Toronto Ontario Canada Part 1: Misha Cirkunov, Xtreme Couture, Greenwood BJJ and Northern Karate

Greetings From Toronto Ontario!

Hello! I made it to Toronto finally! I say finally because although I have taken this bus route many, many times while in college and living in Toronto this is the first time I've ever had a problem. I had bought my ticket back in October and everything seemed OK, I would catch the afternoon bus on 1 January at 230 in the afternoon and end up in Toronto around 9 that evening. Great. I showed up at the bus stop and waited. And waited. Luckily I was hanging out in my mom's car with her, we just sat and chatted and figured the bus was running late again. There was another person waiting for the bus and she started to worry as soon as the bus didn't show up on time and kept asking us if we 'checked the schedule' and fearing for the worst. (I put 'checked the schedule' in quotations because there's no way to check the status of the bus or schedules on the Greyhound website, you can only make a search to buy a ticket.) The other passenger began calling people to check the schedule for her as she became more frantic about the missing the bus. Finally, after the bus was now almost an hour late, she came back to us saying the bus was cancelled because it's no longer on the site, which to my understanding they wouldn't post a ticket for a bus ride that's already gone. I mean, how can you buy a ticket for a bus that on paper left an hour ago? So I started calling around, first trying to get a hold of the nearby bus stops, then the stations where the bus started from in Sudbury and ends at in Toronto. Each time it would either go directly to an automated service that then sends you to their 1-800 costumer service number or to voice mail, saying to call the 1-800 number. Three times I ended up on the customer service number and each time after explaining in great detail what the issue was they would come back, after being on hold for a while, to say that they can't help and that I had to call a station the bus arrives at. Helpful costumer service indeed. "Please call the number you already called that sends you to me so that you can be re-routed back to here and told to call another number because even know this is costumer service we can't help you with any problems." That is what they are really saying when you break it all down.
Finally I got a hold of someone at the Sudbury station who would look into the matter, it took me giving him all my ticket info, him calling the Greyhound dispatch, a number not publicly listed, and a lot of back and forth phone calls. It ends up that bus route was cancelled a long time ago and I should never have been able to buy that ticket. They stated it must have been because I bought it so long ago, I replied that the other passenger only bought her ticket 2 weeks ago. Clearly their site is plagued with problems. In the end we were giving 2 options, since the evening bus was already sold out we could get on the next morning bus at 5am or we could take a taxi that they would reimburse the cost of to Ottawa that night and then wait til the middle of the night to catch the next available bus to Toronto. Being that I saw no reason in staying up all night I opted for the bus the next morning, although I should have taken the taxi and made them pay it as it would cost them 4 times more than the ticket they owed me. I don't know what the other passenger would have done, she was ready to give up and just try and buy a ticket for the next day before I started calling places. In the end I got to Toronto the next evening, a day less to do everything and see everyone but there in one piece all the same.      

Downtown Toronto!

Greenwood BJJ

The first club I made it out to visit was one I haven't been to before, Greenwood BJJ. Last year I e-mailed a BJJ Globetrotter who had a post about offering people to come stay with him and train at the club he trains at. He didn't get back to me until much later, after I had already visited in the summer, but gave me all the information for dropping by and training with the club without him. I looked them up, messaged Prof. Chris Greenwood, who welcomed me and gave me the directions to find the place, and made the arrangements to head out to class.

The Greenwood BJJ class That night.

The gym is a little hard to find if you don't read the directions on their site or talk to them first. It's in a strip mall like building in the basement but from outside the space is advertised as Synergy Martial Arts who they share the space with. The space, like most I've encountered, is long and rectangular, space enough for a fair sized class. There were I think 5 of us that showed up for the first class, which was no gi, and a few more showed up for the gi class afterwards. Both classes we drilled open guard passing and retaining with a variation of the Toreando Pass, starting with a flow drill of retaining guard, or attempting to, as the partner passed from side to side. It was good stuff but two full hours of it after a day on the bus really killed my hips. I like the way Prof. Greenwood teaches, he really works to minimize going to your knees, always using your feet to be focusing your weight and power on you r opponent rather than on the mats. This is does take some time and getting you legs used to it, especially if you're like me and got used to sitting down in half guard and working your way out. All and all it was a great first class to kick start my week in Toronto, I made some new friends, learned some new things and had a good time on the mats at a new club.

Prof. Greenwood, friendly guy with a lot of skills.

Northern Karate Schools

Northern Karate Schools.

Later on in the week I met up with a old teammate of mine, Montanna used to train with us out in Victoria BC but moved back to Toronto after her studies were up to enroll into another program there. Her and I trained in both BJJ and traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu together and it was always great having her on the mats because her small frame and quiet nature always hid her sharp, precise technique she would surprise you with time and time again. We hadn't trained together in well over a year so when I got to town I asked her if she would like to catch up. Montanna also has a black belt in karate and trains at Northern Karate now and was happy to bring me out for a class there, on the weekend they have a self defense based grappling class that we figured would be a good class to catch together.
When I showed up there was a karate class already underway that Montanna was helping teach, it was full of move sequences, or kata, and a lot of pad hitting. I don't think there's a moments rest during those classes, always striking sand moving. After meeting Shihan Jeff, who was running the classes, and filled the necessary paperwork it was time to get dressed and jump into class. The space is the usual karate layout, a mirrored wall, hardwood floors (we covered the floor with some roll out mats for class), and a wall covered with all kinds of weapons, staves, spears, nun-chucks, tonfas, sais even painted turtle shell shields, which I think were more decorative than anything but still looked cool.
Renshi Lorne ran the class and he had a good mix of both stand and ground knowledge. we started with some shadow boxing then moved to some movement drills on the ground with partners to warm up. We worked passing open guard, going to knee on belly and doing different arm locks, all on the principle of being wary of them striking us and using strikes to open up our opponent for submissions. It was really more MMA than anything but without all the giant beasts you'd deal with at a MMA club (which aren't a bad thing but not everyone is looking for that highly aggressive grind all the time). There were about 10 of us, ranging from a few big strong guys to a couple of smaller women, a nice mix of people for this class. It was a fun time training with Montanna again and seeing her new home for martial arts, everyone was very welcoming and loved hearing my story. I even traded my patch for a crest of their club, which is the only picture I will have as I didn't know if I could take pictures of the classes and Montanna and I never got to take a picture together.
After class I sat and watched as Motanna jumped for the adult masters class, which I'm guessing is the advanced class, as everyone there was a black belt that I saw. It was a full class with more of the same movements, strikes and pad work going on, just way more intricate. After class Montanna and I grabbed some sushi and chatted, catching up on old times and filling her in on my journey so far. She had to take off to wish her brother farewell as he caught his plane, we had been talking for so long we almost track of time, so it was a rushed farewell between us and I never got the picture of us, ah well, next time for sure!    
  

The North Karate crest I got when visiting and training with Montanna. 

Xtreme Couture 

Not a great pic of their sign out front. 

Xtreme Couture is the one club I've made it back to every time I've been in Toronto. With Prof. Wagnney Fabiano as the hard driving head instructor, all the talent on the mats and my friend Mariya training there it's pretty hard hard not to end up training there. As it ends up Mariya was sick and I wouldn't be able to meet up and hang out, which kind of sucked as I always look forward to training with her, but I run into Coach Paul McGrath, a brown belt under Wagnney who also teaches some of the classes, and it was great catching up with him.

Paul McGrath, always fun catching up with him.

I also look forward to getting on the giant mat space at Xtreme couture because I always meet new people, and this time was no different, I forget how many I introduced myself to and had conversations with, there were so many. Prof. Fabiano runs a hard class and really puts you to the test physically during his warm up, but nothing worth while is easy and his classes are definitely worth while. He's really passionate about his classes and always wants you doing your full effort during the killer warm ups as well as drilling. It's intimidating to see this at first but after a while you get to understand, if you're not here to train hard then why are you training with Wagnney Fabiano? And that passion and mentality really shines through when everyone is drilling, he makes sure everyone has the move down, I don't which is louder, him seeing you do the move wrong or seeing you correct the mistake and do it right. Either way he brings a lot of energy to his classes.

Prof. Wagnney Fabiano teaching class

We worked on some butterfly movement drills like setting up the sweep and then the sweep itself that night and my hips were still killing from Greenwood BJJ, having been the night before. We did a lot of the same drills for gi class, which was after the no gi class. There was rolling on the end of both classes and the guys don't play around, they have some real killer on the mats. I also got to get in a roll with Paul, he's really slick with his moves, even showed me a few things after, it was great to see him again. I talked with Wagnney and set up to do an interview after class one day, but I ended up not feeling the best that day and had to miss out on another class with him as well as the interview, next time I guess.      

clas shot as everyone listens to Wagnney's instruction.

Misha Cirkunov

Finally got to hang out with Misha, awesome guy!

I also was finally able to hit up the noon time class at Xtreme Couture, something I hadn't been able to do before. The noon class is run by UFC fighter Misha Cirkunov, who is an accomplished grappler, and MMA athlete and all around beast. I have been a fan of Misha's for a while now, ever since I took some no gi classes he was teaching, filling in for the usual instructor, years ago. I knew nothing about him at the time, but after I told my friend of how good he was and he told me all about Misha's impressive record. Ever since I've kept an eye out for him and always wanted to sit in another of his classes. This time around I did just that and more, I got to do an interview with him! Right now Misha has an impressive 8 match win streak and with the last 4 in the UFC and he's looking for a big name fight next. On top of talking to him about the UFC and and his MMA career I also talked to him about training various martial arts as he grew up, the switch from one sport to another, and what the gym and training means to him. It was great talking with him, the audio isn't the best as it's always packed and loud at Xtreme Couture but we made due.

If the video doesn't load, head over to Panda's Odyssey Youtube Channel and watch it there, and show some love and like the videos and comment while you're there, thanks!

If you like reading these stories and watching these interviews sign up to the Panda's Odyssey Patreon Account and help support me on my journey!

That's it for Toronto part 1, I have another list of clubs to tell you all about and finish up my visit to Toronto with part 2.

Until next time, see you all on the mats!
OSSS!!

Petawawa Ontario Canada: Holidays with Friends, Family and Evolution BJJ

Greetings From Petawawa Ontario!

I finally made it home! At this time I was a little under 2 months into my trip and it had been quite the ordeal getting across Ontario on the buses. Getting from Sudbury to Petawawa wasn't near as bad as getting to Sudbury from Thunder bay, but weather was still affecting the buses getting to Sudbury so we left 3 hrs late. I had my good childhood friend Jay pick me up from the bus station so my mom wouldn't have to get up early, after a quick chat catching up and a hot chocolate Jay dropped me off and we set to meet up later on. It was still early when I got in to my Mom's, she was still in bed, and I was still pretty tired so I dropped my bags and passed out on my bed. Apparently my Mom and Step Dad thought I was going to be getting in the next day so when I got up and came out they were surprised "You're here already!?" I'm glad I didn't get her to pick me up from the bus stop or I'd be waiting a while.  

Home for the Holidays!

It was good to be back home in Petawawa. Not that I had been away for very long, I was back in the summer, and I've often gone a year or more between visits. It was good to be back in a familiar place, with family and friends, and it will be the last time until this journey is done so a rest for the holidays at the old stomping grounds was very suiting. You'll notice I don't have a lot of pictures for this article, other than from training, no site seeing or snapping nice views. I spent a lot for the time seeing friends and family and decided to just relax. I really should have taken a picture or two with the family during Christmas though. To be honest this article will be shorter than most, there's really not a lot to say about hanging out with friends and family during the holidays other than it was great to catch up and see everyone and I'll miss you all while I'm out traveling.
I will add that I did manage to update the 'tour gi' which holds my collection of patches from different clubs I've been to. It now rests in a closet at my mom's waiting to be updated again when this is all over. I also have another old gi I retired last year waiting to be covered in patches I've collected. If any or you out there are from a club I've visited and you don't see your patch on here, I love collecting and have been trading my Panda patch with people for club patches, if you're interested send me a line!
 

The front, the most decorated but still I think I only have half the clubs I've been to on here at best 

Old patches on the back, our club's logo and Kieth Owen's patches have both changed since these, but I like keeping them, the second gi to fill up have the updated patches on it.

Even filling up the pants, I've yet to put anything on the back but all in time.

Training with Evolution BJJ Petawawa

I have written about training with the Evolution BJJ Petawawa guys before, but every time I visit it's almost like a new club. Sure the faces are the same and Prof. Steven Burgess and I get into a lengthy discussion about combat arts and self defense but there's always new people I'm meeting and the level of everyone is always way ahead of our last meeting.  Either way, I always love training with them and and writing about how there's an awesome Jiu-Jitsu club in my home town!

A good class shot of all who showed up for open mat one day.

This time around, like usual, there were not scheduled classes, given the holidays, but we did have daily open mat sessions. depending on the day we had anywhere from 5 or 6 guys to a dozen or more on the mats, and they were all looking to work off those turkey dinners, or create an appetite for one. The rolls were tough, there a really strong team, and so I was mostly on defense, or tapping, but it was all in good fun. One sign of a close team is after every session we'd sit around and chat for a while. It's their belief some of the best things get brought up or shown when you're sitting around on the mats after some good rolls and processing where you got caught or how you caught someone, or trouble shooting a technique you were trying, or just chatting Jiu-Jitsu philosophy. I totally agree with this idea, it's fun and you learn some great stuff. It's also the basis of how I like to conduct my interviews, in a relaxed informal conversation after class. Needless to say we might have been done rolling after an hour but it was always half an hour or more before we left. Some great conversations were had after those tough rolls!

An open mat session.

Prof. Burgess showing a technique after rolling.

Another good day for rolling.

One day after the open mat Prof. Burgess decided it would be a good time to hand out stripes to those who ah missed the big testing date earlier the month before. I was happy to be there to see some friends who truly deserved them get striped for their work work. Here's some pics from that day.

Thom receiving a long overdue stripe.   

Another well earned stripe. 

Kevin got a few well earned stripes that day!

The day of UFC 206, Prof. Steven Burgess made it a special day, getting members from other Evolution BJJ clubs like Ottawa, Gatineau, Kingston, Trenton, and I think even Barrie, all of which hours away, to come in for a long open mat session before meeting up to watch the sporting event that night. It was a great day, tons of people on the mats, great rolls, I learned a lot that day too! There were some top jiu-jitsueros on the mats that day, including some black belts, like Prof. Daniel Guillemette who I will be seeing again shortly when I'm in Ottawa.

Mats were packed that day, everyone coming from all over to join in.

Lots of matches going on. 

Group shot of all who showed up that day.

Then the night came and it was all good laughs while watching some great fights. Ronda Rousey did not do well that night, and we all had a long conversations about her, some backing her but fearing for her before the fight, some cheering on the champ Amanda Nunes and of course discussions of the aftermath. The rest of the card was also good and being in of skilled martial artists there were a lot of great commentary that was actually productive, which is a nice change from hearing people saying the dumbest things at the bars watching these events. I will say this, for being a guy who doesn't watch the fights a lot, as he professes, Mr. Burgess think I called every match pretty much in the first few seconds of each fight. He really does have a uncanny sense of combative awareness and calculation. I picture his mind being like those fight scenes in the Sherlock Holmes movies.        

Prof. Steven Burgess

After one of open mat sessions I sat down with Prof. Burgess to have one of our great conversations video taped as an interview. I always really enjoy talking to him and listening to all his great knowledge, insight and advice he has, so I was really looking forward to it and expected a great and long interview. And that is what I got, except that about half way through my camera turned off and I lost of few minutes, no noticing right away, before resuming. It ends up I had forgotten to clear the interviews as I load them onto my computer and online and the memory card was full. After a quick fix we resumed, but when it came time to load the two videos on I came across another problem. Editing a video in YouTube Video Editor only allows you to make videos that are under an hour in length, and in total this interview would be an hour and 5 minutes. not wanting to cut anything out I made 2 parts, with explanations on the start and end.  And so I have a 2 part interview below for you to watch, the first introducing Prof. Burgess and talking about how he got started in martial arts and getting his 3 black belts he has, as well as the weaknesses he sees now a days in sport Jiu-Jitsu and Judo, among other topics. In the second video we talk about the Combatives Grappling Championship tournament he has been spearheading for going on 5 years now, how that's been growing and helping the military members training and also how it helps not only with those serving in the military, police, security, first responders, and security but also how it helps with PTSD. It was a very fun and interesting interview full of great stuff and I hope you like both parts!

Here's part 1:

And here's part 2:

IF the videos don't load you can head over to the Panda's Odyssey YouTube Channel and watch Part 1 and Part 2 there. Give some love with some likes and comments, maybe even subscribe too, please!

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After celebrating Christmas with my family, and New Years' with friends it was time to head to Toronto where my brother has been all this time. I have about 5 clubs set up to train at and countless friends to see, if I can arrange it. Toronto will be in 2 parts with hopefully some great interviews.

Until next time, see you on the mats!
OSSS!

Sudbury Ontario Canada: Troop MMA, Sudbury BJJ and Getting Caught in Snow Storm on a Bus...

Greetings From Sudbury Ontario Canada! 

I finally made it to Sudbury! If you follow me on Facebook you understand what I mean, and if you don't let me tell you about the trials I had taking the bus from Thunder Bay to Sudbury. We last left off with the bus leaving a few hours late from Thunder Bay...

Welcome to Hoth, I mean Sudbury.

Stranded on the Greyhound!

The bus from Thunder Bay to Sudbury was supposed to be a day trip, leaving at 8am and getting in almost at midnight. As the bus continued on it's route the weather got worse and we got slower, until we showed up in a small town in the middle of nowhere really late. Once we stopped we were informed the road ahead was closed from snow drifts causing a white out condition. The bus route follows the Trans-Canada Highway and this section of the road, between the town of Wawa and Sault Ste Marie, runs along the shore of one of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior. Because of that the road is prone to getting snow drifts caused by the breeze coming off the lake and apparently the road gets shut down often during the winter months. I wish I had known this before booking my tickets, not that there's much of an affordable option to get around this.
The bus had stopped at a local ice rink in Wawa, the town we were in, and everyone moved into the building as the driver, and other concerned passengers, started calling the bus service to figure out what out next step was. All we were told by Greyhound was to wait it out. People were furious, calling in and complaining, yelling at their phones, yelling at the bus driver who was stranded just like us, and each other. I quietly found a corner with a plug outlet, plugged in my phone and set up my laptop. The road was closed, there was nothing anyone could do, other than Greyhound actually giving us some help rather than leave us out in the cold, but yelling at a customer service rep from the US somewhere wasn't going to help. All we could do was wait, I had a bunch of granola bars in my backpack, a couple litres of water in my water bottles, and movies on my laptop. I was good for the time being.
As the night continued I noticed some people were getting annoyed by my sunny attitude. I was watching a funny movie, something with Seth Rogan in it, and so I was happy, laughing at the movie, enjoying my time waiting. One passenger came up to me and in a very sour tone said "Well you seem to be enjoying this" to which I replied "Yes, it's a funny movie, there's nothing we can do but wait so I might as well watch some movies" Apparently they did not like that and stormed off. I don't know what some people were thinking, that the bus can plow through snow? That The road will just magically open for us? It would be nice if the bus company did something to look out for it's costumers but that wasn't happening, at least we had a place to stay out from the cold. No sense making a bad situation worse by being a dick to everyone. Some people didn't see it that way.
After a while we began to get hungry, as an awesome host to people in need the ice rink made us all french fries and after a while the mayor of the town came in and helped out. By the end of the night the mayor had gotten us a platter of subs from Subway Sandwiches, and Emergency Services had come in to help, setting the families with children and older and sick passengers up with a room at a nearby hotel, I guess there wasn't enough room for all of us. We were then told we would be staying the night in the ice rink, and were given floor mats and blankets. I had brought my gear in from the bus and rolled out my yoga mat and sleeping bag, and used my inflatable neck pillow covered in my hoodie as a pillow. It wasn't a comfortable sleep but it would do, what other choice did I have? That night one particular passenger, who had been especially bothersome to everyone on the bus decided they would be loud, watching the TV in the common room we were using to sleep in at a high volume, and pretty much look for a fight when anyone asked to turn it down. It's my assumption there was a fair bit of drugs involved. I guess some people find being a dick to everyone around you and make them hate life as much as you do is the proper thing to do. I feel sorry for those people, who's lives suck that much to think that way.

My 'awesome' bed for the night in the ice rink. I made sure everyone else had floor mats before me, but i really wish I had one, the yoga mat was not enough against the cold hard cement floor. oh well.

The morning the Mayor and Emergency Services had shown up again, this time with coffee and breakfast sandwiches from Tim Horton's! Everyone was grumpy, some more at our asshole passenger then our situation. I made light of it, making jokes as I usually do and grabbed breakfast. At one point I was talking to some fellow stranded passengers and told them, we have a roof over our head, food in our bellies and no one is shooting at us, it's a good day, I've been in worse. Some got it, some didn't. After breakfast Emergency Services moved us over to a church, it was very small but there were enough chairs for us all to sit at the tables in the basement. The church group made us all some soup and we got more sandwiches sent in to us for lunch, it really wasn't so bad being stranded. There were all sorts of books set out for everyone to read, I had my own and pulled out The Book of Five Rings to pass the time. Finally, sometime in the afternoon Greyhound had given the OK for the bus driver to make a detour in the route to send us on our way. Finally we were moving again, it was slow but we made to Sudbury, 26 hours late from when we were supposed to be but all in one piece.
I would like to thank the town of Wawa, it's mayor, the ice rink and Emergency Services for everything they have done to look out for us, if not for them we would have froze to death sitting on the bus all night, as Greyhound informed us to. I have a lot more to say about Greyhound but that will wait for a future post.  

Visiting Family

Visiting Sudbury was a must, not just because the trip straight to my hometown of Petawawa from Thunder Bay was way too long but also because I have family there I haven't seen in years. As the date came closer to traveling to Sudbury I was talking with my Cousin Mandie and Aunt Frieda about things to do together, like having a dinner or going out, and my cousin brought up the fact that Star Wars: Rogue One was coming out and set up a dinner outing with her friends and I before going to see it. It was on a Friday night, I was set to be coming in Wednesday evening. With the set back I had in Wawa it was looking like I might miss that night all together. Luckily I got in at 2 in the morning Friday and had the day to rest up before going out. It was fun hanging out with my cousin Mandie and her friends, we hit up a Japanese BBQ place where you order a bunch of meat and vegetables and cook them yourself on a grill set into the table, which was a first for me, I would highly recommend trying it out, especially in a group!

As you can see, the grill is in the table, you grill the meat and veg how you like it and voila!

My cousin Mandie and everyone chowing down, apparently this is usual hang out for them and they are quite known by the staff.

Fun times eating and meeting everyone before the movie

During the week I got to see my Aunt Frieda, who like Mandie I haven't seen in years, and my nephew Jaden, who I hadn't met before. He continuously challenged me to video games and I'm sure I would still be playing video games with him if I were there. It was nice catching up with family, another branch of my far reaching family tree visited. I took over the couch during my stay which meant I was prey for the cat to attack my toes and dog to sniff my face in the morning when they woke up. It also meant I was taken care of and well fed while visiting. Free food totally trumps random pet attacks, besides, I'm pretty sure I got the cat back by tormenting him daily with toys he could never catch. Thanks for the good times and taking care of me Aunt Frieda and cousin Mandie!    

I forgot to get a pic with Aunt Frieda but one of me teasing Cousin Mandie will do! 

Sudbury BJJ

The front door, it was here all along.

The first club I was able to visit was Sudbury BJJ. It wasn't too far out from where I was staying, in fact I was pretty close to both clubs. When I first got to the strip mall where the gym is I was a little confused looking for the address. I stood at the corner between two buildings and there seemed to be a gap in numbers, which is where the gym was supposed to be, then I realized the address wrapped around the building, all the way around, right back to the side of the building of where I started. I had walked all the way around a place looking for a door that was just around the corner from where I started. Good job Panda. At least I made it to the gym and on time too. The outside is a simple door on the side of the building with the sign over top, once inside it opens up into a large area, the front being the desk and merchandise area, with the mats off around behind. The layout is like a split level, with change rooms being on top and the mats below, it was a bright and clean place.

A quick shot of the mats.

After checking in with the front desk I introduced myself the coach, Steve Joncas, a brown belt who is also a certified Gracie Jiu-Jitsu instructor. Steve is a chill person and greeted me warmly, like most clubs I had started communication with him early in my planning, and he was expecting me. After a tour around the gym we started class and Steve took me aside with a new student to show me what the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu introduction is like and what they cover on the first visit. To sum up the basic idea, they demonstrate the principles of Jiu-Jitsu by mounting the new student and telling them to get free, then resetting with the roles reversed. They then show them the basic movements and how to do an Upa properly to free themselves from the mounted position they were earlier put in. It's really a perfect hook to get someone into BJJ and sign up. I know of so many stories of people who started because of that exact same introduction and are now black belts. After showing me the Gracie introduction we then re-joined the class.

Drilling a take down during class.

This was my first time being a part of a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu class in a Certified Training Center (CTC). Technically, since we're under Master Pedro Sauer and he is part of the Gracie Family we train Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, but we're not part of the Gracie Academy of Ryron and Rener Gracie. Seeing the way the Gracie Brothers have reshaped the curriculum and how the training centers are run has been one of the many things I've been looking forward to while on this journey. The big difference I found wasn't how or what Coach Steve was teaching, although he was a great teacher and I thoroughly enjoyed his class, it was the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu curriculum cards for the Gracie Combatives, or beginners classes. A lot of schools have a curriculum for each belt level, most really, but The Gracie Academy takes it a step further and has a technique card that has all the techniques for the level you are at with spaces to sign off that you have trained in that technique for the class. Once the proper number of classes trained for each technique is signed off you demonstrate you can complete them in front of a certified instructor to get your promotion. I believe this goes for every stripe up to blue belt, as a way to ensure the students have a good base knowledge and skill set. I have seen different ways of teaching the fundamentals and self defense concepts and I find each have their merit. Which ever way is used the most important is the execution, to be able to do the move when asked to demonstrate it and also pull it off while rolling, which in the aim of the Gracie Academy.

Getting some god rolls in.

Can't be on top all the time.

    
Training with the Sudbury BJJ class was fun, they were all welcoming and friendly people, I found it a calm easy going environment as I drilled with two other guys about my size during class. We introduced ourselves to one another, they were jealous of my journey, as seems to be the usual case. After the Gracie Combatives class was over it was time for the Master Cycle, or advance class, which is blue belt and up. It being close to the holidays, Christmas was only a week away, there weren't many students out and the second class saw only myself and another blue belt with Coach Steve. Since it was only the three of us we went over a few concepts and then spent most of the time rolling with each other, doing both situational rolling and straight matches. It was a good time I felt genuinely accepted on the mats with them and the time went by fast, it was a good energy, we probably could have rolled for another hour with each other, time well spent.

The whole class that showed up that day.

Coach Steve and I on our way out the door, thanks again for having me!

Troop MMA

Another club that was near where I was staying was Troop MMA, I had heard about Troop as far back as Edmonton, people asking me if I was going to drop by when I was in Sudbury, so I was intrigued to see why everyone was so focused on this gym. The gym itself, were Troop was hidden in, was easy enough to find, in a fitness gym simply called 'The Gym'. I asked the front desk where they held Jiu-Jitsu classes and he showed me around the gym, it was built in a kind of 'U' shape, directly on the right there were the change rooms then continuing forward was the open room full of workout machines and weights, make two rights and you were in a hallway with a door to Troop MMA.

The club, I thought I also got a good shot of their cool logo, (it's a hand print with a gorilla in it) but I guess I did not.

The first day out was a weekend open mat and not too many people made it out, holidays and all, but the talent on the mats made up for low numbers. The rolls were stiff and I was how we say 'the nail' that day but it was still some good times. I say it was a smaller than normal open mat but I really don't know how many usually show up, I only guess this from the numbers that showed up for class the next day. I went back to Troop MMA for their scheduled class and to interview the head Professor, Richard Nancoo. There were a lot more people there than at the open mat on the weekend, it was quite busy to be honest. Prof. Nancoo is really friendly guy and was very approachable during class, always asking if anyone had any questions and making sure they were answered. The class was the same, each very accepting to me visiting and making sure I was fully involved in the drilling and rolling, I had no shortage of partners. It was a good time on the mats with the Troop guys, and afterwards I sat down and have an interview with Prof. Nancoo

Prof. Richard Nancoo

Prof. Nancoo is always open to quests, as I found out, and welcomed me to his club but was a little hesitant to do the interview at first. I would describe him as humble and shy in front of a camera, but I would be wrong. Prof. Nancoo had no problem teaching the large class on the mats and after the first few minutes of us talking he opened right up and we had a very comfortable casual conversation about the Jiu-Jitsu scene in Ontario, how it's evolved and grown over the years, the different clubs he works with and his philosophy on the mats in regards to teaching. It was a fun conversation and I even told him afterwards, for a person nervous about doing an interview he completely fooled me. Here's the video below, hope you enjoy it!

If the video doesn't load, head over to the Panda's Odyssey YouTube Channel to watch it there, and while there subscribe to my channel and give the videos some likes!

After training it was time to pack up and head out to catch my over night bus home to Petawawa Ontario and visit my family and friends fro the holidays, but that's next week's issue.

Until next time, see you all the mats!
OSSS

Thunder Bay Ontario Canada: Leading Edge Martial Arts and a Memorial to a Fellow Jiu-Jitsuero

Greetings from Thunder Bay Ontario Canada!

A random picture I took while walking around Thunder Bay.  

The trip to Thunder Bay was uneventful, which is good. I actually got some decent sleep and showed up to town ready to hit class as soon as I got there. And that's when things took a downward turn, ended up going to the wrong address and my phone dying causing me to miss class, but there was a glimmer of light...

The Fine People of Thunder Bay

During my stay in Thunder Bay I was able to see the friendliness, helpfulness and good hospitality of the people that live there. That being said I also ran into a few problems for these examples to take place. The first occurrence was when I got to town and started to make my way to class, the plan was that I would hit up class straight from the bus station before making to my host's place to settle in. The problem came up when I got to where the Google maps had the last saved address of the club, which was way off from where I was supposed to be, and then my phone died, leaving me in the middle of nowhere with all my gear and no way to contact anyone or find my way to either the proper gym address or my host's place. Luckily there was a corner store across the street, I walked in hoping to find a warm drink and a plug to recharge both my frozen self and frozen phone. As soon as I stepped inside the guy at the front counter looked at my gear and said "Nice backpack! Are you traveling? Or out hiking?" That was the perfect set up to tell him of my journey, and my predicament I was currently in. As it happens he was a former military reservist himself and loved my story of traveling through Canada, and the next thing I know I have a free hot chocolate and hamburger to warm myself up and my phone is plugged in behind the counter charging up. It was some much needed help to set me back on my way for which I was very grateful.

The second occurrence was on my way to the host's house, I had left the corner store, taken a bus across town and set out to walk a few blocks from the stop to find where I would be staying for the next few days. An older lady drove up to me and said "It looks terrible watching you carry those bags in this weather, let give you a drive!" I was really fine but how can I resist a free ride! We drove up the short few blocks to where I thought the host's place was only to find out I had the wrong address. As I was calling to confirm the address the lady told I'd be more than welcome to stay at her place if I couldn't meet up with my intended hosts, which would've have been amazing if I were to be stranded in town with no contacts! Luckily that was not the case, I thanked her for her generosity, contacted my host and found the proper house, which was only a few houses down from I thought it was. Imagine that, showing up to town and finding a place to stay just by walking down the street, I hope I get that lucky in Europe! Not that I plan on being stranded anywhere to begin with but you never know.

At this point I'd like to get a big shout out to my hosts for the time I spent in Thunder Bay. I was originally supposed to stay with a friend I made online through the BJJ Globetrotters network, Jesse, and was really looking forward to meeting and training with him. As it happens he was accepted into a special training week at Tristar in Montreal to train under Georges St Pierre, Rory MacDonald and other top Canadian MMA stars as well as hit up the Geo Martinez seminar, coming off another stellar performance win at EBI, that was happening just before the camp. I would pass up on me for that too, that's a chance of a lifetime! Before Jesse left he set me up with his parents to stay at their place, which was awesome because I didn't know anyone else and don't think I would have been able to find a new place to stay in time without getting a, most likely overpriced, hotel room at short notice. Staying with Jesse's parents was great, they were very relaxed people who gave me a room to stay in and have a quiet space to do all my work online in peace. It was very cool to take me in on short notice, especially since they had not met me before and knew little other than I was backpacking through Canada and training on the way. I was very grateful of all the help, Ellen and Burt thank you for everything!

Of course when you're staying at a place that has a completely different schedule than you there can be a few hiccups. One of the days I was training, the very day out to meet the club in fact, I ended up having an afternoon to waste since the hosts were out on their own errands and there was no spare key. As it happens, one of the club members and now good friend, T-Son, offered to show me around and take me out with his family for wings to pass the time, sounds like a great way to spend the afternoon! We headed to T-Son's place after class and I met his family and we chatted for a bit, telling our stories of how we got into Jiu-Jitsu, before heading for food. It was great talking to T-Son and hearing his interest on the art of Jiu-Jitsu itself and focus on the philosophy and the way of life it brings and it was great getting to learn about the history of the Leading Edge MMA club and Thunder Bay. T-Son likes to write and post videos about his Jiu-Jitsu journey, and even has a site for it, BJJ Four Life. I was totally blown away when T-Son's wife paid for the food! Thanks so much for looking out for me T-Son and family, I owe you guys big time! Just another example of the good people of Thunder Bay and another act of good will I'll be paying forward.    
        

A light rolling session with T-Son.

Meeting Up with a BC Friend

A few friends I have out in British Columbia are from Thunder Bay, being from the reservist unit there, and one of them came home for the holidays just before I was finished visiting the town. My friend Dino, who I met at work and have been good friends since, had flown home to surprise his mom and family for the holidays on my last day visiting Thunder Bay. That night Dino decided to meet up with me and show me around town, telling me of all the interesting stories of growing up in this town and where all the fun happened. Apparently Thunder Bay has a few local delicacies and Dino was set on showing me at least one of them: The Persian. The Persian is a cinnamon roll like bun with a whipped topping and is quite famous as a local delicacy. We drove all over the town, it was late so most places, including the store that makes them, The Persian Man, were closed but we finally found a place that was still open and picked up a box of these pastries for me to try out. I will say although I don't get what all the hype is about these treats if you like pastries you will love these things.

Dino and I as I'm about to try out this pastry for the first time, not bad.

The next morning I was set to catch the bus out to Sudbury, but because of the weather the bus was delayed. Dino was hoping to bring me out a breakfast place called Hoito's, or The Hoito, for another famous local delicacy: The Finnish Pancake. Once I found out that I had a lot of time tom wait before the bus would get back on the road (white out closing the highway) I called up Dino to pick me up and set out to The Hoito. I had heard of these Finnish Pancakes and always just thought of them as crepes, and always I was corrected by my Thunder Bay friends (Thunder Bayians? Thunder Baymans? Thunder Bayites?) and was looking forward to both a good breakfast before a long bus ride and to finally try these pancakes out. Finnish Pancakes are really thin like crepes but have crispy edges, like they've been fried in butter, or at least the ones at this place were like that, and they were delicious. I had the breakfast plate and kind of wish I asked for more pancakes, I don't know if I would have been able to eat more but I would have loved to try!
Just as we finished eating and got the check I got a call from the Greyhound bus station, they were beginning to load the bus and I had half an hour to make it back and board if I wanted to leave that day. It was perfect timing, giving me enough time to hang out with my friend and try out a delicacy I've been hearing about for a while. I called it a Christmas miracle, laughing I said that Santa had closed to road long enough for this to happen.
On the drive back to the bus station Dino, always the one to push limits, decided to use up the full 30 minutes I had to get on the bus and stop off to pick me up one last local delicacy: A Italian sandwich from Maltese Grocery. Maltese's is a small grocery store that prides itself in high quality meats and cheeses and other products. They have a deli in the back that makes sandwiches, you first pick out a fresh bun from the selection at the bakery up front then head to the back and hand it over to the butcher. You have a wide variety or choices for meats, including the daily special, this day it the Italian sausage and it was all Dino's choice on what went into the sandwich. Provolone, lettuce, eggplant, Italian sausage and salami, as well as some mayo, mustard black pepper and maybe some other things I forget, and I had a very fresh 2 lb sandwich to take with me on the bus. When I finally ate it I took a few pics, it was a fair size and a bit greasy but it was totally worth it, such a good sandwich. After this I don't think I will ever Dino's picks on where to get good food. Thanks Dino for showing me the best places to eat in Thunder Bay, it was blast hanging out with you one last time!

Now this is one hell of a sandwich! Thanks Dino for lunch!

Leading Edge Martial Arts

I came to Thunder Bay knowing nothing about Leading Edge Martial Arts other than my online friend Jesse trained there and according to him the guys there were all good people. Once Jesse's plans changed, he connected me with a few of the guys at the club and although I had a few conversations with them it was mostly just about the schedule. I was walking in blind and more or less just the new guy dropping in that no one knew but the club welcomed me with open arms. The first class I showed up to there were about 8 of us, a purple belt Nathan put us through a good warm up, nothing crazy but thorough, enough to really warm us up from the cold weather outside. Class was really relaxed, it was taught by T-Son and we went over chokes from different positions, afterwards we rolled for a while and I got to meet and introduce myself to everyone there. It was a fun time welcoming me to their group. For the rest of my visit the classes I would attend always seemed to be mainly people I had not meet yet, and always they were very receptive of my visiting. There was a wide range of styles on the mats, some were young and athletic, looking to train to be top competitors, some were older or just looking to learn the art of Jiu-Jitsu. There was also a strong wrestling background with a lot of the students, in Thunder Bay the high schools have wrestling teams and that influence was clearly seen in the Jiu-Jitsu community. It was interesting to see the differences in influences and goals amongst the club while training there. There is a strong group of talent here at Leading Edge.

Me captivating the class with one of awesome stories.

The club has gone through some problems with their club lately. They were originally in an athletic dome, which I've only seen a temporary structure for allowing use of a field during the colder months but I guess Thunder Bay was using it as a permanent sports facility. In any case the dome deflated and the colder weather and rain caused everything, including all their club gear, to get stuck underneath and encased in ice. The community, being full of good people, helped the club stay together and be able to continue to train. A Tae Kwon Do club, Thunder Dragons, graciously opened their doors and lets the Jiu-Jitsu club train there for certain days of the week (The address on the map in the FB group is NOT up to date, double check with them or the Leading edge guys before showing up, so you don't end up in the same situation I was in when I first got to town). The other days of the week they train at a high school, Hammarskjold High school, in their wrestling gym. I'm glad to see they were able to keep the club together and find a place, or places, to train, it's a sign of a truly determined, of Jiu-Jitsu obsessed group of people. Thank you for having me guys!

A class shot of T-Son showing us a set up for the bow and arrow choke.

Memorial To a Fellow Jiu-Jitsuero

I write this piece with a heavy heart, and in truth I still don't know how to fully process this information. As I was waiting to leave Thunder bay I was watching the advisory site for road closures in Ontario and noticed that on top of the road closure outside of town due to the weather there was also another big closure inside of town due to a traffic accident. I found out later on that the accident in Thunder Bay had claimed the life of one of their members, and someone I had met and trained with while visiting. Gary Maki was a big guy, a blue belt who was focused on technique rather than crushing everyone with his size, and a good hearted person who made me feel very welcomed in our short time together. I could see by the expressions of sorrow on Facebook that he was a guy everyone liked and I will wager that he touched the hearts of all those around them more than he ever knew. We had a great conversation about 'Old Man' and 'Big Guy' Jiu-Jitsu one day at class. Gary was a good guy and I am honoured I got to spend the little time I had on the mats with him. Rest In Peace Gary, my condolences to the family...

Gary with his son Jared, I took this picture from Facebook, I hope that's ok.

Cherish every moment on the mats with every teammate, make every new person through the door feel welcome and help them out as much as possible. You never know just how long you have on this Earth, make every class, every roll, every moment count as though it could be your last. Then there won't be any time left for drama and feuds and complaining, only good times training together.

Nathan Hatton, Phd

When I first was looking for someone to interview from this club I noticed the options were pretty great. There was the head instructor Matt Richer who has 6 different black belts, or brown belt student Matt Thornburn who is simply a mat rat who trains at more than one gym and holds an impressive MMA record, or T-Son and his BJJ blog and admitted obsession with the art. All were great candidates, and I tried to set up an interview with the instructor but he was hard to get a hold of and time was tight to set up an interview with anyone else. When I left Thunder bay I decided I would do an interview via e-mail with Nathan Hatton, who holds a PhD in the history of combative sports and is a wrestling beast on top of being a formidable purple belt. I was really intrigued when I heard about the PhD and decided I must get his story on what it take to get that accreditation, what set him on that path, and who that put him on the path of BJJ.

Myself, T-son and Nathan.

Panda's Odyssey: Thanks for doing this interview with me Nathan, let's start with your experience in martial arts. How did you get started and how did you end up in BJJ?

Nathan Hatton: I really started my martial arts journey with wrestling, beginning in the seventh grade. In high school I took up Wado Kai karate. Shortly after the UFC debuted I became completely fascinated with Royce Gracie and actually started training in BJJ during the late summer of 1995. That's 21 years ago!
There were no BJJ clubs around at the time, especially in northern Ontario, so I trained off of tapes (only two instructional sets existed then). My first actual instruction in BJJ came from Royce and Rorion Gracie when I attended a seminar in the fall of 1995. Since then, I have been fortunate to train with several great clubs including Regina BJJ, Rodrigo Munduruca's school in Winnipeg, and Leading Edge Gym in Thunder Bay. Leading Edge is certainly my "home" gym.
Due to living in small communities as well as the demands of schooling, I have had a number of extended dry patches in my BJJ journey. However, grappling has been one of the constants in my life and I feel blessed every time I get to step on the mat!
After high school I also did boxing for a few years and I did a couple seasons of judo.

PO: That's impressive! It seems a lot of people and clubs got started in Canada by those tapes, haha. I understand you have a PhD in the history of combative sports. can you tell us how you decided on this path and what you had to do in order to get a PhD in that field?

NH: My PhD is actually in history, but I focused my research on early wrestling in Canada. My doctoral work built on previous work at the Master's level, which likewise delved into wrestling's early history in the Thunder Bay region of Ontario.
Both my MA and PhD came after I had been studying wrestling and boxing history for about a decade. Beginning in my late high school career and continuing for years afterward, I devoured every book I could get my hands on related to wrestling, bare knuckle boxing and early gloved-boxing. I was interested in combative sports on both a historical and a technical level. Above all else, I became fascinated with early professional wrestling and the art of catch-as-catch-can.
Western wrestling had a rich, but by then nearly forgotten, legacy of submissions. What's old is new and I became enthused with adding some of this stuff back into my own grappling game. Along the way I began to appreciate the art of catch-as-catch-can wrestling in its own right and I am pleased to see that it is being revived today thanks to the hard work of many people both in North America and overseas.
Before I ever entered into graduate-level work, I had already laid out very clear objectives for myself in terms of what I wished to study and what I hoped to accomplish. Wrestling history in Canada had been grossly understudied, so I sought to unearth what the sport meant to early generations of Canadians. Moreover, I wanted to re-discover the legacies of the incredible, but sadly forgotten, athletes and communities who helped shape the sport in Canada.

PO: The history of grappling fascinates me as well. I've noticed there are different styles of wrestling all over, like Nordic Glima, African Laamb, Turkish wrestling, etc. That all seem to have the same concepts but own flavour to it. I look forward to my journey taking me to areas to see these styles in person. Have you ever looked into the connection of other grappling styles outside of North America?

NH: Most of my focus has been on wrestling in the western world, but I maintain an interest in all wrestling styles. The wrestling world, in certain respects, is a small place and the amount of international cross-pollination over time has proven remarkable. Examples are numerous. Beginning in the 1890s, many Turkish wrestlers began to make an impact on wrestling in Continental Europe, and by 1898 we see the same thing happening in North America. That legacy is still seen in wrestling's technical canon, with for example, the "leg turk" in folkstyle wrestling. More famously, after 1900, and especially by 1904, many Japanese jiu-jitsu practitioners came to North America as well as Britain to compete and share their knowledge. One of these guys, of course, was Maeda. After travelling around the Western world and competing in matches and wrestling tournaments, he began teaching in Brazil. His personal style was certainly not just the product of his Japanese studies but also the live-fire knowledge he gained by competing against competent catch wrestlers. Other moves, such as the "Americana," are said to have been interjected into BJJ art by western wrestlers. Western and Eastern styles came into contact with one another and inevitably impacted one another.
West-East encounters have not been the only forum for cultural interchange through wrestling. We see great examples of that today in Asia. I enjoy watching highlights of Mongolian wrestling (bokh). It is one of the most dynamic stand-up wrestling systems in the world and the athletes are super-skilled. Wrestling is a highly regarded, and highly organized, sport in Mongolia. I also enjoy watching sumo and what is interesting to see is the rise of Mongolian talent in sumo during the last decade or so. They have really come to dominate and re-shape sumo at its highest levels. Men such as Asashoryu have interjected their own flair into the ancient art.

PO: That's so Fascinating! I love the lineage of grappling and where all the different influences have come from. Has this study for your PhD opened your eyes to interests in other sports? What's some interesting facts you've found in the evolution of combative sports?

NH: My primary interest is (as it has always been) the combat sports and martial arts. However, that also led me to take a keen interest in strongman and weight lifting, as well as the historical evolution of weight training. Just is as is the case with wrestling, there is a lot that can be re-discovered from examining old sources written by the likes of George Jowett, Thomas Inch, Maxick and many others. I would strongly advise wrestlers and grapplers to take a look at this stuff with an open mind!
There are so many fascinating things that could be said about the evolution of combat sports. One that really stands out is how "raw" things used to be. Most of us would never even consider training or competing under some of the conditions that were completely normal for athletes a century ago.
Mat technology, for example, was abysmal by today's standards. Coarse canvas was the norm. Sometimes athletes wrestled on nothing more than a carpet with some straw underneath. There are even records from rural Saskatchewan of formal matches taking place on the frozen ground when it was more than twenty degrees below!
Matches were also commonly endurance contests. Whereas bouts are conducted in two, three minute rounds under today's international freestyle rules, at the beginning of the twentieth century it was not uncommon to see contests last for one, two, or even three hours. There were no points and only falls counted.
In boxing, gloves were sparsely padded, usually with something like horse hair. The padding would be displaced pretty quickly, often leaving the knuckles exposed. For years I have been contributing to an ongoing study of boxing fatalities, and the number of deaths that occurred in the prize ring before the Great Depression is staggering and speaks to the lack of safety measures in place at the time.
Skin and eye infections were another issue. We still commonly see ringworm today, but there used to be a greater variety of bacterial afflictions that a combat athlete had to seriously contend with. Moreover, antibiotics were in their infancy during the first three decades of the twentieth century and penicillin was not discovered until 1928.
Better equipment, rule changes and advances in medical science have helped make the combative sports more palatable to a wider participatory base. Although we have to recognize the evolution of knowledge, one has to wonder if all of today's athletes could have also carved out successful careers under the conditions of a century ago!

PO: That's crazy! I've heard of some those things like the mats, or long matches and bare gloves, but wrestling in the cold, or dealing with infections I had no idea of!
The long matches reminds me of a story I heard once that apparently pro-wrestling came around from a big 'East meets West' match. The match ended really fast by an ankle lock that was apparently the one injury the opponent had. Lots of backlash and rumours of spies in camps came from this and in the end people were more into the shorter match and loved all the drama involved. From what I understand leagues started making stories for their matches and having shorter staged matches and then pro wrestling was formed. Did you run into this story in your research? Do you think this type of thing, adding the drama between the fighter, is what is making MMA so huge now a days?

NH: You might be referring to the famed Gotch-Hackenschmidt encounters of 1908 and 1911. The talent has to be there at the top levels, but showmanship or some type of "it factor" is, and always has been, essential for success in professional combat sports. Both Gotch and Hack had these qualities but they competed under a rule set that bred the potential for really long, tedious matches-of-attrition, and that is exactly what characterized their first match. It was boring. However, allegations that Gotch used dirty tactics and greased his skin to be able to escape holds circulated afterward and this fed public interest in a rematch. No rematch would have been palatable based upon the entertainment value of their first match by itself, but due to all of they hype, their rematch became the biggest grossing wrestling event of all time to that point. The results of first match really foretold the second match, though, and Gotch mowed through Hackenschmidt. Gotch represented the next level in the technical evolution of the sport.
Only really dedicated fans, and more likely, actual practitioners of the arts, can truly appreciate a lot of the technical intricacies at play in a combat sport like wrestling, and as spectator bases grew, sports promoters who wanted to pack venues came to realize this. Pro wrestling evolved more in the direction of an emotional drama because that had a broader appeal beyond the hardcore fanatic or gambler. Rules changed to make the sport more fast-paced and spectator friendly. We see the same thing at play in current MMA. Major rule changes are really all about making a more fast paced and spectacular sport because only the highly dedicated fan can appreciate the technical intricacies of spending a minute fending off punches from the butterfly guard and switching between three grips to set up a sweep. The same social dynamics that prompted MMA rule makers to cut ground time short were at play in wrestling in the 1920's and 1930's.
Highly skilled and super-charismatic athletes coupled with spectator-friendly rule sets are the formula for success. The UFC had the perfect storm seven or eight years ago when they had Lesnar, Silva and St. Pierre in the top spots, along with Machida, Couture and a few others who captured the public's imagination but for different reasons. I'm not sure if we will ever see an era like that again. I certainly hope so!

PO: Thanks for the elaboration, that indeed was the feud I was thinking of. As for the UFC, I think with people like Connor McGregor have really shown the fact that both skills in the ring and drama for the matches sell a lot. One can only hope the skills don't take second place to the drama selling tickets.
I understand you have a history training in wrestling as well as BJJ. How does your study affect your training? Does it help understand the techniques or concepts of the arts?

NH: First of all, I am of the belief that wrestling is the fundamental combat art. Any young athlete looking to start a career in the martial arts, combat sports, or even self-defense/combative training would be well advised to begin by diving into freestyle, folkstyle or Greco-Roman wrestling for at least four to five years. I wish I had done far more wrestling!
Wrestling teaches a level of body awareness, aggressiveness, toughness and work ethic that is simply not duplicated by other arts. Sure, learn bjj, boxing, krav maga or whatever appeals to you, but laying down a solid foundation in basic wrestling, from the get-go, is always a good idea.
Above all, my study of wrestling, and more particularly its technical history, gives me an appreciation for the inter-connectivity between different arts. There are certain universal principles that govern all systems and transcend time and place. These include mechanical concepts such as base, posture, center of balance, lever and fulcrum. They also include strategic principles such as conserving energy while forcing energy expenditure, baiting/deception, and using pressure to elicit a response.
Historical study of wrestling has also given me an appreciation for how technical trends come and go. Today, you see a certain move come into vogue because of its success at the elite level. Keenan's worm guard. The Mendes brothers' 50/50. It then filters its way down to clubs, and practitioners at every level start to play with it. This is nothing new. One hundred and ten years ago Frank Gotch popularized the toe hold and in no time everybody was doing it. A decade later it was Joe Stecher and the body scissors. Eventually athletes moved on to something else.
I frequently find it amusing when "new" techniques make their way into bjj or no gi grappling that are really nothing more than variations, or direct reiterations, of moves that guys were doing generations ago. I do feel that there are some new techniques discovered here and there, and certainly new "games" develop around techniques. That said, it is surprising how many purported innovations, if someone cared to look, could be found in an old Gene LeBell interview or between the covers of a dusty old instructional manual.

PO: Nice! It's cool to see a different look into grappling like that, and it's true, I fond a lot of the 'new' techniques are just old ones re-surfacing. I get a kick out seeing a 'new' technique video that is just an old move I've been training in Japanese Jiu-Jitsu for years.
You teach the fundamentals classes at Leading Edge MMA. Given your background, what key concepts do you teach that are different from most clubs?

NH: Really, I think that fundamentals are fundamentals are fundamentals. There might be a slight difference in where a hand is placed here and there, for example, but I expect that the techniques and ideas introduced in the Leading Edge fundamentals class will serve a practitioner wherever they go and for however long they continue along their bjj journey.
I also maintain an interest in self defense, and currently co-teach the fundamentals class with the highly talented Phil Roussin who is one of the most knowledgeable self defense instructors I know. Therefore, ideas such as situational awareness, use of force continuum, and the legal realities of a camera-access culture are also covered in the class. Here, too, I suppose historical context comes into play because the social and legal realities of a violent confrontation in 2016 Canada are not the same as pre-Meiji Japan. We have to keep this in mind when considering the methods that we might teach to a class!

PO: Very true! That reminds me of the Master Ken video where he completely destroys the guy for grabbing him, going way too far on the 'defense' part. I'm a big fan of clubs teaching self-defense and distinguishing between what works on the mats and what works on the street. Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions for me, it was a pleasure training with you!

On top of having over 20 years of experience in combat sports, Nathan also has two books published on his studies, Thrashing Seasons: Sporting Culture in Manitoba and the Genesis of Prairie Wrestling and Rugged Game: Community, Culture and Wrestling At the Lakehead to 1933. If you're like me and love to read about where the modern sports we practice in today came from then you'll definitely want to pick these up.

Probably one of the most badass pictures of a University Professor I've ever seen. 

Another too short visit and suddenly it was time to make my way to Sudbury Ontario, but not before the biggest set back in the trip so far. I thought the white out delaying the bus leaving in the morning was bad enough, little did I know what I was about to run into...

Such a nice view leaving Thunder Bay, would never have guessed the hell that awaited..