Last week, we spent 3 days training with nearly 100 BJJ practitioners from various academies across North America, and even Spain, who are all part of our extended Lovato association network. To simply call it a camp does not due the event justice.
By affiliating under Rafael Lovato Jr, one of the OGs of BJJ in the United States, we have been given access to numerous great minds in the sport who each bring their unique approach to modern jiu-jitsu. Some of these individuals are professionals who have placed at the highest levels of competition, while others are simply dedicated martial artists who have been training for decades. We are humbled to share the mats with both this group as well as the dozens of white, blue, purple and brown belts, just like us, who have only fallen in love with jiu-jitsu in the last decade. While we spent many hours on the mats challenging one another, we were also able to share time off the mats, or simply engaging in "mat chats" between rolls. And it is in this time that the bonds of lasting friendship are built. I consider us incredibly fortunate to have jiu-jitsu academies in Florida, Oregon, Kansas, Madrid, Maui and even Nova Scotia (among others) that we can now walk into and be welcome by a familiar face.
It's difficult to summarize all that we learned during the 7 sessions we had during the camp but here are a few of the takeaways I believe are most important to share.
There is no level at which we stop learning. Open your minds at every opportunity to take in information from those around you, regardless of their age and experience level. 20 year black belts can learn from their greener peers.
Formalities are not dead. While numerous jiu-jitsu gyms around the globe do not emphasize formal behaviors such as bowing, shaking hands and not appearing disheveled throughout class because these are "weird" practices, these small actions actually demonstrate respect not only for your academy and peers but, more importantly, respect for yourself.
Frames, frames, frames! Some days we dominate in all of our rounds, maintaining offensives positions and attacks. But on those days when we are tired, off or are simply rolling against partners who are better than us, we can and should be focused on having a strong defensive game. Become unpinnable and make your guard impassable. You may be on bottom the entire time but you can still make yourself an impenetrable fortress.
We have pressure! During last year's camp we felt the intensity of the Lovato mount pressure from nearly every person we rolled with. This year, we dished out that pressure ourselves. Though this is only one aspect of the game we have focused on, it tells us that what we have been practicing and teaching throughout the last year has stuck and we are confident that all of our students have improved their top pressure game alongside us.
More than anything, we want to share the knowledge we gained with our students in order to drive continuous improvement for everyone in their lifelong jiu-jitsu journey. We are committed to excellence in every single class we offer and hope that next year we won't be alone in making the pilgrimage to Oklahoma City so that you, too, can experience first hand all that this family has to offer.
See you on the mats.
Tom and Rachel
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