BJJ

My BJJ journey began way back in 2003. I like most of us saw the UFC and witnessed Royce Gracie do some things that weren't seen before. Here is this guy from Brazil wearing a karate uniform being led to the ring by some unknown family members. He looks normal. Not all big or muscluar like you'd expect in this type of contact sport. Then the bell rings and he gets busy! I have to learn this was my first thought. At the time I was doing Aikido. I thought Aikido was the perfect art for me. It fit who I was TRYING to be at the time. I was trying to be.......Steven Segal. I saw his movies and wanted to have that ability. I wanted to have guys rushing me and falling by the wayside with a simple movement. We did some ground stuff in class but it was mostly learning how not to get grabbed. All good skills to have don't get me wrong. But, when we did get grabbed in class and went to the ground I relied on my highschool wrestling background. Scramble to get up! Royce showed me ok, you're on the ground, you can still control this fight and finish it without causing major damage. PERFECT. Now where in the heck can I learn BJJ?

At the time St.Louis didnt have any BJJ schools that I knew of. I searched the web but most of the schools in the 90's were on the West Coast. So, I continued to train Aikido. Flash forward a year later and I happen to check the area yellow pages and there it was! Gracie Jiu-Jitsu! Blackbelt Rodrigo Vaghi was teaching in St.Louis! I called, checked out a class and signed up the next day. That was 2003. Rodrigo is a 4th degree blackbelt under Rickson Gracie. He is brazilian and trained at the original Gracie academy with Rickson, Royce, Royler, Rolker, Saulo and Xande etc. Not to mention Master Helio! How lucky that we here in St.Louis have an authentic Gracie JiuJitsu student among us willing to share all he has learned. There are tons of guys I've talked to that say we are very very lucky to have someone straight from the source of BJJ. I think we take that for granted at times.

I havent used my luck as I should. I started like everyone, gung ho about BJJ. I went to class 4-5 days per week. Bought videos, bought magazines and books. I studied all I could. All I wanted to do was work, coach and train. I was making great progress. Then I got a little injury and started slacking off. Four days became 3, then 2, then 1 finally a few weeks off. A few weeks off became a month. Then a month became months. I began making excuses as to why I couldnt go train. I'm tired, my______ hurts, there's to much traffic, I have a meeting etc. I made every excuse as to why I couldnt make the 25min drive to train. Once again I am so lucky to have a great teacher like Rodrigo 25mins away from me. Some guys have driven from as far as Nebraska and Wisconsin for a weekend of training at our gym. They have all said the same thing: I wish we had a blackbelt of his caliber close to us.

So, here it is August 2008. I'm still a very dirty white belt with no stripes. I can count on two hands how many times I've trained this YEAR. Guys that I started with in 2003 are purple belts. One of my former students is a BLUE belt. I know its not about the belt and I know you have to train to improve. I'm hoping by reevaluating my goals and this blog I will stroke that fire to train and compete. I really like BJJ. I like the fact that what you learn can be used on anyone regardless of size. Its a stress relief. Its great exercise. You can train well into old age. Master Helio is 93! We have guys at our gym as old as my dad and kick my butt with no problems. Just need the motivation.

One down, 2 to go.

Well, good news. I have been hired at my high school alma mater to lead the girls JV basketball team! Its been a goal of mine since leaving Ritenour High School to return in some form or fashion. Well that goal has been realized 16 years later. I sent my coaching resume to a few schools back in the spring on a whim and wouldnt you know the Orange and Black came a knockin. I'm excited yet nervous at the same time. I haven't coached girls basket ball since the 2003 season. The school I was working for decided to shut down and reopen as a brand new entity. With that the head coach I was under left to coach his daughter at a different school. Soooooooo, I assumed I'd be next in line for the head job. WRONG. The powers that be decided a woman should coach the girls program despite experience and competition resume. I was asked to begin the new Wrestling program as I wrestled for 2 years in highschool. I accepted and left basketball.

Fast forward to 2008 and I'm back on the court! I'm a little rusty in my court sense but it will come back to me I'm sure. I hope the style I learned from my old mentor doesnt clash with my new Boss.

And so it begins.......

This is going to be my daily rants and raves about my new coach assignments for the 2008-2009 season. Also, my own training and recreational pursuits. So to begin........

I began my coaching career way back in the good ole 20th century (1997). I was hired fresh out of college. Didnt really have any ambitions to be someones "coach". I wanted to be a police officer and had my life planned around that. Talk about career swap!

Anyway I was hired by a local school district before I even got my diploma. That teacher shortage thing is TRUE. They are snatching kids right out of class to teach! I was then hired by the AD at the time to help a new head coach. What do I know about coaching was my first thought? I've been playing since I was 8 but never considered trying to teach someone what came natural to me.

So I became Coach Harris to 50 young men in the Jennings School District here in St.Louis, Missouri. The previous season the Warriors finished 0-10. Needless to say I was walking into a tough situation. I was the youngest coach on staff at the time and was in charge of running backs and linebackers. The first few days I wasnt very well taken too considering the seniors were 18-19 and I was this 23 year old "college kid". During drills some of the older kids would make comments about my "proper english" and try and test me. Being a new coach I knew the tricks cause I did them! Time to demonstrate some proper technique. One day I suited up with the kids for proper tackling demonstration................................................lets just say the rest of the year was full of "yes sir, no sir, thanks coach, coach may I"