TEAM “EVOLUSH” and the “Ohio Grappling Challenge” #10

It seems like forever and a day since I’ve put something up on the blog. I’ve been training hard, although I had most of last week off due to an out-of-State family reunion in Virginia. Hillbilly reunion jokes are welcomed under the comments section of the blog, although I’m sure you won’t post any joke that I haven’t already heard.

On June 6, Team Royler Gracie-David Adiv, Ohio or “Team Evolush” as we affectionately refer to ourselves, took a contingent of competitors to the Ohio Grappling Challenge #10 held at Cleveland State University.

We all had a blast, and “Team Evolush” let everyone know who was “IN DA HOUSE” that day! Everyone charged super hard, and some of us scored multiple medals at this tournament. Special acknowledgment goes out to our coach, Darren, who always puts it on the line whenever there’s a tournament within driving distance of Cleveland. I totally respect Darren for competing as much as he does, for there’s lots of instructors out there who hide behind their teaching credentials and duck competing in tournaments. I attribute this to the reality that they’re chicken-shits who are afraid of the possibility of losing in front of their students. But Darren’s totally transparent and unassuming about his own GJJ journey, and this gives him tons of credibility as an instructor. Also, my man, Grissom (AKA Clark) brought home two Gold Medals. Clark and i have formed "TEAM APPALACHIA" due to our TN, KY, VA heritages, and we definitely did that Mason-Dixon line proud--LOL!

I can humbly report that the LTrain had a respectable showing in this tournament. I took the Gold Medal as a middle-weight “no-Gi” and the Bronze” with the Gi. This is a bit baffling to me, for I train with the Gi more than I train without it. Here’s a video of my "finals” no-Gi match; originally, I posted the "semi-finals" match as well, but it was a pretty boring match, so I've elected to just post the "finals" match.

OGC CLE - Larry NoGi 2 from EvolutionJJ on Vimeo.

These two matches weren’t my most exciting performances, and I was disappointed that I couldn’t finish the guy in the “finals”. I was happy with my control and my passing, but need to do a lot more work if I expect to compete in the “submissions only” tournament that I plan to compete in this coming September, so I'll be opening up my game a bit more this summer.

Of course, I’m not posting the video where I got swept and finished with an “arm triangle”—smiles-but I’ve already taken measures with Darren to avert such an outcome in the future.

As for my training this week—the few days off were just what the “LTrain Doctor” ordered. I feel great, and went pretty hard on Monday, and am amped up to hit it hard tonight. I’m focusing on smoothing out my transitions as well as further implementing the Della Riva Guard into my game a bit more. I’ll endeavor to blog a bit more frequently for the remainder of this month!

Respectfully

Larry, the LTrain