Seminar and Promotion Ceremony
Andre Galvao travelled to south central Indiana to lead his second seminar at Small Axe Jiu Jitsu, but his first seminar at the school as its affiliate leader. Eager jiu jitsu practitioners of all levels gathered early to see what techniques would be taught.
Many in attendance were veterans of Professor Galvao seminars and so expectations were high. Professor Galvao began the seminar with a welcome to all who attended and explanation of his philosophy of always seeking the submission and working to advance to the most dominate position and not just ride an advantage to victory. After his brief intro, he led a thorough warm up focusing on loosening and stretching all the joints of the body. Then the seminar began.
The focus of the seminar was on attacking the back. I had asked Professor Galvao a question in the car shortly after picking him up from the airport and he told me the seminar would answer my question. IT DID. Look at what we did:
1. Attacking Turtle-ing Opponent (Proper position, arm placement, hip placement, elbow blocked)
2. Methods of impeding the “turn in” by a simple elbow push.
3. Drilled sensitivity and movement when and if bottom guy turns in.
4. We learned how to take the back when the opponent turns into us.
5. Rear Naked Choke details
6. Breaking a defensive Grip that is preventing RNC.
7. Sliding Collar Choke, Galvao Style! Critical details that make the choke faster, tighter and harder to defend.
8. Transitioning when guy escapes over your bottom hook.
9. “Digital Clock Choke”… analog is out of date!!!
10. Transitioning to Digital Clock Choke from the on-side back position (kicking leg away).
After the technique portion, Professor Galvao fielded questions from the students. Every question was answered to the student’s satisfaction.
Throughout the seminar, I mingled around, trained, and talked to the participants. More than one came up to me and told me that one technique or another was worth the whole price of the seminar. I heard students say, “that is a game changer” and others praise little details by saying, “why didn’t I learn this years ago?”
After all the rolling, teaching, and training was done, several of the Small Axe/Team Atos students were awarded stripes on their belts and several of the youth students moved up into new belts. A new tradition for the Small Axe students was implemented and each new belt came with a throw from Professor Galvao and Instructor Tim Sledd.
Small Axe Jiu Jitsu was happy to host grapplers from many different regional academies and is grateful to Professor Galvao for his open mindedness and leadership.
