The progress on the home gym has been fantastic. We have lights, we have walls, we have mats and they have been tested! Check out the pics below to see more.

(Walls up and ready for the mats!)

(Mat floor laid. 1.5 inche mats with a single piece of vinyl covering them)

(4 foot high mat walls make for a safe and fun rolling space!)

Stay tuned for details, photos, video and reports of my second trip to teach BJJ in Jamaica.

On this trip, one of my students from Indiana will be going to assist and train as well. He will get to stay with one of the students and train with him at his leisure.

I am very excited and hope that this teaching trip will be as fruitful as the last.

–Tim

QUESTIONS FROM THE NEW STUDENT

One of my new students wanted to interview me for his English Class. He submitted the following questions. I enjoyed answering the questions and hope they provide some insight to others wondering the same things. These questions were answered on 3/18/08.

1. What is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?
2. What got you into BJJ?
3. How long have you done BJJ?
4. What other career have you done?
5. What belt are you at right now?
6. Do you compete in tournaments?
7. How long have you been a part of Gentry family?
8. What does it take to be a part of BJJ?
9. What other martial arts do you know?
10. What kind of environment does Gentry provide?
11. What’s the difference from BJJ and folk wrestling?
12. Who was your instructor?
13. What’s your favorite sport?
14. Would you consider BJJ a sport?
15. Have you ever tapped out, and if so then to whom?

1. What is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art that focuses primarily on self defense and ground fighting. It stems from ancient Japanese Jiu Jitsu but was translated by a frail young Brazilian named Helio Gracie. He re-organized the techniques so that size and
strength would matter less than good technique.

2. What got you into BJJ?

I undertook the practice of BJJ because I have always been a grappler. I enjoyed wrestling in school and with the advent of the UFCs in the early ’90s, I began to see how there was more to wrestling than just pinning someone… I could make them surrender. I decided to give it a try in ’96, but there were no qualified instructors in my area, so I did Shoot Fighting which is a blend of Kickboxing, Judo and Japanese Jiu Jitsu. When I started at Indiana University, I met Greg Lucas who taught BJJ and I took classes with him.

3. How long have you done BJJ?

I began training in BJJ officially in ’98. I was promoted to blue belt by Professor Caique and Royce Gracie in ’00; then to purple belt in ’05 by Professor Caique; then to brown belt in ’08 by Professor Caique.

4. What other career have you done?

I am currently a Judge. I have done criminal defense and family law in the past and had a private practice for three years before moving to the bench. In October, I will be the Chief Deputy Prosecutor.

5. What belt are you at right now?

I am a brown belt

6. Do you compete in tournaments?

Yes. I try to do at least 4 or 5 tournaments each year. As I get older and as my skill division gets tougher, and as my focus turns more to teaching it grows harder to prepare myself appropriately for competition.

7. How long have you been a part of Gentry family?

I started teaching BJJ at Gentry Martial Arts in May of ’05.

8. What does it take to be a part of BJJ?

I am not sure I understand what you are asking here, but I would say that there are several components to those who are willing to invest themselves in BJJ. First, the person cannot be afraid of physical contact. BJJ is a hands on martial art. Secondly, the person must be able to leave their EGO off the mat. BJJ is a martial art style in which you begin losing 100% of the time then gradually it will become 85% of time, then after a long period of time, your success percentage will exceed your loss percentage, but it take years. Therefore, people focused on winning will grow discouraged and quit.

9. What other martial arts do you know?

I have no ‘degrees’ to speak of in any other martial art. I have studied Hapkido and Judo along with Kickboxing, but BJJ is my martial art.

10. What kind of environment does Gentry provide?

Gentry provides an environment where we seek to give quality instruction in the core techniques of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in a safe yet challenging manner. Many of the students have commented that they feel like the BJJ class is a second family for them. I hope that is true.

11. What’s the difference from BJJ and folk wrestling?

Folkstyle wrestling is a sport where the goal is to place one’s opponent’s shoulders on the mat. There are many rules and strength and speed are important qualities. BJJ is a martial art (though there is a sport application) in which one combatant seeks to do as little damage as possible to the other combatant but at the same time secure the submission of the other. In the sport, pinning an opponent means nothing. Instead, the objective is to apply a joint-lock or choke to the opponent causing them to give up or go to sleep.

12. Who was your instructor?

My primary instructor is Carlos “Caique” Elias. He lives in California and comes to Indiana a few times a year. I try to go to his school in California at least twice a year.

Greg Lucas is my coach. He lives in Bedford, Indiana and is responsible for my more day to day training and instruction.

13. What’s your favorite sport?

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

14. Would you consider BJJ a sport?

BJJ is many things. It is a martial art, it is a sport, it is philosophy of life. When I teach, I try to teach the most versatile techniques (i.e. those that will work in a self-defense situation, those that will work in a sport match, and those that can be analogized to a life situation).

15. Have you ever tapped out, and if so then to whom?

Yes! As I said before, in this style, you start out losing 100% of the time. I have been tapped out by too many people to name. After a certain amount of time practicing BJJ, you grow not to put any significance on who tapped who when. It is more important to learn
from each tap to make yourself better.

Triangle Choke Escapes:

Head Arm Triangle Escapes:

Dan Competes and gets a tap at the Michigan Open ’08:

A couple No-Gi Vids for Chris McDonald in Jamaica

Video of My Hoosier Open Match

Video of My Michigan Open Match (I was still a purple belt but fought up in the brown belt division)

2007 was an interesting year in my jiu jitsu life. First, I spent considerable time pontificating over my philosophy of jiu jitsu. I have for sometime felt the lyric of Small Axe (a song by Bob Marley and the Wailers) fit my perception of what a strong founation in BJJ needed. Well, I finally committed to honing this analogy. Small Axe Jiu Jitsu was born.

Technique: (Americana from Modified Cross-Side)

Along with this birth was my maiden voyage to Jamaica to share Jiu Jitsu with the great island. Sifu Dwayne Gail generously hosted me at his kung fu school where I taught two days of class. The students were eager and hungry for knowledge. I planted seeds I plan to nurture for years to come.

Video Technique 2: (Reverse Arm Bar from Modified Cross-Side)

I was able to teach a private lesson to a Rastafarian wood carver on a secluded beach (I am sure this memory will flash before my eyes at the end of my life voyage).

Video Technique 3: (Head-arm triangle)

2007 was not such a great year for me regarding competitions. Well, let me explain; it was a great year for my students, but for me personally, my performances were lack luster. I can give dozens of reasons and excuses, but what matters is that my goal of remaining an active competitor remains in tact.

Thanks to God for a great 2007.

Grappling Resume

Tim Sledd

tsledd@gmail.com

Competition History:

Brown Belt

• 2008 Hoosier Open Brown Belt Open 3rd Place (Tied with Brandon Fracassi)
• 2007 Michigan Open Brown Belt Open 1st Place (still a purple belt)

Purple Belt

• 2007 Extreme Grappling Open Fall Purple Belt Middle Weight

• 2007 Extreme Grappling Open Fall Expert Master’s Open No-gi 3rd Place

• 2007 Extreme Grappling Open Purple Belt Light Weight

• 2007 Extreme Grappling Open Expert No-gi

• 2006 Michigan Open (Adult Middleweight Purple Belt) 2^nd Place

• 2006 Hoosier Open (Adult Middleweight Purple Belt)

• 2006 Bluegrass Open Purple Belt Heavy Weight 2^nd Place

• 2006 Bluegrass Open Purple Belt Absolute division 2^nd Place

• 2005 C3 Fighter (December) Purple Belt Lightweight 3^rd Place

• 2005 C3 Fighter (December) Advance No-Gi Lightweight 1^st Place

• 2005 C3 Fighter (December) Advanced No-Gi Absolute 2^nd Place

• 2005 Extreme Grappling Open Purple Belt Middle Weight 2^nd Place

• 2005 Music City Grappling Championship Purple Belt 1^st Place

• 2005 Music City Grappling Championship Purple/Brown Open 3^rd Place

• 2005 Hoosier Open (Adult Middleweight Purple Belt)

• 2005 C3 Fighter (Adult Middleweight Purple Belt) 3^rd Place

• 2005 C3 Fighter (Adult Open Weight Purple Belt) 2^nd Place

Blue Belt

• 2004 Indiana State BJJ Championships 1^st Place.

• 2004 Extreme Grappling Open, 2^nd Place.

• 2004 Hoosier Open (Adult Middleweight Blue Belt) 1^st Place.

• 2003 Indiana State BJJ Championships

• 2001 Charity Brawl (170lb Advanced Jiu-Jitsu division) 1^st Place.

• 2001 Charity Brawl (170lb Submission Grappling) 4^th Place.

• 2001 Charity Brawl (Open Catch Wrestling) 1^st Place.

White Belt

• 1998 Lucas Martial Arts Jiu Jitsu Tournament (170lb Int.) 1^st Place.

Promotions:

• Blue Belt: March, 2000 by Professor Caique.

• Blue Belt 1^st Stripe: February, 2003 by Professor Caique.

• Blue Belt 2^nd Stripe: November, 2003 by Professor Caique.

• Blue Belt 3^rd Stripe: March, 2004 by Professor Caique.

• Blue Belt 4^th Stripe: July, 2004 by Professor Caique.

• Purple Belt: April, 2005. by Professor Caique.

• Purple Belt 1^st Stripe: November, 2005 by Professor Caique.

• Purple Belt 2^nd Stripe: November, 2006 by Professor Caique.

• Purple Belt 3^rd Stripe: February, 2007 by Professor Caique.

• Purple Belt 4th Stripe: September, 2007 by Professor Caique.

• Brown Belt: February, 2008 by Professor Caique.

• Brown Belt 1st Stripe: October, 2008 by Professor Caique.

Coaches:

• Greg Lucas (Black Belt, Team Caique).

• Chris Hayre (Purple Belt, Team Caique).

Positions Held:.

Instructor:

• Gentry Martial Arts: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, May 2005-present. 15-25 Students

• Lucas Martial Arts Academy: Assistant Instructor

• Indiana University: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Club, 2003-2005. 30-45 Students

• Indiana University: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a course 2003-2005. 15-25 students per class.

On May 13th, 2006 the school at which I have been teaching BJJ for nearly a year will become an official Team Caique Training Associaion.

This means alot to me. I have been a student of BJJ since ’98 and have been teaching it to others since ’03. One of my goals has been to have my own school, to build it from the ground up. This dream is being fulfilled.

I have a strong group of students who love the game and who are developing very well. Caique was proud of the turnout at the last seminar, and without hesitation gave me the go ahead to form the association.

My goals for Team Caique Martinsville are:

1. Build a group of strong, fundmental BJJ practitioners. Students with a strong base in the fundamentals.
2. Next I want to continue to compete each year, increasing in the quality of the competitions I enter. For example, this year will be regional competitions again, but next year I want to add the Pan Ams and the year after that the Mundials.
3. I want to continue to progress through the rankings in a steady but legitmate manner. Of course the goal is Black Belt, but that is just the beginning of a whole new journey.

check us out at http://www.gentrymartialarts.com

An explanation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:>(as posted on my web page two days ago)

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (hereinafter BJJ) is a martial art that focuses on minimizing the damage done to combatants. Striking of any sort is de-emphasized due to the potential for self-injury as well as the likelihood that the party absorbing the strike will be injured. You may be asking, how can BJJ ever expect to work against a ‘real life’ angry person who wants to knock your head off? Answer: we carefully measure the distance between our attacker and ourselves. Then we move in to clinch or take-down the attacker to take away the space necessary to employ an effective striking attack.

Once the clich has occurred, or a take down has happened, the object of BJJ is to gain a dominant position on the attacker so as to either 1. convince them to calm down and cease their attack, 2. employ a BJJ attack such as a joint lock or choke, or 3. utilize short range strikes to overcome the opponent.

BJJ is also a sport. Competitors start on their feet and seek to defeat their opponent by gaining a submission (opponent taps the body of the competitor signaling desire to stop the match) or by points which are awarded for positional dominance. Matches vary in length based on skill level, ranging from 5-10 minutes with no breaks.

BJJ is unique in that its moves do not require great strength or speed. (Unlike striking styles, wrestling, or judo). Instead, the more advanced fighters win using a mastery of leverage, baiting, and techniques that emphasize the weakness inherent with the human body. Submission holds focus on the weak joints of the human body, chokes focus on the easy availabilitly of blood sources to the brain to be impeded, and sweeps take advantage of the awkward centers of balance in different positions. Through a mastery of these concepts employed in various techniques, a very small BJJ student can quickly render unconscious or incapable of fighting, a much larger, stronger, and tougher attacker.

Many find the allure of BJJ to be the complex mental components necessary to excel. It has been called ‘human chess.’ When two fighters are at the same skill level, the one who will win the match will be the one who is thinking more moves ahead of the adversary. Unlike wrestling where a match is ended based on body positioning (i.e. the opponent’s back is flattened to the mat), in BJJ you must cause you opponent to submit… they must signal defeat. This can be quite a feat!

Tim 7/11/04

Ella delia…

She is in there and “ripe.” I keep telling people that the 9th month proves that “a watched pot never boils.”

I want to meet her, see her, hold her, and love her. She is going to change my life! Tick, Tock…

If she knew the attention she is getting even before she has arrived I am sure she would smile. There is love and support walking her around. But she is cooking and waiting until her moment.

Delia, or Ella, or Ella Delia is still future tense. But for how long?

Tim