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!