Perth – The best and worst start to the trip

First the Good

So we started out the trip with the drive that we have done so many times I have lost count…..The 1194 kilometer drive from Newman to Perth is rather uneventful apart from the odd kangaroo trying to become a hood ornament. The trip began with the 3am wake up and it mainly consisted of me driving the whole journey with Dee, Lilly and Kobe drifting in and out of consciousness while they watched movies and snacked. Both Lilly and Kobe take the long trip like champs and never complain or start the chant of “are we there yet??”

Moving over for this big load

The following day we made it to the Submission Factory (my parent club) for a session with Black belts James and Vic. It was good to get on the mats as we hadn’t rolled in a few days. It was a small class as Perth’s cold wet weather seemed to be keeping everyone away. It was a good fundamentals class with some takedowns and armbar setups. James has excellent standup (he is also the Muay Thai coach) and a lot of his takedown setups put you in a great striking position which was a good little change from the normal takedowns I know.

Small crew on Tuesday night with James and Vic – Submission Factory

Wednesday started off with a lot of shopping for the few things that we still needed to get for the trip like another bag! yeah that’s kind of important!! The day was closed out by another session at the Submission Factory this time with Stacey Wilson the head coach. The weather had been  better that day so the mats were quite full. Class consisted of a lot of standing guard passing concepts which was great as it’s something I have been really working on lately. I managed to sneak in 3 or 4 rolls with Stacey during sparring which was great as even though he is my coach I only get to to train with him 5 to 6 times a year.

Rolling with Stacey – Submission Factory

Dee and Tess – Submission Factory

So Thursday was a big day! It was Lilly’s 9th birthday!!!! Lilly and Dee went to watch Wonder Woman, while I was sent with Kobe to watch Cars 3 which I think I enjoyed more than he did hahaha. We then made a stop at Kings Park for a relaxing walk and sightseeing, before going back home and doing the Cake and singing Happy Birthday.

The view of the city from Kings Park – Perth

Kings Park – Perth

We jumped in the car and made the 1 hour drive to the other end of Perth. All for a good reason though and that was to train at Imperial Jiu-Jitsu with Cleve. This would be the kids first session of the trip, they had a absolute ball training with the Imperial Jiu-Jitsu kids and Cleve. After the kids session It was time for the Adults, last time I trained here I think there was 6 of us on the mat. This time around people just kept coming through the door, with mats packed we worked on a number of choke setups from the back. Followed by some “in the hole” sparring…

Adults Class – Imperial Jiu-Jitsu

Kids Class – Imperial Jiu-Jitsu

OK now time for the…..BAD

So one of the most important things to making this a successful trip it to be smart and manage injuries well to ensure we can continue training. So unfortunately the inevitable happened…I should of seen it coming as it was the old “one last roll” scenario that has claimed so many victims. While rolling after class with someone a fair bit heavier and stronger I ending up being mounted with a crossface. Feeling fairly safe in this position I started worming around looking for a way to escape the position we both moved awkwardly and I felt a sharp pain on my left ribs. When I placed my hand on my ribs one was out of place about 5mm higher than the rest. With a deep breath and pressure with my hand I was able to push it back down into place with a “clunk”…. I was devastated! I hadn’t even left the country yet. The next day I got into a sports Physio and have been initially diagnosed with a torn oblique muscle which is good news considering what it could’ve been. So hopefully it will be a couple of weeks until it’s healed but will find out more on Monday before we fly out. With any luck I will be able to train lightly next week in LA.

The next couple of days we took it fairly easy as I couldn’t do anything too strenuous and risk aggravating the tear further.

Back to the Good

Sunday came around and we dropped into Grappling Technics Leighs club to say hello before heading to the UWA Judo club for a ladies judo and bjj open mat. Arriving at UWA we were greeted by both Judo and BJJ female practitioners from a range of different clubs. It was great to watch Dee and Lilly having so much fun rolling everyone. Darcina from UWA Judo was excellent with Lilly and showed her some nice little takedowns as were all the ladies. It was funny watching Dee being so nervous at training with Judo practitioners as she has never done it before. After the first few throws her confidence came back and you couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. It was great to see ladies from two different arts event “though they are fundamentally the same” get together and share techniques and concepts!!

UWA Judo and BJJ Open Mat

Other than the little injury hiccup it has been a great start to the trip……….tomorrow the 21hrs of travel begins to get the Woodys to the USA, I can’t say i’m looking forward to that part…

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-Woody