Archive for August, 2007

Well, we are 9 days out from the Australian Nationals and the Hawkes Bay Team are getting edgy. Preparations are being made and bags being packed.

There’s 5 of us going…

Shayne Cox Under 90kg Purple (YES UNDER 90)
Damian Smith Under 70kg Purple
Dan Digby Under 80kg Blue
Kelly Nissen Under 70kg Blue womens
Shane Chapmen Under 70kg novice

John and Melissa run one of the best tournaments I have ever participated in. Smooth, timely and exciting for the spectators. His wife Melissa is the background lady doing all the preparation work and keeps it together. We’re expecting another great one.

The trainings been done, we’re ready to roll.

When we come back, I’ll post details of how everyone performed. Hopefully with some details from every one from NZ not just HB>

Anyway take care.

Saturday 4th August 2007, the second John Will seminar of the year! This was a day that should have been in your diary, a day not to be missed. Blown away by another combination of techniques that will surely be driving GroundControl through the next few months and beyond!

Anticipation is generally the feeling that greets you when you enter the Howick Dojo as anther seminar is about to commence, this time was no different. Eager to get started we indulged in a quick warm up to which John made a very good point about sloppy warm ups and it ’s relationship to sloppy training. To put it finely, bungling black belts! This, I know is a point that some of us have spoken about before and are very mindful of. In order to get the most out of your training, and life for that matter, TAKE NOTE!

he morning session consisted of techniques to counter the guard pass. Heavy Leg, Crossover, Compass drill and Sea saw. One of the important factors in this was being able to identify at what stage during the guard pass each of these techniques apply. Heavy leg under 90 degrees of leg bend, crossover greater than 90 degrees in leg bend and Sea saw being forced all the way over. For those that are interesting in the MMA, we did two sweeps while defending attacks/punches from the mount and guard. A good application to have for MMA or in the street! A quick fire round of open guard drill capped off the morning session. It was good to glance around the mat to see everyone in open guard action, impressive! A sign of things to come!

The majority of people that were here for the morning session continued on for the afternoon session, with maybe one exception (must have been a family emergency). The afternoon session began with ways to get into the X-Guard, Hooking the leg, Step Over, Flagpole and Hook sweep. This was building on the Hour Glass Theory of many different ways to get into X-Guard, then many different sweeps to get out. The sweeps to get out were the Rigan sweep, noted as a pre-emptive sweep before actually entering into the x-guard. This term was brought about by Rigan Machado and his vision to see techniques opportunities in the first instance, not the second or third where the rest of us operate.

Hmm, or are you one of the few? Anyway, fantastic sweep none the less. Also not forgetting the reverse sweep from the back/behind to which Warren had firsthand experience of from John for most of the afternoon. And while I’m here, well done Warren for the absolute domination you had over John on your light grappling session. Ok, so I’m kidding but maybe one day!

We had an introduction to foot locks, and notably the differences in the way there are put on. Backward pressure vs the turning of the foot/heel. This was well emphasized when your partner had control over your back and crossed his legs (something that you should never do). When you put alternate legs over for the foot crank, you could visualize the different movements for the submission.

The day was finished off by the usual question & answer session. This was a time to fix any issue you’re having with your grappling outside of what we did in the seminar, to which some of you took full advantage of. The rest of us were just mentally drained and held each other up! Kidding of course, but well done to all for the 6 hours plus of solid effort you put in.

On a final note, well done Howard Fergusson for achieving your Blue Belt, awesome to see another Blue Belt amongst the ranks! Well deserved my friend!

Brilliant seminar, looking forward to the next!

Once again John’s foray into Wellington left the GSW members humbled and a little stunned.

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