My Kingdom For A Sponsor....Goals And Thangz

Coming...

Gotta Go Again

THIS Is Where You Win
The Gym

This Is The Beginning

Weight: 203.2

Well...Here we are...The end of the year is coming...Almost feeling a tad bit rejuvenated as training seems to be really productive when I've been there...Had a minute there a month or two ago where I was really feeling like I was going to fall apart physically and mentally...Things are still hard, but at least forward movement is being felt...Have had some good developments in my top game which I have worked on very hard...Have a few passes that are natural and I am able to move between fluidly now, and my control is a lot better....I am working very hard to make my top submissions as natural as my bottom ones are...Also, in teaching my classes, my students are making some really good strides(even though they don't see it most times), as well as I. I feel like my understanding of the philosophy of techniques and the adjustment to fit different people and situations has moved up a notch...I hope to be able to gain a better insight into not only helping students to improve but to make it where they can actually see the improvement as that is one of the biggest sources of frustration in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Anyways....I came up with a new goals list...One of the huge parts of this is always the tournament scene...As it stood, when it was time to come up with the means to get to these competitions, it was out of pocket. This is said not to leave out the contributions from a few really great and wonderful friends and family as without them I would not have had even a chance to attempt any of the things I've done this year. I am really blessed to have them...This year, because of how things have been going lately, and how they seem to be going now, I do know that I really won't be able to make many if any of the tournaments on my list...And I also know being blessed with such generous friends is a great thing, but with things as they are in the world today, that won't be something to be relied upon as it was by the grace of God, and often at the last possible moment that they were there to help... Most of these trips are really big ones, and even though I do a great job at keeping costs down, they are always very expensive due to the distance, time, needing child (and now dog) care when I am gone, etc....SO, that in mind, if ANYONE who reads this, knows of any company, person, or entity, who would be benevolent enough to wish to support the travels and journeys his year on my path to a beginning(faixa preta), PLEASE let them know to contact me through here or I may come up with something a little more formal. I have the ability to have custom made patches made for whoever does so placed on my GI and apparel, and would be willing to do any appearances, private lessons, seminars, etc etc in return (open to other suggestions as well) for helping me to continue my dream...I could really use the help....That said, here is a list of my Goals/Etc for 2009...

• --Help My Daughter Improve Her Game And Place 1st in a Tournament
• --Open My own Brazilian Jiu-jitsu School
• --Have Black Belt Level Jiu-Jitsu by end of the summer
  
• --Coach one of my students to a 1st place medal in a Tournament
• --Have a student worthy of being Blue Belted by end of the year
  
• --Get Walking Around Weight To 210 With No More Than 5% Body Fat
• --Train 6 Days Per Week
  
• --Have No Major Injuries
• --Win A Judo Tournament
• --Increase My Wrestling Skill
  
• --I would Like to Win my Weight Division And/Or Absolute At Each Of These Tournaments
  

Jan.10/11(West)&Jan.16/17(East) --ADCC North American No-Gi Trials - Long Beach, CA.
Jan.30-Feb.1 --European Championships - Lisbon, Portugal
Feb. 27 --ADCC PRO GI Trials - Melbourne, Florida
Mar.27-Mar.29 --Pan American Games - Carson, CA.
Apr.18 --New York Internatonal Open - New York City, NY
May9,10,16,&17 --Brazilian Nationals - Rio, Brazil
Jun.4-Jun.7 --Mundials (World) Championships - Long Beach, CA.
Jul.24-Jul.26 --International Masters & Seniors World Championships - Rio, Brazil
Jul.24-Jul.26 --Rio International Open Jiu-Jitsu Championships
Mid-Sept. --American National GI and No-Gi Championships - Carson, CA.
Oct.3&Oct.4 --Pan American No-Gi Championships - New York City, NY.
Late-Oct. --U.S. Open Championships - Santa Cruz, CA.
Nov.8 --World No-Gi Championships, Carson, CA.
Late-Nov. --Asian Championships - Tokyo, Japan
This doesn't take into account the NAGA tournaments here in Dallas, Battle of H-Town and major tournaments in Houston, Louisiana Open/etc in LA., and perhaps the Copa Alliance tournament in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Also, at SOME point, I would like to go and train in Brazil for a few weeks.

As you can see, this is a pretty ambitious schedule to try to keep. I think that I can get my performance up to par, and definitely feel confident in my chances, IF, I can make it to these. This art has given me my life back. In many ways, I was really lost without it. Reaching my black belt(in skill level), to truly be able to start my journey, and be able to give to others even half of what I have been blessed with would really be something to be proud of. All that said, life and the reality of finance etc are already rearing their head. If I don't work something out in the next couple weeks at the most, then the January trips are going to be off. :( We will see how it goes...

Anyways, got a few good piece of things to say...

First, my boy Marcus "The Wrecking Ball" Hicks is going tobe fighting Razor Rob McCullough in January...Can't for Marcus to whup him so he can get another crack at the title! It's his, he just gotta Go Gettem!!!...

Coach Allen received the Instructor Of The Year Award from NAGA....This is a great accomplishment for the school and for Coach...shows that a lot of great work is being put in at the gym, and shows his work to be as good as we all know it is who train under him...

My boy Kelly Rundle got mentioned in a nice article in Gladiator Magazine (The one with Robbie Lawler on the cover) for his accomplishments at NAGA as did Coach Allen get a mention as well...

I was mentioned in Gracie Magazine (#141 - December 2008) ...On page 20, I have the WHOLE FREAKIN PAGE! Two pictures and an article!!! It comes from this year's U.S. Open....Funny thing is, I was just sitting and talking to people, and had no idea anyone I talked to was going to do something like that...Anyway, Coach Allen called me tonight and told me so I rushed over and got a copy from him...Thinking it was a joke...But no..there it was!...So if you read Gracie Magazine, please pick up a copy and check out ya boy!!!!!

Anyways, Back to training, as I have to prepare like I will be going to these tournaments in January...The ADCC Trials will be one of the biggest in terms of implications of winning I've been in, and I need a lot of work to close up some of my No-Gi sticking points such as tightening up some submissions and making my guard passing a lot more close, powerful and efficient...But we will see how things go...I feel like achieving these things, can allow me to take the next step in my progression in the gentle art, and give me a body of work and knowledge sufficient to validate where I am now, and show me I can get where I want to be...I really want to make this 2009 the year I prove that I am worthy of my rank...So...I Fight On.....

Thought For The Day: "Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life. Do not be concerned with escaping safely - lay your life before him."Bruce Lee