2011 Recap (It’s mid-January, but what the hell...)

This year in May marked my return to training in BJJ – new school, training partners, and friends. A social network account made it also possible  for me to set up the Pinoy Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Group in the UK with Bong Abad of Gawakoto fame and its counterpart in North America together with the famous Joe Rico of that 90’s seminal thrash metal band Sacrifice.

This re-uptake of this worthwhile but physically demanding sport has caused me to suffer injuries and be sidelined for some time as well (3-4 months in total) – from a fractured rib to the reoccurrence of a chronic rotator cuff injury. This time away from training has also been compounded by the times when I am unable to come to class because of work commitments that have taken priority.

The toll this has taken on my training has made me more aware of how de-skilled you can quickly become when you spend time off the mats – this includes sports-specific cardio.

This year, in 2012, I have made several goals that I plan to achieve, some of them are BJJ-related. Amongst other things, I plan to not focus too much of my time and energy on work and take some back to spend more time with my family and in pursuing BJJ. Training in BJJ is my only “me” time (except playing COD on XBox and PS3). I very hardly go out to pubs and clubs anymore and given the choice, I would prefer staying at home with my family.

Following on that, I plan to attend class on a more regular basis, and train around injuries. I feel more confident now with the sport and with that comes the ability to be more aware of your body movements so as not to put too much strain on your injuries – that is, unless you have got a sparring partner who’s into “Biff-jitsu”.

It would also be nice (and beneficial to me) to find time outside the class to just roll with my BJJ friends. There are a lot of things to consider, of course, as availability and location is a huge factor. With the uncertainty of Kamon BJJ Croydon’s future in 2012, it becomes more apparent to me that a decision has to be made if I want to continue pursuing this endeavour.