Mini Odyssey Week 3 Part 2 - Training At The Crash HQ!

Wrapping up the Mini Odyssey with finally being able to train in Meridian, Idaho!!

Welcome to The Crash!

As we left off I was feeling like cutting my ears off from the pain and discomfort of having what evolved into a double ear infection, things got better. Let's rewind back to my first time showing up at Ultimate Karate & Jiu Jitsu in Meridian, Idaho, home of Prof. Keith 'The Rhino' Owen. It was Tuesday, I had already missed Monday dealing with the initial ear infection and still felt horrible but well enough to show up and watch class. I was kind of excited to show up even though I was unable to train because for one Mr. Keith is great man and an amazing teacher so anytime being in his presence is always time well spent, but also I wanted to actually be in the place I've seen pictures and videos of. That goes really for all the places I visited this trip, it's really an exciting feeling to walk through the doors to a gym you've seen so many photos of so you can finally feel that feeling of training there for yourself. It's like immersing yourself in a good book where you feel like you're in that imaginary world, once you've trained at those places you can see training photos and videos and imagine actually being there. Does anyone else get that visual feeling looking at places you been to? Or am I just crazy? Both?

Anyways, walking through those doors felt like walking into your aunts and uncles house, you're visiting family and that place is now your home until you leave. It was great meeting everyone there that I'd already been talking to online, having tagged Mr. Keith on the updates of my ear infection much of the Crash Family were following. I had shown up early before the adult class started, the kids class in about halfway through and while talking with people around the front desk I was spotted from across the gym by Mr. Keith, he immediately came over to great me and see how I was doing. As I said he's a great man, all through the week he looked out for me, making sure that I knew that if I ever needed anything he would be there and giving drives whenever he could. He showed genuine care and concern over my being sick, I was very much made to feel like family, thank you Sir, you're awesome!

Good times having a private class with Prof. Keith Owen

The class was fun to watch, to see everyone working on the techniques shown and see it from an outside perspective of everyone doing their reps or troubleshooting the shown technique rather than being in there and only concerning myself and my partner, like seeing the entire battle field instead of the one small battle. The class was about half a dozen people or so of various skill levels and sizes, no longer was I in the 'Hall of Giants' but still, given Mr. Keith's ability to nail the small details I knew if I got on the mats I'd have my hands full. Everyone was nice, with most people taking the chance to introduce themselves and briefly chat with me before class or quickly between drills as they grabbed a drink of water. It helped feel even more welcome and wished I could train, but as the class went on I was glad I wasn't on the mats, which for people that know me that speaks volumes for how I felt. I didn't stay the entire time, leaving early during their rolling session, because I was feeling worse as the evening went on, how little did I know how bad I was about to get.

As told in the previous post I got more sick, with both ears being swollen now, and Wednesday started out as the worst day ever, the pain was so incredibly bad I couldn't eat and hadn't gotten any sleep that night. Back to the hospital I went. I even became worried and depressed that the entire week would be lost. With new medication, and some awesome painkillers, the day made a drastic turn for the better and I gained a new outlook and hope of training. I was starting to feel better so I made it to class to watch again, only this time I was invited to come sit on the mats and watch amongst the class. I can't tell you how good that feels, being on the mats and watching class felt like their was nothing wrong with me, it was a statement, 'you're one of us, you deserve to be on the mats' and almost made me forget the pain and problems with the hearing loss. Showing up to class, if only to watch definitely has healing powers as well as learning benefits. For one you don't go crazy or get depressed just sitting at home, or in my case a hotel room, with nothing to do. Being there watching class keeps the mind sharp, and really that the most important weapon, a sharp mind. So for all those injured and sitting out, drop by and watch, it's way better than whatever is on TV. Unless you're sick and need rest, in which case keep everyone else healthy and stay home and get your jiu-jitsu fix online. Showing up definitely made me feel better, despite not being able to train, and having feeling better it renewed the determination to be able to train before leaving. It would all rest on how I would felt in the morning.

The night's sleep proved to be effective, Thursday I woke up feeling well enough to try training, but no rolling, and with that happy feeling, I decided to go on an adventure. To this point all my adventures in Meridian/Boise, with the exception of the drugged up Dairy Queen trip and making it the gym for the first time, were not happy adventures. They consisted of finding the hospital, finding the pharmacy, going on a hunt in the middle of the night for over the counter medication in hopes it work, those aren't fun adventures and I wanted to have at least one before leaving. Before class that night I would need to go shopping and pick up some headgear to protect my ears. Now I could have called Mr. Keith and asked for a ride to the sports store and be done easy as that, but using the transit system and getting around town on my own is something I pride myself on being able to do, it's like each city is a maze and I gladly accept the challenge. Plus, that's the adventure, so unless he was going let me drive, which would be bad for all of us, getting a ride would ruin the fun. So I ventured out to Boise to the sports store, made my way around town had my adventure of navigating and made it back in time to rest up before attending that nights class. Oh, and I was able to eat again finally so I had an awesome giant burger at the 50's café next to the hotel, best day so far already!

I didn't have a pic of the awesome burger so I decided to post this charming picture my new headgear again, you're welcome. 

The afternoon nap, and probably the meds, had me moving slower than usual. I just made in the door as class was starting, I quickly walk through the doors, aiming towards the change rooms when I pass the mats, and there is the class, well over a dozen of them, most of them way bigger than the previous class I had watched, all in no-gi attire. Well tonight was going to be interesting! I had the pleasure of working with the biggest guy there, he was strong and moved with a purpose, I was very glad I wouldn't be rolling that night. It was so fun to get back into class and train and get reps in. All truth told, missing class wouldn't bug me as much if this were all to happen while at home. For instance, I've been out of training all this week because I'm still dealing with the last bit of this ear infection and although I'm feeling down not being able to train it's not bugging me as much as I was on the road. The whole purpose of the trip was to train and with that gone the trip seemed wasted, at least at home there's always the feeling of 'well there's always tomorrow'. The class went well with the headgear, I didn't experience too much discomfort and apart from the end of rolling I was able to partake in the whole class. With being sick and no-gi not being my strong suit, the combination was a recipe for injury so I was more than happy to watch the class roll from sidelines. Having been able to attend the class and still feel ok by the end of it made me feel good about training the rest of the week and maybe even the possibility to roll.

Watching class and learning lots!

Friday I had the pleasure of having a private class with 'The Rhino'. It was a great chance to hammer down some pointers for closing some gaps in my game. As really everyone should I'm always reflecting on how I get caught and where my weak points are, which let's face it, there are many at this early point in my jiu-jitsu life, after all I'm still only a blue belt. It was an hour well spent, so many details shown to me that really changed my way of looking at open guard and defending being passed, the core of the game really. After the private class I was really looking forward to rolling and being able to try some of the techniques and concepts, and Saturday was an open mat class so I would have ample chance for just that. Or so I thought. I showed up to the open mat class, which had a good turn out, looking forward to finally roll. I didn't know how long I'd be able to hold out but I was looking to roll light and work on some of the techniques from the private class, the senior students had other plans. I don't know if they were just in a higher gear than me that day or what but I felt like I was being danced around and played with the entire time I rolled. During the private class I was told working from the bottom is like practicing to be a ball, well this ball got flattened. As I was rolling Mr. Keith called out to me "how's it going?" to which I replied "I'm trying those things you showed me but they're not working!" "Just keep at it!" and I did, with little success. But that's ok, it's all part of the learning process. I don't know if I was in a more weakened state than I thought but even just trying to hip escape while training seemed like a lot more work. I was burnt out after just 3 rolls and sat out the rest of the time. The higher elevation of Idaho did play a factor into it, being over 2000 ft. higher up than usual does have an effect on your body. I was out of breath way easier and it took a long time to get it back, I felt weak. After that open mat session I now know why the athletes train at high elevations, well I knew before but now I know first hand. All and all it was a good last class, I was happy to get some rolling in before leaving.

Last class of  my trip, great bunch of people right there!

And there you have it, an overall great trip to three awesome places. I look forward to returning to them all again some day and in mean the time I really look forward to getting back on the mats at home to work on the all the new knowledge I gained while traveling. To everyone who I met along the way, thank you for the experiences, Oss! 

Mini Odyssey Week 3 Part 1 - The Ear Infection!

What a week to end off the Mini Odyssey!

Right from the start this week was an adventure, and not necessarily always a good one. It started with the early morning taxi ride to the Sea-Tac airport where I'm convinced the driver was nodding off as he was driving, swirving, slowing down and speeding up, hitting the rumble strips over and over, making me a little worried I was going to miss my plane if you know what I mean. Luckily I made it to Boise, Idaho, and from the airport to my hotel in Meridian, without incident.

Just Arrived in Idaho!

As I get settled into my room, picking up groceries and checking out the surrounding area, I noticed two things pretty quick about Meridian, Idaho. One, people sure do like landscaping here. It looks like a new town popped up in the middle of nowhere, nothing but rock and mountains surround the horizon from any view, and the whole place is perfectly landscaped, like a vacation resort in the middle of a desert. Each lawn perfectly green and irrigated, or a nicely designed rock garden.
The second thing, it's dam hot here! Every day was like a dry, sweltering 100°F+, or 40°C, day. I don't know how people were walking about in full pants and jackets in this weather, I was dying in just my t-shirt and shorts, what can I say, I don't like the heat, after all I'm Canadian!
So after getting settled into the new place and calling it a night I wake up at 3am with a searing pain in my left ear. I can't hear from it because it's swollen shut. I've never had a problem like this before, I've had ear aches and an ear infection before but nothing like this. Not wanting to jump the gun and go straight to the hostipal for an unneeded cause and end up with a bunch of unecessary medical bills but unable to get back to sleep due to the pain I decided to go to the 24/7 grocery store across the street and get some over the counter ear drops. I didn't get too much sleep that night and finally in the afternoon Monday, as the pain and swelling continued to get worse, I decided I needed more than just over the counter medicine, I needed to go to the hostipal and get some antibiotics.

The worst thing about going to a hostipal while on vacation is paperwork. Even if you have coverage and insurance there's still a lot of paperwork to do in order to use their services and unfortunately since I didn't have my medical card with me I had extra paperwork to do. That aside the services were pretty quick and painless to use, I was seen quick and given a prescription easy enough, and even getting the medicine wasn't too bad or expensive. I'm still dealing with the paperwork for my visits to the hostipal but fortunately I'm covered from work and shouldn't have to pay anything. This is a pretty big point I've been researching for the full Odyssey, travel and medical insurance. It's important even if you end up not needing it because you never know and it's better to be safe than sorry. Luckily, being in the military, they cover me for medical needs, both when in service and when on leave. When I am no longer in the military before any traveling, insurance will be at the top of the list of things to acquire. For all those traveling, military or not, always make sure you have your medical card or all necessary insurance information with you! As I found out the hostipal needs much more than just your insurance number for billing and records, they need the full proper name of your insurance, it's billing address and contact information as well so having that handy will help cut down paperwork and/or having to pay upfront and hoping to be reimbursed later. Also, contact numbers. Having contact numbers for your insurance company in order to get ahold of them easy to arrange paperwork to be completed in an orderly fashion helps greatly. I was lucky to have friends online to point me in the right direction, and Google, to find the proper 1-800 emergency number for traveling members that helped get the paperwork for the visits rolling and not leaving me fronting the bills.
So the first day of visiting Idaho and training at my our head black belt, Prof. Keith Owen's home club, Ultimate Karate and BJJ was a bust, spent mostly in a hostipal and pharmacy and then finally catching up on lost sleep. What a hell of an adventure in the first 24 hrs, and a terrible start to the week. It didn't get much better.

Tuesday I spent resting, hoping the infection would die down enough to attend class, sadly it did not but I was able enough to get out and watch class that night, more on that later. That night my right ear started to act up and by morning both ears were swollen up, losing probably 80% of my hearing while being in extreme pain. I was unable to sleep or eat due to the swelling on my jaws I couldn't chew, so Wednesday I was off again to the hostipal. My ear infection at this point had gotten so bad that my ears were leaking some sort of discharge and I was fearing permanent damage. No longer was I wondering about being able to make it to training, that I had given up on. Now I was worrying about making it home. Would this heal over in time for my flight? How would I be able to fly home like this? The second visit took a bit longer to deal with mostly because they were busier with people than last time but still saw me quick enough. There was a more thorough examination but the doctor couldn't make out how both ears were now flaring up so bad. It was an external infection, I was told, more commonly known as swimmers ear, but I hadn't been swimming at all this whole time. To today I'm still dealing with this problem, albeit at a much lesser extent, and all I can guess is with all the training in Seattle topped off with the flight over the mountains to Idaho my ears just had enough. I've never had this problem before ever or any other serious ear problems other than some mild cauliflower ear, so it's pretty discerning. So I get a new prescription, not for more or stronger antibiotics but for painkillers to deal with the discomfort. I asked the doctor about flying he didn't seem too worried and said to just dope myself up from the pain. With nothing else to do but hope they'll get better before I fly it was time to rest and hope the painkillers work. They worked alright. Knocked me out pretty good and I was done for the day, missing even being able to watch another class, but not before having a very fun walk down the street and back for ice cream.

(You can insert a picture here of a very unhappy and disgruntled me sitting in a hostipal room, I would have taken one but I was in no mood for pictures at this point)

Thursday comes around and I'm feeling much better, the pressure had gone down I could now chew and eat a full meal without much problems, the hearing loss was still there but not the pain. At it's worst I was pretty much surviving on coconut water, the pressure and pain was so bad that I couldn't clench my teeth, my jaws were so bad I could fit my tongue in the space left between my teeth, eating was pretty much out of the question unless it was soft food. But now I could eat and it felt good. The past two nights I was fighting off a fever in the evening but today I felt like the antibiotics were kicking in and the painkillers were definitely doing their job. I felt good enough to go to class, no rolling but at least I could go and get some reps in, it felt good to be on the mats again but that's for the next post.

The rest of the week I was in a wierd state, unable to hear much but not in pain so long as I kept myself doped up. I finished off the week with the pressure coming down from my ears enough so that I could eat and feel safe enough to fly home. As per advice given to me I tried using chewing gum to help lessen any ear problems while flying as the air pressure changed, but all it seemed to do was make my jaws hurt from chewing too much. I made it home either way, and happily no ear drums exploded on the way. While this whole event was definitely a downer for my trip it actually helped out a lot for planning my full tour. With this hiccup I was able to experience the full gambit of traveling. I spent time graciously accepting the hostipality of friends letting me couch surf, I spent time meeting and making all sorts of friends on the road and learning to get around on my own in a new city, I experienced with measured success, eating relatively healthy while on the road and a limited budget and now I had experienced being sick and dealing with medical insurance and hostipals while traveling. Really other than dealing with law services I had a full view of what to expect and plan for while traveling and I was able to see what areas need more research, but more on that in another future post. So really as much as this whole ordeal sucked it actually helped out in the long run, not that knowing this made it any more fun. So although this post is a bit of a downer, it does illustrate some important points, and trust me, part 2 gets way better!

Shopping for headgear to protect my ears and catch the last few classes of the week, read about that in part 2! 

Mini Odyssey Week 2 - Kent WA

Week two down, and a bit too fast if you asked me!

Home of James "300" Foster and a lot of big guys. Should really be called "The Hall of Giants"

For those who don't know I spent the week training at Foster BJJ in Kent, WA. It's just outside of Seattle, not that you'd tell the difference, in my opinion I just spent a week in the industrial neighborhood of Seattle, really. But then again all I did was train and didn't get a chance to see much around me. It brings up a point, or rather a topic for discussion, should room be made to venture out and see the area you're staying in? Even if it may cut training down by half? To do the tourist thing or put yourself in your own training camp state of mind, that is really the question. I've been to Seattle before and I've gone out and seen a lot of things, took all sorts of pics and everything. This time around I only got a few pics and they're only of training. I had a cool view of the city and the Space Needle coming in on the bus that in retrospect I should have taken a picture of for this blog, to be better able to share with you what I do and see. On that same note it's probably a good thing I didn't take a selfie at the border customs, as fun as it would have been it might not have gone over well.
On the topic of customs, it actually wasn't too bad getting through. It took a little time, only because I ended up in the line of all the people who weren't from Canada or US and they had to do extra paper work. Other than losing my hat I picked up from Sechelt the only eventful thing was convincing the customs officer that this was the face of a member of the Canadian Navy.

Took this for my brother as I've been wearing his bands shirt as my travel shirt (Phantom, check them out!) This is what I wore through the US customs.

After a long day of traveling and getting supplies, I was finally settled in and ready to start the week of training up to 3 classes (4.5 hours) a day with all the awesome people at Foster BJJ. Again I found myself in the excited yet tired conumdrum. I double checked the bus schedule, of the 2 trips each way a day I'd only be able to catch it once a day, as well as the walking route (a 45 min walk). I always try to be ready and early, giving extra time for traveling routes, it's a trait I had even before the military burned it into my brain. Once I had everything ready I decided to finish and upload the blog post I had been writing with whatever free time I had all day while traveling. Being that I have an older android based tablet, there's no word program, so my entire post was compiled on a series on 'notes' basically one paragraph at a time. I began cutting and pasting the notes into the blog post and suddenly everything went black, the tablet had glitched, it restarted, with absolutely nothing left where the notes were. Having a long day I decided instead of breaking everything in sight, like I wanted to, I would just turn it off and call it a night. Luckily, whe I was in better spirits, I found the blog post had been saved in drafts. Unfortunately, I had already used up a lot of time re-writing it, so the post published last week was actually a mix of the two drafts. Now that alone was time cosuming and tiring, but as my tablet is old and my phone new, I actually ended up using my phone to drop in the pics and do a double check of everything, bouncing back to the tablet to re-write any bigger mistakes or changes, before publishing, it took a long time, I hope you all enjoyed it. I will add the dame is happening with this post as well..getting a newer tablet will be in the list of priorities next year.

At my first class I didn't know what to expect for my first class at Professor, or Coach as his students call him, Foster's gym. I'd only seen pics of it and of the people who trained there. I was excited to see what sort of talent would be on the mats, at a place that has a dozen and half black belts training there. I knew from the pics there were a lot of big guys who trained there but how would they roll? Coach Foster himself rolls like a small guy and unless he wants you feel his strength and weight you almost forget you rolling with a giant. This is more from stories I'd heard from other people, I've only rolled with him once and it was a while back. I was hoping to roll with him again but, just my luck, he was off for the week, next time then. The noon time classes weren't as big as I thought it might be, only half a dozen people, for some reason I expected the class average to be 20 or more, I don't know why I thought that really, but no matter the number the quality on the mats was always top notch. I knew I had my work cut out for me when it came to rolling with the guys and lets sum it up this way, I learnt a lot, and got a lot of time to work my bottom game and defence against a lot of 'A' game techniques.

One of the smaller noon time classes. 

After class I was given a ride back to the hotel by another student, I didn't have to ask it, and I never did all week, most times I was offered a ride before even leaving the club, and always I was very grateful for the hospitality. It never ceases to amaze me how much the jiu-jitsu community looks after one another. Everytime I go somewhere there's always someone who makes you to feel at home and helps you out in anyway he, or she, can. I was thinking about this point the other day as I was reading the Christian Graugart's BJJ Globetrotter book, near the end he addresses this welcoming attitude in the community and has a great theory about it. He states that within minutes of meeting one another you're going to have each other's asses in your face, that's part of the game, you're used to that close interaction with other jiu-jitsu members so that initial ice breaker is really non-existant. I'd like to add that if you meet someone at a party and they also practice jiu-jitsu you instantly have a topic to talk about for the entire time, if they don't practice martial arts there's usually awkward "so, what DO you do then?" as you try to find common ground. Jiu-jitsu is the common ground ice breaker in itself.
I get back to the hotel and begin my routine after class: shower, stretch, dehydrate and refuel. I think that routine is what kept me going all week, looking after myself and forcing myself to make sure I had properly stretched and rehydrated. I'm usually really good on keeping hydrated, drinking 3-5 liters of water a day as it is, but with this higher than normal active schedule I was constantly drinking water, as much as 7 liters a day. And stretching was a must, I couldn't let anything get cramped up and made sure to look into any kinks soreness to make sure I was doing ok. I know there are a lot of people out there who can make it by on half the stretching, or less, that I do, and that's fine for them, for me, I find I get knotted up pretty easy so stretching, both before and after class, is more important in my routine. Knowing your body and looking after it is key, especially on the road. I brought along a stretching belt and some sort of massaging ball I forget the name of, it's in the shape of two lacrosse balls put together, works great for getting knots out and really working my hips and lower back. Together they take very little room and were key for keeping in proper condition throughout the week.
After my rejuvenation routine I would make notes about each class, I spoke about this before the importance of writing down everything, this week with the busy schedule, and sheer amount of awesomeness being thrown my way, I didn't always have time to write everything down in time, but always, after each class, I would make notes on the name or brief description of each technique covered so that I could go back and write a more in depth note later. I find this helps a lot, it's like making point notes for public speaking, for those who have ever done any public speaking or presentation courses, to help remember it and go over it more in depth. And I really do find it helps dissect the technique and learn it better.
After a few hours of down time, usually spent entirely doing my routine and note taking, it would be time for the evening classes. It was more of same high quality instruction with high quality students. Most were extremely athletic, some were very calm rolling while others felt like they were showing the new guy their best game. I kept to my light game of defence, working on some techniques shown during class that I figured with more training will definitely help out my game. After a class of high intensity rolling I was thinking about all the places I've been to and the different intensities of rolling. This something that always comes up and I've had this discussion several times with various people, I was even asked at one point about where I thought club's rolling was compared to other clubs. I could only really say "It's been pretty much what I expected, high quality guys with some really aggressive games" Comparing clubs is always an awkward conversation because everyone rolls differently, not just within each club but also with other people from other clubs. Some places are more competition based, some more self-defence, some more just for fun. Each place attracts different people too. At my club I am not a small person, but at Foster's I definitely felt small. Comparing in all in perspective but i have made some obseravtions.  I've rolled with my share of white belts and across the board 99% of them always have that 'still learning to roll without making it a deathmatch but ultimately it's still a deathmatch' technique to them. I've ran into a few that were calm and chill, and that triggers the spidey-sense "What experience do they have behind this white belt?" I always wonder that no matter the colour of the belt with but at least when they go 'all white belt spazzy' you pretty much know what to expect. A lot of over exertion. I rolled with a few this week that were cool and calm, after rolling with one a blue belt told me "Watch out for that guy, he doesn't roll like a white belt" to which I responded "Indeed, always fear the white belt with the calm game for what tricks he's hiding" We both laughed, but I maintain it's true.
Blue belts I've found can be completely different across the board, from someone still using a lot of strength but with better fundamentals to someone who's got a smooth game plan down and rolls more like a senior belt. Some are very athletic and roll like it's a gold medal match while others keep it light and chill all the time. I always try to keep within my calm and fun game plan, after all there's no sense in turning it up at school you're visiting, you're more likely to get hurt or maybe even flare up some ego issues. I have no ego on the mats, I see every game as an opportunity to learn and I have no problem tapping. And I did a lot of tapping this past week. Actually, when I'm rolling and being crushed, just working on my defence, and I hear and see them really working it, breathing hard and sweating away, to get their dominant position or submission, I take it as a compliment, having made them work that hard.  Blue belts I would say are the most different from one school to another.
As for higher belts I've found they're usually very smooth and sometimes play with me, turning up the game when ever they want but generally keeping it light. I have nothing to gain trying to go hard on a higher belt in a club I'm visiting, you earn more respect by respect each others game. In fact while rolling with some higher belts this past week I noticed there was a certain sweep that kept happening and I had no defence for it. After rolling with a black belt I asked him about it, in about 2 minutes he just reshaped my guard game. Had I had a more aggressive game I might have missed that piece of information. Keep it playful, you learn more.

After a No gi class with Big Rick (Green Later shirt) guy's a legend!

At the end of the week, on the last day of training no less, I woke up feeling absolutely mauled. There was no way I could make the last classes of training without a likelihood of hurting myself. After 18 hrs of training that week I was competly beat. I was looking forward one particular class they had that included strikes that day, as a person who started training in the Japanese art first I've always be partial to strikes and having a strong foundation in self defence, so I was really looking forward to see how that class was taught, another time I guess.
I wish I had more to write about, and had more pictures, but really that's all I did, train and rest. My experience at Foster BJJ was awesome, I would like to try and list all the amazing people there that made me feel at home but there's so many I'll just leave it at thanks you everyone at Foster BJJ and of course thank you to Coach Foster himself for letting me come and train there! I learned so much and look forward to working several key techniques into my game as well as revisiting the club in the future, there is a seminar next month and I plan on making the trip for the weekend. Now off to see Professor Keith "The Rhino" Owen and his Ultimate Karate and BJJ in Meridian, Idaho, where I am now as I write this. I'm currently dealing with being sick on the road, and have missed a few classes, look forward to an update on that, it's something commonly overlooked. Until then, keep on rolling!

Waiting for the early morning Taxi to the airport, off to Meridian Idaho!

Mini Odyssey Week 1 - Gibsons BC

One week down, and what a hell of aweek it's been!

Last Sunday was a long day, spent mostly in transit. Switching from bus to ferry to bus to ferry again really drains you. It's not physically demanding, it's the mental demand of waiting for the next ride, finding a place to sit or put your bag, watching and waiting for your stop, hoping you're on the right bus and going the right way that you deal with when traveling a new route for the first time that burns you out. All and all it was a pretty OK trip. I arrived early and had extra time to sit back and take the beauty of the open country in and read a book as I waited for my ride. Originally I thought about napping while waiting but I was too excited for that. I was full of energy, while also tired, excited to see the guys and train with the club for the first time. Tidal BJJ, our affiliated club, are brothers to us and although we always keep in contact online and have a blast when they come to town for belt testings or seminars, I've never had the pleasure of training with any of them before. This week of course changed all that. Everytime I show up at a new club, no matter or not if I know someone from that club, there's always the inner questions of "How are they going to roll with me, be hard or play nice?" "Am I going to live up to my rank in their eyes?" or even "How do they train and will I be able to keep up?" With these guys I never once thought anything other than "This is going to be awesome fun!"
I finally get to the Sunshine Coast, which at this point was more the grey cloudy coast, and get picked up by host for the week, Tyler, who drives me out to what is it quite possibly the exact center of the woods where his place is and shows me to the room he had set up. The next places I'm visiting I've booked a hotel room so my only couch surfing to be done on this trip was here and I've scored an entire room, awesome!

The misty moutain view that greeted me while waiting for my ride.

Staying there was great, despite being in the middle of nowhere it actually made it easier to check out both nearby towns, Gibsons and Sechelt, which by the way definitely lived up to the Sunshine Coast title after the initial welcome as I was burned daily by the heat. The weather actually made me write down an important note, important to me at least and I'm sure to all other fair, pale and ginger folk out there, always bring a hat! After a only a few short hours, or less, on the first day I caved in and bought a simple black dollar store ball cap, and it's turned out to be quite possibly my favourite hat ever. This cheap piece of clothing has definitely proven it's worth protecting me from sunstroke all this time in the sun as I strolled around. Bringing a hat is now quite high on my list of items to pack for the full Odyssey trip around the world. Not only does it protect you but it's good marker if you're meeting someone for the first time, just don't buy all plain black hat I did, but I tend to stick out anyways.

Making my way back to civilization to explore the towns.

One day, Marcel, another member of the club, took me out and showed me around the coast, what a beautiful area, lots of lakes, beach fronts camp grounds and cottages that I one day would like to visit more thoroughly. Marcel, affectionately nicknamed "The Viking" for his heritage and very suiting image, is a good friend and great person. He made sure to look after me the entire time there, coordinating rides, usually by him, and making sure I was well taken care of. He even put me up for the last night in town and drove me in to the ferry terminal early Sunday morning. On a side note, if you ever have the chance to take an outdoor shower in the woods, take it!
(I almost took a selfie for this post, just picture me in the woods showering, you're welcome.)
During the week I would check out more of the area, usually finding a place to read my book or study for my Goshin Japanese Jiu-Jitsu test I have when I get back. Everyday there, Monday to Saturday, I trained for at least an hour with everyone, rolling with everyone I could and even having a few private classes. Training with the Tidal guys was so much fun, it really was like an extension to our home club. It almost felt like I was just in a smaller class back in Victoria. When rolling time came around, especially on the first night, I couldn't help but feel the guest of honor, afterall, most the club had showed up to welcome me, and it seemed everyone wanted to roll with me. I expected that, and looked forward to it, I was not disappointed. Everyone kept it playful, respectful and fun but at the same time a played very close game not to make mistakes in. The Tidal guys are smooth and quick in their movements, I have no problem saying the first night I was mostly on the defence, learning to stay alive so I could keep up during the week. It's important not to go strong when visiting a club, that's like being a loud bossy guest at a friend's house, it's rude. It also breeds room for injury, and on a training trip that's something I want to avoid at all costs, especially when at the first spot on the trip. I'm happy to say we kept it kind, playful, respectful and injury free the entire time.

The welcoming committee.

After the BJJ class there was Kyoshi Seamark's Kokodo Jujutsu, (Tidal BJJ shares the sapce with Sadohana Kokodo Jujutsu Gibsons but I consider them the same club as most the Tidal guys practice Kokodo and Kyoshi himself is a student of BJJ) a Japanese art of controlling the spine through the wrists. Let me tell you, I am a fan of all styles as I believe it is all one art and training in more styles just adds more to your game, more tools to use for protecting yourself and really just makes your jiu-jitsu better. Kokodo does all of that to the max, there's yet to be a single class I didn't walk away feeling full of new information to process and enhance what is already there. Kyoshi Seamark himself I believe is a grandmaster wizard of the dark arts and having a private class with him was amazing. We went over some techniques covered in the previous class and covered a few points for my Goshin test, concepts came out that brought everything into perspective really brought techniques together, everything shown both in the private and normal classes was eye opening, like I was Charlie and I had just stepped into the chocolate factory.
This brings up a rather big studying point, it's something I've been wrestling with since Kit Dale posted videos about it not too long ago. (I tried linking his videos from facebook on here but couldn't so now you're faced with sifting through his 100s of joke vidoes to find what I'm talking about, sorry) Learning concepts over techniques and practicing them to make each move work. This is new to me and so far I've really liked how it's been playing out, working on concepts and applying them to the techniques to successfully do the desired move. In one of Kit Dale's videos he explains how every sweep requires the same criteria and if you attain those you can successfully complete a sweep, how you attain the criteria determines the type of sweep. Funny enough, as much as I've always looked for similarities to link and chain moves, until watching his video I never thought about all the moves together in that way before. Training with Kyoshi Seamark nailed that point and he showed me just how much everything really is connected. During my private class with him we worked on the details for properly controlling someone's wrist, and thus them, as well as properly breaking their grip. The actual details of course is something you'll have to ask him about, I'm sure he'll be happy to demonstrate them to you...bring ice. So all week I've been relating these concept for control in practically all my training, finding the similarities in each move. This of course moved over to BJJ and since a lot of D'arce techniques were being covered and talked about, relating the simple criteria for what you need to a head and arm choke was natural, I focused a lot of my rolling on trying proper head control to set up shooting for one. Marcel and I on Saturday rolling for over 20 minutes of back and forth no gi, shooting for various head and arm, anaconda, D'arce and north/south chokes. And a some armbars to change things up. No longer I am thinking "what moves can i do from this position?" or "How can I get his head/arm/leg etc to do this particular technique?" now I'm thinking "How do I control what I need for a sweep/pass/armbar/choke?" and applying the concepts for that move. If you go for an armbar and the opponent rolls to escape you have two options, lay there and say "Dam, I missed that armbar" or roll with, keeping the proper armbar concepts in place and get a belly down armbar, or maybe end up back in same position. It may not be the original technique you were going for, but you still got an armbar.

Action shot of training some Kokodo.

Thinking about this brought another point about how connected each style is in being all one art. If training in more than one style, and I recommend you do, take the time to learn the parallels between the different styles and finding the connections or similarities between the different schools. I've talked about this before on the similarities of different styles around the world. The example I always like to use is Turkish wrestling, where the two men wear only leather shorts and oil themselves up, making it so that basically all they can hold on to for grip is the shorts, and try to unbalance other another and take each other down. That particular style is more commonly known then the other styles around the world that are very similar, Laamb in Africa you wear a sash to hold on to and the "Viking Wrestling" of Glima you wear a leather belt on you waist and thighs to be used. So, to me anyways, learning other styles just enhances your game, your tools, and realy, youself. seeing three different views on how to do the same technique lets you understand more fully what it is your are accomplishing, or trying to accomplish.

Jason and I practicing some Kokodo, with a very familiar looking finish.

During the week I would walk around Gibsons or Sechelt a find a place with wifi to use while going over the topics covered in class the day before, making sure to write all the details i could down. Each day would and start and end off with me doing a good stretch as well, taking my time to wake up or cool down. Both these points I find important, taking the time go over what you've covered in class and let it sink in and stretching out. Obviously stretching is important because you don't want to pull anything and end up missing class because you skipped a proper warm up or cool down. This is more important when traveling, because you can't just come back next week to make up for it, and if you're on a fast paced travel and training vacation, things can get overlooked and made worse easy enough. As for contemplating the classes, sometimes it takes a while for the moves to sink in, even though you got it easy enough when drilling it in class, seeing where it can come into your game or all the possibilities that particular technique has might take a while. I suggest writing as much as you can down, in as much detail as you can remember. now in a perfect world we would all remember every instruction perfectly first go, but that for the most of us, is not the case, so writing helps the brain go through the technique and really lock it down in your memory, and you always have it on paper to go back to and re-visit. I have a book i write everything i can when I'm visiting a club because I wont be back there again to ask the instructors how to do that technique again. I think we should write down as much as we can any time, not just when visiting a club but also when at your home club too. If you can't write down everything all the time, and really who can, then write down anything that jumps out at you and grabs your interest. Really, everything covered in class, no matter how many times you've covered it, should grab your interest, but sometimes there's that one technique that just hammers home to you, like it changes your game and or brings everything together. That is what you need to write down. Or if you're having problems with a particular technique and you've trouble shot it with someone to fix the problems make it work, write that down too. Every detail you can, so you bring it up again and remember to watch those grey areas you had before or work on that revolutionary new technique to change your game. On Saturday as I had my last class rolling with Marcel and I got to talking about different no gi techniques and the no gi concepts versus gi concepts that reminded me of some movements and moves I wrote down last summer when out training in Toronto and San Diego. I busted out the old note book and we practiced a few things that then reminded me of some submissions taught in class a long time ago, we linked them all up together and came up with a pretty deadly flow that I can't wait to try out. Although I'm sure you can already make the conclusion yourself, my point is this: Take the time to contemplate each classes topics and review those moves and study over those techniques. Write down what you can and help in the future. you'll be amazed how much it helps. Don't just be a robot showing up and doing a bunch of reps without thinking about the core movements and target end game. There's a reason behind every grip, movement, positioning and angle in this game, find it.

Me and "The Viking" after some epic rolling.

After having such awesome time training and hanging out with everyone and having a great last roll with Marcel we ended the week off in the best way possible. It was Jason's birthday yesterday. It was also a UFC pay per view with a very exciting card lined up. The two had to be celebrated. It neither dissappointed, I don't if the UFC was better because I was in good company or the party was better because the UFC was on but it was a great nite and I'm very thankful for Jason hosting it on his birthday. Jason has recently taken the helm of Tidal BJJ and teaches the classes, unfortunately we never had the chance to roll but I look forward to the chance in the future. He's a great guy who you can tell really cares about the club and making everyone else better, not just the jiu-jitsu and not just himself, a true mark of good coach and a good mark of a great club. I look forward to watching Tidal grow and visiting them and the Sadohana Kokodo Gibsons Dojo again in the future.

Boarding the bus to Seattle, WA  for the second stop of the Mini Odyssey. I lost the hat during customs...I miss it deeply.