Onra:July30,2009
Hafa Adai,
In world MixedMartial Arts news, the MMA event “Affliction:Banned” (that many considered to be the event rival to the UFC) calls it quits, just 2 weeks before their 3rd big event, leaving hundreds of thousands of fans across the globe disappointed and at least 20 fighter- athletes-in-hard-training hanging without matches.
Locally, AJ Aguon lost his title shot in the Philippines but is in demand with Philippine fans for a rematch against their Undisputed 155lb.champion., Ed Folayang. BJJ practitioners and Submission Grapplersof all ages, male and female, around Guam are sharpening their blades for the Marianas Open on August 8th at The Phoenix Center while its mixed martial arts action again with Guam vs. Saipan this Friday in TrenchWarz10:Collision at the Saipan World Resort.
And in the distance, the fight card is building for PXC18 in early September.
First an applause for the consistent developments of Saipan Combatives; In the field of competitive martial arts, its evolution of sport in the recent years has, to this point, unfolded an industry that is as responsible and organized as it is talented and athletic.
Taking a step back and looking at Guam and Saipan’s developing picture in local and international combatives, in observation of the ups and downs and twists and turns in the evolution of our industry and its impact with our people, while in this reflection a personal respect for martial arts—it brings to mind the principle of Zanshin.
You ever watch a Bruce Lee movie and see him knockout a guy and hold that famous pose where he look slike hes in total flex?
A former Aikido instructor explained to me that, though this might not have been intentional, it was a principle in execution known as Zanshin.
Wikipedia defines the term Zanshin as “a state of awareness- of relaxed alertness”
In aikido Zanshin is practiced as remaining posture and of remainding mind, of continued focus and of the intention that remains in the aftermath of combat or confrontation.
Many moons ago(haha)In aikido training, I questioned this principle and used to often wonder why we had to maintain form even after a throw, a takedown, or submission hold. It seemed rigid, impractical, and in the end pointless. Thanks to good instructors however,it was explained that Zanshin was the absolute commitment to the technique and to the resolution of conflict. It was an exercise in extended self control, Not necessarily rigid, but in its continuing mind—ever ready.
In an attempt to transcend our efforts into a more positive and (but not necessarily in total focus of) bigger picture, may we move forward in our ventures in athletics and industry not only for self improvement and good technique, but also to better provide and develop the fusable links that can attach more seamlessly martial art to sport, red corner to blue corner, and ultimately to cultivate the oxygen for a better balance of individual and mass-collective body, mind, and spirit.
For the glory and honor of our islands, for the respect among others, and hopefully in its entirety—intentions for progress and positive purpose.
Thanks for dropping by.
DecolonizingTheMind: SingantaAndBraveNewVoices
July 25, 2009 by admin
Filed under Onra, Special Forces
Hafa Adai,
Just wanted to give you an update and share some pictures from Team Guam’s trip to Brave New Voices in Chicago. If you don’t know, BNV is an international youth poetry event featuring teams of youth poets from all across america and the United Kingdom. This is the first year that Guam was represented but we came in too late to take part in the official BNV slam. We were able to take part in workshops, and meetings for both the youth and the mentors/coaches. John Sarmiento and J Rae Tedtaotao took part in one of the Open mic events called Peoples Champion where they managed to make it to the semifinals. We were given an opportunity to do a feature poem before the start of the 4th and final round at the BNV Finals Slam. We did a team piece titled Joke. Basically, it’s a call to Obama to bring us the change he has promised everybody and for the u.s. to stop treating us like a joke. We got a standing ovation from about 2,000 people. John, J Rae, and Shane Salas did great job representing Guam on that stage.
We would not have been able to make it to BNV if it wasn’t for your support. So, from Team Guam and Sinangan-ta Outreach, SAINA MA’ASE and THANK YOU!
Kie. Mel. Fanai. John. J Rae. Shane.
Sinangan-ta Outreach
–
Decolonize the Mind
AllDayAllNight:Liberated
July 21, 2009 by admin
Filed under Onra, Special Forces
ONRA:June16th,2009
Hafa Adai,
AJ Aguon fights for the 70kg title int heis weekends URCC in the Philippines. Herman Torrado fights MMA in Northern California on the 24th.
Its Guam vs. Saipan with Trench Warz 10:on the 31st in Saipan. And The marianas Open Jiujitsu and No-Gi Tournament talkes place on August 8th in Guam.
Following Brock Lessnars peformance with his domncation over Frank Mir was an athletically and ethically embarrasing performance with his profanities against the audience and the headline sponsor of the landmark event in UFC100.
looking into the sport we realize that, thanks to media support, fans are paying closer attention to everything that happens in a fight from ifght preparation all the way to post fight interview. What starts as attention from the crowd evolves into influence–leaving us with the ever important question of what message are we communicating in this sport.
There are a lot of people out there lookign to reflect a positve light in amateur and professional martial arts and mixed martial arts adventures. However when the Heavyweight UFC World Champion sends profanities to the crowd and sponsors with millions watching, its hard to convince the skeptics that this is a true sport of athletics and etiquette. In this same discussion what message doesn it send, what testimony do we give when we enter MMA competition without gas, technique, or any real preparation
Much respect goes to those brave enough to step intocompetition, but give yourselves the real respect of stepping into competing at your 100%. If youve truly worked hard, sacrificed, yet still lost—still props to you for walking the path of training that earns you the audience that exhausts their resources to sit on their seats and applaud whats supposed to be your hard work.
The commitment to hard training will give respect to the opponent, yourself, and the sport and audience of combatives.
Before jumping into amateur or professional MMA, Take some jiujitsu classes, go ona diet, get into a trainingin program, educate yourselves. In what can at times be a flambuoyant environment, Make efforts to Focus on whats effective as opposed to focusing on whats sensational. Try wetting your feet in a few amateur boxing matches or try competing in some of the grappling tournaments to sharpen yourskills for a better performance in amateur or professional MMA, the so called apex of hand to hand combatives.
Respect the fact that this sport has evolved beyond pure heart and determination,Though these are key factors for victory in the game, MMA or any form of Martial Arts competition has grown past the naturally tough. Its a trues sport greatly about skill, strategy, and–in its demands–true preparation.
If MMA is the apex of combat sports competition, then hopefully we can grow from the analogy that the view form the top of a mountain is highly accented by the adversity conquered to get there.
True some people are born talented, they learn real fast,and are naturally athletic. theyre strong willed, determined,and sometimes just wont quit. But rather than finding that as excuse not to train hard, then take that talent and invest it into a program. A frequent saying that goes around the Purebred/LloydIrvinJiujitsu Academy is that “Hard Work will Beat Talent when Talent refuses to Work Hard.” Touche`! To hear this statement and to connect with this philosophy among such a pool of talent is icing on the cake.
Its a whole lot to say, in offering advice for competition, for a guy that doesnt compete. Totally understood. Totally agreed. I dont put in my time. so i dont have any business competing. Competitive martial arts deserves more respect. But as a fan in admiration of the sport but with just as much respect for the art. Its nice in a land of freedom to be able to voice my part.
Celebrating Liberation Day.
Thanks for Dropping by
ArchivesONRA:June20,2007
First, Hafa Adai and thanks again fro checking this column, Id like to apologize to anyone who might have been offended by any words of the previous article. That is never the intention. I want to also concede that Im not the authority on the sport but I am speaking for MMAs positive identity on our island and also for the Love of the Game. So here we go with some more babble…
Rivalries exist in every sport so what seems to exist in local MMA is nothing new. There is nothing wrong with competition. It better guarantees the evolution of quality and product satisfaction. So Im not here to bicker about that.
In this industry, sport, and lifestyle, different fighters, academies, and events will always exist and so will different perspectives and opinions. There will always be a red corner and a blue corner. That is human nature. But people from all gyms and all events, though we stand apart on certain things; were doing pretty much the same things, making the same sacrifices for the same sport on the same island and ideally for the same island. Hopefully this can stand for something.
Just as in typhoons, adversity tends to bring people together. Well theres a lot of conversation right now about a massive population boost in the next few years. Of course this is positive for several reasons, but for some cases, symbolically, I think a storm is in the brew. Think about the impact this can have on our culture and our people. So why divide when we can multiply?
Id like to say to every gym, and every member in every gym, Jiuitsu, TaeKwonDo, Kickboxing, Judo, MMA, etc… you’re all doing a great job in training your members. The fighter-athletes of today are levels ahead of those in our past and hopefully levels behind of those in our future. We must continue to evolve. Hopefully that evolution can also speak of our efforts for a positive impact to our island and other good things with the potentials of well-structured and synergized combat sports.
Everybody trains for different reasons and maybe not everybody on Guam is training for
For Guam Mixed Martial Arts, these are historical days. We are writing the prologue for what can be endless accounts of honor and pride; of victory and defeat, of hard training and epic battles. Years, decades, and centuries later, our descendants will read our story. Will this be several tales of victory for a few, or a Grand tale of victory for all?
OneLove. Prepare for Glory
ONRA:July2,2009
Will a new commission serve MMA?
Hafa adai.
Perspective
From a promoter’s perspective it’s surprising to hear that:
s Events were never properly sanctioned, and
s The commission members at the time were sought out as advisors for our events.
As far as I’m concerned, I always thought they were to be avoided!
In all seriousness, and with all due respect to the powers-that-be and the powers-that-were, we never sought the help or advice of the commission with the promotions of Jungle Rules or Fury events — they were kind of there to shove it down our throats. This commission cracked the whip, and flexed with the power of the government for us to abide by their rules and processes without offering any tangible resources for us to lean on.
Going it alone
We had to solicit our own judges, security, staff and emergency units. We had to solicit our own overseas talent. Not once did the sanctioning of the commission help us secure talent, media or clout.
It’s interesting that over a decade after the first live MMA event on Guam, there is so much discussion of how we need to be structured and sanctioned.
Golly gee — and I thought we were sanctioned already! I sure hope all the forms we’ve signed and submitted, all the licensing fees we’ve paid, all the fight purses paid up front and all the contracts we’ve had notarized stand for something concrete.
Though we may have operated under the Guam Boxing and Wrestling Commission, under authority that now seems never to have existed, promotions were done using a strict process and under strict guidelines. And it was under the influence of the late Jimmy Ferrante that they were done so, because of an ambition from long ago to give our combat sports community an infrastructure to be proud of and a healthy identity in the international athletic community.
Man, years after all that inconvenience, all that yelling and all that confrontation in the office of Mr. Ferrante, I never thought I’d stand up for those days or stand up for what we were put through. But his intentions were real, and these new intentions are real. Past years have left us with a structure to build on and I think it’s best and respectful that we give credit.
Different product
However, we have a different product in MMA than we had before. Whereas before it might have been about containing and taming the unknown, Guam combat has grown into a conscious and focused, industry-intelligent, preparation-prominent entity.
Hopefully, through consistent and sincere communication, this industry and the new commission can combine and leverage resources to provide a tangible vessel to streamline what’s happening with us locally and internationally. Hopefully, it will realize that rules from within can be just as effective as rules from above and that, if done respectfully and thoroughly, this can be a healthy collaboration.
We are in a much evolved and evolving combat-sports atmosphere. In a time of new horizons for our fighter-athletes and for our island identity, this new commission-in-the-making hopefully holds sincere the purpose to serve MMA and other combat sports as much as it’s committed to regulating it.
Confidently speaking, in a venture to enforce rules from within as opposed to from above, this commission can focus and guide this astounding energy to bigger and better places.
Thanks for dropping by.
FokaiYouthCombat:MarianasVarietyAndPurebredBJJ
Purebred teaches youth the art of BJJ
While many of the island’s youth will be participating in sports such as soccer and baseball during the summer months, a select few
Ten-year-old Alex Aflague grapples with her peer David Shimizu, also 10, during Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practice Thursday, June 25, 2009 at the Purebred/Lloyd Irvin BJJ Academy in Hagatna. Photos by Matt Weiss
will be perfecting their skills in the marital art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Many people on island and around the world acknowledge the fact that BJJ might be an adult’s sport, however, more and more children continue to train in the martial art, turned global phenomenon.
The Variety caught up with some youth BJJ practitioners at the Purebred/Lloyd Irvin Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Anigua to get their thoughts on BJJ.
“I like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu because it teaches me many values of life,” 10-year old Alex Aflague said yesterday.
The J.Q. San Miguel Elementary School fifth-grader said that she chooses jiu-jitsu because it is fun.
Aside from sharpening her skills in BJJ, Alfague also likes to play the guitar and is actively involved in the Guam Girl Scouts. “Guitar is like BJJ in many ways because you will only get better after you practice,” Aflague said.
Purebred/ Lloyd Irvin BJJ Academy head instructor Stephen Roberto said of his youth students that “they are the future of the sport. These kids are still very young in age and they still have much to learn.”
“BJJ can be a very demanding sport for some, especially the youth,” Roberto continued. “But as you can see, these kids are always eager to learn more about it.
Another youth BJJ practitioner said that he is training in BJJ so that he can be like his father Steve Shimizu.
Alex Aflague (10 years old) poses for the camera after Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practice Thursday, June 25, 2009 at the Purebred Lloyd Irvin BJJ Academy in Hagatna.
“I want to be like my dad when I grow up,” David Shimizu said. “He is my hero and he inspires me to to be the best that I can be in BJJ, and whatever I do in life.”
David, a 10-year-old fifth-grader at Harvest Christian Academy said that he like submitting his opponents.
“I like to learn new submissions and then make somebody submit once I fully understand the move.”
He also is an avid football player in the Guam Youth Football League and the Robbie Webber Youth Soccer League.
“I like jiu-jitsu the most because it is basically a self-learned sport,” David explained. “You learn from your coach and you follow in their foot steps; that is why I like it more than any other sport that I play.”
Having a positive outlook on things helps students cope with the strenuous training, explained Roberto.
“They all have positive attitudes when they come to class and I think that is the biggest motivation that they have going for them,” Roberto said. “As they continue in the sport, they will only get better. Who knows, Guam’s next BJJ b
David Shimizu (10 years old) poses for the camera after Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practice Thursday, June 25, 2009 at the Purebred Lloyd Irvin BJJ Academy in Hagatna.
lack belt or world champion is right here training in this class.”
Aflague said that her ultimate goal in BJJ is to become like the late grandmaster Helio Gracie.
“I want to be like him and one day become a black belt because I know all of my hard work would have all paid off.”
For information on how to enroll a child at the Purebred/Lloyd Irvin BJJ Academy, contact Roberto at 687-1130 or via e-mail at purebred_guam@hotmail.com.
“Jiu-Jitsu is fun and I am sure that if you try it once; you will be hooked on it for the rest of your life,” Shimizu said.
ONRA:June19th,2009
Martial arts and fighting aren’t always the same
• For Pacific Daily News • June 18, 2009
Hafa Adai,
Some very impressive things have happened for Guam combat sports in the past two weeks.
I was reading a martial arts blog by El Conquistador and caught a great discussion on the differences between fighters and martial artists and felt truly enlightened to find wisdom among peers. I rediscovered that training martial arts doesn’t necessarilty make you a martial artist. And, being a martial artist doesn’t necessarily make you a fighter
El Conquistador breaks it down by mentioning that martial artists are driven by a code of honor and fighters are driven by a code of victory. Brilliant!
It’s true that not everybody trains with the best of intentions. But you would hope that, as hard as our athletes are training, the sacrifices would produce a sense of humility, the support of our fans would instill a sense of obligation, and the pride of the islands would promote a sense of ambassadorship and worth.
Though this might not exist for most, the fact that it might exist for some breeds a confidence in the future for the islands which are ultimately brightened by the sport, venture, and passion caused by the crossover of athletics and martial arts
It’s very true that not all good fighters are good martial artists and that not all good martial artists are good fighters.
It’s very true that not all good fighters are good martial artists and that not all good martial artists are good fighters.But, it can go both ways.
As advanced as training has become in the last few years — athletically; and though a martial artist training twenty years might fall to a fighter-athlete with less training, the fighter-athlete might dodge a lawsuit or even injury if he only practiced the wisdom and calm relied upon in martial arts to resolve the conflict peacefully in the first place. In the end, I believe that both have lots to offer.
A great martial artist and a great fighter once said, “The greatest martial art is the one that defeats many without the sacrifice of a single man.”
For their initiative to compete, and their commitment to prepare, I have a great respect for the fighters; and for their inclination to not compete yet their commitment to prepare I also have respect for the martial artists.
Personally, I’d take a code of honor over a code of victory, but maybe that’s why I’m not a champion. At the end of it though, let’s hope that for fan, fighter, and even martial artist, the atmosphere of martial arts will prevail and extract the code and understanding of “the victory of honor” in all of us.
Though it’s important that a fighter and martial artist know how and when to fight, it’s equally important that they learn how and when not to fight. But like many things — easier said than done. But, for martial artist or fighter, isn’t that what training is for?
Thanks for dropping by
WordOfWisdom:ElConquistador
Martial Artist or Fighter
Posted in Jiu Jitsu, MMA, Training on June 12, 2009 by bjj4life
I always appreciated the internal benefits of practicing BJJ as the external benefits of learning self defense and competing. I recently read an excellent article by Dave Camarillo (if you don’t know who he is you shouldn’t be reading this blog) entitled “Fighters vs Martial Artist”. The article focused on the difference between “martial artists” and “fighters” in MMA. A good example of a martial artist in MMA is Renzo Gracie…watch the DVD Legacy and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Dave’s article however had a deeper meaning for me. I realized why during my BJJ journey I have seen things that didn’t sit right with me. We’ve all seen it at tournaments…teams routinely showing poor sportsmanship or competetors showing a lack of respect for their opponents. We’ve seen it at school…guys hurting each other in practice or routinely switching schools looking for the next best thing. I realized that everyone practicing a martial art is not necessarily a martial artist. Some BJJ practitioners are just fighters. Not fighters in the sense of MMA… but fighters in the sense of their guiding principles. Fighters won’t necessarily display the same code of values as a marital artist.
MARTIAL ARTIST: A martial artist is guided by honor and respect. While sparring a martial artist is concerned about mutual progression not just winning. A marital artist displays LOYALTY to his school and what it represents. Above all a martial artist will always honor his instructor and the art for making him a better person. HONOR is his code.
FIGHTERS: A fighter is driven by victory and achieving the next goal. While sparring a fighter is mainly concerned about winning the match and personal progression. A fighter displays LOYALTY to his personal goals. Above all a fighter is mainly concerned about achieving the next goal. VICTORY is his code.
Wearing a kimono doesn’t make you a martial artist. I consider Randy Couture a martial artist while BJ Penn (my favorite fighter) was a fighter who started becoming a marital artist after he received his black belt. I don’t think there is anything wrong with being a fighter. There are martial artist and fighters that train at my school. It depends on your personal goals. I just think that a martial artist can achieve the same goals as a fighter… while achieving so much more. As the saying goes “I don’t do Jiu Jitsu…I live Jiu Jitsu” which means I consider myself a martial artist…what say you? Bjj4life!
THIS POST IS POSTED BY DARREN MULLEN ON HIS PATH TO HIGHER LIVING
http://bjj4life.wordpress.com/
SpiritOfTheLatte
June 15, 2009 by admin
Filed under 1008, Onra, Special Forces
