About a week or so ago, I saw a review of the Cauliflower Chronicles by Marshall D Carper, think it might have been in JJS magazine. I liked the sound of someone giving up their lifestyle to whole-heartedly throw themselves into BJJ. I did enjoy the book but think I was expecting something completely different to what I got, but the book was a damn good read and it was finished cover to cover in about 9 hours.(What can I say, lots of spare time that day!) In a nut shell, Marshall trains some BJJ but is moving on to college. He chooses to leave all his "friends" and girlfriend to study in Hilo, Hawaii hoping to train with legendary MMA and BJJ fighter B.J Penn. Without giving too much away about the story line ect, things in Hawaii go well, he learns and grows as a fighter and a person and a well deserved happy ending. I would recommend and BJJ enthusiast to have a read. Although I think I was expecting something of a seminal work, letting me in on the insights of BJJ and the secret to becoming a phenom. The book gave me only a little of this, of which I'll share with you. The secret is this: PRACTICE. Simples.
This month we started working Side control in class. Maintaining side, hip control, escaping side. This is fairly new to myself and I am pretty certain this could be a strong position for my game. As this is the first week that is pretty much all we have covered in the couple of sessions I have been to. I'm sure coaches Tom and Scott will have more for us to develop later in the month.
My coach Tom Barlow, who has been invited to the ADCC has just been sponsored by Scramble. Tom is the second fighter to be sponsored by Scramble from our club, the other being Hannah Gorman. I would like to wish Tom all the best at the ADCC and I am sure he will do very well.
My rolling buddy Chris, asked if I was going to compete anytime soon. I gave it a moments thought and said maybe in December, if I thought I had a decent grasp of basic BJJ. That and maybe a tad lighter!
Good luck to the guys from Gracie Barra Plymouth competing this weekend, Phil, Adam and Daniel. Protect ya neck guys and bring home the gold!
Saw a post by fellow blogger Meg Smitley (Megjitsu) about washing a Gi without washing. Sounds a bit Bruce Lee to me, but after reading it found it to be a pretty good article, apparently doing this helps keep the colour in coloured gi's. I will be having a go at this and will post how it goes, as I have two black and a blue Gi's already looking a touch faded. Heres the link: http://www.megjitsu.com/how-to-wash-bjj-gi-without-water/
Keep on Rollin'
VooDoo
