My Renzo Gracie Academy trip 2012 (part 3)
[Click HERE for part 1] [Click HERE for part 2]
Day 2: Lunchtime class
After getting back to the apartment for just long enough to grab a bite to eat and put Chase’s knee on ice, I headed back to RGA to catch John Danaher’s 1pm gi class. Don’t let the constant rashguard/fight shorts wardrobe fool you, John is just as knowledgeable in gi as he is in no-gi…though in every gi class I’ve been in of his, he simply grabs a gi top and belt from the back room and throws it on with the shorts!
I actually get there early to watch some of our guys in the noon white belt class that Zed and Luciano are running. I find a spot in the corner just off the main mat and pull out my pad and Prismacolors. You see, I had told Renzo I was bringing him a surprise this time…but I hadn’t quite had time to finish it! So instead of sitting in some coffee shop or at the apartment to work on it, I figured RGA would be a much more inspiring location (and as I would soon find out, that was the absolute best decision I could’ve made!).
The portrait I’m working on is Ryan Gracie’s. Ryan is Renzo’s brother who passed away a few years ago and I know how much Renzo loved him, so I when I thought about what I could do as a gift to bring for Renzo, Ryan’s portrait was the first thing that came to mind. This would be a one-of-a-kind piece just for Renzo. I wouldn’t be doing any prints of it or putting it in my gallery. It was just a thank you for his hospitality during my last visit, as well as for supporting my work over the past year online.
As I’m working on the portrait, Zed walks over and is like “Whoaaa, my brudder! That is amaaaaazinnng!” (in his Brazilian accent and interspersed with various Portuguese exclamations, none of which I can understand!). He calls Luciano over to check it out and then just stands there watching me work for a good 5-10 mins while the students are drilling.
As an artist who does most of my work in public settings, I’m used to people stopping to watch me work. But I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little intimidating having a Renzo Gracie black belt watching me work on a drawing of Ryan Gracie in the very academy where they used to train together! But it was also really cool because I could see that Zed was watching me work with the same look in his eyes as I have when I watch him and the other black belts roll.
If you’ve never heard of Jose “Zed” Chierighini, he’s one of the main instructors at RGA and I had the pleasure of taking his class on my last morning there last year (Here’s one of his technique video clips if you want a face to go with the name…which is pronounced “Share-ih-GEE-nee”). Now ever since I met him a few years ago before Roy Nelson’s fight against Stefan Struve at UFC Fight Night here in Charlotte, I have said that Renzo is the absolute nicest and warmest guy I’ve ever met in the world of high-level martial arts. But after getting to know Zed on this trip, he’s the #1 contender for that title in my book! The guy was so nice that I can’t do it justice in a blog post. You’ll just have to take my word for it.
After working on the Ryan piece for a few more minutes, I see a familiar face walk through the door…one I’ve been waiting to see again ever since my last trip up here. Karel Pravec (aka. “Silver Fox”). If you remember from my posts last year, Silver Fox was the Renzo black belt who spent some time giving me tips on finishing guillotines…which I was IMMEDIATELY able to incorporate successfully (and have continued to since then). More than that, though, he and I have stayed in touch via Facebook/Twitter and he even gave me his phone number and told me not to hesitate to call him if I ever have any more questions…which I’ve totally taken him up on!
Karel is the kind of grappler I hope to be one day. Like me, he started BJJ later in life after decades of traditional martial arts (he was a TKD guy until he started training with Renzo back in the early 90s). He’s stayed active in competition, is known for his ability as a finisher, and doesn’t rely on size or strength (he weighs less than I do, so gorilla strength isn’t really an option). He’s the epitome of the calm, smooth, smart grappler. And since he’s taken the time to give tips and help to a peon like me, I wanted to return the favor somehow. So a few days before the trip, I did a portrait for him to hang in his academy.
I was glad to be able to give it to him in person this time, and even more glad that he liked it and showed it off to everyone there! (I told him that as much as I enjoyed doing the piece for him, it pained me a bit because in the original picture I was working from, he was sitting on the mat beside Kyra Gracie and I had to crop her out. If you don’t know why that is a painful decision for me to have had to make, a Google image search will clear it up!)
After giving Silver Fox the portrait and talking to Zed for a few more minutes about what I do in terms of artwork and charity portraits, it’s almost time for my class. Mike and Derek had arrived a few minutes before and we hit the locker room to change for class.
John is on the mat in his usual position (sitting on the side of the mat, scanning the room silently, staring through people’s souls’ and formulating grappling concepts involving techniques that don’t even exist yet, I like to imagine!), and other students are starting to arrive and get loosened up. John doesn’t do warmups or stretching at the beginning of his classes. He’s said that his focus is teaching and that he trusts by the time they make it to his class (which is for blue belts and above), students know how to stretch themselves and properly warm up on their own. Mike and I hit the mat and begin stretching (though we’re pretty warmed up already from our class with him a few hours before!).
This class begins with variations of ko-uchi gari and o-uchi gari takedowns. John demonstrates and then we break to rep on our own. Mike and I are partnered again and we try to break down and work through the sequence. A few times I feel like my footwork is off (Judo footwork is probably my single biggest weakness, in terms of intellectual comprehension, because it’s so different than striking footwork…at least it is to me). I look over to John questioningly. He watches me and then points and says “other foot”. That’s all I get from him, but it’s more than I expected and I make the adjustment with a bit more success (though I still feel like a breakdancer trying to learn how to Waltz when it comes to Judo).
After repping, once again, we finish with four 6min rounds of rolling. Derek and Mike both do pretty well during their rounds…
I end up getting triangled by a fellow blue belt named Clay (who, like everyone else I’ve met at RGA, ends up being a super nice guy)…here’s him setting it up on me in fact:
I thought I’d be able to sit through for the escape, but he does a great job of keeping my posture broken, and rather than try to gut it out for my ego’s sake, I tap and congratulate him.
The final round ends up being the highlight of the class though. I’m walking back on the mat from getting water and Karel walks up and says “wanna roll?” I eagerly accept his offer and we find our spot on the mat.
Before slapping hands I tell him to please don’t hesitate to let me know while we’re rolling if I do something wrong or if he has any pointers. I can’t tell if he says “I’ll do that” or “I don’t do that” as we slap hands, but either way I know I’m about to get taken to school!
Some people are kinesthetic learners (they learn by doing). Others are theoretic learners (they learn by first understanding the underlying mental concepts and then doing). My instructor, Derek, is the former; I am definitely the latter…which drives him crazy sometimes because I’ll be wanting to know the theory behind everything we do and he’ll be wanting me to just do it. As a result, my progression in BJJ has been slow (I was a 5 year white belt!), but what I’ve learned, I’ve been able to teach in greater detail as a result. The downside is that I find myself mentally struggling when I go against higher level opponents. I can’t really “flow” because I’m analyzing every thought and attempting to “not do the wrong thing.” Combine this with my lack of natural physical athleticism/strength and the result is me tapping…a lot.
[JM approaching Silver Fox]
[Silver Fox choking JM effortlessly]
[Silver Fox telling JM to keep his arms in]
[Silver Fox making JM his own personal toilet seat!]
But it’s also awesome rolling with a master like Karel because at no point does he use brute strength. He’s smooth as silk…silk that’s trying to choke me or break my arm, that is!
At one point when he has me in a straight inverted armbar, he asks, “is this your bad elbow?” (he recalled that I had surgery on it last Summer).
“Yes” I answer.
“Okay, I’ll choke you instead” he says…and promptly sinks in an inverted triangle! Haha!
There was one moment during our role where I did something and he said “Good job!”…but for the life of me, I have no idea what I did right. All I was thinking at the time was something like, “Okay, what is my natural inclination in such a situation?” Then whatever it is, I say to myself “Now do something different because whatever you think is going to work is most definitely NOT going to work on him!” 🙂
After 6mins of utterly schooling me (and me tapping about 4 or 5 times I think), the round is over and so is class.
While I got totally dominated once again, it was definitely much more helpful this time because it was due to pure technique rather brute strength and I was able to come away with a few pointers from Silver Fox after we rolled…including getting an answer to a question I’ve always had as to whether or not it’s better, when your opponent grabs the around your head to the back of your collar, for your head to be on the outside or the inside of his wrist (Answer: inside).
But after just 2 classes on the first day, my body is already starting to hold a grudge against me!
We hit the showers and then it’s back to the apartment to do laundry and grab a nap before evening class…
[Continue reading Part 4]
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by Disciple Dojo – JMSmith.org » My Renzo Gracie Academy trip 2012 (part 4) on Jul 6, 2012 at 8:50 pm
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by Disciple Dojo – JMSmith.org » My Renzo Gracie Academy trip 2012 (part 2) on Jul 12, 2012 at 6:13 pm