You Are Nothing Without Focus

Don't Remember His Name, But He Competed at a NAGA I Worked In Georgia...
He Is Completely Blind and STILL Placed In His Divison!!!
He Is A Hero Of Mine...A Real Inspiration
He Didn't Complain Nor Make Excuses!
God Is Great!

Weight: 222.6

Life comes at you from all directions...Health fails, money leaves, people leave or they stay around and cause chaos and confusion, work...is work...And you must deal with it all. It's amazing how things and negative energy from people can affect your own energy and life and actions in a given discipline....I deal constantly with the realization that God has given me something in Jiu-Jitsu that I am meant to do. Hidden in that is to realize limitations exist, whether or not you choose to break down those barriers is up to you...All the aforementioned ills befall those of us who are not fortunate to have sponsors to allow us to train and teach all the time and this hinders our focus from being finely tuned as it must be to reach certain heights we may wish. Thus, I am in a position to always have some sort of struggle and strife to overcome while attempting to reach for what I wish to accomplish...Though I am blessed immeasurably by having my gym and being able to teach and thus give me peace of mind and a source of calm in my life, I am not a great business man, nor very good at marketing in the sense some do it, so it doesn't afford me the luxury of being able to train as I should to reach the goals I have set...In as much, the goals I have reached and the person that I am seem not to be enough to have a large sponsor be interested as they support other athletes in the sport....That said...The couple that I do have are truly wonderful, and I am happy with them as I understand that they stand behind who I am and who I can be...Just hard to see how I am not enough in other ways...

Anyways, on to Jiu-Jitsu...the theme of focus comes in the vein of training...I have been preparing for tournaments and working diligently, or so I thought, towards getting myself to a place where I'd like to be. That said, due to my recent performances, I have seen a tendency to be a bit too error prone in my game...this has come from the way I train, and somewhat due to being able to be sloppy sometimes and still not be threatened...For some time, even back when I was training at Allen's I wasn't really training...I was more teacher, that trainer, as I'd get questions during the time I would have been drilling, working, rolling, etc...It got to be really hard to prepare and focus upon a straightforward plan of attacking the holes in my game as I needed to...This became moreso amplified when I started my own gym as I care so much for the success of my students, that I started feeling as if I could slide by without the full bore, hard core workout sessions I had been accustomed to...that said, I have started back working and training with Marcus more frequently, and the feeling of just training and learning all in the same session is back...I have to be on point the entire time we train or I will get killed, so I work more technically correct, more muscularly forceful, and more mentally aware...I am taught again to be patient, but this time on an elite black belt level so that my game can adapt and be successful...My weaknesses in sweeps and passing are really very minor. In just a few sessions on top of what I already train alone and with my students, my sweep game and passing game has taken off and grown by leaps and bounds...Developing a pressure in the timing and assertiveness of passing as well as once in dominant position is one of the main aims of training now...I am more apt to work sweeps more patiently and have a tad more confidence in opening my game up now as well to include some traps and techniques I have not used in competition before...Being forced to work patiently but diligently and pulling the trigger without thought or wasted motion, as well as feeling the way through positionsis making me advance again...I have a lot to work on, but I am so happy that even through all the pains and struggles in my every day life which were robbing me of the ability to concentrate on my own training and goals has all but disappeared in the wake of starting to actually "train". I still worked out and worked on things harder than alot of folks I know, but to be successful where I wish to be, there had to be more. Well, sweeps, passes, pressure, and pulling the trigger on some new submissions is on the agenda, and it WILL get done...Being on the Podium at Pans and Mundials at Adult is the goal...It can be done...So, I fight on...


Thought for The Day:

Genesis 32:24-26

24And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

²⁵And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

²⁶And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.