On February 25th we took a small team down to compete at the San Francisco Open. The event was held at the historic Kezar pavilion. Driving into the city on clear Sunday morning, I felt a mixed sense of nervousness for the competition and nostalgia from living there over two decades ago.
I was the first one from our team to compete, and I was pretty nervous. It was my first tournament at Black Belt and my first match was against a former training partner of mine. I was happy to pull guard cleanly and have to opportunity to play my game. As I was pummeling for grips he pressed my guard and kept me on my back. I was getting passed and I bridged and came on top… well sort of. He locked a triangle and did my best to defend it and he was able to secure a nice wrist-lock. It was a hard first lesson at Black Belt, but you have to start somewhere.
After my match, I walked down Height Street and placed this experience in the context of my life. Even when you lose, there is a special place in your past as a person that put it all out there.
The tournament was a great learning opportunity for everyone. There were people competing for the first time in their jiu jitsu journey, and others for the first time in 2018, after the holidays. One of our students Brad made his competition debut at the IBJJF SF Open this weekend and he documented his experience on his blog on linkedin. “How competing in a combat sport taught me more about how to improve myself and help others do the same.” Give his article a read and let him know what you think!
Tournament Results:
Blue Belt:
- Jamie – Bronze
- Jarrod – Silver (in his first competition at Blue Belt)
White Belt:
- Ryan – Silver
- Brad – Silver (First Competition)
by Coach Aaron
Photography By Aiza Tengan
Van taught variations of the
If you have the opportunity to train with or learn from Van in the future we highly recommend taking advantage of the opportunity. She is detailed, thoughtful, and engages with learners in a fun and active way.
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Only those that work together can be the strongest! Here, we aren’t just building grip and leg strength. At our martial arts academy in El Dorado Hills we don’t just teach technical and physical skills, we also teach skills of collaboration and working with others. This is a skill that is important on the mat but even more important in life off of the mat. One example of teamwork being taught is t
In December Jarrod led a community sock drive, collecting over a thousand pairs of socks for the homeless. He brought an awareness for a need that the community might overlook. We appreciate his attention to detail in noticing where different needs exist in our community and finding ways to fill them!
Javen has embraced learning both skills of training and implementing jiujitsu as well as the art of teaching and leading. In addition to jiu-jitsu, he excels in his academics at Oak Ridge high school and pursues his passion in music and the language arts in his spare time.