Grey/White Belt Promotion
John Paul is a very kind teammate and a relentless competitor when it is game time! Congratulations on working hard and earning your promotion John Paul.
Jr bjj belt promotion
Gray-White Promotion:
Congratulations to James for earning his Gray-Belt. James is a quiet leader who is an excellent role model to his peers. He is respectful, well mannered, and gracious. After months of hard work and consistent dedication he has become a good, well rounded practitioner. Good job, James!
Make progress not excuses
“Make progress not excuses”
Our jiujitsu program at edh bjj has a few components of training at is off the mat. One component involves building an elite mindset through discussion and reflection. Here is a response from a student named Shayne.
I believe that this quote is straightforward in its primary message but it also has different messages that many people will take different understandings from. For one, there is the obvious of, you cannot progress if you continue to fall back on your weaknesses and attribute your failure as part of who you are. Anyone can be good at anything, so long as they try hard enough is really what this quote is going for, but I also believe that this quote means that you have to combat the moral dilemma that everyone has inside of themselves. Everyone doubts themselves, everyone feels like giving up sometimes, but the only way to grow not just in jiu Jitsu, but in every aspect of life is to force yourself to do what’s hard, and to pursue your dreams and goals relentlessly.
Thank you Shayne for sharing your thoughts with us!
ASSOCIATION: AJJ SYNDICATE WINS BIG at the JJWL Golden Cup III
TOURNAMENT RESULTS:
A couple weekends ago the team went to JJWL (Jiu Jitsu World League) in Stockton to compete. Emberly from the peewee class made her tournament debut!
From the Kids class Dailan, George, and Drake made a strong appearance. George finished with bronze and Drake finished with silver.
From the Adults, Jamie, Jarrod, Mike, Matt, Ted, Danny, Joe, – Purple belts Jamie won nogi silver and Jarrod won gold. – Blue belts Mike won bronze, Matt won silver and nogi gold, Danny won bronze, Ted won double gold.- White belt Joe won nogi silver.
Thank you to all the teammates and family in attendance! Tournaments are a great reminder to focus on the process and build from each experience.
American Jiu Jitsu Syndicate:
The tournament was also an impressive showing of our organization: AJJ Syndicate.
The team won the Adult and Master team competition and took third in the kids and juvenile team competition. Congrats!
Jiu Jitsu Kids Camp in El Dorado Hills, CA
The Thanksgiving Jiu Jitsu camp was a lot of fun. The kids who came all had a great time hanging out with their teammates, playing games and of course doing jiu jitsu. Both days of camp had the same schedule. Jiu Jitsu class first, mat games, break and snack, then board games and making gratitude lists.
For the class we worked on a lot of stand up skills and basics on the ground such as single legs, sprawls, escaping side control and transitioning to mount. When class ended I made 4 teams, after each team picked their team names the games began. It was really fun to watch the teams work together as things got competitive. We competed in relay races, sumo matches, tug a war and then combined teams so that there were only two teams. Once there were only two games we finished off the mat games with snowball/dodgeball and log races. After the mat games we went outside to eat some snacks and take a break. When the kids came back inside I set up some board games and let them pick which games they wanted to play. While they were playing I talked to the kids about thanksgiving being a really good time to think about all of the things we have to be grateful for and told them to think of three things they were grateful for. When they were ready and had three things to write down they put their list on a sticky note and put it on the whiteboard.
Overall I really enjoyed doing the camp and look forward to the next one. If I was going to change one thing I would add more games for the 4 team tournament format. That seemed like it was the most fun part of camp. I also really liked the gratitude activity and will definitely have similar themes for future camps.
Coach Danny
Some reflections about competition and my overall experiences
I plan on competing as much as possible in 2022. Competition is one of my favorite parts of Jiu Jitsu. I love the feeling of stepping on the tournament mat to challenge myself against another competitor. I think the benefits of competing are huge. The lessons I’ve learned at tournaments have been so much more meaningful to me than anything I’ve learned in the practice room. It feels like the true test of where my Jiu Jitsu is at.
I did my first Jiu Jitsu tournament in my first 6 months of training. It was such a fun and intense experience I could not wait to do it again. I remember feeling so nervous as I waited for my bracket to start. My anxiety peaked when me and the rest of my bracket were standing by the mat waiting for our names to be called but once my first match started my nerves dissapeared and I was full of excitement. I lost my first two matches (it was a double elimination tournament) and all I could think about was how badly I wanted to do another one so that I could do better. Six months later I did another tournament and got silver. I think the dissapointment of losing those first two matches made me improve much faster than I would have if I never competed, it made practice so much more important to me because now I was working towards a specific goal. I just wanted to win a match.
I think everybody who trains should experience competition at least once. It’s such a fun and rewarding experience. It is also stressful and a little bit scary but that is part of what makes it so special. I’m very excited to test myself on those mats again this year and excited to watch my teammates do the same.
Coach Danny
Jiu-Jitsu World League Tournament: AJJ Syndicate wins 1st place!
JJWL Golden State III Reflections
On Saturday many competitors from El Dorado Hills BJJ drove down to Stockton for the Jiu Jitsu World League tournament. It was a very fun and well organized event. The day started off with the kid competitors, then later adults in the gi and no gi last.
Coaching the kids is always an incredible experience. It was so amazing to watch them go out there and do their best. A couple of our kids made it to the podium but what I was most impressed with was the way all of them displayed good technique, hustle and a lot of bravery. It will be fun to study the matches and use them to learn and improve as a school.
All of the adult competitors went home with a medal! American Jiu Jitsu Syndicate won first place against the other teams competing at the event. Watching and coaching the adults was interesting because of all of the various gameplans and styles. We had some athletes with a takedown oriented game, others with some impressive guard play and even some aggressive submission focused Jiu Jitsu! I thought everybody did really well and had a great time.
I had a total of four matches. I won my first match by points, lost my second by points and then won my next two by points earning a bronze medal. I made some technical and strategic errors that I will be working to fix in the gym before my next competition but overall I fought pretty well. I was able to get a few takedowns and guard passes but unfortunately I was not able to get to the back and finish like I had planned.
Jiu Jitsu tournaments are always great experiences. They are especially fun and memorable when we have a big team presence and can support, coach and cheer for each other. I am very excited for more to come.
Coach Danny
“If you want to be strong, you need to be healthy.” Thinking about strength, health, and jiu-jitsu
I recently read the book Modern Weight Lifting And How To Gain Strength by Edward Aston. It was a short and interesting book written by an English strong man athlete published in 1912. Edward Aston held the title of “Britain’s Strongest Man” for over twenty years and created a training tool called the anti-barbell.
Early on in the book Edward gives a brief history of the sport of weight lifting. I thought this part of the book was really interesting. He told stories about athletes back then challenging each other to do different lifts. These athletes had funny nicknames like “Hercules” and “Sampson” and the judging criteria for these competitions was completely subjective. Learning about how far that sport has come over the years was one of my favorite parts of reading this book
In the “How To Gain Strength” chapter of this book there were a lot of basic training guidelines along with a section about diet and bathing. I thought it was interesting that even over one hundred years ago athletes knew that a healthy lifestyle was one of the most important aspects of their training. He also mentioned in this chapter that he believes everybody should lift weights and that the most valuable asset to an aspiring champion is a knowledge of how to train.
The thing that I found most interesting about this book was one of Edward’s opinions on competing. He talked about never thinking about the match leading up to game day to avoid getting nervous. I thought this was interesting because it is the exact opposite of what I do. I love thinking about my matches leading up to a competition, it makes me feel excited and makes me push myself a little harder. Reading what Edward had to say about it made me think about how different people can be and how there is more than one way to do most things.
Coach Danny
BJJ TOUR ALL STAR in Stockton, CA
BJJ TOUR ALL STAR
On Saturday several competitors, coaches and supporters went to Stockton to attend the BJJ Tour All Star tournament. All of the EDH BJJ competitors did really well, many of us took home gold medals. It was really nice to see people from the team there just to spectate and support their friends.
This was the first time I have worked and competed at the same event. Working as a score and time keeper is a pretty fun and easy job. I got to watch a lot of matches and joke around with the referees, it’s always fun to make new friends at tournaments. That being said, I would have much rather spent the day coaching the kids before it was my turn to compete. I probably won’t work at a tournament again if we have many kid competitors going.
Watching my adult and master teammates compete was exciting. Everybody looked really sharp and was hunting for submissions. For a couple of them it was their time competing. It was nice to see those guys have a fun first tournament experience, they went out there and fought hard. I am excited to see how everyone grows at the gym after this one.
I was disappointed after I lost to my first opponent in the Gi. It was a frustrating match for me because I ended up in a couple positions that I usually do well in and still got beat. I also ended up in positions that I have been working hard on getting better in and got beat there too. I won my No Gi division later on in the evening taking down all of my opponents and getting a submission in the final. I feel really motivated to get back on the mat and to keep improving.
Coach Danny
EDH BJJ COMPETITOR REFLECTION & RESULTS
Grappling Industries Reno
I had a great time competing at the Grappling Industries Reno tournament. I took gold in the gi and was able to execute my gameplan really well against all of my opponents. I took gold in this event last year but still made huge improvements this time. I was able to get more submissions, more takedowns, and competed in a weight division higher than I did last time.
Doing small local tournaments like this are great practice and a great opportunity to get feedback before doing some of the bigger tournaments. I know that I have to be able to win matches at these smaller tournaments if I want to have any success at Worlds or Nationals. When I first started competing I had no idea how big of a difference there was between local tournaments and major IBJJF tournaments. Now that I have experienced both, I view the local tournaments as a chance to test out my game plan and see what I need to work on before doing a big tournament.
One thing that is really nice about Grappling Industries is that I get a lot of matches every time I compete at their events. They do a “round robin” format that guarantees a minimum of four matches. That is pretty rare for Jiu Jitsu tournaments, at IBJJF tournaments you may only get one match. At this event I had seven matches total. I was exhausted by the end of the day. It feels rewarding to see my improvements at each tournament and it is fun to figure out what needs to be worked on based on each performance.
Jamie was also in action this weekend at jiujitsu tournament. After a 2 year break from competition, she was excited at the opportunity to compete and get back to competition. Jamie also competed in both styles (Gi and NoGi) and finished with a silver in the nogi division.
Thank you to Max and Kiet. Max and Kiet both made the drive from El Dorado Hills BJJ to support the two athletes in their competitive bouts. It’s great to compete, but it’s great to compete with a team knowing they are there to support you in and out of competition.
Coach Danny