The Olympics event we had here in the Training Center ended this past Saturday.  Holy cow did everyone ever love it!  Sparta came out the big winner but overall it was a close race with the other teams making a run for it on the final day.

I can’t wait for next year for it to happen again!

A good friend of the academy, owner of Renzo Gracie L.A. Shawn Williams made a guest appearance here at the academy last night.  Shawn is the play by play commentator for the Worlds and Pan Am Championships.  He is possibly the most technical american Jiu Jitsu fighter that Renzo Gracie developed.

He will be back again in October to give a full seminar.  I for one am really looking forward to it.

We had a very successful Bully Prevention Clinic and Stranger Danger Awareness event this past weekend.  When I say successful I mean that all that kids learned some great new skills to deal with these problems that are so prevalent in todays world.

Please let us know if you would like to be put on the list for the second edition of this clinic.

This past weekend we had our belt ceremony.  It went over great and I was really pleased to see how happy everyone who was promoted to their new belts were and they all had huge smiles on their faces.

Also thanks to all the team mates who showed up to support the promotions even when they knew they weren’t getting promoted.  Great camaraderie! 🙂

Please go to the Jiu Jitsu Facebook Fanpage to check out the pix.

We had our first ever tailgating party this past Friday night in the back of the academy.  Wow, was it ever better then I imagined it might be!  At least 30 people showed up for this first one and where I thought it was going to end by 9 pm, it ended up that we were having fun until about 11.

We started the party by Juicing all different fruits and vegetables for a post workout recovery, but of course not long after the party moved on to more adult flavored beverages.

Everyone was clamoring for more of these, so we will be doing again in a few months.

The free class with Rodrigo Gracie has been moved to 5/23.  I will see you all then…

Free Class with Rodrigo Gracie

My good friend Rodrigo Gracie will be coming to teach class here next Wednesday, May 9 from 6-8pm.  All adults are welcome.  There is no extra charge for this special class.  Rodrigo just wanted to come and meet you guys before he comes out in June to teach a full seminar.

Next Wednesday’s class will be gi for the first hour and then half an hour of no gi.  After that we will be rolling.

I hope everyone shows up in full force.  I learned tons from Rodrigo when we used to train together for years in the NYC academy.  He has a very aggressive game and is always looking for the finish.

Mario Delgado’s Seminar           

Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to Mario’s seminar this holiday weekend. Attendance was a little lower then usual because of the holidays but quite a few of those who attended told me it may have been the best seminar yet.

He showed some killer foot locks and some really funky functional attacks from the kimura to back or armbar.

I will try and get him here again as soon as possible.

What a fantastic annual BBQ we had this past weekend.  Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to the picnic.

Once again it didn’t end until the sun went down.  Adults playing beach volleyball and football as well as the kids.  I know the kids had a blast bobbing for apples and having races.

Every year the party just gets bigger and bigger.  I am looking forward to next years as well.  Who knows, maybe we will do one twice a year bigger everyone was clamoring for more 🙂

We had our first Women’s Self Defense Seminar this past weekend.  It went over so well that many of the participants have asked for a sequel.  So we will for sure follow up with another one within the next couple of months.

Look out criminals or even annoying boyfriends, brothers or husbands.  These ladies learned some nasty rear naked chokes and knees to the groin.

We had also gone over some other self defense techniques as well as how to avoid even getting into trouble in the first place and what to do to divert a problem when it starts.

Some of the other techniques we will be working on in the future in that class besides going over past moves to make sure they are imbedded in our muscle memory is more self defense techniques as well as tactics to employ when you are being accosted by a carjacker.  Also we will learn more gun handling as well as gun retention and disarming.

Here are a few pix of these newly empowered women!