Pinoy Open Mat

October 16^th marked the first time the Pinoy BJJ Group met up for an open mat session. Myself, Bong, Diosa, Jonathan, and youngest member, Jodi, met up at Hitchin Combat Club in Hertfordshire. Nearly didn’t happen, as the original venue in South London became unavailable earlier in the week. Fortunately, Bong came to the rescue and used his contacts to secure another one in record time. I tell you, this Bong guy is a saviour - must be a superhero in disguise, hmmm...

After a slightly panicky situation when we couldn’t figure out how to open the front door (Hub? What hub?!), we managed to get access to the building. The gym is very nice – wall-to-wall matting, heavy bags, changing rooms, and a fully kitted boxing ring complete with a timer.

As we were early, Bong decided to have a light rolling to warm ourselves up. As I was a bit rusty with my rolling skills, my body’s definition of rolling seemed to be off a bit, as I nearly took out Bong’s eye in the first minute. Good thing that the rest of the group turned up soon afterwards, as I was getting creamed by a half-blind BJJ player with skillz...

Talking about skillz, Jonathan and Diosa, both blue belts under Leao Teixeira (Escola de JJ), have so much of it and ran the session like a clinic – guard passing, sweeps, reversals, etc., and lot of drilling with techniques, as well. Both Diosa and Jonathan clearly earned their belts and are very good teachers. Bong, who has recently earned two stripes in his belt earlier in the week, has also been giving me useful tips. As the newest BJJ player in the group, I was like a sponge and was soaking it all in. There were only four of us on the mats but the support I was getting was more than enough.

Towards the end of the session, we did several rounds of rolling. This showed me how far I still had to go. They could have submitted me anytime they wished, but they chose to flow...

Knackered, we headed off to the nearest Nando’s for food, rest, recuperation, and the all-important chismis (chatting/gossiping). Filipinos love to chat as much as they like their food.

Facebook has received its share of knocks about how it takes over people’s lives and that, but thru this social networking site, I have come to meet and personally know people who share a common passion. I’m pleased to say that they are not JUST my Facebook friends anymore.

The journey in BJJ is long and fraught with obstacles, but having people like them to help out along the way makes the trek worthwhile.