So...I Got Promoted to Black Belt

Professor JD Shelley & Me

I will apologize in advance that this post will probably sound like I'm rambling.  I will do my best to keep it logical and organized but I can't help the fact that trying to summarize 7.5 years of training while keeping it reasonably concise is a lot to ask.

Last night I reached a big milestone in my life and Jiu-Jitsu career.  I was awarded my black belt by my Professor, Joseph D. Shelley (2nd American black belt under Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti.  I began training February 2008 as the age of 30.  I played soccer competitively from a young age up until my late 20's.  I began training Muay Thai at NDBJJ in 2006 and thought I would NEVER have anything to do with the "grappling stuff." Looked like too much work to be honest.  The truth was I was going through a difficult time in my life, a recent divorce, financial difficulties, among other things.  I didn't fully commit to Muay Thai because of I was out of shape and the commute was not ideal.

Fast forward to 2008.  I'm driving by the old gym and think to myself..."it's time to make a change for the sake of your own health."  I dropped in to simply observe and see what it was like to go through a routine beginner class.  I sent an email to JD Shelley to introduce myself and that I would be coming in to try a class.  Well I did...and I loved it.  It gave me something to focus on that I was missing in my life, a place to exercise, somewhere I could learn something, and work out the competitive side of my personality.

As a newbie it didn't take long for me to recognize the upper belts were vastly better and more knowledgeable than myself and other fellow white belts.  I found Jiu-Jitsu to be incredibly challenging and frustrating at the same time.  I just kept going back no matter how good or bad my training sessions went.  It didn't take long for me to "buddy up" with a couple other white belts and even a couple upper belts.  I did my best to get to know an upper belt that had been at the gym and with JD since the early 2000's.  I even met him back in 2006 during Muay Thai and he was nice enough not to punch my face off during my first class while he was prepping for an MMA fight.  He fought professional MMA and was an instructor at the gym.  I'm not going to lie the guy was a bit standoff-ish but I persisted to get to know him and ask lots of questions. That guy would go on to get his brown belt in 2008 and his black not too long after.  I was lucky enough to see him receive his 1st & 2nd degree black belt promotion last night.  His name is Shervin Alavi and he has become not only a good training partner but a good friend since then.

Keith Wilks another fellow white belt training partner has been a friend as well since then.  We have both shared promotions ever since the beginning through last night.  There have been countless other people that have come and gone for various reasons and I can't name them all. There is still a small group of us "old guys" now which even to me..."we aren't ALL the old guys" because Lord knows there were many before us.  That being said it has been an absolutely difficult, at times frustrating, and many times fun, exciting "journey" (I hate that word) to get here.

Keith Wilks, Shervin Alavi, & Me

I've endured my fair share of injuries along the way, set backs, personal & professional challenges, you name it.  I'm just a regular guy like most people reading this.  None of this would have been possible without the love and support of my family.  I was lucky enough to meet my wife right after I began training in 2008.  She has been there every step of the way.  She is the person that has had to put up with me when I've had a bad day at the gym, the office, etc.  Lindsey has always known this was important to me; she has been and will always be my #1 fan.  I can't say enough about that really. My parents and daughter without a doubt have also been crucial to support and help me get here even though they don't fully realize their roles.

Lindsey & Me

Lucky Dude!

Timeline
Feb 2008 - White belt
October 2009 - Blue belt
December 2011 - Purple belt
November 2013 - Brown belt
June 1, 2015 - Black belt

I've competed in my fair share of tournaments with successes and some failures.  I'm currently 38 and even when starting this at the age of 30, my ability to participate in tournaments is and has been limited at best.  I have a professional career, a family (3 children), among other obligations so keeping everything balanced has always been a challenge.  I'm very lucky I have had a good support system in my wife and family.  I have sacrificed an unbelievable amount of time with them to get here so soon.  For that I appreciate what they have been willing to sacrifice for me.

Note: I have competed at every level and have been lucky to record most of my matches.  I am missing some from last fall at Five Texas 2 I hope to upload.  If you are willing/interested to see any of my matches over the years you can find them on my YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Reefernut77/videos

I began teaching as soon as I received my blue belt and have continued on since then teaching kids and adults of all levels including private lessons.  I immediately discovered that teaching was a big passion right away.  It helped me understand things better and gave me a new outlet to communicate with people.  I enjoy seeing people learn and can also share something that I am passionate about.  If you have seen my blog then you have an idea how "into" Jiu-Jitsu that I am.  I study it and my life revolves around it.

Some people along the way have and continue to ask "how did you get promoted so fast?"  The answer is simple.  I kept coming to class and training.  It didn't stop there though.  I focused on improving certain aspects that were problematic for me in the gym while rolling or at competitions. I never took breaks either unless I was injured.  The longest break I took over 7.5 years was three months for a broken foot which I just recently have come back from.

I'm not a super star; I'm an average, athletic guy that simply remained focused and always continued to learn and evolve.  That is what is important to me in Jiu-Jitsu.  That is not the same for everyone as we all have varying levels of interest but that is the most simple way to answer that common question.

I also found along the way that as people would come and go, and some even came back...it was important to me to eventually earn my black belt but it was even more important to get it from MY coach, Joseph D. Shelley.  He has never been known to "hand out belts" and has incredibly high standards especially at the black belt level.  Lineage means a lot to me and he trained with some of the best.  You may not know my coach but if you do, you know that he is one of the toughest guys you will ever encounter on the mats.  He's a 2 tour Gulf War veteran (Marine) and a two-time Nogi Worlds Champion 2008 & 2010.  Even at his age (early 40's) you would never know it by the way he rolls on the mat and his dedication to the sport.  He is and will always be MY coach and he is also my friend.  I am grateful for the time, energy, and opportunities he has given me over the years.

I can't thank every single person that has helped me but I will list the most influential people that come to mind not previously mentioned above.

-All of my training partners
-Every guy that stepped on the mat against me in competition
-Robson Moura
-Reilly Bodycomb
-Sean Roberts
-Michelle Nicolini
-Caio Terra
-Mendes Bros
-Bruno & Rico Bastos
-Gustavo Dantas
-Manny Diaz

My lineage:  Rolls Gracie--->Romero "Jacare" Calvalcanti--->JD Shelley--->Me

Some of the the NDBJJ Black Belts in attendance last night

http://ndbjj.com/index.html

Sean Roberts Seminar Review

Our gym was fortunate enough to bring in Sean Roberts for a seminar Saturday, January 25th of this year. Unless you've been living under a rock Sean has become a very familiar name within the Jiu-Jitsu community after his participation in the brown belt kumite not that long ago.  At least for me, I didn't know of Sean until that tournament but he certainly caught my eye as an excellent competitor.

The Ralph Gracie black belt has been traveling all over the U.S. with his fiancee (also an excellent grappler) for seminars at a very reasonable rate...far less (a fraction) than average especially when you consider the fact that he's a high level competitor with a great deal of knowledge.  I have been to many seminars with world renowned grapplers and have always come away with the hope that if I can gain a little bit of knowledge, a concept or two then I'm doing pretty well.  One can't expect to implement every single detailed shown at most seminars into their game.

Sean showed up and was very pleasant to talk to.  He asked everyone to grab a partner and roll at about 50-60% intensity, play your game if you will.  He walked around and observed everyone periodically stopping and chatting with each person and asking what aspects of our game we want to improve, what difficulties we run across, etc.  Rather than focus on one particular area for the duration of the seminar Sean showed us many different parts of his own game that he felt would answer some of the questions people were asking him during the early, rolling portion.

Sean was up front and said we were more than welcome to take pictures and video of the techniques but did reserve the right on a couple to be shown towards the end.  As soon as he said that almost everyone grabbed their phones and were promptly recording.  It's not often that guest instructors allow this so it was definitely a bonus.

He started by showing an interesting sleeve grip break from the standing position that I had not seen before and was very effective.  He moved on to show a couple ways to pass the spider guard that were familiar with some new wrinkles added. They were simple and very effective.  Sean at one point stopped to say that he feels like his game isn't overly fancy but simple.  At about the mid-point of the seminar we switched from focusing on guard passing (top side) to the guard game.  Sean showed us one of his preferred methods for setting up the omoplata from open guard.  From here he showed a sneaky sweep when the opponent tries to hop over into side mount on top to escape the omoplata.  Sean also showed a couple ways to better maintain control from the shoulder lock position and finish with a couple different submissions (shoulder lock/armbar).

During the last two techniques Sean did ask that no one record them as he preferred to keep them a bit secretive.  I won't go into detail but will say that one was an excellent half guard sweep and the other was an escape from a nearly back mounted position.  Both were very good and I can understand wanting to keep some things off the web.

At the end of the seminar Sean opened up for a Q&A on pretty much anything.  He has a great sense of humor and was fun to talk to.  Sean then rolled with every single person that was interested in a 5-6 minute rounds. He methodically picked his way through all of us upper belts until he finished up with the last willing participant.  I think Sean took one, 5 minute break for a drink of water during this. It's no wonder his cardio was so good for those ridiculously long matches at the brown belt kumite.  Sean was able to repeatedly hit some of the techniques (particularly the secret sweep) over and over again on everyone. People were literally laughing because this sweep was seemingly unstoppable.  You could tell that he had perfected the timing and just hit it at will.  I can personally say that Sean doesn't dilly-dally with what he wants to do.  I know there were times where he gave up a little space for me to recover but when he wanted to pass he didn't waste anytime passing the guard if that is what he wanted to do.  His size definitely put me at a disadvantage combined with his skill set was fairly overwhelming.  It was a great roll and a good reminder that he is on a whole different level than most people.  I did have the pleasure of rolling with his fiancee, Elizabeth, who is about a 115lb purple belt.  She was super technical and had a great open guard game.  It's not often I get to roll with smaller, technical people as I'm usually one of the smallest guys at my own gym.

Overall this was probably the best seminar I have attended in terms of value.  The techniques Sean covered were not overly difficult for an experienced white belt all the way to black belt.  I spoke with almost everyone after the seminar and got the impression that everyone left with some knowledge and nothing but good things to say about Sean.

Metamoris 3 is right around the corner and will be featuring Sean Roberts vs Zak Maxwell on the PPV card.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeVdxeOxqoU&feature=share

The BJJ Kumite

Love him, hate him, or simply not have an opinion about Lloyd Irvin...regardless of how you feel about the guy there is one thing you really can't deny...he knows how to market his medal chasers. Lloyd  has put together something really interesting for the BJJ addicted to consume.  Episode 1 of the Internet reality show The BJJ Kumite was released over the weekend.  In my super busy schedule I was somewhat aware of this new show/event but didn't pay it much attention leading up to last night.  Here is the basic concept.  Lloyd has created a contest for grapplers far and wide to challenge his phenom brown belt Keenan Cornelius.  Don't know who Keenan is?  Well he has basically been crushing everyone in his path since purple belt and now at brown collecting titles all over at nearly every major competition.  It's downright ugly the carnage he leaves behind.

Seemingly hundreds of applicants jumped at the opportunity to go to DC and fight him for a $5000 winner take all prize.  Out of all the applicants the competitor list was whittled down to 11 brown belts representing different countries.  While many of them may have assumed they would simply get a go against Keenan, Lloyd decided to shake it up and create a Kumite tournament pitting them all against each other in both gi and nogi matches.  This tournament took place between December 10th-16th 2012.  There is no lose once and you're out.  Guys are literally getting the opportunity to go against multiple opponents in both formats.  It is submission only, no time limits, and there are even submission bonuses given out.  Something interesting worth noting is that the competitors aren't given the luxury of being able to watch the other matches so many of them have no idea of the tendency and style of other opponents.

Here is the trailer:

The show is done well and fills a void once left behind by The Ultimate Fighter reality show.  This is a show I once loved but since finding Jiu-Jitsu my enjoyment for that show waned; mostly due to the stale format, predictability, and unnecessary drama.  The BJJ Kumite Episode 1 provided a breath of fresh air for those that like to consume Jiu-Jitsu and you aren't forced to watch 30 minute matches.  The editing is done well so that you get glimpses of each match and the finishes.  Along with that you get a decent dose of drama but nothing that is forced.  I highly recommend watching the first episode and see what you think as there will be more episodes to follow.  Another cool thing is that Lloyd has been uploading entire matches via YouTube if you are so inclined to watch them.

Episode #1

Hopefully you made it this far and watched Episode 1 then you no doubt saw a sick calf slicer.  Sean Roberts was kind enough to post a video of that submission set up and some other options to get the slicer from various positions.