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| | | | BJJ Globetrotters Newsletter // August 2020 | | Dear Globetrotters,
Against all odds, we pulled off the Iceland Camp last month and what an experience it was. The camp was about half the size of originally anticipated (strongly influenced by the short notice ban on American travelers, which left out around 50 of them last minute). But together with lots of locals, we had a wonderful week on and off the mats. For a week there, we totally forgot about the pandemic. Rolling was as fun as ever, but I must admit it hurt quite a bit after such little training all year :)
Should you want to join us, you are of course most welcome. Due to all the complications this season, we are offering full flexibility on all tickets in case you can't go because of the virus situation.
Have a fantastic day,
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What you'll find in this month's newsletter:
- Sign up for the online premiere of our documentary
- Featured Traveller: Sven Groten
- Photo from Iceland Camp last month
- Globetrotters Academy in Focus: Cicero Costha Jiu-Jitsu Madagascar
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| | Sign up for the free online premiere of our documentary! |
| | The Gentle Art of Travel is following the BJJ Globetrotters camps behind the scenes over the course of one full year and 12 training camps around the world. Sign up now to receive an invitation for the free online premiere.
Alternatively, sign up for our Fall Camp in Estonia, where we'll be holding the premiere in the biggest cinema of the Baltics (free admission for camp participants) |
| | | Austria Camp is on - last minute tickets still available! |
| | The camp in Austria next month is going ahead! Hotel staff and adult participants will test for C-19 before the camp and we do daily temperature checks of everyone.
If you feel like getting away from all the craziness for a little bit, come join us in Austria, it will be fun! :) If you want to get a feeling of what the camp is like, check out our video from last year here: |
| | | | Training is back in Estonia! Join our big movie premiere in beautiful Tallinn |
| | The camp in Estonia is fully planned to go ahead and tickets are still available! |
| | | | Featured Traveller: Sven Groten |
| | Age: 30
Belt: Black (purple in BJJ formally, black in Luta Livre - so blackbelt)
Profession: Special Education teacher, academy owner of Game Theory Jiu-Jitsu (one of four owners), Jiu-Jitsu teacher
How many years in BJJ: Should be around 9/10
Other martial arts: I started martial arts by doing Judo as a child, did some self defense Ju-Jutsu, then moved on to grappling and MMA
Where do you live: Cologne, Germany
Where are you originally from: A small town close to the German-Dutch border
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| | Tell us what inspired you to travel and train? Only a couple of years ago - and to be honest, somewhat still to this day - Germany was a developing country when it came to grappling. There was grappling training, but it was still stuck in the Stone Age of development. After my first glance into modern Jiu-Jitsu, it was pretty much apparent that getting decent teaching, training partners, and influences would be hard to come by without travel.
Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?Just before Corona hit the world, I was able to cross a week in the Jiu-Jitsu Mecca of New York off my bucket list. Also, as I’m writing this, I just returned home from the BJJ Globetrotters Camp in Iceland. |
| | | What are the things you enjoy about traveling? The main aspect I really like about Jiu-Jitsu travelling specifically is that, to the locals, it instantly makes you more than a random tourist. You are a fellow practitioner. That makes the interactions with people less superficial and somehow more real. You might much more easily end up having some form of connection with people, and be invited to spend time together.
Furthermore, travelling as a blackbelt and instructor often leads into teaching, and somehow the idea that someone from the other end of the world learned a tiny bit of Jiu-Jitsu from me and carries that with him is a very satisfying one.
Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth traveling and training? Well, I can’t really tell you about one or two amazing crazy things I've experienced. It’s more about the mass of tiny ones that make it worth the effort. Being invited to teach while in New York was quite the honor for me, I’ve always had my eye on people over there, so for me - a random guy from Germany - to be teaching there was kind of crazy. Similarly, I remember one day during my first Iceland camp, staring out in the ocean, wondering how this weird thing that started as a hobby somehow took me there.
One big thing I can point out for sure was the opportunity of having a private lesson with Garry Tonon. I’m not a fan of personalities, but his grappling is something I’ve been looking up to a lot.
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| | What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling? Each and every time I visit a new place and be myself, I’m surprised people don’t drive me out of town with pitchforks.
Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip? I don’t have excess money, but I’m not really a budget traveller anyways. I somehow try to save enough to not have to be too careful about my spending when traveling.
If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be? Tough one… In general, I guess I should recommend to not do anything the way I do it. But especially if you don’t travel regularly, I think in every “Should I do/try this?”-type scenario, I’d say go for it. It might be the one chance you get! |
| | | Photos from Iceland Camp last month |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Summer Camp postponed to November, get your ticket! :) |
| | We’re heading back to Heidelberg for our biggest camp of the year and another incredible week of BJJ training, workshops, diving competitions, morning yoga sessions, midnight cocktail bar crawls, martial arts movie nights and live DJ open mats (with free beer). |
| | | | BJJ Globetrotters Academy in Focus: Cicero Costha Jiu-Jitsu Madagascar |
| | Where is the gym located?
We are located in Madagascar, in the city of Antananarivo (2eme arrondissement, Mandroseza). You can see us on Google Maps here.
How many people train there?
20 people altogether now.
Is the gym growing - if so by how many new members each month or year?
We just moved in recently, so people are starting to get to know us. There are about 5-10 new people who want to train with us every month. Unfortunately we're still closed at the moment because of this COVID-19 situation, but I am confident for a better future .
What are the highest and lowest belt grades training?
The highest rank is brown belt (me, the coach), the highest student’s rank is blue belt, and the lowest is naturally white belt .
When did the gym open?
Our gym opened in February 2018 - two years ago. |
| | Some facts about you:
Name: Alexandre Herilanto
Age: 43
Belt: Brown
Profession: Web / Application Developer
Years in BJJ: 14 years
Other martial arts: Judo, Boxing, Kusari Jutsu (samurai/ninja chain) Currently living in: Antananarivo, Madagascar
Originally from: I'm from Madagascar; I am Malagasy
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| Please tell us the story of how your gym came into existence:
When I was a purple belt in 2010, I had to move to a place where there was no Jiu Jitsu club. I already had the idea of building a small team so that I could continue to train, but unfortunately people there weren’t interested in ground fighting like BJJ, even if Marcelo Bocao (Brazilian Top Team), while visiting us, tried to help me out. When I returned to Antananarivo in 2013, my schedule didn’t allow me to re-join my old club , so I told my teacher that I'd like to build my own club.
Unfortunately, in 2015, we had to move and start all over again. Only a few students could join the new dojo (too far). In 2017, the same thing happened again, so I decided to do everything in my power to ensure we could to have our own dojo (with help from some friends and firms). In February 2018, we finally opened our new dojo in Mandroseza.
Tell us about the people that train in the gym – who are they?
Anyone who upholds the values of Jiu Jitsu/martial arts (respect, discipline, hard work, humility) is welcome in our dojo. Our students are between the age of 11-30. One is from Zambia, and since last year we've had visitors from Greece, the US, Poland, Norway, and Reunion island.
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| | Why do they train?
Some dream of becoming a BJJ athlete; others train for self-defense and self-improvement.
What are some of the challenges of running a BJJ gym in general and in your location specifically?
I think BJJ is a beautiful martial art/sport, but it is quite expensive. If you want to run a successful BJJ gym, you have to perform well in high-level competition, so you and your athletes have to train twice daily at least, alongside study, job, family...
It's the same here in my country, but on a different level, I think. Dojo equipment like mats are very expensive, as are gis for the practitioners). As well as that, some people (especially those who have trained other martial arts) think that BJJ is not effective in a street fight. That's why we teach self-defense in our fundamentals classes (for 1st and 2nd stripe white belts). Even afterwards, higher belts must do one fundamentals class every week at least.
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| | How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?
The future is the product of what we do today. The BJJ community in Madagascar is currently building a Jiu-Jitsu federation, which I hope will bring something positive for BJJ in Madagascar in combination with the individual efforts of each academy.
What’s the best thing about your gym?
- We do our best to find a good balance between the root of Jiu Jitsu, which is the self-defense side, and the evolution of Jiu Jitsu, which is the sport side.
- Whatever we do /learn, we try to build it around one concept - efficiency & effectiveness.
- We apply the KAIZEN principle (small but continuous improvements), which is why our motto is, ”Kaizen the self and make a positive contribution to society”.
What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym?
In Antananarivo, Globetrotters can visit:
- Lemur Park
- Ambohimanga Palace (King’s Palace)
- Museum of Photography
- Croc Farm
- Analakely Market
- Queen’s Palace Manjakamiadana
- Bird Park Tsarasaotra
- The Zoo
Thanks for sharing with us! If you'd like to pay a visit to Cicero Costha Jiu-Jitsu Madagascar, you can find them here. |
| | | | | | | | | | | Make your custom gis, patches and rashguards at our dedicated BJJ Globetrotters factory |
| | | It can be a mess to try and find a manufacturer of BJJ gear that you can trust on quality, delivery and attention to detail.
You can burn a lot of money going through samples from the many thousands of factories in Asia, trying to find one that will provide you with the product as you’ve imagined it. We know, because we’ve been through it all, ourselves! |
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