Training with martial arts legends in NY (part 2)
[Continued from Part 1]
So to recap, it’s my first day of training at Renzo Gracie Academy in Manhattan and we’ve just finished John Danaher’s early afternoon class…which included Georges St. Pierre, Frankie Edgar, Roger Gracie, Silver Fox, Rafael Natal and many, many other ridiculously good Brazilian Jiujitsu players!
After class my body is near death but my mind is soaking it all in! I sit on the side of the mat under a fan watching Renzo give Roger some finer point details on passing guard. I’m totally enthralled. Most of the students have trickled out by now and as Renzo gets up to step off the mat, Derek says “You better grab him now while no one’s talking to him if you wanna give him the portrait.”
I go over to Renzo and he claps me on the back. “You got some art for me??” he says.
“Absolutely! It’s right over here in my portfolio. I also brought you some prints!”
We walk over to the desk and I open my travel portfolio. I take out the original and lay it on the counter. “Unbelievable! Guys, look at this!” Renzo tells the students and instructors who have gathered around.
“Here, I also wanted you to have prints of all your students I’ve drawn,” I say. I hand him prints of Kyra Gracie, Roy Nelson, and Matt Serra. I also show him the portrait in progress of his top student, Ricardo Almeida. “I’m also doing a series on martial arts masters,” I say as I hand him prints of Muhammed Ali, Count Koma and his uncle Helio.
“You might recognize this guy…” I say as I give him a print of GSP.
“Nice! You show this to him??” Renzo asks.
“Nah. He’s working out so I didn’t want to interrupt him.” After class, Georges, Roger and a number of other fighters head over to the weight room to do some additional training.
“Follow me!” Renzo says.
He walks into the room where they’re all working out and hands the print to Georges. All the guys crowd around, asking who did the drawing. Renzo points to me and begins showing them all the prints I gave him.
I tell them a little about what I do and ask if I can get a quick pic with Georges. He loves the portrait and happily agrees. I hand Derek my camera and then stand next to one of the greatest fighters who’s ever lived holding a print of the portrait I did of him!
He couldn’t of been any nicer! When I go to leave he starts to hand back the print. “No sir, that’s yours,” I say. “Really? Oh wow, thanks!” he says in his heavy French-Canadian accent.
I let the other guys know if they ever want a portrait done, to let me know and then we head back out to the front office letting them finish their workout. “Now, we had a deal right?” I say to Renzo.
“Of course! A gi and a rashguard, right?” He asks my size and then tells one of the instructors to go grab them. Renzo and I had negotiated on Twitter that I would give him the original portrait in exchange for an official RGA gi (uniform) and rashguard (the tight-fitting shirt worn to prevent mat burn while grappling).
I also give a print of the Renzo portrait to Karl as a thank-you for taking time to give a lowly blue belt some pointers on his guillotine!
As we’re taking care of business, Georges comes by and I ask him if he would autograph the original portrait so that I can auction it off to help raise money for IJM. He gladly signs it and I snap a pic…
Here is the autographed, framed original portrait that Georges signed. I’m auctioning it off and giving 25% of the proceeds to International Justice Mission and the other 75% will go to my surgery bills and Disciple Dojo funding.
You can bid on it this week at http://cgi.ebay.com/AUTOGRAPHED-Georges-St-Pierre-UFC-original-portrait-/120754005586?pt=Art_Paintings&hash=item1c1d7fe652
Please spread the word!
After this, we’re all starving (it’s about 4pm by now!) so Renzo invites Derek, Chase and me to join them over at their favorite restaurant across the street, Mooncake. I had been hearing about it for weeks from Derek, so I’m looking forward to eating there finally.
It doesn’t disappoint! I get a porkchop sandwich with some type of mango sauce and it’s incredible. Plus, I get to eat it at the same table with Renzo Gracie…and Roger, GSP, Silver Fox and the rest of the guys are at the next table! What an afternoon!
Georges stops by to say goodbye and I can’t help but notice that he’s holding the print of my portrait of him carefully in his hand. 🙂 I snap a quick pic of him standing by Chase, so that Chase can have a pic with his idol!
It was easily the most memorable day of training I’ve had in my entire life and this morning/afternoon alone is worth the price of the entire trip!
But for now, it’s back to the apartment to rest for about an hour…because the evening classes begin soon!
When we get back, we immediately begin to question the wisdom of doing 3 classes in a single day! Haha…we’re exhausted! But we press on. This is why we came!
Chase and I are both blue belts, so our class is at 6:00pm. Since Sensei is a purple belt under Renzo (though a brown belt through Gracie Barra), his class is right after ours.
Evening classes are not like John Danaher’s morning class. They are more traditional, starting (on American time rather than Brazilian time!) with jogging and calisthenics to warm up. The instructors are UFC fighter Rafael “Sapo” Natal and Strikeforce fighter Igor Gracie! There are about 40 students on the mat, but it doesn’t get nearly as slippery, since this is a gi class and our uniforms absorb most of the sweat.
And BOY do I sweat!!
We do partner drills and work on some variations of the baseball choke from side control. This is the first time I actually already know the techniques being taught, which is good because I don’t think my brain could’ve handled cramming more jiujitsu knowledge into it at this point. I’m able to rep with my partner and even give him a few pointers that help.
I don’t get submitted nearly as much as I did during the morning and afternoon classes, but that’s mostly because A) many of the big strong wrestler types who give me the most trouble don’t take gi classes and B) there are mostly blue and purple belts in this class rather than the brown and black belts we rolled with earlier.
Don’t get me wrong though…I still get tapped multiple times! But I’m content in chalking most of them up to my body being on the verge of collapse BEFORE class even began! haha!
By the end of class I’ve gone through another 2 large bottles of water and am drenched from head to toe. But it’s been an incredible day of training. Chase and I collapse on the side of the mat and watch the advanced class that Derek is taking. He does very well against the brown belts he rolls with and I can tell that despite the tiredness, soreness and nagging rib injury he picked up the week before, he’s absolutely loving being back on the mats at RGA!
After class we stumble the 12 blocks back to Times Square, Sensei and Chase cook up a ground beef, rice & beans concoction while I do laundry and opt for a cereal and PB&J. After showering, eating and laundry, it’s about midnight when we finally get to bed. Day 1 is in the books and it’s been quite a ride!
We still have 2 and a half more days of training to go, and something tells me that my body is going to have some say in how training goes tomorrow…
[to be continued…]
Categories: Arts and Culture, Blog, Martial Arts
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