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

The new logos, in the website header, were supplied by Nick for use by the BJJ NZ Will / Machado schools and we thank him for allowing us to use these graphics as our own!
Need Screen printing?
Nick Ovens
The Print Man
www.theprintman.co.nz
027 461 4477

Date: Saturday, July 31, 2010
Time: 9:30am – 5:00pm
Location: AUT, North Shore Campus
Street: 90 Akoranga Drive
City/Town: Northcote, New Zealand

Download the NZ Nationals Poster A4 >>
View the Competition Rules >>

Online entries have now closed!
There have been over 150 competitors registered! Including 11 Females and 26 Kids making this the biggest Will / Machado Gathering in NZ history and one of the biggest BJJ competitions in New Zealand.

A facebook event page has been set up for all information and news:
Facebook Event Page Nationals 2010

Here is all the info from the facebook page. We look forward to seeing all Will / Machado BJJ Students there!!

Early Bird Entry Fee, before 5th July
$40.00, includes free competition t-shirt

After 6th July $40.00 entry fee plus $20.00 for competition t-shirt

Online entries at http://strongvon.com/willmachado2010

Weigh In 9:30am

ENTRIES CLOSE MIDNIGHT FRIDAY 23rd JULY

* You must be a member of a Will/Machado affiliated academy to compete

DIVISIONS

WHITE BELT - 5 minutes
63KG
68KG
73KG
78KG
83KG
88KG
93KG
98KG
+98KG

BLUE BELT – 6 minutes
63KG
68KG
73KG
78KG
83KG
88KG
93KG
98KG
+98KG

PURPLE BELT – 7 minutes
80KG
+80KG

BROWN BELT – 8 minutes
Open

FEMALE:

WHITE BELT – 5 minutes
65KG
+65KG

BLUE-PURPLE BELT – 6 minutes
Open

2KG allowance for Gi

NB: Divisions are subject to entries, there may be an adjustment in weight split to make for better competition pools

Competition Rules

SCORING SYSTEM

2 points
Sweep, Knee Ride, Takedown

3 points
Guard pass

4 Points
Mount
Back Control

Advantage
(to decide in case of draw)

Penalties
1 penalty -1 advantage
2 penalties -2 points
3 penalties disqualification

RULES
The following is NOT ALLOWED:
· Slam from the guard
· Biceps lock
· Cervical lock (of any kind)
· Frontal neck crank
· Scissors takedown
· Heel hook
· Sideways knee lock
· Pulling backwards to take the back (over the feet)

In addition to the above, the following is NOT ALLOWED for WHITE & BLUE belts:
· Wrist lock
· Calf lock
· Mata Leao with foot

In addition to the above, the following is NOT ALLOWED for WHITE belts only:
· Straight leg lock

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 >>

The White Belt session was attended by 40 BJJ Students from GSW and Submission Martial Arts in Whitby. John covered a bunch of Immediate Action techniques in a seminar that he called a Vaccination Seminar.

Basically John covered answers to several of the problem areas that he sees beginners getting caught in during their first months of BJJ training. Things that John covered were, Crossover Guard defence, Side Control Escape (Hip in Pocket), Switchbase escape, Elbow Escape from Mount, Side Mount Escape, 1/2 Guard pass, Head to Head (Sit-out) and Front Choke Escape.

At the end of the White Belts session 4 New Blues were Presented 1 from Glen’s Submission Martial Arts and 3 from GSW. Conrats to Melvin, Kym and Kelvin

The Coloured Belts session covered getting the back and was attended by 30 of GSW’s Blue and Purple Belts. John had given us some great chokes at the last seminar and this time he went into several ways of gaining and controlling the back using several vital principals involving leverage and weight placement.

As always Johns seminar left everyone with something to take away and think about, as well as many things that instantly fitted into peoples grappling. Johns next session will be November 24th..

Our next seminar at GSW is with Richard Norton one of John Will’s training partners and multiple Black Belt, including his BJJ Black Belt from Jean Jacques Machado. Richard has starred in dozens of movies, with many top Martial Arts Movie Stars. Richard has also travelled the world as personal protection to performance artists. Richard bio can be found at his site www.richardnorton.net/blog

Richard will be running BJJ Seminars at GSW Lower Hutt on the 3rd of July 2010. Each seminar will be $50 and last 2 hours. Jump onto the GSW facebook page to register your interest as places are strictly limited and filling fast.
Wellington Saturday 3rd July 2010
BJJ Seminar White Belts 1pm – 3pm $50
BJJ Seminar coloured Belts 3.30pm-5.30pm $50

Wellington Sunday 4th July 2010
MMA / Street Defence Seminar (for Zen Do Kai Students)
Sunday 4th July
9am – 11am
$50

Firstly we held the seminars in our own facility in Lower Hutt. With the Wellington Dojo fire earlier this month and the smaller mat area I decided that running the sessions in the Hutt would be a better option. This also gave us the chance to start at a much earlier time slot. But with the mat size I also split the session into White Belts followed by Coloured Belts.

So at 6.30pm with a few stragglers still coming through the door John kicked off his first session of 2010 and his first ever session at GSW Lower Hutt. there were 30 White Belts on the mat including 7 from Submission Porirua. Glens club is going through the same sort of expansive growth as we are at GSW and The Submission guys are starting to fight for mat space. An awesome achievement for Glen and a positive boost for BJJ students in Wellington.

John covered some basic concepts for recovering the guard, then a few ways to pass the guard followed by a few was to escape when you guard has been passed. He then put the whole thing together as a drill for everyone to cement the concepts of guard recovery into their heads.

After a quick break there was a change of tack with John covering a couple of concepts for attacking and maintaining and attacking the back. He then made everyone go through the guard recovery drill at a slower more flowing pace and swapping partners..

The White Belt session ended with 3 Blue Belt promotions. Glen awarded Submission Martial Arts first Porirua Blue Belt to Andrew Douglas and I promoted two GSW students to Blue as well. Congrats to Jeffery Alcaraz and Haydn Parker. After a quick Photo shoot the White Belts cleared the mat and the Coloured Belts took over. There were 30 Blue and Purple Belts in the advanced session and John and I took the opportunity to promote a couple of Blues to Purple.

Congrats to Phil Stenhouse and Brad Kora! BJJ Purple Belt is a significant step up and one that is not easily earned or awarded, so well done. I know the East Coast BJJ crew will be particularly stoked with Brads promotion. We hear nothing but good things about Brad and his boys in Whakatane.

John the got straight into the session covering advanced concepts around the Kata Gatame position, including, maintaining and fine-tuning the position, finishes and entires to the position. A great session and 4 hours of hard work for John. After a few quick photos everyone split and John and I got home a good hour earlier than normal. This morning I’ve seen John off on a flight to Christchurch to meet up with his ol’ buddy Ron for a fishing trip in the Wanaka area. Ron accompanied John and Melissa on Johns very first seminar trip to Wellington in 1999!

So all up there were over 60 people attending this seminar round and I’m sure that when John returns in June we’ll have to take advanced bookings as the GSW classes grow and as Glens school requires more and more spaces on the mat for Johns seminars. Look for big things in 2010 as this is GSW’s 10th year as a BJJ school!

In the days leading up to the seminar excitement builds as students anticipate what is in store. John has an ability to translate seemingly complicated techniques into digestible chunks that get students doing moves that they may have otherwise thought beyond them; On the flipside, John also gives insight into how intricate simple techniques can be when done correctly. Students new and old alike leave his seminars enthused about the BJJ and their training.

He also left some well deserving students with new grades.

John Lamb and Jarrod Kent were both promoted to Blue Belt.

John Lamb has a technical game and the people he rolls with can find themselves in trouble quickly. He is leaving for Brazil in November for a number of months to experience training in the birthplace of BJJ. We look forward to him coming back and sharing with us what he’s learnt.

Jarrod Kent is a real competitor and his new Blue Belt is an excellent reflection of his ability on the mat.

Then came the big reward for the Ground Control and Submission Martial Arts clubs. John played the part of the Infomercial host, with a “but wait, there’s more”, and reached into his bag for some Purple Belts.
Michael Fooks and Andrew Craven from Ground Control; Mark Corkhill and Warren Lambert from Submission: were all promoted to Purple.

For all four, the promotion was a reward for significant technical improvement and recognition of the dedication required to build their clubs while being white and blue belts. The new Purples expressed thanks to those that helped them get where they are now, specifically: Glen Tarrant, from Submission Porirua, for helping start both clubs; Geoff Grant, from GSW, for his direction and guidance; their students; the rest of the Will Machado community; and of course, John Will.

Congratulations to all those promoted over the weekend.

Steve Hogg

Nov 13th – Geoff Aitken – Christchurch (Black Belt)
Nov 14th – Michael Fooks – Auckland
Nov 14th – Glenn Tarrant – Auckland
Nov 15th – Karl Norton – Auckland
Nov 15th – Phil Beale – Hamilton
Nov 16th – Steve Wallace – Hamilton
Nov 17th – Shayne Cox – Napier
Nov 18th – AM – Royal New Zealand Police College
Nov 18th – PM – Geoff Grant – Wellington (Black Belt)