GRAPPLING INDUSTRIES
As you all know we had many competitors – some first-timers! – at the Grappling Industries event in Wisconsin Dells this last Saturday. Huge congratulations to everyone who stepped on those mats and put themselves out there. Competing isn’t easy. It can be a very stressful experience – like Jiu-Jitsu itself! And just like in Jiu-Jitsu, with more time spent competing you will become more and more relaxed, natural, and hopefully successful.
Thanks to everyone who came out to watch and support their teammates. I’d also like to extend a big thank you to coaches Ryan and Karen for toughing it out for the entirety of the event; coaching the Kids, competing (in Karen’s case!), and watching, filming, coaching, and supporting all of the adult competitors as well. It was a very long day!
Like in every competition, everyone did some great things, and most people made some small and large mistakes … sometimes these mistakes led to a loss, but not always. I frequently say that even in matches that you win, you make mistakes that your opponent just didn’t capitalize on that could just have easily led to a loss. For that reason – and many others – winning or losing a match isn’t indicative of the value of your Jiu-Jitsu. It is a mere snapshot of your Jiu-Jitsu in that moment, on that day, against that particular opponent. You should approach competition as a means to improve your Jiu-Jitsu, not as a means to prove your Jiu-Jitsu. This will lead you to have more fun, compete more often, have specific goals, and as a result your Jiu-Jitsu will vastly improve.
What I am most proud of is after the competition the head coach of the team that took the #1 Overall Academy Ranking sent me a completely unprompted personal text message complimenting our competitors and coaches. He said that every one of our competitors and coaches showed great sportsmanship and all of his students loved competing against ours – win or lose. To me, this is far more important than any medal, because it reflects the positive culture we have, and more important: the amazing people that comprise our academy.
Again, congrats to everyone who competed – win or lose. You all did amazing, and I know that you will learn and grow a lot from this competition and look back on it in a positive and favorably light.
JIU-JITSU IN THE PARK COOKOUT
Our first Jiu-Jitsu in the Park Cookout was a success! I had the exceedingly genius idea of laying the mats in the serene lakefront grass, completely neglecting the reality of the scorching sun turning the vinyl mats into proverbial skillets. They were so hot you couldn’t touch bare skin to them without being burnt. So … we moved them in the shade and all was well! A lot of people came, rolled, ate, and mingled.
Grillman Lewis served up some prime cut plant burgers & brats and some awesome members brought salads, salsa, watermelon, and desserts. I really hope all of you had fun, and we look forward to doing more events like this in the future. If you have any suggestions of venue or ideas for team events that you’d like to see, please reach out to us and let us know! We are continually looking for ways to enrich your experience as members and show you our appreciation and gratitude for making us who we are!
NEW CLASSES
A reminder that starting June 1st we will have four new classes on the schedule! On Mondays and Wednesdays at noon, I will be running a Lunch Rush! class. This will be a fast-paced Gi Fundamentals class that will allow you to be in and out of the gym within an hour right in the middle of your day. It will be a great way to get in a workout, learn, and train some Jiu-Jitsu during your lunch hour. Thursday evenings at 6:30 P.M. Coach Karen will be teaching a co-ed Gi Fundamentals class. This will be the same curriculum that we rotate through in all of our other Fundamentals classes and gives everyone an extra time slot to learn these essential techniques and get in some great positional training! Finally, Fridays at 7 P.M. will now be a regular Competition Class. This class will alternate between Gi and No Gi week-to-week. We hope you can take advantage of these new classes and look forward to having you on the mats!
GUEST INSTRUCTOR SERIES
Too often Jiu-Jitsu academies have focused on competition rather than collaboration. Personally, I would rather emphasize the universal and cooperative aspects of Jiu-Jitsu and Jiu-Jitsu culture, and cultivate that cooperation and collaboration where it is lacking. It shouldn’t be academy vs. academy or team vs. team, it should be Jiu-Jitsu vs. everything else. We are all looking to share, learn, and evolve this martial art and sport, and we should work together and not against each other to do so. To foster this spirit and culture of collaboration and cooperation I am excited to announce the first in our Guest Instructor Series. We will be bringing in competitors, instructors, and academy owners from around the Midwest (and perhaps beyond!) to teach clinics/seminars in lieu of one of our regularly scheduled classes. These will always be completely free to our members. It is a way for us to give back to our students, ensure our culture and our Jiu-Jitsu is never myopic and inward-looking but instead is always looking to grow and learn from others, and to build healthy friendships with other academies in the Midwest. The first clinic in this series will be on Friday, June 9th and the guest instructor will be Aaron Brooks. Aaron is the head instructor and owner of Pica Pau Jiu Jitsu in Aurora, IL. Aaron is an accomplished competitor and runs an amazing school in the Chicago area. I first noticed Pica Pau because of their unique – and really cool! – logo. However, when I saw their motto was “Train Hard, Be Kind,” I knew that they were truly a unique academy of people that had a similar vision and philosophy of Jiu-Jitsu as us at Sanctuary. I knew I had to reach out to Aaron to have him come in to teach. I’m super excited about this and I really hope you all can make it out!
Fundamentals: this week we finished up our study of the Back position on Monday by learning the Escape by Changing Sides and finishing with a Single-Leg. On Wednesday we transitioned to our Mount study by learning the most essential technique from the Mount: the Cross Choke. On Friday we learned the natural progression from the Cross Choke, the Armlock from the Mount. We looked at the basic hip movements required to achieve an armlock from the mount and worked progressively to make the techniques more and more realistic and relevant to modern Jiu-Jitsu. We also studied ways to break our opponents grips from the armlock position.
Advanced: in our single Advanced Class of the week we continued our study of De La Riva Guard, learning how to transition to the Sit-Up Guard and attacking the Tilt Sweep, the Single Leg, and a near-side Armdrag Tilt Sweep.
No Gi: in No Gi this week we reviewed how to enter into an attacking position from the Half Guard, namely attacking the legs. From there we studied a modified Toe Hold (Heel Hold) and how to respond to our partners counter by attacking the Kneebar.
There was a lot of energy and enthusiasm on the mats during Kids’ Class this week! Kids were pretty excited to experience a class with the garage door open and the sun streaming in. One of the week’s highlights was engaging in a conversation answering the question, “What are the ingredients for a submission?” There were a lot of great answers and we walked away with the theme of control, which is something we need to obtain our goals in many aspects of our life. To apply this concept, we worked on stringing our techniques together, moving from top open guard all the way to the cross-collar choke.