Sorry all not a lot of time to post too much info but I just have to give a quick update. John's seminar was fantastic, unfortunatly I'm still dealing with Kidney stones and was unable to get on the mat. John covered the following points in the seminar


4 Omopalata drills
Get the elbow
Keep the elbow
From mount via reverse side mount (with bonus sweep)
From sidecontrol also via reverse side mount but finishing on the other side

4 Arm triangle choke (or head arm choke) setups/drills
From crossface
From sidecontrol
From head to head
From underneath

Before the seminar got under way we took the opportunity to promote a few of the GSW crew.

Congrats to new Purple Belts Jonny Bares and Jason Murphy and new Blues Brendan Pfahlert and Cain Harland. Well done boys. At the end of the session John ambushed me and awarded me with my BJJ Black Belt.

I would like to thank everyone for their kind words, emails and comments over the last few days. I'll have to admit that I'm still a bit dumbfounded and it hasn't actually sunk in yet I think. Thursdays class was the same as always but any time I caught a glimpse of the Black Belt it surprised me all over again. I'm sure it will take some time to get used to.

Here is a video of John ambushing me using a chocolate cake as a prop. I've edited my speech from the footage because I waffled like a raving idiot. :)

Overall a fantastic day was had by everyone who attended the Will - Machado Nationals in Wellington on the 9th of December. There was a great turnout from all the Will - Machado schools in New Zealand and it was a fantastic opportunity for everyone to come together in a fun friendly competition environment and test their skills.

With proper timekeeping, including a visible timer, seeded draws done before the competition day and one consistent referee running the mat, the day started out very well. After a quick introduction and thank you from competition host, Geoff Grant, acknowledgement was paid to Michael Gent for his contribution to the Will - Machado organisation in New Zealand.

Michael Gent was the first to bring John Will to New Zealand in 1999 and John traveled the rest of the country bringing BJJ seminars to Geoff Grant in Wellington and Geoff Aitken in Christchurch and the rest is history.

With the draws already in place only a few minor adjustments were needed and the day was underway by 9.30am and all finals finished by 2pm with just under 50 competitors working on one mat it was a very smooth day. With the early finish we were able to run both a White Belt and Blue Belt open. With all fights finished by 5pm it really was a full on day.

As with every competition not everything was plain sailing and there were a couple of hiccups with the draws and a small miss-understanding with one of the scores. 2 competitors were injured during the day with one having to make a trip to the hospital with cracked ribs, we wish Hayden a speedy recovery.

So without further ado, I give you the results from the BJJ NZ Will - Machado Nationals December 9th 2006 at GSW Wellington.

White 60-69.9kg
1st: ANTONY DEVER (TCMA)
2nd: Ray Massa (GSW)
3rd: Rhys Hanratty (TCMA)


White 70-79.9kg
1st: Steve Brasell (GSW)
2nd: Wynne Pirini (GSW)
3rd: Gary McLellan (TCMA)


White 80-89.9kg
1st: Carl Rex (GSW)
2nd: Fran Kora (GSW)
3rd: Marty Houghton (GSW)


White 90-99.9kg
1st: Adrian Smith (GSW)
2nd: Andrew Dynan (TCMA)


White 100+
1st: Morgan Wesche (TCMA)
2nd: Gareth Terry (GC)


Womens Division
1st: Diane Skudder (GC)
2nd: Jill Gower (GSW)
3rd: Inger Craven (GC)


Blue Belt Under 70kg
1st: Michael Hourigan (GSW)
2nd: Richard Wood (TCMA)


Blue Belt 80-89.9kg
1st: Daniel Digby (TCMA)
2nd: Gareth Burke (TCMA)
3rd: Andrew Craven (GC)


Blue Belt 90+kg
1st: Hemi Thomas Pou III (GSW)
2nd: Wayne Michael Perry (TCMA)
3rd: Michael Fooks (GC)


Purple Belt
1st: Shayne Cox (TCMA)
2nd: Scott Benson (Academy of Combat)
3rd: Jason Branks (Academy of Combat)


White belt open division
1st: Scott Lyons (GSW)
2nd: Brendan Pfahlert (GSW)
3rd: Adrian Smith (GSW)

Blue Belt Open Division
1st: Hemi Thomas Pou III (GSW)
2nd: Daniel Digby (TCMA)
3rd: Andrew Craven (GC)

Points awarded:
1st place 3 points
2nd place 2 points
3rd place 1 point

Team Results:
GSW: 33 (competitors 17)
TCMA: 24 (competitors 19)
GC: 9 (competitors 6)
Academy: 3 (competitors 3)

Ok, it's time for a break and recharge.

Our last class this year will be Thursday the 21st and we will restart on Sunday January the 7th 2007.

If I don't see you before then, have a safe and enjoyable Christmas and try not to RNC any of your relatives.

Once again I must start with an apology, classes have been full on as has work, so my time for posting on the blog is becoming less and less. Well here is a long overdue update for those who are interested.

SJJ NZ Nats Palmerston North
A couple of weeks ago a team from GSW decided to head to Palmerston for the SJJ Nationals. Only Miguel has participated in these comps before so it was a learning curve for the rest of the crew as the rules are a bit screwy.

The team consisted of, Sacha, Hemi, Miguel, Adrian, Kane, Ben, Ray, Wynne, Jarrod and Carl. Once we got our heads around the rules the day progressed well. Some of the boys had bad draws or just bad fights but there were several highlights. Crazy too out a couple of Blue Belts on his way to 3rd in the under 100 division. Miguel had some epic match's and defeated a Black Belt in his weight division. Wynne had a couple of stunner's, playing a great game to the rules.

Kane, as per usual, turned it on for the comp surprising a couple of his competitors before succumbing himself, Sacha, Ben and Ray were unlucky to be take out early in their divisions after waiting hours for their match's. Surprise of the day was Jarrod who plowed through his competition to take the 100-110kg division on the 110+ division against some monsters. Unfortunately in his second to last fight he suffered a bad injury to his left knee and has been off the mat.

Hemi continued his dominant form by sweeping his division (90-100kg) fighting Crazy in to 3rd place then defeating Adrian to take the win. Adrian, although severely hampered by the rules and unable to use his years of Judo training effectivly, was able to plow through his division, including fighting Munter of the day, before losing to Hemi for 2nd place.

Alex Richardson MMA "Ring Wars" Porirua

Alex had another fight on Saturday the 29th at the Kennel club, run by Rex Redden and Dave Hitchens it was the new incarnation of their successful shows. Relaunched under the name "Ring Wars". Alex faced Simon Dome from Eugene Hynsens school in Paraparaumu. This time I was finally able to attend the event and corner Alex. It was a great night and Alex and Simon put on a good show for the punters. One thing that struck me was the crowd actually seemed to understand some of the action and even appreciate the exchanges on the ground.

I think that change is thanks to Sky and their airing of the Ultimate Fighter series. It really seems to have had a educating effect on the populace. Alex and Simon's fight was a great display with each gaining the upper hand at different points through the fight. Simon came close to finishing Alex with a surprise arm bar, but Alex was able to escape, reverse and secure a choke forcing Simon to tap out.

Alex is now Ring Wars light heavy MMA champ. Congrats big guy. He is also off to Australia next week to fight on a show bearing Mark Hunt's name. This could be a great shot for Alex as there are rumors of Pride scouts being at the show Fingers crossed.

Will Machado BJJ NZ Nationals Dec 9th

We've hosting this years Machado Nats. At the MVD on the 9th of December, most of the information has been nutted out but there is a little bit of fine tuning to do in the next few weeks. All the information can be found at the BJJ NZ site
http://www.bjj.co.nz/news.html
This comp is open to all Will Machado Schools in NZ....

John Will at GSW

John is once again returning to GSW for a seminar session. John will be here on November 22nd from 8pm, cost is $60 for the night and with mat numbers being as they are the place will be packed. See you there!

GSW Christmas Do

2 Days after John's visit we are having our xmas do at the syn bar. Thanks to Phil for jacking up the venue for us. The night will be a great get together for the crew before the madness that is Christmas. So mark Friday November the 24th in your diary. Syn Bar Bond St.

Sunday Night went to watch Fran play in the band KORA.
Damn they were good!!
Check out the video below and take a look at their other stuff on Myspace.
KORA Myspace
KORA Website

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

John Will and David Meyer have been filming some tips and tricks for BJJ and posting them to Google Video for use on John's blog.
I just had a quick look and came across this one.

This is the John Will I know and it clearly shows why he and Dave are such good friends.



Click the Google Video Link to see more of John and Dave

www.quietlibrary.com

On Saturday the 16th of September after a long day of competition at the Will Machado Nationals in Australia, John Will took the opportunity to promote New Zealand's own Geoff Aitken to the rank of Black Belt.

Geoff is the first BJJNZ Black Belt who has done almost all his training in New Zealand and is the first of the main BJJNZ instructors to attain the coveted Black Belt. Well done buddy and we look forward to having you on the mat in Wellington soon.

Results and more information from the competition can be found at the BJJ Australia Site: Click here >>

Just a quick update the let you know that Alex had another victory in the ring last weekend. At the second "Kiwi King of the square Ring" Alex faced one of Shayne Cox's boys from Napier.

Graeme Gidieon managed to last of whole 40 seconds in the ring against Alex, but was handled and tapped to a Figure four from side control.

Footage will be available in a few weeks via DVD from the promoters.

Former Wellington Lions player, Hemi Pou, believes he has found the answer.

When Hemi hung up his boots for the last time, he turned to Surfing to fill the gap in his sporting life. But after some encouragement from his business partner, Reefside Surf Shop owner Sacha Jackson, Hemi tried a new activity that stirred his sporting passion and inspired him to focus his skills in a completely different arena. Martial Arts.

Since his first introduction to the Martial Art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), Hemi has been 'hooked'. Joining Sacha at Wellingtons Specialists Grappling School, G.S.W. Hemi quickly picked up the necessary Fundamental skills and began training as many classes as he could possibly fit into a week.

Hemi's passion and dedication for BJJ recently paid dividends when he competed at a national Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Competition held in Auckland. Hemi, along with 5 other teammates from the G.S.W. club, traveled to Auckland to test their mettle against the best the country had to offer.

The result? Well Hemi describes it as the greatest sporting achievement in his life.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a Martial Art that is about controlling your opponent with grappling techniques and applying any number of different submissions forcing them to give up or 'Tap Out' and that is exactly what Hemi did. In his weight division, (novice under 95kg), Hemi submitted every opponent he faced, to take the first place trophy.

He then proceeded to repeat that feat in the open weight division. Storming through the competition Hemi again submitted every BJJ exponent that he faced, including, 'Kula', an Auckland competitor who weighed in at a whopping 160kg!!

That bout was a highlight of the day. After a tense 5-minute bout in which neither side was able to score any points, the referee called for extra time. In the dieing seconds of the two minute overtime the fight hit the floor and Hemi was able to gain the top position and secure an Armbar forcing 'Kula' to tap out. At which point the crowd went crazy in appreciation of the epic battle of wills and undoubtedly the day's best match.

Hemi's fellow G.S.W. teammates also held their own in the city of sails.

Michael Hourigan, defeated all in his division to take the under 75kg novice trophy. Jonathan Bares collected the Blue Belt under 75 kg title by defeating several of New Zealand's top Blue Belt competitors. The other members of the team had success as well, with the newest club members Kane Minogue and Scott Lyons both having a great showing in their first BJJ competition. Assistant instructor Dion Burns competed in the Purple Belt division and gave a good display of high-level skill narrowly loosing his bouts.

At the end of day prize-giving G.S.W. had earned 4 Gold Medals and was awarded the 2nd place teams trophy, which is outstanding as the team consisted of only 6 members in a field of 60 competitors.

And the final highlight of the day?

After an outstanding display of skill and prowess on the BJJ mats, Auckland's top ranked Brazilian Jiu Jitsu exponents voted Hemi Pou as most technical fighter of the day.

So Yes the is life after competitive Rugby just ask Hemi Pou, New Zealand Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion.

On a side not footage from Hemi's interview with Maori Tv is available:
http://www.gsw.co.nz/images/video/hemi_pou.mpg

Fantasy novelist dies after heart operation

Best-selling fantasy novelist David Gemmell has died, his publishers have said.

He was 57.

He underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery a fortnight ago and appeared to be making a good recovery before his death this morning.

Gemmell wrote 30 novels, starting in 1984 with Legend, a tale of a fortress under siege which has become an heroic fantasy classic and is still in print.

Born in west London in 1948, he was expelled from school for gambling in 1965 and worked as a labourer, driver`s assistant and nightclub bouncer before becoming a journalist and newspaper editor.

In a statement Transworld said: "For many years, David has been acknowledged as a master storyteller, one of the best-known and most highly regarded writers in his field.

"His themes of heroic adventure, leadership, personal heroism and the possibility of redemption for every one of us ring as true today as they did when he first published the novel that was to become a classic of heroic fantasy, Legend."

His most recent books were two historical novels about the siege of Troy, Lord of the Silver Bow and Shield of Thunder.

Larry Finlay, managing director of Transworld, said: "David was writing at the peak of his powers.

"He was a true pleasure to work with. We will sorely miss him, as will his thousands of devoted fans around the world.

"Our thoughts are with his wife Stella and his two children."


Bugger. :(

Damn, just noticed that I haven't even updated Alex's fight result. Sorry Alex.

The result was exactly as we expected.
Alex wins R1: 1.30 tap out to punches from mount.
To view the fight check this page >>

Alex's opponent was a reputable Kickboxer with over 20 fights but very little ground game.

Well done Alex on getting another step closer to you dream. There are several other fighters that Alex is looking at in the near future and hopefully they can prove a little more of a test for Alex.

Well done.

Today we rolled and then spent some time working on how to escape sidecontrol when your opponent has you crushed down and flat on your back. Specifically we addressed the first step, which is to get yourself into the right position so that u can star to work and create space, we repped this out and then rolled some more with the focus on escaping that above situation. We also pent sometime working pillow defence and getting our hooks into play sot hat we can go on
the attack again.

Sunday was cold and dark and not at all a nice day. So naturally I was expecting a small class, you can imagine my surprise when we ended up with 37 on the mat!

Absolutely no room to move or drill as we normally would. So we had to quickly improvise some in the hole drills to keep everyone involved but not in danger of getting knocked by other people. Fantastic turnout for such a shit day.

Many stayed on for the Gi-less grappling and we ended up with about 20 on the mat rolling. Again far too many to safety roll, but everyone made it through all right.

Thanks to everyone for coming out on such a cold day and hopefully we'll be better prepared for that many again.

Injured my knee on Monday and getting information on whats wrong with it is proving difficult. I actually went to the Dr and even had X-rays done but still no idea whats wrong. So I'm pretty much going to do what I always do, ignore it and carry on as normal. :)

Classes have been fantastic and last night was no exception. There were about 28 people on the mat for Fundamentals and almost 20 stayed behind for the Gi-less class. Alex was on the mat polishing off his game and drilling some fitness stuff in final preparation for this fight on July 1st. in Porirua.



Lasts nights class had a great atmosphere to it and several people commented on it. Things seem to be really coming together on the mat for many of the crew. It's great to hear that sort of feedback and see the dedication of so many people.

Thanks

The last women only class is next Sunday, 18 June.

After that - those who are keen will be joining in the Fundamentals class
if you haven't already.

I'm off to San Francisco soon
I'm sure you all will enjoy your training at GSW!

-Melissa

Sunday the 11th of June every club training at the MVD will be participating in the open day.
GSW - BJJ
Budokan - Judo
MVD - Kyokushin Karate
and the new yoga lady.

GSW will have an area in the club with information about our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Submission Grappling training. We will be giving away memberships and gear as well as other incentives to encourage new people to sign up and join GSW.

During the hours of the open day we will be demonstrating Grappling drills and techniques to show people what it is we do at GSW. These will not be flashy prearranged techniques or drills but rather just general grappling and Syllabus techniques.

Anyway, Sunday - 1pm till 3.30pm Demos are 15mins only. If you have friends or family who have previously expressed an interest then bring them down, get them on the mat and show them what we do.

13:00 BJJ
13:15 Kyokushin
13:30 Fight Gym Fitness
13:45 Judo
14:00 Yoga
14:15 BJJ
14:30 Kyokushin
14:45 Judo
15:00 Yoga
15:30 Close