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| | | | BJJ Globetrotters Newsletter // October 2020 | | Dear Globetrotters,
Someone just told me it feels like being Indiana Jones these days, sliding under doors last second to survive. It's a pretty good description for how life in the travel-BJJ-event business is. The waves go high and we never know how next week looks, but we press on and whatever we can make happen, we make it happen.
In 9 days I'm leaving for two camps back-to-back in Poland and Italy. I'm very excited and way more nervous than usual. Not for infection risk, I think we have that under control as much as it is possible, but just for the logistics of hosting large events these days. However, I know that once I'm in that hammock in the forest in Poland, it'll all be forgotten and the camp will feel completely normal. Hold out for that photo of my feet on my instagram haha
I hope you're all doing well out there and manage in these strange times.
Have a fantastic day,
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What you'll find in this month's newsletter:
- Featured Traveller: Gilian Jansen
- Globetrotters Academy in Focus: Team Choco Heidelberg
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| | 2 tickets left for Zen Camp this month |
| | Despite a bunch of initial cancellations from non-Europeans, the tickets for Zen Camp in Poland next month has been selling again and it looks like we'll be having a full size camp. Covid-19 test is mandatory for all participants prior arrival!
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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. |
| | | 3 tickets left for the castle in Italy! |
| | Yes, we're still planning on going to the castle!!
Small, luxurious camp, far out in the Italian countryside. Lots of training, good food and wine. |
| | | | | Featured Traveller: Gilian Jansen |
| Age: I'm 28 years old
Belt: I've been a brown belt for the last 2 years, and I train at Team Honeybadgers in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Profession: I am a full-time carpenter, and I teach a couple of Jiu Jitsu classes a week. During my most recent travels, I worked as a divemaster and as a bouncer at a beach bar in Thailand.
How many years in BJJ: I started 10 years ago with MMA training which was mostly grappling/wrestling-based, and after a year I put on the gi, which I liked more. Now I only train Jiu Jitsu (gi and no-gi).
Other martial arts: As a kid I did judo for some years. I got my brown belt when I was 14 and then I quit. When I started to train for MMA fights I also trained boxing and kickboxing, but nothing too serious outside of the planned MMA competitions.
Where do you live: I live in Nuenen, the Netherlands. It's in the south, close to Eindhoven.
Where are you originally from: I was born in Eindhoven but have lived all my life in Nuenen.
Other fun or curious information you would like to share: My favorite Thai food is Massaman Curry.
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| | Tell us what inspired you to travel and train? I didn't travel to train, but I had to take my gi with me because living without Jiu Jitsu sucks.
Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?My most recent trip was 2 months ago: I was away for 11 months. I traveled to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Myanmar. But for 8 of those 11 months I lived, worked, and trained on Koh Tao, Thailand.
I can't really say a lot about future travels because, you know, Covid. But it will probably just be a casual vacation, maybe a liveaboard in Egypt for some scuba diving; or somewhere with mountains for some hikes. But I would love to go back to Asia and explore more!
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| | | What are the things you enjoy about traveling? The best thing about travelling is the people you meet. People from all walks of life. It's just interesting to hear their stories and get inspired by them.
Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth traveling and training?
The different Jiu Jitsu styles and mindsets you come across is very educational. I think people who train only in their home gyms have a slower learning process than someone who visits other gyms, attends seminars, and goes to competitions.
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| | What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling? I really don't know what my most surprising experience is. I think learning how to scuba dive and becoming a professional and a tech-diver was one of the best experiences I had.
Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip? Yes, I am a budget traveller, but compared to the "real" low budget travellers I've seen during my travels I'm a "big" spender. I made a calculation about what I could spend each week and month on travels, which included food, accommodation, and trips. But my scuba dive education was from a whole different budget.
If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be? Do what you love, but don't be afraid to go far beyond your comfort zone. I've seen people that, everytime a local started to chat with them out of curiosity, got a bit scared and ended the conversation thinking they wanted to rob them. Don't be that guy. But don't get robbed. |
| | | Life in St. Barthélemy is back to normal and borders are open to all nationalities (C-19 test required) |
| | A full week of training, surfing, exploring, beaches and sailing that you don’t wanna miss. |
| | | | BJJ Globetrotters Academy in Focus: Team Choco Heidelberg |
| | Where is the gym located?
Heidelberg, Germany
(SRH Campus Sports e.V.
Bonhoefferstr. 4/1
69123 Heidelberg)
How many people train there?
We have about 50 people training with us in total, with typically 8 to 16 on the mat for most sessions.
Is the gym growing - if so by how many new members each month or year?
Yes, it's growing slowly but steadily, so far only through word of mouth, since we didn't get into marketing/social media action until recently. There are surges with 5 or more people joining in a month, and there can be several months with only 1 or none joining. On average, I'd say our net growth is around 1 person per month.
What are the highest and lowest belt grades training?
White to black and everything in between.
When did the gym open?
At our current location, in October of 2016. Many of us were at a different gym before, where we left in unison due to a problematic gym owner.
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| | Some facts about you:
Name: Thomas Stoll
Age: 34
Belt: Black
Profession: Student and research assistant in sports science and psychology; tutor in math and physics for high school students
Years in BJJ: 8.5
Other martial arts: Karate (Shotokan), WSL Wing Chun, FMA, Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, MMA Currently living in: Heidelberg, Germany
Originally from: Filderstadt, Germany
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| Please tell us the story of how your gym came into existence Many of us started at another gym, which was run poorly and where we basically didn't have a proper instructor for the most part. Therefore we taught ourselves and each other. I basically dove into Marcelo Garcia and Ryan Hall instructionals and copied their games.
Due to some lucky circumstances, we eventually got a great black belt - our head coach Vinnie Carlucci - to step in and take us on. He drove 2+ hours to teach us, twice a week, every week. After several severe troubles with the gym owner, we decided as a group to leave that gym and look for our own place. After some searching and trying out different places, we were lucky enough to have a friend (who trained with us at the time) to recommend SRH Campus Sports e.V., where we found our new home. From there it just kept growing from word of mouth and friends bringing friends.
Tell us about the people that train in the gym – who are they?
We have mostly students and personnel of Heidelberg university training with us. Also a few from all sorts of other occupations: social workers, policemen, medical doctors...
Our youngest member just turned 16, the oldest is in his forties. We have more men than women training with us, but fortunately this is slowly changing, and we now have a couple of women on the mats for most sessions. Most of our members prefer nogi, which is probably not least influenced by my own preference, the fact that several of us "founders" came from MMA and/or wrestling backgrounds, and our training schedule being nogi-heavy.
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| | Why do they train?
I think most train for fun, plus the intellectual and physical challenge. Some are certainly coming mostly for socializing and meeting their friends on the mats. We have few competitors, with myself being the main one, which I'd love to see pick up a bit. Unfortunately, many are busy with uni, work and family, so it's just not on the cards for them. Our training schedule tries to cater to everybody, so that the competitors have their needs met just as much as the ones who come once or twice per week to learn the fundamentals.
While self-defense and MMA aren't the focus at our school, I believe many students have this in the back of their mind. I try my best to teach "universal grappling" and point out cases where we're playing to the rules of the sport and how this would relate to a more open/chaotic environment with striking etc. Periodically we hold a "street fighting day", where everyone wears regular (or fancy) street wear and we include light striking into the grappling. Last time we did it in the dark and with disco lights. So everyone is prepared for their next disco scrap. Next time might be Oktoberfest themed ^^
What are some of the challenges of running a BJJ gym in general and in your location specifically?
Since Heidelberg is a student town, one challenge is members frequently moving away, since many just come here for university studies and move away right after finishing their degrees. This does mean we constantly have new students coming to us as well, and while this is positive it's also unfortunate for us - since we're built on caring about and developing each member and building strong relationships.
Unfortunately, this aspect of Heidelberg - with people frequently arriving and departing - also enables some poorly run gyms to survive a lot longer than they should. They can milk their students and still not be wiped out due to their bad business practices and consequential reputation, since they always have a fresh supply of new members to exploit. There's one such particular gym in Heidelberg, which is well known in the martial arts scene in Germany. Of course, this is unbeknownst to the fresh arriving new students that get caught in their net each semester. They realize it after a few months, at which point they remain trapped in long-lasting contracts. Some of them land at our place at one point, but many are probably done with martial arts for good, as they may assume that's how things are run everywhere.
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| | How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?
Despite the problems mentioned above, it is definitely growing, and we now have some great things going on here that we didn't have just a few years back. Not only do we have the biggest BJJ Globetrotters camp in town, we'll also (as soon as Covid gets out of the way) finally have several bigger competitions (AGF) here every year, which will be fantastic for the local scene.
As well as that, we're getting more and more visits from students of surrounding gyms and Globetrotters. The latter has obviously slowed down dramatically recently, but I'm confident it'll pick back up once the Covid situation eases up.
What’s the best thing about your gym?From what I gather, for many it’s the vibe and the opportunities on offer. We do our best to make every member feel welcome and supported in reaching their goals.
Everyone can train at least three hours every day, with at least one hour of open mat every day. While fundamental classes are more structured, advanced classes are more open and focused on positional sparring and individual exploration of techniques. This enables everyone to find and develop their own style, which I believe is highly important for advanced athletes. For most of the year, open mat is entirely unstructured, and some people have tough rolls, while others drill, do conditioning, or sit around and talk. I really love for everyone to come in and feel happy with the opportunity to use the mats the way they prefer.
One thing I'm particularly proud of (and which took a long time to cultivate) is our strong drilling culture. Some of us regularly watch instructionals and competition footage, and use open mat to integrate, explore, and drill new ideas. Others drill the moves and ideas they've learned in class, which makes me happy, as it means they trust my teachings. That said, I like to see them - particularly the advanced students - finding their own style that fits their body, personality and preferences. I'll try to help to the best of my abilities if I'm asked for it, while also holding back if people are experimenting on their own, so they can make their own experiences.
To be honest, I think Heidelberg generally doesn't offer the toughest and most athletic students/training partners (Heidelberg has one of the wealthiest demographics in Germany) but instead smart and educated folks, often with academic backgrounds. I think we harness this in a good way, focusing on knowledge and understanding first, toughness and athletics after.
I personally dedicate a lot of time to watching instructionals and matches, forming conclusions and testing them on the mats, so I can offer the best possible up-to-date training for all of my students. Combining it with everything I've learned from sports science and psychology, looking into what high-level athletes and coaches are doing, and constantly experimenting with training structure and methodology to find what works best (while keeping it fun).
What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym?
I don't do much besides training, working, and studying, so I'm not of much help in this area! I guess the famous castle is an obvious spot to check out. Also the Neckarwiese, Old Town, and Philosophers' Walk (with Thingstätte on top) are tourist favorites, from what I could gather over the years ^^
So many places and buildings in Heidelberg look beautiful and interesting, it's hard to go wrong here.
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Thanks for sharing with us! If you'd like to pay a visit to Team Choco Heidelberg, you can find them here. |
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