Learning the basics and moving class.

In my first year of training Jiu Jitsu (traditional at the time) I was very pleased with the thorough approach my instructors, Ian and Gary, took to imparting their knowledge on to their students. Their method of teaching was that you need to learn to walk before you can run. Basics. The lessons we were taught down at the King Alfred Sports Hall, Burnham on Sea over a two hour lesson (yeah I know, 2 hours, virtually unheard of these days), nearly always featured some sort of takedown/throw (something I find lacking in most BJJ classes) and some kind of submission finish, but also usually featured some escapes, sweeps or survival techniques from basic positions. I've been to classes and seminars previously where some of the people in attendance don't even know basic mount or side control escapes and yet they were being taught sweeps from half guard and spider guard. Sometimes the basics are necessary. We all like to drill a bit of De La Riva guard or a disco sub occasionally to chuck into our rolling as a bit of a surprise but it's the bread and butter basics that we use every time we roll that need to be ingrained into our muscle memory to become second nature.

During my time down at the Burnham class I learned the fundamental ways to escape mount, back control or side control and how to block or survive kimura's, americana's and chokes. These are the lessons the newbie should be learning. I've rolled against guys who can throw down a mean Butterfly Guard but didn't have a single answer when his back was taken. Basic stuff.

Ian was always very good at drilling the fundamentals into us, so much so that when sparring at the end of lessons I nearly never felt I was in a position that I didn't have the knowledge to get out of. What did let me down however was my joke of a fitness level. I was so out of shape back then that sometimes I didn't have the strength left to try an escape. Usually when I left the class and was driving home my head would be spinning like crazy from the exertion I'd just been put through to the point where I actually felt like I was inebriated. How I made that 11 mile journey home safely every week I do not know.

So when Ian announced that he was going to be moving his class from Burnham to Weston Super Mare I was very happy. The new location Ian had selected for his Thursday night class was Sweat FA gym on Winterstoke Road in Weston (where it still is today) and this was great for me as it was only about two miles from my front door. I was sad to leave Burnham, a lot of the class stayed there training under Big Matt and I miss the friendships I'd gained from the club venue. But it is so much easier for me to train in my home town and I was staying with Ian, who has trained me since day one and whose instruction and class atmosphere I respect beyond any other. I still get to see some of the Burnham (now Wellington, as the rest of the class moved)  lot at the occasional event or competition. A load of us went up to see UFC 120 back in October 2010 which was a fantastic club night out.

Me and some of the guys at UFC 120.

The other great part about moving club with Ian was the fact that he was hanging up his Black Belt 4th Dan in Traditional Jiu Jitsu and teaching the new class wearing a Brown Belt as he decided to dedicate the new class to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which was the martial art I originally wanted to do in the first place. Everything worked out well. We had a swank brand new gym to train in with mats permanently down. No more laying out mats at the beginning of class and packing them away at the end (always a ball ache). And we got good numbers for attendance most of the time, with loads of new faces mixed with a couple of the old bunch from Burnham. The camaraderie in the class is as good as it ever was.

To be cont. \m/