Adults Jiu Jitsu, Tournaments, Uncategorized

IBJJF San Jose Open Gi & NoGi Results

Zack wins Gold

On January 28th and 29th at the San Jose Community College the IBJJF (International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation) San Jose Open took place. The tournament was a two day tournament in the Gi and NoGi. This was a great opportunity to test their skills in a local northern California competition. Probably the biggest tournament outside of the BJJ Tour Championships; US Open, American Cup, and All Star Championships. Members of EDH BJJ, competing as Yemaso BJJ,  finished with the following results:

Gi:
Mark Swisher – Competitor
Jamie Gomez – Bronze
Zack Smith – Bronze
Allan Scott – Silver
Aaron Martinez – Silver
Jerel Tengan – Silver
Eliot Kelly – Gold

NoGi:
Jamie Gomez – Bronze
Zack Smith – Gold
Aaron Martinez – Silver
Jerel Tengan – Silver
Eliot Kelly – Gold & Silver (absolute)

Eliot win Gold

The tournament was a great opportunity to start the year with a competition. A few high lights of the tournament came with Zack Smith taking Bronze in his division but coming back the next day to win the Gold in the NoGi division. This showed great persistence and determination. Another big victory of the weekend came from coach Eliot Kelly winning gold in the Ultra Heavyweight division beating Vinicius de Magalhães of Vinny Magalhaes BJJ in the finals. Vinny is an incredibly talented prize fighter in MMA, Jiu Jitsu and Grappling. He is an ADCC champion, IBJJF World Champion, EBI and UFC competitor.

Adults Jiu Jitsu

Coach Eliot Kelly wins Fight to Win Pro 23 in San Jose

Coach Eliot made his second performance on the Fight to Win Professional submission only show in San Jose, CA on January 27th, 2017. The Gi and NoGi profession jiujitsu and grappling show travels the United States showcasing local talent. F2W Pro’s submission only format was one of the most exciting shows of 2016 among grappling and jiujitsu entertainment. The show in San Jose paid out over $30,000 in prize money and with the live audience of over 2,500 and an online viewership over 30,000 the event was a grand success. More on the event can be found here.

Coach Eliot matched up with Kyle Kingsbury, a BJJ black belt and former MMA fighter in the UFC. Their match was NoGi at 230lbs. Their match was one of the anticipated fights of the night along with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu legends, KURT OSIANDER, OSVALDO QUIEIXINHO MOZINHO, BRUNO FRAZZATTO, and RHALAN GRACIE.

ELIOT KELLY (EDH BJJ) VS KYLE KINGSBURY (CHECKMAT BJJ)

The match finished with a unanimous judge decision with 3-0 voting for Eliot’s victory. Needless to say, Kyle and Eliot put on a great show for the audience in attendance with a dynamic display of takedowns, guard attacks, and submission attempts.

Eliot and his family in attendance

 

Tournaments

Grappling X competition in Fresno, CA

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Rich participated in the Grappling X tournament series held in Fresno, CA on February 12th. He came back from the experience with 3 matches. 1 win and 2 losses. The tournament was a good experience building opportunity, competing as a purple belt in the Gi and NoGi. In his reflection Rich said, “It was a very positive tournament experience for me. The organizer called me and assured me that I would be getting several matches. I’m thankful for them following through on their promise.” Rich also remarked, “I was able to go out there with a positive mind. I’ve been really working on the competition mindset and I feel I was able to overcome some obstacles this weekend.” Congratulations to Rich on this success at the Grappling X Fresno tournament. 

 

Uncategorized

Sparring Tips

Guard-Play or Passing Guard?

It’s good to decide, before the sparring match, if you would like to Play Guard or Pass Guard. If both fighters want to pass and the match begins on the feet (opposed to the knees) then someone will have to takedown or throw their opponent to the mat, which forces the opponent to play guard. If both fighters want to play guard, the one who pulls guard first is playing guard.

Generally, the fighter passing guard will make grips on the opponent’s lower body (knees, hips, ankles) to control the legs and hips of the guard player. The fighter playing guard will make grips on the opponent’s upper body (Not always, but this is a good way to start off with until you develop a more advanced guard) to control the distance of the passer, as well as their posture, and their ability to move around you in either direction.

It’s good for the guard passer to keep a leading knee between themselves and the guard player to prevent the guard player from closing the guard around their waist. This adds another (dangerous) step between being in their guard and passing guard. The guard player will try to keep their feet, knees, or (butterfly) hooks between themselves and the passer’s body and legs to prevent them from pressuring their guard with their weight.

The basic objective of the guard passer is get passed their guard into side-control, knee on belly, or mount. The basic objective of the guard passer it to sweep (their opponent to the ground: reversing the positions), Submit, or take the back (To back-control with the hooks).

It’s good to practice both, but it’s better to know what you want to practice before your opponent decides for you.

Etiquette:

It’s good form to bow and shake hands, before and after a match. It’s also good form not to celebrate when you win and not sulk when you lose.

Being too aggressive with strength and size (rather than technique) might also be perceived as disrespectful and unnecessary. The term “Sparring” implies training to fight by simulating the movements and technique of Jiu-Jitsu. There is force, endurance, strength and agility involved, but the idea behind sparring is that you can do it with anyone, both of you walk away without any injuries or sore feelings toward one another.

Learn by Example:

Watch the upper-belts and pay attention to how they spar when you roll with them. Most upper belts have training long enough to know what makes for a long term sparring partnership as well as avoid injuries on both sides.

Coach Aaron

Adults Jiu Jitsu

Surviving & Thriving the Jiu Jitsu Lifestyle

Purple belt Allan Scott from El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has an incredible list of accomplishments in the sport for someone who has started at the age of 49. In addition to his jiujitsu accomplishments, he has a list of copyrights, patents, and other accomplishments under his belt. We had the privilege to have him share with us a presentation on his different and unique steps to best pursue the jiujitsu lifestyle.

His talk was an insightful analysis into the starting and continuing jiujitsu in your 40’s and 50’s. Below are the power point slides he used with some very helpful advice, links, and a plan for people to draw from and find success both on and off the mat.

Surviving and Thriving the Jiu Jitsu Lifestyle

Adults Jiu Jitsu, Camp

Fundamentals Camp in El Dorado Hills

Fundamentals Camp this weekend! No Class or Open Mat on Saturday or Sunday. We have a great camp planned to start the year! It’s not too late to register: CAMP DETAILS

– 11 hours of instruction & drilling
– 2 hours of Open Mat
– 3 Guest Speakers (details below) 
Allan Scott (Surviving & Thriving with JiuJitsu)

Allan will talk about his experiences and lessons learned over the last 5+ years of training jiu jitsu and how it has influenced all the different aspects of his life. He will offer tips on what has worked and what hasn’t while trying to make jiu jitsu into a balanced, lifelong passion.

Ryan Flager (Lasting Impact of Leadership)

Ryan has been deployed 6 times to Afghanistan and Iraq serving with the 75th Ranger Regiment. Jobs included rifleman, sniper, sniper team leader and Sniper section leader. He took part in many combat operations and was awarded for his work while under fire. He took part in the rescue and recovery of the the extortion 17 helicopter crash, arguably one of the most catastrophic events from the war on terror. After the military he worked for the state department providing security for the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. Ryan will be talking about the lasting of impact of leadership. 

Jackson Gudel (Perseverance Through Adversity) 

Jackson was born in Sacramento, CA and attended Casa Robles HS where he was captain of the football team. After graduation from Humboldt State University in 2000, he worked for 5 years as the operations manager of a ceramic tile installation company in the family business. Joining the Army in November 2005, he went thru OSUT as an infantryman at Fort  Benning, GA, Airborne School, Ranger Indoctrination Program, and assigned to 3rd PLT B CO 3/75th Ranger Regiment in 2006. He graduated Ranger school in 2008.

He was deployed six times in support of OIF/OEF, 3 times to Iraq, and 3 times to Afghanistan. While deployed to Mosul, Iraq he was wounded in action and received a Purple Heart. His wounds included gunshots to the pelvis and shoulder, a suicide bomber detonation resulting in TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), and a gunshot wound resulting in a fractured pelvis. 7 months later, he deploy to the same position and did 3 more deployments as Fire Team Leader after his injuries. Medically retired from the Army in December of 2013, he is now married with 3 children.
Kids Jiu Jitsu, Tournaments

Javen Wins Bronze to Start 2017 Competitions

Javen Jones, freshman at Oak Ridge High School, took Bronze in the NABJJF (North American Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation) Kids All Americas on the twenty first of January in Cerritos, CA.

Winning one of his two matches, Javen displayed excellent takedown strategy, scoring a takedown on both matches. He managed to secure the mount position and, just as the timer ended, finished with an armbar — a favored technique, as seen from his preceding tournaments. Javen plans to come back from his tournament experience and hit the mats immediately!  He has big aspirations to continue competing for years to come.

This tournament was held at Cerritos College.

Adults Jiu Jitsu

We all have one thing in common: 24 hours

 

Today let’s talk about TIME
 
The one thing we all have in common, 24 hours in a day. I’ve attached a schedule template and an example at the bottom of the page for your reference to make the best use of your time. I learned this in college from our wrestling coach, and I’ve used this template for 10+ years. The basic idea is:
1) ORGANIZE your day
2) FOLLOW through with the plan you organized (means nothing if you don’t)
3) PLAN AHEAD when conflicts prevent your follow through
——–
Notes on the schedule template example:
– USE COLOR for you to see how much time you spend doing stuff.
– Make sure it’s REALISTIC: (Studying the Odyssey at 11pm on Friday is probably not a good idea).
– COMMUNICATE with your spouse or coach what time is for what.
*** If you have a non traditional work schedule, it’s important to update your schedule every time it changes.
Wrestling

Wrestling in El Dorado Hills at Sunday Funday

We will be hosting SUNDAY ~ FUNDAY with Coach Ryan Loder of Apex Wrestling. Apex Wrestling has the mission statement to build better people through wrestling. This is a great opportunity to learn from an division one NCAA All-American wrestler. Here are a few more details about coach Ryan:

– NCAA D1 All-American
– USA Wrestling Freestyle All-American
– CA USA Wrestling development coach
– MBA University of Northern Iowa

While Ryan comes from one of the prestigious wrestling universities under the leadership of coach Doug Schwab, he comes from a local high school, Granite Bay HS. He began Sunday Funday with a few specific goals in mind. Sunday Funday is an opportunity for wrestling to get on the mat and have fun while getting some guided instruction. The goal of Funday is to provide a healthy learning environment where wrestlers can come together to ask questions and make improvements to their specific style.

SUNDAY ~ FUNDAY details:

-> 3:00pm-5:00pm
-> All Clubs & Schools welcome
-> Drop ins: $20
-> EDH Members: $10

 

Uncategorized

The innovation of Jiu Jitsu as a Mixed Martial Art

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As we head into 2017, we are going to continue to see the innovation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu by competitors and practitioners all over the world. I believe we will see an innovation of a jiu jitsu as a mixed martial art as practitioners from different cultures of grappling continue to give a try in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

While Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will maintain it’s strong foundation in it’s practical self defense applications, we should begin to see the sport continue to change. Just as international Judo competitions have noticed a cross over of the regions ethnic wrestling into their national and international Judo applications, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will do the same.

Jiu Jitsu will no longer be exclusive to Jiu Jitsu, but also include those with wrestling, Judo, sambo, mongolian wrestling, and any form of grappling. This innovation of technique is possible because while technical subsets of the sport are highly specific and detailed, the common goal (to submit someone) is extremely broad. As long as you are able to submit someone or control a person on the ground you can be declared the winner.

As we look at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2017, expect to see it’s continued innovation and evolution as a mixed martial art of grappling. Grapplers who explore different possibilities from their ethnic wrestling background and incorporate trainings to included them in their technical prowess will find success on the mat.

Author: Eliot Kelly
eliotkelly.com