Gray white belt promotion in the juniors bjj class at edhbjj.

Jack and Ricky are quiet natured but their jiujitsu talk is loud! They bring the hustle to the mat and make things happen. It’s great because they go out and do things without holding back. Their mat game is backed up with sincere respect for towards the coaches and training partners. It’s clear, they expect results. As a result, when you’re around these guys they make you better. You have no choice but to be at your best if you want to keep up with them.

One of the most important concepts for advanced BJJ practitioners, is finding efficient and continuous paths to HIGH VALUE positions(Mount/Back). Often times though, when overly complex steps are required for our primary sweeps or submission chains to work, we may have difficulty finding success against higher level opponents and training partners. -This is OFTEN due to the fact that as the number of successive moves increases, so does the various methods of defending or countering it.

As we become more advanced in grappling, you will find that your game naturally becomes more concentrated and deliberate. This is of course, the inevitability of most complex systems in sports and martial arts. The continuous progression towards efficiency should always be our goal as martial artists and athletes.

For this reason, my brother Carl Gonsolin (Ralph Gracie Black Belt) and I, will be conducting a Special DUAL Seminar Specialty Clinic specifically focusing on this concept.
This Specialty Clinic will be covering LIMB ISOLATION & CONTROL. Directly to a customized Backtake(s) & Submission Series. Our primary goal is to help Accelerate your progression into this Advanced BJJ Concept, as well as giving you another very powerful tool in your BJJ skillset.

LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE -as this will be open to all academies.. This will NOT be a regular theme, and will only be available selectively via private lessons after this year.
-Remember if you don’t make it, DO NOT Complain when someone uses this against you at a tournament or training!!

An event will be posted tonight by my brother, Stay Tuned and we’ll see you on the mat!

-Sean

Thanksgiving Kid’s Camp 2019

By Aaron Martinez

Last week we hosted our first jiu-jitsu holiday camp for our youth students. The camp was open to all three youth classes for 5-year-olds and up. We had 21 students attend the camp and it was met with great success!

The students were exposed to 2 separate sessions of Jiu-Jitsu, which consisted of a typical class dynamic. After instruction and drilling we finished each session with the student’s favorite games of freeze tag and fireball.

Between the two sessions we had a break for healthy snacks, provided by the camp, and talked about the History of Jiu-Jitsu and how it brings us to what we are doing today. The students had many questions, of course. You could see their imaginations working as we talked about the Samurais, Jigoro Kano & Judo, Mitsuyo Maeda & Carlos Gracie Sr., Helio Gracie vs. Kimura, all the way to present day MMA and Jiu-Jitsu.

The students worked on drawings, inspired by our history presentation and Jiu-Jitsu in general. Most of the drawings were of our academy logo, of the students doing jiu-Jitsu, and Helio Gracie.

We held our second class session before breaking off to a few games of Dodgeball. The camp was wrapped up with more healthy snacks and playing chess as a team.

The students were all very engaged and positive throughout the day. The three coaches were very happy with the camp and a little tired. Coach Javen is a purple belt and has been an assistant coach with all three youth programs for the past several years. Coach Bobby is a purple belt and teaches the Woman’s Jiu-Jitsu & Self-Defense classes on Wednesday and Friday mornings. Coach Aaron is a Black Belt and teaches the Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday classes.

Grey white belt promotion took place in El Dorado Hills, CA.

Mia and Heidi are strong willed individuals that won’t back down from a challenge. As a result, those around them rise to their level of focus and hustle. We’re excited to see them be leaders both on and off the mat.

The Grey-white belt is the first promotion of the kids belts in jiujitsu. While some martial arts programs guarantee a timeline of belt promotions, jiujitsu doesn’t. Our program is doesn’t corner the student into a designated timeline to learn and master the subject material. Instead the student has the option to move at their pace and progress in belts based on merit, subject competency, and their time dedicated to the art.

Martial arts and self defense are two words that are often associated together. There are many different ideas that the word self defense brings up. The core of self defense for us at EDH is education and community building.

Education because awareness and understanding is really the first step to action. Education starts with awareness and understanding in what dangers or threats exist. Once the threat is understood, specific steps can be taken to protect ourselves. For many of us education about diet and nutrition, exercise, mental health, stress and anxiety will be much more beneficial than any form of physical self defense.

Education takes away the “I didn’t even know that,” factor and gives us an opportunity to be proactive with our lifestyle rather than reactive. Being proactive gives us an opportunity to be offensive with our efforts in self defense. Proactive environmental self defense means we cut back on fossil fuels, we reduce our carbon foot print, and we look for measures to keep our waterways clean. On the other hand, reactive environmental self defense is important but doesn’t take effect until after the damage has happened. Maybe from lack of education, maybe from lack of regards. Reactive measures are important but it’s different to drink from a glass than a single use cup.

As education helps us understand the threats and needs that exist in self defense, community building is the strongest form of action that promotes self defense.

One example is a Japanese street crew cleaning crew. They took on cleaning one of the dirties few block of Shinjuku in Tokyo. While initially their efforts were unnoticed, after a few months the litter in the streets began to slowly lessen. Eventually the amount of litter in those few blocks became non existent. As a result of their cleaning efforts, the undesirable odors diminished, litter was almost gone, and crime (which was quite high) disappeared. Not only did the physical appearance of the few blocks change but so did the behavior of the people living in the area.

The community service activities at our dojo are set with the goal of meeting one or both of these in mind. When students organize and promote an event, it’s with their genuine interest and enthusiasm to educate their community about topics and things going on. In addition, it’s to give us an opportunity to do more than just jiujitsu. To get out of the dojo and involve our friends and family to action.

Eliot Kelly

Blue belt Promotion at edh Jiujitsu and self defense! Another 6am belt promotion took place! Jesse started jiujitsu with his family after watching his son participate in jiujitsu. He brings great enthusiasm to each and every class, and never forgets to pack his gi when out of town for business. He recently started a group on Facebook to raise awareness for those in need of assistance with projects in and around their homes. This group is taking steps to form a non profit organization and continue to make an impact to communities in the greater Placerville area.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and weekend. We’re getting closer to the December 18th Yoga for Jiu Jitsu Workshop that will benefit the clients of My Sister’s House. They are excited about the donation drive tied to this event!

In addition to the suggested wish list items mentioned in the previous post, it would be awesome to collect toys for their upcoming client Christmas Event. New, gender-neutral toys such as games, puzzles, and building sets would really bring joy to the kids of My Sister’s House clients. Just something else to consider.

If you have any questions about the donation effort or the workshop, please ask Eugene at the dojo. Thanks!

Brown Belt Promotion

Dedication, Discipline, Leadership, Respect, Perseverance, Gratitude, Cooperation, Humility, Integrity, Honor.

Just a few words that come to mind when describing them on and off the mat. Thank you for being leaders and mentoring the next generation of jiujitsu in EDH!

As edh Jiujitsu concludes its 10th year of open doors we are excited to announce our first generation of white belt to brown belt jiujitsu practitioners. Although we’ve had the privilege of celebrating others in their promotion to black belt, this marks the first for the dojo.

Blue belt promotion Chris started with the 6am crew and had to make some adjustments when his work schedule changed. Along the way he made new friends, but also brought his friends to jiujitsu. It’s clear that he really enjoys both the time he spends with his friends as well as the time he spends on the mat training. He recently finished a very successful community service project “the Star Jars” where he raised funds to be donated to the Star treatment organization. A non profit organization that gives kids going through chemo treatment a more comfortable ride with games and toys on the tour bus.

Good day, everyone! Eugene will be leading a “Yoga for Jiu Jitsu” workshop on Wednesday, December 18th, from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. We will be exploring how the elements of improved mental focus, flexibility, and strength can benefit your BJJ practice. This workshop will be open to ages 10 and up. No Yoga experience is necessary! You may wear No-Gi gear, Gi pants with rash guard, or any comfortable athletic clothing.

This will be donation/fundraising effort. I’ll be collecting necessities (see the wishlist in the photos) and monetary donations to benefit the non-profit organization, My Sister’s House.

My Sister’s House serves Asian/Pacific Islander and other underserved women and children impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking by providing a culturally appropriate and responsive safe haven, job training, and community services.

To attend the workshop, please bring item(s) from the necessities list anytime before the event or on the day of the event. I will have a pink bin at the dojo to collect the items. Cash/check donations will be accepted the day of the workshop. Suggested donation is $10 in goods/cash but anything will help. Can’t attend? No problem! Donations will still be greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking!