GUEST INSTRUCTOR SERIES PT. II
We will be announcing the next instructor in our Guest Instructor Series later this month. The clinic will take place in August. What’s different – and very cool! – about this clinic is the instructor requested that the clinic be held to raise money for the Dane County Humane Society. This clinic will be completely free to all members, but you will have the option to donate any dollar amount that Sanctuary will then match – up to $500 in total. Non-members will pay a minimum $20 donation to the Dane County Humane Society.
This series will focus on bringing in academy owners, instructors, and competitors from around the Midwest (and 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.
JIU-JITSU 101
Starting in the month of July we will be offering Jiu-Jitsu 101 on Tuesday evenings at 4:30 P.M. All members are welcome to take this class for free, and if you’ve been training for less than 6 months, I would highly recommend it. For those that have been training for longer, it might be a bit too rudimentary – but it’s never a bad thing to get more mat time, even if it’s just a refresher! Otherwise, if you know any friends, family, or coworkers that have expressed interest in training Jiu-Jitsu, this is the perfect way to get them started.
Jiu-Jitsu 101 is a four week course that is designed to get all participants fully acclimated to the movements, positions, concepts, and techniques of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This course is tailored for the complete beginner, so no experience is required. We are limiting this course to ten spots to ensure all participants get as much one-on-one attention as possible. The entire course is $50, and that $50 can be applied towards any future membership.
We hope to see some members there … spread the word!
JULY 9TH!
This seminar is selling out fast, so get in while you still can! There is a sign-up sheet at the front desk if you’d like us to charge whatever account you have on file with us, otherwise you can sign-up via the link in our Instagram bio (or directly on GymDesk if you’ve done that in the past).
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.
NEW CLASSES!
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 last week we entered the longest part of the CTA Curriculum: the Closed Guard. Remember that the Closed Guard is the best guard because you cannot pass or attack from within the Closed Guard, you must open it first. This gives a huge advantage to the guard player. On Monday we studied how to safely pull Closed Guard, as well as attack with an Armlock when our opponent doesn’t release the gi. Wednesday we studied how to open the Closed Guard by standing and drilled passing from Half Guard and utilizing the torreando as a response to our opponent defending the Half Guard. We closed out the week by studying the Armlock from when our opponent grips both of our lapels and keeps their elbows low and tight. Remember that almost all of the Fundamentals techniques are taught from the most difficult positions to enable us to understand the concepts behind what make the techniques actually effective.
Advanced: in our Advanced Classes this week we studied the Collar Sleeve position. On Monday we learned the Triangle choke, how to effectively control from the position, and how to attack the Omoplata as well. On Wednesday evening we studied and drilled how to disentangle ourselves from this powerful guard, and ultimately pass.
No Gi: in No Gi this week we reviewed the material from Aaron Brooks’ clinic on the 9th. We studied how to effectively frame our opponents legs and hips to Torreando pass, and how to respond to their various counters by going into a float-style Knee-on-Belly, or enter the Headquarters position to attack the Phantom Bodylock pass or the Leg Weave/Side Smash pass depending on our opponents knee placement and reaction.
This week in Kids’ Class we worked on being decisive and acting quickly when standing. We used games to reinforce and practice this concept. In one game, the fastest to get two solid grips wins. In another, one person could only pull guard and their partner could only execute a takedown. They had to act on either goal quickly to succeed!
It is so great to see how strong the community is in Kids’ Class. Kids regularly help each other out, push each other to be better, and strike a nice balance between working hard and having fun.