Francisco Mansur Seminar

It was a real experience not to be missed. not only is he the highest ranking BJJ instructor (9th degree? man is it difficult to count stripes when it gets that high) and a walking legend, it teaches a great seminar. We got some great history from the source and some great technique from this spry 72 year old. SIDEWINDER!  Francisco obviously loves teaching, loves his students, and is quite a character. Thanks to Bruce for inviting us, we really felt privelaged to be a part of this. meeting and training with our great-great grandfather. Dax->Bruce->Marcelo->Francisco. some of us have now trained with them all, and we can see were some of what we have been training comes from.

Marcello Ferriera promotion Seminar 2011

Friday Highlight. Dax gets his black belt:

Saturday: good turnout, a whole lotta promotions goin on.....

From the Razzano Academy: Thomas Brown, Tom Blue, Claudio 4 stripe blue, Steve blue + 1 stripe, Butter, 2 stripe blue, Ryan 3 stripe blue, Mike purple, Dax Black, Shawn purple, Eric 3 stripe blue, Jessica. (and Bruce on far left, 4th stripe, Marcello on far right..)

A little present for Dax:

For more pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/octopusbjj/sets/72157626215377823/

Roger Gracie Seminar

Dax made it down to the Roger Gracie Seminar that Bruce Shepherd just brought to Evansville last Saturday: Roger Gracie Seminar at the Jiujitsu Academy in Evansville . Good stuff, as those of you who are coming to classes this week are finding out!

Marcelo Ferreira Promotion Seminar 2010

Another Promotion seminar has come and gone, and as you can see, the Razzano Academy had a good turnout. three of us were able to get down to Evansville for the Friday class with Marcelo, and the rest came down for the Saturday Seminar. Marcelo focused on the graduation ceremony movements for Brown belt graduation at his school. he broke down the series to digestable sections. Bruce said is plan is to some day replace the seminar format with the model Marcelo uses, one of a big graduation party where students do demonstrations for the group. the last couple of years, Marcelo's seminars have been butressed by cultural aspects of graduation taking it beyone just promotion. And as time passes, the returning students find themselves a part of an ever-growing family. great to see Marcelo and Lila again, as well as Bruce and his entire group! Here some pics of the seminar (from the Razzano Academy perspective)

A special congrats for Bret who got his black belt! After rolling with him, Dax can attest to his abilities. An unforgettable day for him, especially when we cleared the mat and he rolled with Bruce!  As one of our students watching Bruce roll with Brett is like watching Dax roll with a blue belt. It never ends, the learning and improvement.

Baaulio Estima Seminar

Braulio Estima? personable, charismatic, current adcc world champion, great teacher.

Bruce brought him to Evansville Jan 30th 2010 for a seminar, another great seminar with one of the greats of Brazilain Jiu Jitsu.

I have read that he has of of the greatest closed guard games around. As it turns out, that was indeed the focus of the seminar. Braulio started with some small tactics, things you normally do not call techniques, but elements that can be quickly shown, practiced and integrated into your game, things that can dramatically improve your game. Timing, position, leverage, control. Things to help hold your opponent down, to break down posture, maintain guard. Braulio made sure we understood conceptually the whys of what he had us drill, giving succinct explanations of the foundation of each element. He then built upon each element until we reached a position I will call an attack platform, where from this position, (you know, lapel pulled up under arm,around back of neck...well, come one in and it will be easier to show you!) Braulio demonstrated several submissions, having us rep each one for several minutes.

At one point, he stopped us to point out the video playing. (Bruce has video playing on the lcd panels in the room showing clips from Braulios fights). Braulio had us watch how he was controlling the opponent's posture, that he was using the same technique we were currently training. For Baulio, these techniques we were working on were "Gold". Enough said, point driven home.

At the end of the seminar, Braulio had us do effective rolling drill where he had students place themselves in the exact position we had used as a branching point for many of the techniques. Then had the student's opponent work to try and use the various attacks he showed us from that position. It was a good drill because it allowed the student to practice switching from one attack to the other, and gauge how it fits into their game, and also how much more it might need to be practiced to be effective. With three groups, one was always able to watch as others worked. Not only did we get to see Braulio roll, but many of us got to roll with him in this drill. He definitely favors picking opponents up, twisting them with his feet and dropping them directly into armbar!

The minutes after the seminar gave a view of his relaxed, playful personality. Most of the photos being taken had him goofing for the cameras, putting an exaggerated choke on the person next to him. Braulio ended by encouraging the group with some inspirational antecdotes from his past (he didn't train with a black belt until he was a brown belt, and at the start, only once a month because of living in a small town where there were none). Gettng an insight into the minds of these BJJ greats is always as meaningful, if not more, as the actual techniques shown. It is what makes them great.

Rest assured, the following weeks will find us here at the Razzano Academy working on what we learned at Braulio's seminar. I mean, what do you think we pay Dax for, if it isn't to take good notes at these seminars, and then to bring it all back and make it a part of our game?

royler gracie

You know the picture of Julio in our academy? Uncanny how much Royer looks like him.
It was like seeing a piece of history watching Royler come in to Bruces Academy, how everyone followed him across the room as he shook hands with every person in the room
How was the seminar? in a word, great. no real reason to go over all the techniques- we have done that in classes in the weeks after the seminar.
self defense section.
The flavor of the seminar was really defined by his personality, they stories he told. for example:

In responding to defense against a puncher when on ground, his response was that you should hug yourself to the person, and then he said he would wait for his brothers!
He also discussed attitude in competition; that the goal should be to win versus not losing...
In his academy, he always leaves thee door open- 2 reasons-so he can see who is coming, and to always have a ready exit.
As we worked on technique, he would pick out a student to work with, and have the student try the technique after it was shown. He would remind the student to go easy by using one simple word: "friend", which was very humorous, but got the point across.
As the student took the technique to submission, he would admonish the student to not tell anybody that Royler tapped.

To demonstrate his approach to competition, he discussed a fight his father had coming up with someone who publicly stated he couldn't be choked. the opponent used the news media to demonstrate: he had two people on each end of a rope, with the rope round his neck, and had them pull as hard as they could, unable to choke him.
during the match his father tried to choke his opponent but his hand cramped-he let it go, then returned to it later in the fight (how long?? 30 min??? I think that is what he said!) when the opponent was tired, his blood pumping- his father choked him unconscious. Royler added that the ref wouldn't call it because the opponent wouldn't tap... this was a demonstration of how to view attacks, with patience and timing.

On a more serious note, he discussed his last conversation with his father. Royler told his father he was going to move to the US and open up a school, but at that time, the economy was bad, and Royler wanted advice on whether to make the move. His father's response was that the economy wouldn't adversely affect him because in a bad economy, students still continue to train, and the cost of training isn't a deterrent; not like buying a car or a house..

Royler spent time on demonstrating the importance of transition- in one exercise he showed a fluid motion which moved from choke to sweep, then back to choke and so on. He stressed that the motion from one to other is what sets the following technique up. Sooner or later opponent gets behind.
Another nice concept came up when asked about when you can't pass guard and feel you have to. His answer: why do you have to? Make the person on bottom work , and wait to take advantage of any opening. He provided an amusing demonstration of how to stall so it looks like you are active. lots of motion but all for show. Since then in training, I often find myself waiting for the person on bottom to do something before trying to pass, and I have been amazed at how often it helps!
Training. Royler talked a bit about how to train new techniques. he said he trys out a new technique on white belts first, then moves on to blue, then to purple. if at any stage it strarts to break down, he goes back to the lower belt. It makes it clear what benefit a higher belt can get from working with a lower belt. It is a good place to practice techniques you don't feel as confident with.

Demian Maia

Thomas,Dax, Jeff at the Demian Maia Seminar. Not many pictures taken at this seminar, since it was just us, but it was a great seminar. Dax spent many classes integrating what we learned into his classes.

Jean Jacques Machado Seminar

It has been a while since we went to the Jean Jacques seminar, but anyone who has been coming to class in the last month knows that Dax has given us a heavy dose of what he brought back from the seminar.

I say "he" here because while "we" were at the seminar, what Dax brought back was also filtered by what he teaches and what he knows he has shown us. He would review what we got from the JJM seminar, but would add additional possibilities of attack that we are already familiar with.

The success of the seminar then is not just what was brought back from the seminar, but also how what you brought back is integrated into your game. Dax helped us do this by the extensive followup and integration with the rest of what he teaches.

Pedro Sauer Seminar followup

For those of you didn't make the Pedro Sauer Seminar.. what can I say? Man you missed a great seminar! Ask any of us who went for the low down. Better yet, come to classes for the next couple of weeks, and you will get an opportunity to learn and rep them, as we did in yesterday's beginning class. You can also check out the photos posted at Bruce's website.
The seminar was evenly split between listening to Pedro talk about all aspects of Jiu Jitsu and going over practical elements of BJJ in certain situations (or 'tricks' as Pedro liked to call them).
We got a mix of history, ranging from what black belts were like (back in the day), why many of them quit when a new, more technical breed came along (pride), to the hostility encountered when it was introduced to large Karate seminars (with the likes of Big Foot Wallace and Chuck Norris). Pedro, the first Brazilian to introduce Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, gave us many gems of knowledge and history. Talk about getting it from the source.
What is important to Pedro? Muscle memory- rep-ing technique for that reason - the importance of technique instead of muscle. (muscle is something you 'put in your back pocket' to use when you need it). Once you discover the proper execution, and the ease of good technique, you 'never go back'- Pedro, 50 years old, emphasized that he, like most of us at the seminar, are 'in it for life' and the use of proper technique can help us do that. Even after 35 years, he is still always searching for new and different techniques.
Another prominent concept was the student's 'not-to-do-list' which we all have. He suggests we put as many of those back in our 'to-do' list so we can continue to evaluate what it takes to make them work.
Pedro emphasized the importance of proper attitude when you walk in to train. Rather than coming to fight, you should be coming to play. In that mental framework, there isn't the pressure of winning or losing, there is something more positive, an approach which means having a smile on your face when you walk on the mat. You are there to have fun, which means you look forward to being there, that you don't have anything to prove. And he feels this is something that can be learned.
At his school, he as a 'tap-out day' once a week, where everyone is required to tap-out 5 times. he believes this allows everyone to work on how to escape out of the submissions the students use. and what do we all use? Our best moves. this means we all get exposed very quickly to each student's best moves and can quickly work out how to escape from those moves. (At least Pedro can!). It also helps keep your ego in check. He feels strongly that pride has a detrimital effect on the mat, and that one trains more effectively when your ego is "checked at the door". he did recognize that there are cases where a 'knucklehead' might need some 'reeducation' by one of the senior students!
The seminar was divided into 2 sections, gi and no-gi. and we got ample opportunity to roll no-gi at the end. We had multiple opportunities to roll with several brown belts and above (meaning Bruce) which is a treat!
I haven't really described the specific techniques we covered. Pedro asked the students to tell him where they were having problems, which they would do, and he would then show solutions to those problems. I am sure Dax will be using what we learned in the seminar as the material for many classes to come, so take advantage, and get in to the upcoming BJJ classes!
A special thanks has to go to Bruce for him bringing Pedro in as a part of his Black Belt series. Bruce plans on bringing in some other great people for BJJ seminers, and we will make sure we remind you of them. Next up? Jean Jacques Machado on August 22

Pedro Sauer Seminar Coming to Evansville May 2

Bruce Shepherd will be bringing in Pedro Sauer for a Gi and no Gi seminar. There is a good write-up on Pedro at the JiuJitsuAcademy blog. It includes a video of Pedro rolling with a black belt which is worth a watch. Any students of the Razzano Academy interested in the seminar should contact Dax ( immediately as there are limited spaces: as an affiliate school, we will also pay a member price). At this point about 10 have signed up from the Razzano Academy. Here is the basic info on the seminar.