Archive for April, 2007

I was giving the coaching speech at training this weekend which made me remember this blog entry I posted on the GroundControl website a little while ago.

My daughter is going through a stage where she is very proud of her ability to get dressed by herself. She likes to have me watch so she can show me how good she is (what can I say, she’s a show pony like her dad).

So this morning I was watching her put her pants on and I noticed the tag was at the front. I was just about to point out her mistake to her (”tag at the back Sophie”) when she did some weird little thing that flicked them round the other way and before I knew it she was standing there with her clothes on perfectly smiling up at me.

Apparently that’s just how she puts her pants on. It’s not how I put mine on, but it works, it gets her to the result she wants. And I thank my lucky stars I didn’t get a chance to try and “correct” her – because I’m sure I would have got a serious telling off!

Ok so you know this story is going to get to BJJ eventually. Because it occurred to me that sometimes when we’re watching our friends roll we’re tempted to do the same thing (and I know I’ve been especially guilty of this). As we watch what’s happening on the mat, we see it through the filter of our “game”. We see what we would do and when we yell advice it is based on our tactics and strategy.

But what we forget is that they may be looking to play a completely different game. Because just as with my daughter, what we are not seeing is the plan they are working. What we sometimes don’t realize, is that the advice we yell may be more distracting than helpful. And lets not forget – even if we’re on the money – we may just be tipping off the opponent.

So why do we feel such a strong urge to provide unsolicited advice? Well firstly I think there’s just a desire to help out. But I also think there’s more to it than that.

It’s a chance for us to “roll” even when we’re not rolling. By sparring by remote control as it were, we get in some extra time on the mat even when we’re off the mat. And in that sense it really can help us develop. We get to practice that most crucial of BJJ skills – the ability to associate the picture in front of us with a range of techniques that fit the “photo”.

So perhaps what we really need to do, those times when for whatever reason we’re watching and not rolling, is to think about the advice we would give, watch for the opportunities that would arise for our game, but keep it to ourselves.

And who knows, by comparing what we would do, to what someone else does, we may just learn something new. Like how to put our pants on without starting with the tag at the back.

Well we’ve just had another great weekend with John Will in Auckland, and I was personally fortunate to be able to spend around 9 hours on the mat with John.

First up was the GroundControl seminars on Saturday. Seminar one saw us cover off butterfly sweep with variations, some new half guard passes (which for me were very welcome) and some nice defences for the guillotine – from standing, guard and head to head. Sorry about that Scooter (guillotine fiend).

The afternoon seminar concentrated on omoplata, where John proceeded to give away all my favourite tricks. I’m still bitter. Particularly about sharing the omoplata from mount and omoplata defence to a single leg with the hoi poloi. They have paid good dividends for me in the past and now every man and his dog will be trying them on me. I guess I can’t complain too much as I got them from John in the first place a couple of years ago…

On Sunday I headed west to catch up with John again at the seminar for the Maai Hyoshi guys (who’s founder, the late Michael Gent was orginally responsible for bringing John over to NZ). It was an intimate affair with an exclusive turnout. The content was great, the chokes and mma drills that he also did in Wellington & Christchurch. But the real bonus was some of the additional conversation. With only 6 on the mat, 5 of us running our own clubs, John took the opportunity to spend a bit of time chatting to us about his current theories around best practice coaching methods in the martial arts. It was both enlightening and thought provoking. It has given me much to consider in planning my own sessions. I walked away from that session with some great new toys to try out on the mat, but also with a clearer idea than ever why we are so passionate about training under the Will Machado banner. There are other great black belts out there, even other great coaches. But very very few are constantly reviewing, updating and researching their coaching methods the way John does. He is truly cutting edge.

A superb weekend over all and I’m sure I speak for everyone, not just in GroundControl but in Will Machado NZ when I say – roll on August!

p.s. Watch this space for the next Auckland Beginners Seminar coming soon!

John hit Wellington for this round of seminars on Tuesday the 24th of April and immediately headed to the RNZPC in Porirua for his session with the PT staff based at the college. This session was special as it focused more on training methodologies and training the trainer rather than specific techniques.

The other milestone tied to this session is that in the next couple of months the new training package for all Police recruits with be put into action. The package is 2 years work by dedicated PT staff and is the culmination of the skill sets and techniques that John has passed onto the trainers over the last few years. The end result is that our new police will be better trained and more prepared that ever before.

After a gruelling 5 hour session we headed out for a bite to eat at Monsoon Poon (love u long time) where John consumed 4 lemon lime and bitters and enough beef Rendang to feed a small village. Then it was home for some much needed rest and relaxation. Wednesday morning was spent in preparation for the night seminar at GSW. Due to expected high numbers we added extra mat space to the floor and made sure all was ready before hitting Starbucks to test John’s iChat configuration so he could catch up with home and check in with the family.

We then spent some time at Mr Bun a local and international favourite before catching “Pathfinder” at the gold lounge (don’t bother it was bad) Then it was back home to finalise the preparations for the nights session. 7pm kick off at GSW saw 40 people on the mat to soak in the information that John had to offer. Before getting into the session John took the opportunity to promote several long term students. Due to injury and off the mat time some of the new Blues are actually some of my longest serving members of GSW. Blues were presented to Brent Lindsay, Carl Rex, Phil Stenhouse and Adrian Smith. Congratulations to the boys on there dedication and commitment to their training and development.

This session focused on more than just techniques and like the RNZPC staff, we were treated to some of the ideas and concepts behind the methodologies as well as plenty of technical data to process. As always the 3 hour session was over in a flash and John was entertaining and informative, with a story and anecdote for every position and situation that cropped up during the night. I would like to take the opportunity to thank John for his time and patience. I know his life is full on and his work load ever increasing. Thanks.

I trust everyone else had successful and informative sessions and we all look forward to John’s return in August.

Geoff G

Hi everyone

I trust that all of our fellow Machado BJJ colleagues are enjoying John’s latest round of workshops.

The Christchurch event was well attended, considering the Crusaders were engaged in putting the Hurricanes out of the competition.

John provided a fantastic seminar with something for everyone, introducing some very subtle setups for finishes from closed guard that I particularly liked. Then followed some deceptive head to head gi choke finishes and a couple of hooks in guard maneouvers.

Finally for those that have an interest in Vale Tudo , John introduced a very robust drill for defending from the bottom in the mount and sweeping from the closed guard, a position that does not offer the same level of safety in Vale Tudo as it does in Gi Jiu Jitsu.

John’s teaching style makes for a very clear seminar in which all of the students get the best opportunity to assimilate the material. I recommend that all of those that teach get an understanding of his style and start using it if you are not already as you and your students will definitely benefit from it.

Until next time

Geoff

GroundControl BJJ – the Auckland arm of Will-Machado BJJ held their first internal competition on April 17.

Often times newer students are hesitant about entering competitions. We often hear comments like “I don’t feel I’m ready” and “I’m not good enough yet”. The danger with that thinking is that by the time you do enter, it implies that you must think that you are “ready” or “good enough”. The result is that the student misses out on some great opportunities to compete and develop, and then when they do compete they find that they have put added pressure on their shoulders. That’s why we always advocate competing before you feel ready – so there’s no pressure, just an opportunity to have fun and learn.

And that is precisely what this competition was designed to do. Introduce the students to the competition environment in a low pressure arena amongst friends.

The response was tremendous – we had 30 competitors on the day representing the Howick, Takapuna and Hamilton clubs. All male competitors had at least two matches and the women had at least four.

The level of technique exhibited was very pleasing, especially for those who were taking the plunge into competition for the first time – some of whom had been training a number of months. Also in first time roles were the coaches in their capacity of referee.

As this was our first time refereeing we felt it important to put in place a very clear complaints procedure in the event of poor decisions. Namely – take it up with the coach concerned next time you are sparring with them. We must have done an ok job as to date no complaints have been received.

The name of the game was participation, and for that reason I will not go into specific results in this article. It is clear however that with 30 competitors, and some very strong prospects and some very technical BJJ developing at all levels we are looking forward to the next open tournament immensely.

The GroundControl internal tournament will be an annual feature leading into the new year. It’s a great way to bring the clubs together to begin the year and lead into the open tournaments. We also expect to be fielding some good size teams at the Will-Machado nationals both in NZ and Australia this year.

2006 was a huge year of growth for GroundControl. It is clear from the results of this day that 2007 will be even bigger.

By REBECCA STEVENSON

There may not have been a cage but the over 500-strong crowd packed into the Kennel Club on March 24 certainly saw a spectacle as Ring Wars – The Beginning kicked off.

The event boasted the first mixed martial arts fights in the Porirua area alongside traditional Muay Thai kickboxing.

The main event, a light heavyweight MMA title bout between local Alex Richardson and Auckland’s Sam Brown, saw the Jiu Jitsu specialist Richardson taking on the boxer.

In the first round the Porirua fighter had the better of Brown, wrestling him to the ground and landing some savage blows. Brown struggled to escape but learned early on going to ground would only result in a win for Richardson.
In the following rounds Brown kept Richardson at bay, fighting gamely to stay on his feet and staying busy with his hands. In the end a split decision went in favour of Brown, the title heading up to Auckland with him.

Event promoter Rex Redden says Richardson was disappointed to lose his belt but plans are already afoot for a rematch.
“It will be at the end of June at the Wellington Town Hall. We will be unveiling our new cage there so it’s going to be great.”

Redden says the fight night was the best he’s seen, all of the bouts back- and-forth affairs with no fighter dominating. Usually the Porirua faithful like to see knockouts, but Redden says a no knockout night – like this one was – is a sign of quality match-ups. He says the fight of the night was between Alpha’s Scott Simpson and Danny Robinson. Both fighters weighed in at a trim 110 kilograms, Redden saying both were so cut they could have been mistaken for body builders. “It was so close, right from the first round, with non-stop action. At the start of the third Danny hit Scott with a stunning kick in the stomach, and you could tell he was hurting. But he came back to knock over Danny and the crowd went berserk.”

Local Northern United rugby player Anare Ko-livau also had an “awesome” win as did Kevin Dick, says Redden.