Onra:December2,2010

Hafa Adai,

Welcome to Guam Claudio”Juninho” Calassans! The 2010AbuDhabiWorld Pro Cup Absolute Division and MiddleWeight and Open division champion and BrazilianJiujitsu World Champion from ATOS Jiujitsu is on island for a week’s instructional at the Purebred/LloydIrvin Academy all the way from SauPaulo Brazil.

Also a warm Hafa Adai and Welcome Back to Toby Imada— The 2009 Sherdog Submission of the Year recipient is visiting our island for some rest and relaxation after upset performances including a last-second  Knockout over Shootboxing’s Super Welter-weight champion, Takaaki Umeno, and a unanimous decision victory over multiple and reigning S-Cup lightweight Champion and multiple K-1 World Max Champion Andy Souwer,in Japan’s S-Cup’s2010 lightweight tournament.

Senator James Espaldon was gracious enough to represent the legislature in recognizing TeamPurebred/LloydIrvin for its outstanding performances in this Year’s Asian Open.

Guam’s top Jiujitsu and Submission Grappling athletes are on deck for Saturday’s  MarianasOpen as spectators in attendance  will also be treated for its second time, to the the official qualifiers for the GuamArmyNationalGuard combatives tournament in Georgia in 2011.

The well-awaited event will be offering greater incentives for the Purple Belt Open and Brown Belt Open divisions to hopefully attract our island’s top competitiors from Guam’s recent and fast-growing population in the advanced BrazilianJiujitsu belt categories.

With years gone by and as our Jiujitsu population has expanded—some might be curious as to why some of our more than familiar faces might not compete in the more experienced categories.

For one thing, a lot of our senior players have seemed to have recognized a better position in coaching and have more than often, chosen to participate from the sidelines and offer guidance for the less-experienced.

Anotehr reason that stands above many is that Martial Arts wasn’t created for competition.And not all of us are competitors.  Though Martial Arts was created for survival and war– for the most part, we no longer have to immerse ourselves in the concern in mortal combat. In  this day of structure and law—thankfully we can get by in life without hardly ever having to deal with armed assassins or enraged wildlife.

It’s awesome that we can train now for other reasons other than wartime skills. True many if not most train at some point for self-defense.; but now we also have the very real options to train for a preference of fitness, socialization, life-enhancement, or among other things–competition

Not a single law in the book says that we have to compete and as followers or trailblazers on the martial arts path, we don’t need to feel any lesser if we don’t. Martial arts is deeply about a personal experience. And since we bleed, sweat, and cry from our own efforts. The option to stand aside is forever in our back pockets.

However—if it is in our target to stand on the podiums of larger events like the World Championships, The Brasilieros, or the Pan Americans, then hopefully we can choose to sharpen our blades not just in on-island training but also in local competitions– to sooner-than-later offer added  respect to Guam’s competitive ambition, and to continuously reconvince our future fighter-athletes of the potentials and hopeful promise of growing glory here on local soil.

We have graduated to new schools of performance and thought in our White belt and blue belt categories. And times over around the globe, our athletes at that level have

proven, without a doubt that Guam is a respectable force in the primary divisions of BJJ.

Though we might be a bit further away from more frequent golden results in our purple belt and brown belt divisions, though we might have some miles of terrain ahead of us in the growing talent in MMA—the journey to consistently improve Guam’s competitive BJJ atmosphere, like all, begins with a single step.

As many of us are interested at some point of Guam’s growth in our combative sports world arena—we are at our best when we recognize Guam’s potential to be at the competitive horizons for our Martial Athletic neighbors in the region and maybe even eventually for countries beyond.

But how can we do this if we are ambitious competitors that choose not to compete on the very soil that has offered all the vitamins and minerals for us to arrive at this point.

True- the grass can be greener on the other side of the fence; true-there is massive room for improvement in our combat sports atmosphere, and true- competition is not for everyone and nor does it have to be.  But, in large, we seem to have committed to the competitive path and its been a formula that has been successful in bringing us impressive and frequent moments in international recognition; a formula that has been successful in giving us world champions; and a formula that has been successful  in providing for Guam encore performances not just as competitors, but as viable ambassadors of a truly precious dot in the Pacific.

Though it may or may not happen this weekend—hopefully we can look forward to a day where the very best of our athletes in training can recognize Guam for advanced level and quality competition—so that we can further develop our athletes at all levels and provide for our local competitions and competitors—opportunity, opportunity, and opportunity.

For the consistent effort to cultivate our athletes in competitions overseas but also, just as important, for the growing glory of our podiums here at 13 Degrees North/144 Degrees East

Thanks for dropping by