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| | | BJJ Globetrotters Newsletter // May 2022 | | Dear Globetrotters,
Apologize for the slight delay in this newsletter; I just returned home from two amazing camps in Estonia and Italy! I'm still a bit high from the experience; it was fantastic to see so many friends and happy faces again. The Castle Camp in Italy was the last one so it was a bit sad to say good bye. It was only ever supposed to be a one-off, but we ended up doing six of them and now we decided to stop before it becomes "too much of a good thing". On to new adventures, it's called Globetrotters after all!
It's nice to see that we're returning to a somewhat normal life again and people are eager to go to the camps. We're pretty much almost completely sold out for the season; only a few camps still have tickets available.
I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of you on the mats soon!
Have a fantastic day,
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What you'll find in this month's newsletter:
- Photos from Castle Camp in Italy last week
- Featured Globetrotter: Matt Young
- Photos from Spring Camp in Estonia
- Globetrotters Academy in Focus: Grappling Cooperative / Brighton BJJ School
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| | | | | 5 tickets left for next Caribbean Island Camp in St. Barth |
| | *December 5 – 11, 2022 in Saint Barthélemy *
* Easily reachable from United States and Europe *
* Seven-day Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training camp *
* Six nights central accommodation *
* An affordable chance to visit exclusive celebrity island *
* Dinners in local restaurants *
* Daily surf lessons and board rental *
* Catamaran boat trip *
* Fresh bread from local bakery every morning *
* Laundry service *
* Stay extra nights at affordable rate *
* Minivans and cars available for exploring the island *
* Some of the world’s best beaches *
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| | | | Photos from Castle Camp in Italy last week |
| | | | | | | | | | Less than 50 tickets left for next Winter Camp |
| | * January 2-7 in Wagrain, Austria *
* Now five nights / six days *
* 10 year anniversary of BJJ Globetrotters *
* 70 km from Salzburg airport *
* Beautiful location in the middle of the alps *
* Six days of BJJ and skiing / snowboarding *
* Five nights accommodation *
* All meals included *
* Daily skiing and snowboarding lessons *
* Workshops, lectures and movie nights *
* 24 hr free fruit and non-alcoholic beverages *
* Extra mat space for all-day open mat / drilling *
* Free laundry service *
* Direct access to huge skiing area with 210+ km slopes *
* Free access to water park and sauna facilities next door *
* Afterski parties *
* All levels of BJJ and skiers welcome *
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| | | | Featured Globetrotter: Matt Young |
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| | Age: 40 as of June 15th
Belt: Blue
Profession: Senior business writer/editor for a global telecommunications company
How many years in BJJ: 4
Other martial arts: None
Where do you live: Madrid, Spain
Where are you from: London, UK
Other fun or curious information you would like to share: I love diving, and am in the process of learning underwater photography. |
| | Tell us what inspired you to travel and train? I was a proper gym rat when I moved to Spain, but after a few years of trying to get "swole", I realised that I didn’t have the frame for it and just looked a bit puffy instead. So I took a summer off from "working out" and wanted to still do something that pushed me physically, so got my PADI licence in the Cabo de Gata national park on the south coast of Spain.
Once I got back to Madrid after summer, I wanted to do something to get myself active (fear of desk belly is a constant thing), and as I had an interest in MMA decided to go the route of taking up a martial art. Getting punched or kicked wasn’t something I felt like doing in my late 30s, so I decided on BJJ. There was an academy walking distance from my apartment at the time, so I went down there one evening for an introductory class and the rest is history.
Incidentally, my training partner that first night is now one of my best and closest friends.
Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?
As of time of writing, my last trip was to Riga in Latvia. Explored the old town at length, and did some hiking in Gauja National Park about an hour outside the city by train.
My next trips planned are Italy for Castle Camp 2022, then Sevilla in June, London in July for my mum’s 80th, then August will be going hiking in Montenegro to explore the Durmitor National Park and Tara River canyon.
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| | What are the things you enjoy about travelling? Going to new places, meeting new people, trying new food, experiencing new mindsets. I’m a firm believer in travelling with an open mind, an empty stomach, and a notebook.
Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth traveling and training?
For the travelling side of things, it’s the street food. I’m a big fan (particularly in South and Central America) of just wandering up to street food vendors and asking for whatever the person next to me has a bowl of. Sometimes I’ve gotten some stuff I wouldn’t have considered usually (eyeball tacos in CDMX, for example).
I also love archaeological sites, so I will go out of my way to visit as many as I can. Again, South and Central America are a haven for these. I recommend Tikal in Guatemala (used in the first Star Wars as Yavin 4), as well as Monte Alban in Oaxaca, and Teotihuacan in Mexico.
Training-wise, it’s meeting different people and seeing just how wide the BJJ path is across the world. My exposure to different techniques, mindsets, interpretations of BJJ is just awesome.
The BJJ Globetrotters camps are the best example of these. Aside from the training itself, it’s the conversations outside the training that stick with me. Concepts and ways of thinking, recommendations of things I’ve never heard of before, ideas that come about after some random chat sets off a spark of inspiration or opens up a new path between hitherto unconnected thoughts.
What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling?
The friendliness and openness of people. I feel that Western media has a habit of demonising places a little too frequently, so to visit those places, meet the locals, try their food, and realise it’s not like that at all.
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| | Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip?
Definitely a budget traveller. I help look after the r/Shoestring group on Reddit which focuses on budget travel assistance and travelling tips, so am firmly rooted in the money-saving side of things.
I’m a prodigious note taker, and have various text files with interesting points about certain places and countries. These can come from a YouTube video I’ve watched, travel program I’ve seen, food I’ve tried, maybe I read a book and they mentioned a cool stone pyramid somewhere etc.
My first stop is usually Skyscanner using the “Everywhere” functionality to see where I can get a cheap flight to. I’ll then cross check anywhere that is particularly cheap against places I’ve flagged in my notes as being somewhere I want to visit.
I’ll sketch out a rough itinerary over how long I intend to travel, and flag cities or places I want to stay, how I’ll get there internally, opening hours of any museums or sites I want to visit etc.
Once I’ve got the itinerary and flights, I’ll move onto accommodation. If it’s a shorter trips (<7 days) then I’ll try and get accomodation sorted ahead of time so that I can focus on activities whilst I’m travelling. For longer trips, I’ll get the first night booked then will take it from there as I’m less concerned about whether to move around or not.
AirBnB, Booking, Hostelworld are my go-to sites for accomodation. I’ll sometimes use Agoda depending on where I am in the world. I'll do searches for the approx city/area/dates I want to stay, then will refine based on availability and personal preference (private room, hostel, includes a buffet breakfast etc).
Once I've got the 'best' price that fits what I want, I'll contact the accommodation directly to see if I can save a little bit more. For example, Hostelworld around South and Central America I was saving a couple of dollars per night booking direct with the hostels themselves, which all added up over a month or so of travel.
I’ll keep a budget of what I’ve spent via the TriCount app on my phone, which is also good for showing expense splits if you’re travelling with someone.
If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be? Plan ahead, but don’t have those plans be so rigid that you can’t adapt to changes or anything that can (and will) go wrong. Also learning a few local words always helps - I keep a notes file on my phone with the phonetic pronunciations of any words that I’ll need to use, such as “Fally Men Dare It” (“thank you” in Albanian).
Don’t be afraid of going old school and getting yourself a guidebook. They’re always good to have at hand, and don’t go out of date as quickly as the companies that print them would have you believe. I’ve got a Canary Islands LP from 2016 that is still getting regular use. They also contain good information about local customs and the aforementioned phonetic pronunciations of useful words and phrases. eBay or second-hand bookstores are a good place to find them for cheap.
If you’re unsure about travelling, then I heartily recommend Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. It’s a travel guide that deals with the philosophical side of things rather than stuff like how to pack your socks so they take up less room. Comedian Ari Shaffir has a great podcast with Rolf where they talk about long term, low cost travel for around 4hrs which is worth a listen: https://shaffir1.libsyn.com/298-vagabonder-rolfpotts
For YouTubers, Gabriel Traveler is a fantastic resource, as he often shows low-cost options and will do full breakdowns of how much accomodation/transport/food is in a location, as well as giving a street-level feel of what a place is like. His series of videos in Oaxaca in Mexico were the main reason why I ended up going there myself a few years ago.
I would also always suggest a hostel if budget is a factor. You can get cheap private rooms if you’re not a fan of dorms, and the morning discussions over breakfast are essential in getting a lay of the land and finding out what’s worth visiting or doing whilst you’re in a place.
Other than that, smile, seek out adventure, and don’t be afraid to try the street food. |
| | | We're coming back to Arizona in November! |
| | * November 14th to 19th in Tempe, Arizona *
* 15 minutes from Phoenix International Airport *
* Full week of training *
* Gi and no-gi classes all day long *
* Daily workshops and lectures *
* Outdoor BBQ in gym’s back yard *
* Yoga classes *
* Extra mat space for all-day open mat / drilling *
* Free professional portrait service/photo booth *
* All experience levels and affiliations welcome! *
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| | | | Photos from Spring Camp in Estonia |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | BJJ Globetrotters Academy in Focus: Grappling Cooperative / Brighton BJJ School |
| | Where is the gym located?
Brighton/UK. Not to be confused with all other Brightons ;)
How many people train there?
We have about 20 people training regularly over the week, and then some people people coming from time to time. All together about 50.
Is the gym growing - if so by how many new members each month or year?
Yeah, there is slow, steady growth as we are becoming more established.
What are the highest and lowest belt grades training?
We are majority white and blue belts here, with one purple and one brown belt as well.
When did the gym open?
The beginning of April 2021 as a permanent location, but some of us have been training together as a group for a while in other locations.
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| | Some facts about you:
Name: Tom
Age: 42 Belt: Purple Profession: Security guard / doorman Years in BJJ: 4.5 Other martial arts: Boxing for a few years, a little bit of Muay Thai Currently living in: Brighton |
| | Please tell us the story of how your gym came into existence After I left my previous gym due to internal conflict, a decent group of us continued training together in hired spaces (or on the beach during the summer). At some point it became painfully obvious that we needed our own space, as we were getting tired of always working around someone else's schedule and relying on other venues for our training. Sure it’s cheaper to rent space by the hour, but you often deal with venue owners that can be slow to respond, difficult to deal with and so on. I started looking for the place and sent an email to the owners of the building where we are now. I initially forgot about it and it turns out my email went under the radar for a bit. Three months later they responded and we started talking. Things got delayed a bit because of the pandemic and lockdowns, but we eventually got everything going.
Tell us about the people that train in the gym – who are they? We have a good mix of people - quite a few students as Brighton is a university town, but also working class folk etc. We have labourers, office workers, hospitality industry workers, we have a lifeboat operator, baker, teachers, a club DJ, a couple of social workers and a few more. Definitely a nice mix!
Why do they train?
Guess everyone is different, but we are mainly hobbyists rather than professional athletes, so people do it because they really enjoy it. Of course that doesn’t mean we don’t have some good Jiu Jitsu here amongst our club members! We have significant crossover with the local traditional Jiu Jitsu club, who initially just wanted to cross train a bit and now they enjoy BJJ on their own and form a big part of our club.
What are some of the challenges of running a BJJ gym in general, and in your area specifically?
Let’s just say there are still a fair bit of BJJ politics present, which I wasn’t aware of that much when I was just a student. Also, there are a lot of gyms in this area, so it’s a pretty saturated space, which can be an issue if you are trying to run a business. Luckily for me I didn’t design this gym as a business to live off, so I don’t have as much pressure. As to general challenges - well, you have to learn a lot of stuff about admin, bureaucracy etc.
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| | How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?
It’s growing and becoming more popular, and the Brighton BJJ Open tournament is quickly becoming a well-known event, so I think the future is bright.
What’s the best thing about your gym?It’s probably a bit of a cliche, but really, it's the people that train there. We have a good bunch here, with quite a good female representation as well, and I think we really created safe, inclusive atmosphere. We have a strong set of values that we stick to and we pay big attention to having a good, positive gym culture without any toxicity, macho bullshit, and other questionable things that are unfortunately still very present in a lot of places.
What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym? If you like clubbing you definitely won’t be disappointed, as Brighton is a party town. Otherwise there's not a HUGE amount of stuff to see, but you should check out the Laines area and the seafront, and if you like nature a walk around South Downs or a trip to nearby Seven Sisters cliffs is definitely recommended.
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Thanks for sharing! If you'd like to visit Grappling Cooperative / Brighton BJJ School, you can find them here. |
| | Super lightweight travel gis available in all colors |
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