Arigatou gozaimasu!!

This last weekend was the IBJJF World Championships in Long Beach, California, just an hour away from my home.  I was able to go for the entire day on Saturday to watch.  It was amazing.  This is the third year in a row that I was able to attend, but the first year I actually understood what I was seeing.

This was definitely the year of the fancy guards.  Everyone was inverting and De La Riva-ing and 50/50-ing; spider guard was also getting pulled by lots of players.  While the details of those guards make NO sense to me, I did take something away from the players getting past those guards: they never quit.  Never.  They have confidence in their position and they continue to push.  They never quit pushing.  BJJ's constant metaphors for life never cease to amaze me.

My academy had some tough losses that were hard to see, but I hope everyone learns from them.  Oddly, the hardest loss came at the biggest moment -- my beloved Light-Feather black belt professor, Laercio Fernandez, made it to the gold medal match against Gui Mendes and then lost by decision.  Laercio is one of the most generous, loving, caring, friendly, and amazing people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting in my life.  He competes with such heart...to lose the gold like that was difficult, but I refuse to see it as a loss.  My professor won SILVER at WORLDS!!! It is an amazing accomplishment and I am honored to be his student.

On Monday, our academy got a big surprise.  Three black belts from Japan who had come to compete at Worlds ran a seminar in place of our regular class, at no cost.  The BJJ they do is so different and so unique...it is indescribable.  We learned spider guard sweeps, cross grip guard sweeps, and some amazing underhook butterfly guard submissions.

I've written a lot about how much my academy means to me.  Lately, for what I have been going through and dealing with in my life, there just are not words for how much I love them all.  They are my family.