Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Festivus! Alliance BJJ Canada wishes everyone a safe and happy nondenominational holiday season. A Dragan BJJ gift certificate would make a perfect stocking stuffer for your loved ones, so stop by the gym now to pick one up! Our hours of operation for the next little while are as follows:
CLOSED: December 24, 25, 28, 31, January 1.
OPEN: December 27, 29, 30. Normal Schedule resumes January 3.
The past year has been a great one for our team, let’s make 2011 even better!
At the Abu Dhabi Pro Tials in Toronto this past Saturday Drew Ruttle won gold in his weight class and in the open. The win means he gets a paid trip to the finals in Abu Dhabi next year, where many of the world’s elite will be competing. It’s the most important pro tournament in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu at the moment, and with the biggest prize money; the BJJ mundials do not give out cash to the winners. Still only 19 years old, Drew “the Man-Child” Ruttle bested his opponents in impressive fashion en route to the ultimate prize. The division combined competitors from purple belt to black belt, and Drew, whose purple belt hasn’t even started to fade, showed that he’ll be a handful for anyone in the next round. Good luck!
Starting Monday March 16th 2009, all of our operations will be located in Waterloo, at the “Krav Maga” training facility (283 Northfield Drive East Waterloo, ON N2J 4G8, Canada Map). It’s an amazing facility with lots of mat space. Here’s the new, slightly modified schedule:
Monday: Open GI 7pm
Tuesday: Open NO-GI 7pm
Wednesday: Open GI 7pm
Thursday: Open GI 7pm
Friday: Open GI 7pm
Saturday: Open NO-GI Noon
This begins effective immediately. We no longer run any classes out of the 300 Mill St. gym. All of our memberships will be honoured, including the joint Muay Thai/BJJ ones (speaking only for the training that we offer).
Email me at info@alliancebjj.ca if you have any questions or concerns.
Starting on Monday November 3rd our Kitchener gym will be entering into a new membership program, only slightly different than the current model. All memberships will include unlimited training. Buying more months at a time will lower the per-month cost; you can get them in sets of 1, 3 or 6. It works out like this:
On Saturday, May 31st Alliance Canada had a team training session which gathered our forces from Hamilton, Kitchener, Waterloo, London and all corners of Ontario. After a lengthy grappling session a handful of us were tested by Jeff and Dragan and promoted to the next level. To blue belt: Drew, Jeff aka “Hightower”, Brandon and Mike. To purple belt: Jurgen, Dave aka “Hollywood”, Kris and Anthony. To brown belt: Dean and myself. I’d like to thank our coaches for all their wisdom and support over the years, and the many more to come. Alliance Canada is amassing a small army!
The BJJ Worlds (also called “The Mundials” by cool kids) goes down in a week in Long Beach California. If this years Pan Ams was any indication of things to come, Alliance will be out in force, ready to win the team championship. From Joslin’s MMA, my good friend and training partner Jack Szatko will be competing in the blue belt division. He’s, without a doubt, one of the hardest working and dedicated grapplers I’ve had the pleasure to know. Good luck, Jaku! Break a leg… er, arm!
Dragan made his second trip down to London Ontario this past weekend for a mini-seminar at our new affiliate school run by Derek Bindner. Says Derek, “the seminar was absolutely amazing and the students enjoyed it thoroughly. Thank you, Dragan, for your shared wisdom, support and continued dedication! It is an honour to be part of the Alliance Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Team!” Look for more announcements to be made regarding future appearances by The Mad Scientist.
And I can’t wipe the smile off my face. What can I say? In the life of a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu practitioner a Black Belt means years of study, and is not just frivolously handed out, especially on Team Alliance. Dragan bleeds Jiu-jitsu. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. He bleeds armbars and guards and escapes and kimuras and omoplatas and crazy-ass training methods and wisdom and dedication to his students. Today, Romero ‘Jacare’ Cavalcanti, after testing and promoting a deserving host of Dragan and Jeff’s students, revealed that he had one more belt in his bag. “I have a little surprise,” he said with a big grin, as if he’d been anticipating the moment, finally ready to spill the beans, then presented Drag with a black belt. Dragan fell to the mat like he’d just been shot! It’s been a long – and still continuing – journey. Dragan started BJJ ten years ago. He’s been my coach for close to five. I’m proud of you, man.
Special thanks must be given to Jacare for his great two-day seminar. Other promotions include, to purple belt; Farshad, Shane and Richard, and to blue belt; Mike, Mikey, Brandon, Dave, Karl, Teddy, Kevin, Ivan, Dallas, Andrew and Steve.
Alliance Canada welcomes back Jacare for two seminars this September. Founder and Head coach of Alliance world wide, Jacare brings a level of grappling experience few can match. On Saturday September 15th Joslin’s MMA in Hamilton will host a no-gi training session from noon ’til 3:30pm. On Sunday September 16th Dragan BJJ will host a gi session at the Waterloo location, also from noon ’til 3:30pm. It’s 85 bucks a pop or 150 for both days.
The Jacare seminar that had been planned for the weekend of July 14-15 must be postponed; Mr. Cavalcanti is returning to Brazil concerning private family affairs. Alliance Canada wishes him a safe trip. We’ll arrange for the seminar to be rescheduled ASAP, most likely later in the summer. But fret not! On Sunday July 15th Jeff Joslin – Jacare’s first Canadian Black Belt slash UFC fighter – is conducting a No-Gi seminar in lieu of the circumstances. It’ll be in Waterloo at the Krav Maga Gym 283 Northfield Drive East (map), Waterloo, Ontario. The cost is only 25 bucks a pop (1/3rd the original price!). Runs from 3pm to 6pm. See you there.
