Well it really looks like Sunday is the day for Martial Arts.

Huge activity on the forum and big numbers at class. Winter is usually the time for hibernation and staying in your cave, but it seems the GSW crew aren't ones to sit on their buts!

MMA class had almost 20 in it today with more saying they'd like to join in. We started with grappling to see how everyone was with no gi movement. Pretty hairy to watch if I do say so myself but no injurys so I guess thats good. Today we covered a couple of simple takedowns, starting with the double leg and onto the Royce leg trip. Not too bad for everyones first attempt. We finnished with everyone evaiding punchs and looking for the clinch.

BJJ Fundamentals, about 30 in the class today, so again really no room to move. Covered the syllabus escapes again starting with basic half guard escape. Then worked from underneath side control. Escape to our knees, Underhook escape to their back then we covered a couple of the headlock escapes. Escape to their back and bridging escape.

With Melissa away, Nick has kindly agreed to take the ladies class for a couple of weeks. A smaller turnout today which I guess is to be expected, with their instructor away. 4 in the womens class with Nick working through the basic drills and circuits.

ADCC: results for Australaisa




Under 60 Kilos � Women
Alternative Match: Tara LaRosa vs. Sari Redzoposki (Aus Machado)
Over 60 Kilos � Women
Camila Gielstein vs. Stacy Cartwright (Aus Machado)
Under 65 Kilos - Men
None (Eugene Hinson NZ injured during training and unable to compete)
66-76 Kilos - Men
Juan Jucao vs. Gavin Kulper (Aus)
77-87 Kilos - Men
Saulo Ribeiro vs. Larry Papadoupoulis (Aus Donohue)
88-98 Kilos - Men
Robert Drysdale vs. Anthony Perosh (Aus MAchado)
99+ Kilos - Men
Fabricio Werdum vs. Denis Roberts (Aus Machado)

first round
Tara LaRosa vs. Sari Redzoposki (Tara)

Camila Gielstein vs. Stacy Cartwright (Stacy Cartwright via armbar)

Juan Jucao vs. Gavin Kulper (Juan Jucao by decision)

Saulo Ribeiro vs. Larry Papadoupoulis (Saulo Ribeiro via decision 3-0)

Robert Drysdale vs. Anthony Perosh (Robert Drysdale via RNC)

Fabricio Werdum vs. Dennis Roberts (Fabricio Werdum via decision)

second round

Merleos Coenen vs. Stacy Cartwright (Stacy Cartwright via Triangle / Armbar)

The women's finals have been decided. The finals will take place tomorrow and it will be Kyra Gracie vs. Lieka Viera in the Under 60 Killos division.

The over 60 Kilos division will see Julianne Bourgess versus Stacy Cartwright.

More info on Stacy Cartwright can be found here >> www.bjj.com.au

Lots of activity on the forum but not much here sorry.

The last couple of weeks have been spent just going over the syllabus. For no other reason than I wanted to. Class sizes have been big and the MMA class is still gaining momentum.

Dion and Melissa have headed off to the US for a couple of weeks so the ladies class will be a bit strange I think. :) and we'll certainly miss them both on the mat.

We have one of the blues from Auckland coming down in June for a couple of days, I'm sure everyone will make him feel welcome (if he gets to class)

that's about all, look at the comments to the post below for more information about the Ninjas in the Hutt, other than that I'll Cu at class.

Hutt Martial Arts center. Nice armbar?

OH. MY. GOD!!!!
What a day.

Early today I received a text from Jonny in New York. He was updating me on he training. Jonny is in NY on a working holiday for his brother and also training at Renzos and doing some privates. He decided at the beginning of the week that he would enter the Grapplers Quest US Nationals.
Well in typical Jonny fashion he took gold in his division. In the short time that Jonny has been training he has clearly shown his love for BJJ and his passion for competition. He took out his division in our in house competition in November 2004 and again in the Will - Machado nats earlier this year.

Congrats Jonny you've done GSW proud.

More of Super Sunday.
In the second MMA class there were 13 of us!! The class doubled in a week.
Then in the BJJ Fundamentals there were 32!!! on the Mat. A record! Absolutely no room to move.
Then to finish a fantastic day, Melissa had 9 women on the mat for her class!!!

SUPER SUNDAY at GSW!!

MMA Class:
Pretty much went over the same stuff again.
Jab, overhand right combo:
Inside thigh kick:
Push front kick: onto a left round combination.
Also added the Pummelling drill, fighting for underhooks: then onto a under hook dump take down.

BJJ Class:
Started with a basic circuit:
Then Basic sweep from closed guard:
Hooking sweep from closed guard:
Leg grab rollover sweep, if they pas poorly and leave there leg close enough to grab:
Arm bar variation from the same leg grab position:
Then Armbar from closed guard:
Finishing with the sitting rollover sweep and the Punch'n'Drag variation (I still think this is my best joke of the year!)

My first MMA class 3pm: 6 people in the class and quite a good match up as well.

Covered:

• Jab, overhand right combination.
• Inside thigh kick to of balance and open up our partner
• Push front kick to create space
• Push front kick through to a mid section round kick.

We also covered some basic principals as well, including stances and switching on the front kick to generate power and changing angles to avoid hard targeting. Very basic introduction as Chris was the only member of Jeremys group present. Next week should be more of the same but there are several more people who expressed an interest in joining in the training.


BJJ Fundamentals, 20 on the mat including the return of Donna from the US and also Jill jumped in as well. Great to have you both back. :)

Again today I totally missed the fundamental mark and we covered some advanced guard passes, although everyone seemed to cope ok, it was all a bit out there.

• Started with the Basic circuit.
• Then progressed into a couple of other ways to open our opponents legs.
• From the closed guard position: controlling head with our right elbow, we stack up and work our legs/hips around to their left until the pressure forces them to open their legs. Then we step passed their guard.
• From Closed guard: We control our opponents left arm with our right, we then stack up and pass their hand under their body into our right hand. This time we pass around to their right until the pressure forces them to open their guard.
• From the open guard, we circle our hands around our opponents legs and hug their hips to our base. Then we stack up and drive their knees to their head. From the stack we shrug our shoulders and pass around their guard to side control.
  

Ok, my mums dead, my wife's mum is dead.

I need to smash someone / something.

Jeremy doesn't want to train anymore.

So 2 birds one stone :

Today at 3pm sharp there will be an MMA class run by me at GSW. If you want to make this a regular thing then today is your only chance to prove to me that you want it to happen!

3pm at the Dojo gi-less MMA be there or miss out!!!!!!

22 in class today,
Back to basics time. Lately classes have been moving away from fundamentals skills in order to cater for a growing mat and skill base, but as this class is called Fundamentals that's what we should be doing, especially as there are a lot of newby's hitting the mat with us.

So it's gonna be simple and straight forward.

Today we covered guard subs. Started with the basic circuit as a warm up then progressed onto

• Basic armbar from guard. Point to remember, Move your upper body not your hips. Squeeze the knees together and pull the heels towards you butt.
• Triangle from guard. Our partner has made a mistake in his basic pass and left 1 arm in. Use the same cutting motion from the arm bar to capture the neck. Control your leg with your hand before securing it with you free leg. Finish the triangle by squeezing your knees together and pulling their head down.
• Cross lapel from guard. Secure their collar with our right hand and sink the grip deep. Make space for our free hand to slip under and around the back until our hands meet. Grip the collar tightly, then twist our thumbs inwards to build the pressure.

Jeremy has suspended his MMA class and also will be off the mat for a while. Slightly bad timing as Craig has mentioned his Brazilian friend in Tauranga has a few guy's who would like to try their hand at a bit of MMA / Vale Tudo fighting. Craig has suggested a few friendly match's at the club for practice and learning. We'll keep you informed if anything develops.

Most of you at class tonight would have seen the signs at the Mt Vic Dojo. So I did a quick check with my sources and here's the scoop.

Chris Gower (MVD founder) and Black Belt Conway both won their respective divisions at the world champs. Huge congrats from the G.S.W crew, well done guys

Check here for more information www.mvd.co.nz/karate_world_champs.htm