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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.

bjj in ireland

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 :-)