Toronto Ontario Canada Part 2: Toronto BJJ, OpenMat, and The Gi Hive

Greeting from Toronto...still!

We last left off with me training at Xtreme Couture, Greenwood BJJ and Northern Karate in Toronto. Now's it's time to finish off my adventures in this fine city I call one of my many homes.

A shot of Dundas Square.

OpenMat

I have been to OpenMat before, but that was 2 years ago and they have changed location and a lot of the club on the administration end. Although much of the gym has changed, it's still the same high level instructors running the classes, with Elliott Bayev as the head BJJ instructor and founder of the club. The club is in a basement lot but there are plenty signs to follow to lead you to the right place. Once inside it's almost all mat area, there are change rooms, bathrooms and showers off to the left. Off to the right around the corner is a small area for working out and the office as well but other wise it's all mat space.I spent a day at OpenMat, hitting the gi class at noon and the no gi in the evening. In between classes I found a place to eat and go on some wifi to update my posts. I imagine there will be more days where this is a usual thing, rather run back and forth to where I'm staying. Sometimes it's easier to bring gear for 2 classes and hang out in the area.

Come in, Jiu-Jitsu inside!

Down this way!

You've made it!

Anyways, I made it to the noon time class early, signed the waiver and talked to the guys about my journey as we waited for more students to show up. As it ends up, Matt, the membership consultant who I spoke with before coming in via e-mail, has had a dream of doing something similar but with kickboxing. We got along great talking about where we want to go or places we've been to. Taro was teaching the noon time gi class, he's a strong athletic guy and showed some cool Judo tips for take downs. It was a good sized class, and I worked with a few different guys, we drilled the take downs with each other, getting the feel for it with different body types. After drilling was open mat and I had a few rolls with some of the guys, starting from standing so we could work the techniques we are drilling in class. Taro was really slick with his control, it was fun rolling him, I could really feel that he has conditioned himself to go at a high pace for a long time, and out match was only a small fraction of that.  The other students were really friendly and had good technique, the rolls weren't aggressive but they weren't flow rolls either. I fully enjoyed the noon time class, training with everyone and telling them of my journey. I would see some of them again in the evening.  

Taro showing us some guard passing.

After grabbing food, doing work on social media and this blog I met up with my friend Steve, who used to train in BJJ and even had a few fights in MMA overseas. He's always kept up on the grappling world, who's who, the new big star or tournament, etc. with internet forums and him and I always have some great conversations about it all. It was god to see him, not that it had been very long, but he's helped with me setting up my plan on what to do after the journey is over and it was great to talk to him about it all in person as we caught up on life. After we were done hanging out, it was time to get back to class for the no gi portion that evening.

The noon time class.

The evening class was packed, I thought the noon time class was a good turn out but the evening was full! The class was run by Denis who I remember seeing running the fundamentals class when I last visited. He's no gi class was really slick, he showed some great chains into moves I usually wouldn't do, but his step by step made them not so strange to me and helped figure them out. After class was again time for more rolling. I had a few rolls, one with Denis who, being a small lighter guy, was able to jump up on my back and attach himself there and slowly work me down to the mats and submit me. After 2 or 3 rolls I had to stop as my foot was cramping up, it felt like it had been stomped on but nothing was done to it, strange. Anyways, I stayed around and watched some of the beasts train for the up coming competition, one was even training for an EBI qualifier, which was cool to see him train for. This would the only time I could make it in to OpenMat so I said my thank yous and good byes to the coaches and Elliott, who was off in a corner training a private lesson during the evening class. Thanks again everyone at Openmat!  

Evening classes before no gi, kickboxing in the back and I think comp class.

Toronto BJJ

Toronto BJJ,

One of the places that always comes up as a gym I need to go train at is Toronto BJJ. I had never made it out before because I was always too busy having fun at other clubs my friends had sent me out to. This time around I had no excuse not to drop by, especially with Prof. Giacomo sending a message  to Prof. Jorge, the head instructor, I was dropping by. Toronto BJJ has got to be the biggest club in Toronto, not just in member size, which that alone is huge, but in gym size. The gym is in a two floor building, with a mats area on both floors and the changes rooms being in the basement. I walked in and was greeted at the front desk and after filling out a waiver was shown around. The building being old is a bit of a maze to get around, the stairs to the change rooms below was off to the side of the first floor mat space but to get to the second floor mat space you continue past the change rooms through a hall that brings you to another set of stairs that goes all the way to the second floor. I don't where which direction I was facing when I was training up top but it was a big wide open space with lots of light and a lot of bodies so we'll good, haha.

This is the usual size class they have apparently. 

Class was big, lots of people on the mats, and they seemed to be used to a lot of people visiting, coming and going with this club, no one asked about where I was from or how long I was in town, it was like just another class to them. There was a big black belt teaching class, his name escapes me but he had a bunch of tattoos and was dealing with a fresh one as he was teaching. We trained some open guard passing, some chains from guard pass to mount to armbar. Fun stuff. Once class was over it was time for open mat, and half the class left while a new group of people showed up, including several black belts, all ready to roll. I rolled with a bunch of people, staying clear of some of the more serious rollers who looked to be getting ready for the tournament that was the next weekend, I was in no mood to be fodder to those beasts but I hope they all did well.

Rolling hour has started, it got pretty busy later on.

One particular black belt called out me, noted that he noticed my gi and I had been to a few of the camps and always liked to meet and roll with people visiting and passing by. He was actually from a gym north of Toronto, in Barrie a town I wish I had more time so I could go visit, train at the clubs and visit my family who lives in the area. After training and rolling for a almost 2 hrs it was time to leave and meet up with an old friend for the evening. But first I had conversation with a few guys at the front desk about traveling and training and enjoying my time in Toronto. It's always great to have these conversations where I'm asked "What's the best club you've to?" or " Who's the best instructor you've been in a class with?" Because to honest I don't really have a 'favourite' but I do have all kinds of cool stories and experiences to tell them about, and that's always a fun conversation.            

Hanging with My Bro and Friends

During my time in Toronto I stayed at my brother Jeff's place. It was good to hang out with him, as he wasn't able to come home for the holidays and this would be the last time until after The Odyssey, unless he somehow won the lottery, got a passport and flew out to meet me somewhere. The first night I made it in Jeff, his girlfriend, his roommate and I all went for wings. I told them some stories of my travels across Canada and they filled me in on things I've missed since the last time I was in Toronto. It was a good first night back in town, but sadly it would also be one of the only nights Jeff and I got to hang out. We hung out lots at home but he came down with a cold and I was out training almost every evening. Still, it was good to hang out with my brother before taking off to travel the world, Going to miss you bro!

My Brother and I. maybe he should start Jiu-Jitsu, he already has the Kurt Osiander pose down.

We also met up one evening for dinner with an old friend of mine, James. James now has a family and him and I don't always get to hang out when I come to town, so getting him to come out and run around on the old beaten path together was a great way to catch up as well as walk down memory lane. The three of us met down at Dundas Square, Toronto's attempt at their own new Times Square. James and I did what we always do, met at the record shop there, checked out the new albums on sale and chatted about whatever. We made out way to a restaurant where we met up with my brother and had some food and drink. Jeff hadn't seen James in a long time so there was a lot of catching up to do, but in the end it all lead to us bitching about how growing up and being responsible sucks. After dinner Jeff took off to hit up some stores while James and I walked the path we used to do almost every weekend during the college years.

Another view up Yonge St from Dundas Square.

We walked down through the Eaton's Center Mall, on to Queen st heading toward city hall and all the tourist shops beyond. As we passed old city hall William Shatner was out on the steps shooting something. I tried taking a picture but it was too blurry to really pick out who it was. We continued on, walking all the shops and the City TV and Much Music building that I remember us stopping to watch so many shows being taped, waiting to catch a glimpse of whatever celebrity or musician was there as the TV guest that day. Finally we made it to the theatre, now called the Scotiabank Theatre, in future who knows what it will be called, but to everyone who's been around longer than 10 years it'll always be the Paramount Theatre.

The famous truck in the side of the wall at City TV.

William Shatner filming something downtown.

The paramount has for the longest time been my favourite theatre to walk up to, not because it's got a cool outside because it really doesn't, but because of the staircase. While the ticket sales are on the main floor when you walk in, the theatre is about 3 floors up, straight up. The stairs are bordered by escalators, up on the right, down on the left. You might be asking, why do i love these stairs? this sounds boring and a pain in the ass to deal with to watch a  movie. Well the fun to the stairs is this, at the top of the stairs is a huge screen that plays commercials and previews of coming movies for you to watch while you ride up the escalator. If you stare at the screen the whole ride up, an optical illusion happens, you start to feel like you're going straight up a cliff and that you might even fall back. it's the craziest feeling and I love it! I ran into this a long time ago and then told James, who then told other friends and it's become a fun tradition going to the movies there every time. During our walk around town we talked about all the old memories that walking the same path for almost 10 years creates, about the the drunken walks back, all the fun times with other friends who we have since lost touch with, and all the stores that have changed over the years. I was possibly the best evening I could have one last time in Toronto, who knows when the next time will be.

The Gi Hive 

This interview is actually from the future (que the Twilight Zone) I originally had planned to get an interview with Prof. Waggney Fabiano but ended up not feeling well enough to make it to class and do the interview that evening. I figured Since The Gi Hive hits all the tournaments in Toronto it was suiting to put the interview, which I did while in Hamilton, in with this article.

The Gi Hive is a Canadian company selling all sorts of Jiu-Jitsu gear online and at some tournaments. They have a flat rate shipping for all of Canada (If you're in Canada you know that is a big deal when ordering online as shipping, customs and exchange rate can kill a good deal pretty fast), which makes them a top supplier to Canadian Jiu-Jitsueros. I met Cory, the founder and head of The Gi Hive, in the summer at a tournament and when I learned I'll be in his neck of the woods I figured we should do an interview on how he put together a Jiu-Jitsu merchandise website and the trails involved undertaking such an act. Check out the interview below!

If the Link doesn't work, head over to the Panda's Odyssey YouTube Channel and watch it there, and give my channel some love by commenting and liking the videos and subscribing too!

Panda's Odyssey Patches Online!

The Panda Patches are now on The Gi Hive!

Also, check out The Gi Hive, if you're needing anything, especially if you're in Canada, check there first and take advantage of that $5 flat rate shipping ($10 flat rate for USA)! And while you're there, check out the 'Other Section' to find my Panda Patches! Up until now you had to either get a hold of me via e-mail or see me in person to get one of my awesome Panda's Odyssey Patches, but now you can support this journey by buying them online at the The Gi Hive!

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 my Toronto visit, now off to Hamilton Ontario to finally meet Jeff Joslin!

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