A NOTE ON CONSISTENCY
To be successful at anything requires that you be consistent. This is why I’m consistently harping on this fact. Attendance in all classes has been up the past month, and that’s really good to see! There have been a few people who were on a hiatus and I’ve been incredibly happy to see them back on the mats and consistently attending. Life can easily get in the way of Jiu-Jitsu, and sometimes there are things that need to take precedence over training. However, try and remember the reasons why you train. For a lot of us Jiu-Jitsu provides a powerful outlet, a means toward physical movement and fitness, and a sense of community/purpose. These are powerful things that shouldn’t be discounted. Try and be consistent, even if that means you can only train once a week on a busy or stressful week. I promise you’ll see the results!
SUPERFIGHTS
The 3 River Throwdown grappling event was a huge success. It was great to see Masha and Reetta out there on a big stage competing in front of hundreds of people. Competing isn’t easy. On top of Jiu-Jitsu being an inherently difficult combat sport, when you compete you also have to deal with your own nerves and expectations. I have always maintained that – contrary to the cliche – competition is not a way to “test your Jiu-Jitsu.” There are simply too many variables in any given match against any given opponent for the outcome to be a general judgement upon your Jiu-Jitsu. I have seen many incredibly talented grapplers have poor success while competing, and I’ve seen a lot of bad grapplers do really well. Winning or losing in competition isn’t a reflection on your overall Jiu-Jitsu. It’s a reflection of your Jiu-Jitsu on that particular day, against that particular opponent, in that particular setting, under that particular ruleset. Jiu-Jitsu is so much more – and gives us so much more – than the ability to win or lose a single contest.
With that being said, what is true is that competing is difficult for a variety of reasons, and it is an admirable pursuit for that reason. Being able to maintain composure before, during, and after a fight shows a lot of courage and resolve. Masha and Reetta put on a great show, did their best, and both will learn a lot from their experience. Most important: they had fun, and did something they will remember forever. Thanks for doing what you do and representing Sanctuary Jiu-Jitsu. We’re all super proud of you both!
GRAPPLING INDUSTRIES REMINDER
A reminder that on May 27th, Grappling Industries will be coming to Wisconsin Dells! We’d like to make this a team event and get as many people signed up to compete as we can and gather a large group of people to come out and support. If you’re not interested in competing, that’s totally fine! We’d love for you to come, hang out, watch some Jiu-Jitsu, and support your teammates that are competing. If you’re interested in competing you can sign up for the event here. If you’re not sure whether you’re ready, or if you have questions or concerns about competing, please send me an email or text and we can discuss!
COMPETITION CLASS
In the lead up to this tournament we will be opening a Competition Class for competitors, those interested in competing, and the merely curious! What this means is that everyone is welcome! However, the training will be very structured, challenging, and quite different from what you’re used to in a normal Jiu-Jitsu class. I do recommend everyone check it out, though. We will be posting details about the date and time of the class soon!
Fundamentals: This week was all Side Control! On Monday we reviewed Taking the Mount from Side Control and the Armlock. On Wednesday we studied the Kimura from Side Control and transitioning to the straight armlock from the Kimura defense. On Friday we finished up the week by learning how to enter the Gift Wrap position along with an entry to the back and the Katagatame choke from the Gift Wrap position when our partner defends the back take. As a bonus we also reviewed the Arm-In Ezequiel choke.
Advanced: In Advanced class we started our foray into the De La Riva guard, which we will be spending some time on in the next couple of weeks. This week we learned the concepts of the De La Riva guard and two variations of the Tilt Sweep, learning how to off balance our opponent to set up sweeps and attacks. For the Advanced classes we will be doing more in-depth dives into positions and spending more time doing focused drilling. Getting a lot of time to become comfortable with more complex and varied movements is very important and is the hallmark of every successful competitor and practitioner.
No Gi: in No Gi this week, we reviewed the False Reap position, rolling into a Inside Heel Hook, and we also studied using frames to pass the Open Guard.
This week in kids class, we focused on getting back to Guard from bottom Side Control by finding ways to make space. We also worked Side Control attacks by finding a path to Mount and by capitalizing on our opponent’s reaction to go for an arm bar. We played toe tag to practice protective movement and staying low. Huge congratulations to Toree, Gabe, and River for earning a stripe!
REVIEW OF THE WEEK
One of my biggest goals for Sanctuary is to cultivate and foster a healthy culture without sacrificing the quality of Jiu-Jitsu. Because Jiu-Jitsu is a combat sport and involves a certain degree of intense physicality that certainly isn’t for everyone, this is a hard balance to strike. Sanctuary has a friendly, open, and welcoming environment that is as unintimidating as a Jiu-Jitsu academy can be, while also striving to provide the best and most detailed instruction as well as the hard training that will make us all better practitioners of the art. Hearing from our members and outside visitors that we have a friendly atmosphere, good vibe, and hard training is always the highest compliment. Thanks for the review Zach!
2023 SEMINAR SERIES
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