The first roll of my forties..........

As one door closes on a chapter in one's life, another brand new, unadulterated, mistake free chapter opens and lies ahead; sitting here typing this today, I have sun shine on my back, awesome views all around and a house full of BJJ addicts like myself and it really feels like a new start in my life. All the troubles and calamaties that struck me back in 2008 are behind me and I have emerged a stronger person because of them and they will never be far from my mind, when other dark days come along to test me.

Gis are everywhere. On the washing lines. Poolside. On backs of chairs. Anywhere there is space there is a gi. Oh and rash guards as well. Gi's of all makes and designs are lying about getting dry in readiment for the next training session, all decked out in club and sponsor patches from all four corners of the globe, makes you feel that BJJ is truly global in its popularity and practice.

After a fun filled afternoon, with a trip to the beach and a surprise birthday cake singsong from everyone at the house, it was time to go to the evening class. My first class of BJJ as a forty year old. How would it differ from the day before as a sprightly 39 year old? They say age is just a number, a state of mind etc etc so I stepped onto the mats and enjoyed every single second of the session. For a true BJJ addict, what better place to be on the planet than in the heart of jiu jitsu, in Brazil for your fortieth birthday?

The class was packed with black belts and all colours in between and after the usual warm ups and techniques it was down to free training and onto my first roll in a new decade and who better to start with than the Gerbilmeister himself, Jeremy Arel, decked out in a eye catching canary yellow gi. The ten minutes passed way too fast as we had a good technical roll, with Jeremy sweeping me at will time and time again, this guy knows his sweeps!

Round 1 over and three more rounds followed with a number of black belts and I was toast for thrity minutes with these guys, but what a way to begin training at 40, with high level guys all night. Glad to say no injuries, just a sore hand from tapping out, but that's what it's all about, if you ain't tapping, you ain't learning.

The end of the class drew upon us and after the handshakes, all the guys wished me a happy birthday, so all that remains now, is to log off from here, have a shave and shower and hit the bars and restaurants to refuel and party with the rest of the guys from the house, so until next time folks, keep training hard and keep reading the Blog :)