New BJJ class at CMAA Frith Road has already started! Times are 11am to 12:30pm, usual cost of £10 or will be included as one of the classes if you choose to pay monthly!

Hallo everybody, hope everyone had a good rest over the Christmas holidays…
Last Sunday was Vinicius’ 3rd seminar at Croydon and we covered some new self-defence techniques plus some great ideas on the ground too!
The next seminar will be on Sunday the 9th of February 2014 at the usual times of 11am – 2pm, tax just £20!
This will be Vinny’s LAST seminar at Croydon M.A.A. so please make a special effort to attend what will be a great seminar!!
Pax vo biscum, Dante.

Happy new year everybody and here’s hoping everyone had a nice rest over the Christmas holidays!
As of writing we had our first class of the year at easyGym which was well attended (14) and we covered one Judo technique/ osoto gari, one self defence/
standing choke from behind and on the floor passing guard from the knees correctly.
We followed that with positional sparring using what was taught.
We will be having 2 gradings this year in April and October and both will be followed by our traditional meal at a Brasilian Rodizio restaurant near Croydon Clock Tower 5mins walk away!!
I’m looking forward to Vinicius holding his 3rd seminar at CMAA on Sunday 19th January and it looks like it will be very well attended!
I’ve also asked a few of my friends if they would like to take a seminar at CMAA and hopefully the new year will see that realised all things going to plan!
These include;
Felipe de Souza
Paul Hartley
Alex Faria
Oliver Geddes.
I’m still toying with the idea of teaching children’s BJJ in August 2014. Methinks I would need an assistant as the old man might get worn out by the munchkins!
It would be nice to see CBJJ represented in competitions this year; anyone whose age begins with a ‘1’, a ‘2’, a ‘3’ or a ‘4’ should think about maybe one or two comps a year….
Whew, that exempts me then!
Ciao for now, next update coming soon!

There’s been a lot of talk recently in the ‘Budo’ community about the way modern martial arts are taught.

Topics range from fake teachers,  excessive costs to train, etc etc but I’d like to touch on the sport v. self defence debate.

Not everyone in martial arts is inclined to compete and chase medals. It’s predominantly a younger person’s prerogative and should be actively encouraged.

That’s not to say our older students are pushovers; far from it!

But martial arts, ‘Budo’, were originally devised in feudal times as a way of defending oneself in a violent society. I’ve always said that Budo is a reflection of society, and when the world saw  a boom in sport, especially the Olympics and the Football World Cup, martial arts followed suit. Then, what happened in many martial arts was a shift towards a sports dominated culture, often at the expense and neglect of self-defence!

What good is a medal when attacked in the street!

I believe Judo and Brasilian Jiu-Jitsu have neglected self defence in recent years! Self defence seminars are few and far between but in fact there is a huge demand for them which remains largely untapped!

Thankfully there is now a shift back to teaching self defence in some BJJ schools EVERY LESSON utilising a wide variety of common attacks and defence.

What this means is that when we think of BJJ we must actually CHANGE our perception of the martial art as not just a great, fun, evolving sport but a super tough and effective SELF DEFENCE  system that runs parallel and equal to the sport aspect!

We must EXPECT  and ACCEPT self defence and VALUE the training as important and not think that it’s boring and ‘can we skip to the sparring’!

I think that at first this will take some time getting used to and acclimatising but eventually as new students join and are used to the new format we will again have a good balance between sport and self defence.

Thank you and stay safe.

Croydon BJJ will be hosting their 3rd Vinicius de Castro seminar on Sunday the 19th of January 2014 from 11am to 13:30. Cost will be just £20!
Parking is available and nearest overground is West Croydon Station.
Please note we start punctually!
The last seminar was a great success and I counted 12 different techniques taught!
Thank you Vinny!

THURSDAY 19th December will be our last class @ Croydon MAA Frith Road for 2013 and the first class of 2014 will be TUESDAY 7th of January.
EASYGYM:
Last class of 2013 will be FRIDAY 20th December and the first of 2014 will be FRIDAY 3rd of
January.

Hi guys;
for those of you who train twice a week religiously at Croydon MAA Frith Road and would like to ease the financial burden we can now offer a monthly fee of £60 instead of £80.
Thank You.

Croydon BJJ are proud to announce that we will be hosting another seminar with Vinicius de Castro on Sunday 15th December, 11am to 13:30 sharp.
Cost will be just £20, registration 10:30.