GUEST INSTRUCTOR SERIES
What an incredible clinic put on by Aaron Brooks of Pica Pau Jiu-Jitsu! Aaron came out Friday evening with a crew of students and taught some No Gi Torreando & Headquarters passing. It was a fresh look at passing the guard in No Gi. Aaron offered great, detailed techniques and concepts. Aaron’s progressive and linear instruction was super helpful, as were the positional training rounds and Q&A immediately following each drilling session. Aaron was gracious enough to stay until 9P.M. getting in training rounds with every person that wanted to train with him.
Again I wanted to extend a huge thank you to all who attended and obviously to Aaron and the crew of students he brought with him. This was an amazing event and we will definitely be bringing him back.
NEXT UP!
We will be announcing the next in our Guest Instructor Series later this month. This series will focus on bringing in academy owners, instructors, and competitors from around the Midwest (and maybe beyond!) to teach the best of what they have to offer. This ensures that our culture and our Jiu-Jitsu is never stagnant and myopic, but always open and forward-looking. It is also a meaningful way to lift up our culture and build healthy and collaborative relationships with other academies. The culture and philosophy of the Guest Instructor and their academy is often more important than the Jiu-Jitsu they have to offer.
Stay tuned for the upcoming announcement, but until then we will be looking forward to …
I’m so excited to be hosting Joao Miyao on July 9th for a Gi Jiu-Jitsu Seminar. Joao Miyao is one of the greatest competitors of his generation, and is still active on the Masters circuit today. He is truly a living legend of the sport and art. He has won essentially every major tournament in the Adult division and is now cleaning up most Masters divisions with his unique open guard, berimbolo, and baratoplata style. Him and his brother shot out of Cicero Costha’s Social Project making a name for themselves with their incredibly aggressive and dynamic guard style, revolutionizing the open guard and berimbolo game. Joao and Paulo just opened their own academy, Studio 1908, and will continue to contribute to the art in meaningful ways.
I have been following Joao and his brother since they were Purple Belts and this is such an honor for me to announce, and an incredible opportunity to all that can make it out. This will certainly sell out, and will likely fill up fast. I will make very regular announcements about this and will update everyone on how many spots are left.
NEW CLASSES REMINDER!
A reminder that we now 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!
Fundamentals: this week we closed out the Mount position. On Monday we studied the Hip Press Escape and countering the Hip Press and Hip Escape by pummeling to eradicate the lower frame and attack the Ezequiel Choke. On Wednesday we took a look at the Technical Mount position, drilling some basic entries, a lapel choke, and an armlock.
Advanced: in our Advanced Classes this week we studied entering into Half Guard/RDLR by stepping over the leg from Open Guard, stressing the importance of establishing RDLR to prevent a variety of passes. From there we learned the Long Step Pass, and also studied variations of completing the Long Step if our opponent ties us up with the Lasso.
No Gi: in No Gi this week we reviewed the Overhook position from Closed Guard. We studied a basic entry and took a look at the importance and power of the Williams’ Guard in No Gi and how it can be utilized to keep the posture of our opponent low so we can attack the Triangle and Omoplata.
We continued working on mount attacks and escapes this week in Kids’ Class. Being stuck in bottom Mount can be a frustrating experience, so it has been exciting to see the kids implement the Hip Press Escape in live drilling. We also worked on the Ezequiel choke with some added tips on awareness so that they don’t end up on the receiving end of this choke.
The key to making progress in Jiu-Jitsu is consistent attitude, effort, and attendance. Congratulations to Gabe, River, and Ryanna for earning their next stripe!