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Josephine GroundFighter Linz

I miss BJJ

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I haven’t posted in ages, but I see neither have many others (for those reading in the far future, note: COVID-19). Many gyms around the world have closed temporarily, but I’m sure there are fight club arrangements going on somewhere. 

Just going to get to the point real quick. I’ve been back home in Toronto, Canada since mid-March. Over here, we’ve been in a state of emergency ever since. We’re supposed to ease restrictions mid-June if they don’t push it again. Yes, as the country slowly opens back up again (keyword: slowly), what have YOU learned over the last few months?

Because this was what I learned.

  1. BJJ Deprivation is a real thing. I’ve been dreaming a lot about going to any gym, putting my gi on, squatting on the balls of my feet and grabbing thick cotton. Alas, just a dream. I’ve even worn my gi at the dinner table one evening.
  2. Don’t suppress. Release in another way. Okay, so it’s obvious that I’m going insane. Raise your hand if you are, too. I’ve begun doing yoga, attending live HIIT workouts on Zoom, joining stretching classes… find another way to release your stress that you’d usually release with a chokehold.
  3. …It’s okay to not porrada everyday. 2020 has been… it is the year no one wanted but perhaps, something everyone needed. I feel like as the years passed, people became busier and busier. But enter 2020, they just threw down a large sign that said, “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE STOP FOR ONE MINUTE.” Society teaches us to ‘go hard’ in all aspects of our lives – at school, at work, do your best, or don’t even try at all, ‘go hard or go home’. Getting out of the mindset of having to porrada in every aspect of my life has been one of the most difficult things, but frankly, I think it is worth the effort discarding.
  4. You are not alone. It’s not like you’re the only one who’s held up at work for many evenings, preventing you from going to training. No, a majority of people are in the exact same boat. Unless you live in a BJJ family. Then maybe you can train together and actually dominate the gyms when they re-open.

So, I’ve been meaning to document my last few BJJGlobetrotter adventures – I remember my last day of any BJJ was March 10th in Stuttgart, Germany. Long story short, I had a job where I got to travel to create content. My first leg of travels started in Europe. As a result, I ended up dropping into numerous gyms, meeting so many new training partners and friends. Here’s a quick glimpse into my list:

Ireland

First stop, Ireland! I started there in January. But I had visited not too long prior, back in August 2019. I knew which ones I wanted to drop into (hint: read this).

Portugal

My next stop was Portugal, and I dropped into Five Elements JJ – Rato. What stood out to me was their inclusion of self-defense in their training sessions. It taught me that if I were ever equipped with a stick-like weapon in my hand, I would probably still lose any battle seeing that I don’t actually know how to strike properly.

UK

It’s been a dream of mine to roll in London. I know there’s a bunch of great schools, and thankfully I was staying quite close to London Fight Factory, so I got to try out a couple of classes there. I couldn’t travel with my gi, only borrowing/renting as I went along and praying that no-gi classes would fit my schedule.

The Netherlands

Team Agua in Rotterdam was super welcoming, and also the first place I’ve been where it was a shared gym space where they were laying and packing up mats every class. I had good conversations with a few people who were about to compete in their first tournaments. Speaking of which, I wonder if they ever got to do that, or if timing was too tight and COVID canceled everything.

Linz

So the paid Google ads are working really well for Groundfighter Linz. They pop up on top when you google “BJJ in Linz.” I don’t think it was hard to rank for top keywords, since there’s not too many gyms in the area. But it was great to see so many people come out and train!

Vienna

Of course, WOM (word of mouth) works. That’s how the BJJGlobetrotters community continues to thrive. The guys up top ^ told me to check out Science of Jiu-Jitsu. When I visited, it was their grand opening week!

Stuttgart

Falcões-Top-Team gi and no-gi was my final drop-in. They also share gym space like Team Agua in Rotterdam, but the mats are permanently put in place. Of course, little did I know that when we took these photos that this would be one of the last BJJ photos I’d be taking for the time being. Thank you for being so welcoming, everyone!

Anyways, til next time. I’m excited to write future post-COVID-19 BJJ blog reflections. How will our new normal look like?

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Rainy Rolls – Training report of BJJ in Ireland

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Hi to whoever’s reading! It’s been awhile. I just got back from a short stint of BJJ in Ireland. Can’t shut up about the weather.

There were many firsts on this trip!

1) It was the first time I’ve posted on the members Facebook group and received so many helpful recommendations and replies. I wasn’t able to drop in to every single gym recommended, but I was able to do one of them.
2) It was my first time officially (and successfully) mat-surfing!
3) It was the first time I reunited with someone whom I met prior thanks to a previous globetrotting-involved trip.
4) It was my first time dropping into gyms as a BLUE BELT! I finally got my blue belt after 2 years of BJJ this June, it feels really good !

I’ve been increasingly curious about training BJJ in Ireland because I’ve heard about the abundance of gyms in the country.

I was chatting with my friend Moritz, whom I met last year while dropping into gyms around the Balkans area (in this case, Sofia, Bulgaria). At the time, he moved to Ireland for college and had started training at East Coast Jiu Jitsu Academy. I continued throwing around the idea of visiting for about 7 months and then finally put forth a plan.

During this BJJ in Ireland trip, I visited:

Point Blank Submissions – Galway
I emailed about dropping in and the head coach, Tim, replied very quickly. By then, I had a feeling this would be a great gym (aside from all the glowing recommendations from the members Facebook group). The gym is located north east of the Galway city centre (about a half an hour bus ride for me, assuming the buses came on time). I was lucky enough to drop in twice for their advance classes. I was greeted with lots of friendly faces and an abundance of good rolls. We were working back takes that week- always good to brush up on the fundamentals.

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Jorge Santos Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – Dublin
I mat-surfed with Denis, one of the blue belts from JSBJJ. First of all, super hyped that it worked out. For those of you going to Dublin, Denis is your guy! The gym is located conveniently in the city centre and I got to attend one of their Thursday evening advanced classes and the rolls here were definitely challenging. We practiced some lapel techniques from half guard before heading straight into the rolls. Unfortunately, my short trip itinerary only allowed me to drop in for one class- I would’ve loved to train more.

East Coast Jiu Jitsu Academy – Dún Laoghaire
I ended up here for an open mat session on the Friday before Polaris and NAGA Ireland, meaning Ffion Davies wasn’t there (my heart …broke). There was a good handful of people at the gym though, and I was able to get some gi and no-gi practice in. People here seemed to love their berimbolos and lapel guards. I think I spent most of my time trying to untangle myself from pretzel-like positions. More importantly, I got to roll with Moritz again! I’ve never really considered the possibility of reuniting with people I’ve met while traveling- the notion seems more unlikely than likely, in my head at least.

If you’ve made it to the end of this post, give yourself a pat on the back. I don’t expect people to read my word vomit.

Tl;dr-I’m very grateful for the warm welcome I’ve received when training BJJ in Ireland and the opportunity to meet more people :-)

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London/Dublin/Toronto

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So another week of random travels passed and some more random adventure. This time a drunken conversation led me to book some last minute flights from Calgary to London and back to Toronto.

A quick overnight flight and straight into things in London, UK.

If you haven’t been to London then you need to get there. It was my home for several years so I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do; Train and eat Vietnamese food.

I was met by a non BJJ friend named Terence. A loud South African who has recently gotten the gym bug. So we immediately hit the weights. Probably a bad idea after a red eye flight from Canada.

We promptly went and had a drink.

Sunday rolled around and I met my brother over at a ridiculously Globetrotter friendly academy. New Wave Academy in Croydon is one of my favourite places to visit on a lazy Sunday. They run an open mat and the guys there are welcoming to all comers. I have personally learned a lot each time I am there and their higher level guys are more than happy to show you what they just used to tie you into a taut line hitch. A few shoutouts have to go to Paul Forrest, Rob Hughes and Danny Anderson. 3 top class blokes!

I met up with some friends who flew in from Dublin to hang out for a few days and we took in some of the sights. There are a million blogs and articles that have all the cool stuff that London offers but if you have to just do a small few things I would recommend you hit up South Bank market for some food. Have a stroll down along the river and get pissed in some fancy pubs. I would recommend The American bar at the Savoy if you want to feel like a rich person (followed by feeling extreme poverty after you pay the bill!) Also, get to Flatiron Steakhouse in Covent Garden. £11 for a steak and salad. Genuinely one of the best steaks in London. .

During the trip I then decided that I cant fly half way across the world to London and not stop off in Ireland. I jumped a quick flight to Dublin, cooked some steak on a bbq for the family and got to visit the home of Conor McGregor (also home of Ireland’s first BJJ black belt, John Kavanagh),Straight Blast Gym on the Naas road the following morning for a quick session with my brother, Ger. Some of you will meet him at the Iceland camp in a few weeks. He is still new to BJJ but, so far, has definitely benefitted more from the art than almost anyone I have ever met. We had some tough rolls and both of us left SBG a sweaty mess.

Have a look at what a Summer BBQ in Ireland entails!

So after a total of 18 hours, an almost lost passport and 2 flights, I made my way back to London to get in a second session with Checkmat Wimbledon and Carl Fisher’s merry bunch of Jiujitsu-ers.

Going back to the Wimbledon club was great. An awesome welcome and a chance to roll with some of the old crew was exactly what my travel weary brain needed. It just takes so little mental effort when you get to a club where you feel at home!

So a 7 day trip to the UK&Ireland was closed out with a LOT of alcohol while meeting up with friends over the weekend. My Girlfriend Sarah made it to London with her family for a couple of days on the Friday and we got to celebrate with some good food and drink. Sarah and I jumped on the plane back to Toronto and I managed to get in a couple more sessions at Checkmat Toronto with coach Chris Greenwood.

He is a legend and his guys really looked after me.

I am now back in Calgary and will be moving on from here in around 6 weeks. I look forward to seeing what there is to see in Alberta before hitting British Columbia. We will then be hopping a flight to Australia to continue our adventures. Anybody in AB,BC or AUS please feel free to hit me us as I will be heading your way and visiting as many academies along the way!

facebook.com/mckennagraeme or graememckenna11 on IG

That is all for now. Stay tuned for the upcoming Calgary adventures!

G