Memorial Day Class?

There will be no class on Monday night May 25 (Memorial Day). For those that are off from work that day, we will have class on Monday morning at 10am. once again: NO CLASS ON MONDAY NIGHT MAY 25. (class is in the morning).

Bull in The Ring

Who knows who starts these weird traditions? Whenever it's someone's birthday, or they get married or some other big life event we do something called "Bull in the Ring". (As if people needed further discouragement from getting married). Basically, the person being honored has to roll with every in class for a minute each, with no breaks. So, if 15 people show up that day, 15 people = 15 minutes non-stop rolling with 15 fresh opponents.

Anyway, here is a message from Jason about it:

"Wanted to remind everyone that [Today] is Jody's last day...he's moving to Denmark because he's tired of getting beat-up by people smaller than him. Let's make an effort to have as many people present as possible to wish him a proper goodbye via bull-in-the- ring."

So, for those of you that read this blog, but haven't been coming to class regularly, see you tonight!

Copa Nova May 2009 Results

Although none of our adults competed at this event, we did have a couple of kids competing, with James and Tom driving down to corner for them. Despite his eye surgery, Tom made the trip down and will be well enough to start training again this week. Congrats to Rael and Dean for an outstanding effort!

Advanced Children No Gi
69 lbs.
2nd Place Rael Griffin

Advanced Teen No Gi
169 lbs.
2nd Place Dean Szollory

Fedor / Aoki Exhibition Match

I found this on YouTube, so you may as well enjoy it before it gets taken down or flagged. It's a video of the exhibition match between Fedor and Shinya Aoki. Fedor outweighs Shinya by about 100 pounds, but does surprisingly well against the Russian who is arguably the best fighter in MMA. The smooooooth takedowns are particularly impressive. Enjoy!

Swine Flu and You

We disinfect the mats before every class, but no matter how careful you are, if you are in close proximity to others you should take steps to minimize your chances of getting sick from anything on the mats (inlcuding staph, flu and other bad things). Here are some simple things you can do to protect yourself:

1) wear a long sleeve rashguard and your gi pants. In the summer people tend to want to roll no-gi, but rolling in shorts and a t-shirt puts more of your skin in direct contact with the mat.

2) if you are sick, stay home. No one wants your flu! you might feel well enough to go to work, but don't roll with people unless you are completely well. Some people in class have babies at home, so be considerate. If you are sick, feel free to watch class and take notes if you want, or ask someone to go over what you missed when you get back.

3) take a shower as soon as you get home. Simple soap and water will kill the staph virus, and it takes a couple of hours for it to take hold, so you have plenty of time to wash your hands/take a shower.

4) care for the mats. we disinfect the mats before each class, but if you walk off the mats barefoot and then walk back on, you will track germs on it. Have some flip flop sandals that you can put on when you leave the mat so your bare feet don't touch the floor in other parts of the gym.

5) bandage up your cuts. staph infections usually happen when you have a cut and it comes in contact with something that is not sterile. keep your cuts bandaged when you are rolling. If you don't have bandages or tape, ask someone in class for it (usually several people have some).