales, where I live and eventually moved to Cwmbwrla, Swansea. After that my friend stopped going, I did a few more sessions but ultimately stopped as I really didn't like it.

 

Well anyway, a few months later (April 2004), my Dad said someone had told him that the gym in Skewen had been taken over, and was now doing Jiu-Jitsu. So I was pretty intrigued by the thought of it, and to be perfectly honest I had no idea what Jiu-Jitsu was or what is consisted of, but since the gym is about a 2 minute drive from my house, we went down to have a look. For whatever reason my brother didn't come with us, I don't know if he was sick or just couldn't be bothered, but anyway he wasn't there.

 

I remember the drive to gym, and just wondering what I was about to witness, a montage of every Karate Kid movie I had ever seen, and every Mortal Kombat game I had ever played was running through my mind at this point, so I was pretty damn excited!

 

So we arrive at the gym, and made my way upstairs to where the mats were, and the first person I met was a women called Tracey, who is my head instructors sister, and basically told be what Jiu-Jitsu was and what I would expect on my first lesson. So then Tracey instructed two guys at the front of the mats, who were Mike (Tracey's husband) and Chris, who is my head instructor, and was a purple belt at the time. So they did a few techniques, and to be perfectly honest I didn't really know what I was seeing, just two guys rolling about on the floor, but it was enough to convince me to give this Jiu-Jitsu stuff a try.

 

When I got home I told my brother about what I saw, and to be honest I think I basically described it as a more technical WWE, as that was the best thing my 9 year old brain could come up with. Actually, I thought Mike was the head instructor, and not Chris, simply for the fact that he was older. At this point I'm pretty sure our academy wasn't under Gracie Barra either, I think that happened some time later in the year. 

 

So that was my first introduction to Jiu-Jitsu! And 10 years later I'm still doing it!

 

Part 2 will follow shortly.

 

Catch you later,

 

Giordano

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