Two years a black belt...

Two years ago this length of cotton was wrapped around my waist by Luiz Ribeiro, in front of Leo Vieira and over 100 students, one of the best days of my life...it seems like yesterday this happened and after the dust had settled, I asked myself, is this the time I get all my super powers and become an unsubmittable wrecking machine?

Apparently not...no major shifting of tectonic plates occurred after the belt was wrapped around me, no swelling of the oceans...the next day I was the same person as the day before, albeit with a newly coloured belt.

In the last two years, I have learned so much more about Jiu Jitsu, both as a teacher and student; I have gone back to basics and stripped them down and rebuilt them and pass this knowledge on to my students and am always telling them how I wish I had a black belt teaching me when I was a white almost twenty years ago.

Jiu Jitsu never gets boring and that's what keeps me motivated to keep on training, even when I can't get my socks on every morning and reaching for the painkillers...my students are a never ending source of support and encouragement as well as my coach Luiz and all his students and fellow instructors.

I look forward to the years ahead and hitting the mats when I hit 50....

Oooos!