Au revoir Juliette!

Last night we said au revoir and bon voyage to our longest serving female student Juliette Brillett who is leaving the UK and heading out for new adventures Down Under. She is off to Paris first for Christmas, then coming back in the new year to tie up loose ends (and tie us all up at the gym) and then she is off to terrorise the Aussies :) 

It has been an absolute pleasure to teach Juliette and I'm very proud to be her first BJJ instructor. Watching her walk through the doors for the first time and then seeing her grow in skills and confidence, before unleashing her on the competition circuit is what makes it all worthwhile as an instructor. Her Shoulder of Justice is horrendous, which I'm sure my students will all agree, but the biggest thing I'm proud of is actually getting her to finally smile in a photo :)

God bless and bon voyage Juliette from everyone at Checkmat Wimbleon and London Fight Factory. We wish you nothing but happiness and great adventures! 

Oooossss

Last class @ Checkmat Wimbledon!

Training has now come to an end here at Checkmat Wimbledon, with the last class held last night, No Gi Open Mat style; both sessions this week had good turnouts considering many students have flown back home for the festive period.

 

Monday night class

The session ended up No Gi  and everyone rolled flat out for the last session of the year and a swift pint after training brought an end to a fantastic year for everyone at the club. Numbers continue to grow, as well as everyone's skill levels and we have enjoyed success on the competition circuit this year and I'm looking for more of the same next year and get a few more students out there in the middle, laying it all on the line for club and country.

 

Wednesday class

Enjoy the Christmas break, stuff yourselves with good food and drink and see you all back on January 2nd.

Oooossss!

Last class at LFF!

Took part in the last lunchtime class of 2016 at London Fight Factory yesterday, sharing the mats with a bunch of warriors, rolling the afternoon away in fine style; it's been a great year, which has seen me finally shake off my back injury (to be replaced with new ones) and get back into proper training the last two months.

It was the year I was promoted to black belt, something which still hasn't quite sunk in yet and am now looking forward to a new year filled with training, teaching, competing and taking the club on to bigger and better things.

Merry Christmas everyone!

So long to AP!

Yesterday, everyone at London Fight Factory turned up at the 2pm class to have one final training session with black belt Luis Gil, before he heads back to New York.  Luis has been here for four years, arriving as a purple belt and now leaves as a black belt with a suitcase full of trophies and memories.

Bon voyage and best of luck for the future!

 

Adios to Artur!!

On Wednesday night, Checkmat Wimbledon said adios to Artur Monteiro, who is moving back to Portugal later this month. 

You will be missed my friend, you brought energy, fun and great passion to the mats and we all wish you well in your new chapter in life :)

Side control drill #4

This is my favourite of the four drills I teach in class; when you get the hang of the movement and have a good partner underneath you can really move fast and fluid and there's scope for omoplata, rolling omoplata and much more.  

Try it out in class and add it to the other three drills, mix and match the four drills and watch your top game go through the roof!

MMA win for Team LFF!

Huge congrats to LFF team member Aaron Ramos, who fought at the weekend on the Fusion Fighting Championships 22 event against Rob Guppy; Aaron won the match in the second round with an arm triangle from mount, showcasing Jiu Jitsu to the masses.

IBJJF Paris Open

1st place No Gi

2nd place Gi

#WEARECHECKMAT

 

Cyborg seminar!

Massive thanks to Luiz for arranging a three day seminar with Cyborg at London Fight Factory last week; I was able to attend the Tuesday session last week and was treated to a guard passing masterclass.

To say Cyborg is a funny guy is an understatement, as he had all of us in stitches with funny jokes as well getting important pieces of information across to everyone, so that they will stick in the mind.  He talked of getting into your opponent's head and stealing their souls as you pass their guard and dominate with ease.

In addition to the fun on the mats, off the mats Luiz gave us all his rendition of the Macarena and what seminar wouldn't be complete without an impromptu dance off to Thriller, half way through the session?

At the end of the class, Cyborg gave a truly inspirational speech on always giving your 100% on the mats, even when you come up short and to be your own superhero; you could have heard a pin drop, as Cyborg spoke about his love and passion for Jiu Jitsu and it was an amazing experience to be sat with someone so inspiring and one who loves Jiu Jitsu with all his heart and soul. 

Once again, thanks to Luiz for making this happpen and continuing in bringing in the best of the best to LFF.

Ooooossss

Checkmat Wimbledon's Mannequin Challenge!

#mannequinchallenge

Stripes for the lads!

Had a great evening with the lads last night and gave out a handful of stripes to some worthy recipients.

Congrats to Sean, Dan, Jordan and Hayden :)

 

No easy sessions @ London Fight Factory!

As the title suggests, the 2pm class today at LFF was so tough, we hardly had any energy left to stand for the photograph; awesome session from Luiz today, as eberyone prepares for WAR at the Euros in 2017!

Ooossssssssss! 

 

Jiu Jitsu for everyone!

This video shows young Katy in action on the mats at Ringcross Community Centre, showing that Jiu Jitsu is for everyone of all abilities! 

These sessions are every Thursday 615-715pm and are FREE, for more info visit www.mmarap.co.uk

Eyes Of Lady Wimbledon tries out Jiu Jitsu!

Kathleen Gianturco, aka #EyesOfLadyWimbledon, aka @FitWimbledon has posted her write up from her training session here at Checkmat Wimbledon the other week. 

http://ladywimbledon.com/2016/11/get-fighting-fit-with-jiu-jitsu-in-wimbledon/ 

 

Training this week

Been another good week of training, with a busy class on Monday and a special guest attending the session as well; Kathleen Gianturco (@FitWimbledon) writes a fitness column for Lady Wimbledon Blog and I invited Kathleen down to the club and join in a session.  Needless to say, Kathleen enjoyed the session and will soon be posting on the Blog about her experience.

Side control drill # 2

Side control drill #1

A series of four cool drills that will help you retain your side control and keep your opponent on the defensive, giving you time to finish him off!

English Open - hammers and nails

Sometimes you're the hammer, sometimes the nail; sadly it wasn't Juliette's day at the English Open, who lost her first fight to an arm bar with five seconds left on the clock against a points fighter who knew how to play the stalling game without getting penalised.

  

In her second fight, Juliette lost on points in a real up and down match, a fight filled with sweeps, pass and submission attempts and could have gone either way.

  

In this game you never lose you always learn and I'm very proud of her for fighting once again, a week after the London Warriors Cup .  Ooosss!

MMARAP session @ Ringcross!

As always, another awesome session over at the Ringcross Community Centre last night; the numbers are slowly picking up and we had a new member joining in the fun. Katy is a wheelchair user and has a rare type of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), but that didn't stop her getting onto the mats and having a go.  Katy managed a few forward rolls and some modified shrimps and technical get ups and then went back into her chair and hit the pads, which she thoroughly enjoyed, as you can see from the short video clip. 

 

Katy (left) and Holly

Both Holly and Katy really enjoy the sessions and love hitting the pads and we even added the good old Glasgow Kiss for good measure and had a few rounds of boxing and I think it was safe to say I came off the worst, these ladies can hit hard!

The MMARAP classes are free and are running until December 15th, where we hope we can secure more funding to keep these classes running; they are open to young people who are non disabled, disabled and deaf, so please help spread the word about the classes and share this piece on social media.  Ooosssss!

Double media coverage!

Looks like I'll be needing an agent soon! Had media coverage in the Wimbledon Guardian for my double silver medal warriors at Checkmat Wimbledon and coverage in the Islington Gazette for the MMARAP classes, big shout out to Jonny Buffong for organising that one :)

 

Hard work pays off!

As the title suggests, hard work pays off, as the club came away with two silver medals for Ron and Juliette from the London Warriors Cup at the weekend just gone.  Looking forward to more competitions for everyone at the club in the future and even more hard work to come on the mats.   Ooossss!

 

London Warriors Cup

Another good day out for Checkmat Wimbledon, as students Ron and Juliette came away with a silver medal apiece at the London Warriors Cup in Harrow, which was organised by Neto Nunes.  The event was very oragnised and professional with some of the most qualified referees on the circuit and an army of runners and mat officials, which ensured the smooth running of the event.

In addition to my students, there was a large Checkmat presence from clubs all across the UK and massive respect to LFF student Rebeka, aka Ronda, who bagged three gold medals on the day, taking gold in Gi in her weight and Absolute and gold in No Gi Absolute.

A great day out for everyone and looking forward to the next competition which is the English Open this weekened at Dartford Judo Centre.

 

2pm class at LFF

Great class this afternoon, taken by Harman Bhamra as all the black belts are down in Poole, supporting Jackson Sousa and Terere. Harman went over some of the awesome information left by black belt Pedrinho, covering attacking from closed guard, with some really cool details and tips.

It was my first proper class at LFF as a black belt and as always, there are no easy sessions, everybody worked hard and pushed me even harder, thanks guys.  Getting back to fitness is always a long hard route but with good training partners and being aware of my limits at the moment, this was a great session, can't wait for next week!

Oooosss!

MMARAP class @ Ringcross!

Had a great night teaching a mix of non disabled, deaf and autistic warriors last night at the Ringcross Community Centre, just off the Caledonian Rd tube entrance. The hard work of Jonathan Buffong means that MMARAP can offer the classes for free and we especially welcome deaf and disabled young people to come down and join in the fun      

Classes run every Thursday 615-715pm, address is 60 Lough Rd, London N7 8RH.

Ten years of London Fight Factory!

2006 - 2016!!

Grading Day at London Fight Factory

An absolutely awesome Grading Day, with Luiz pulling out all the stops as always and giving some heartfelt speeches, before handing out belts to well deserving students, who in turn had to give speeches of their own.

In addition, both myself and fellow black belt Joao received our black belt certificates, Sharpey and Mosquito got one stripe on their belts and Luiz handed out the first place trophies from the London Open and gave one to Sharpey and the other to the Fightzone Gym. Another highlight of the day was catching up with my very good friend Mineiro, who helped the club out last time he was here, taking classes on Mineiro Monday; really looking forward to his next visit and welcoming him back to the club.

Needless to say, emotions were running high and many tears were shed from students and instructors alike; at the end of the promotions, Luiz got the black belts up one at a time and asked them to say a few words about Jiu Jitsu, which included Jackson Sousa and Buchecha.  I had another crack at giving a speech, as I was given my black belt certificate and I did a much better job of it this time, managing to speak coherently and pass on some words of wisdom to my fellow students.

In all, there was well over 120 students and fourteen black belts on the mats, if my memory serves me well and after the group photos, the newly promoted students were mercilessly whipped and the it was on to a local cafe bar, for beer and food, a perfect end to a perfect day.

Checkmat #1 @ the London Open!

Had a great weekend cheering on the Checkmat team, as they raced away and took first place in Gi and No Gi on the 15th and 16th of October; the day after the event, I was struck down with the deadly man flu and had laptop problems, which accounts for the lateness of posting up the pix.