Category: Jiu-Jitsu

BJJ Seminar Tour:

Sixth stop over at Belgium’s BJJ Yaware and Academy of MMA

The next halt in our Europe tour was Belgium, a country famous for its medieval towns. Located in the Flemish region of Belgium, is a small municipality of Brakel. This is where my friend, also a student of mine, resides.

Let’s acquaint ourselves with Evert Deweer and the Yaware Academy

Evert Deweer has played a prominent role in developing the martial arts streak in this part of Belgium. Evert is the Head Instructor at the BJJ Yaware and Academy of MMA. An IBJJF certified black belt, Evert is also appointed as a qualified martial arts instructor at the Flemish Trainer School.

Evert along with his team members has set up this flourishing academy. With the experience of over 20 years, they offer martial arts training  and now around ten years offering BJJ to men and women of all ages. Evert emphasizes the need for a safe and educationally sound learning.

Evert and the Yaware Academy have gone ahead and organized many international tournaments. Belgium National Pro Jiu Jitsu championship held in Abu Dhabi being one of them. This championship is a part of the UAE JIU-JITSU FEDERATION.

At Evert’s institute we produced some amazing BJJ instructors. This included two young and dynamic men, Miguel Vallee and Wesley Muddy. Both of them accomplished black belt holders. They are also official BJJ trainers and referees.

The Techniques we worked on at Evert’s place

Half Guard Bottom Control,  Half Guard sweeps, Half guard reversals, Back Takes from Half Guard  and a few submissions from half guard bottom, all techniques mastered by Prof.  Roberto Gordo Correa and later passed on to Prof. Renato Migliaccio that eventually brought it to Belgium. A very cool lineage.

Together we polish these techniques and gave a finishing touch to the moves of these trainers.

As the session came to an end, we held black belt examination for one of the trainers. In this assessment, an old time student by the name Marc Vanslembrouck was a Black Belt receiver. An enthusiastic supporter of the school, Marc is also a top coach of BJJ for youth in the institute.

We had a great time imparting our knowledge to this vibrant group of men and women. To watch these students take the art of Jiu Jitsu on a world platform gives us an immense satisfaction. We leave Belgium with a resolve to come back soon and build more bonds through the art of Jiu Jitsu and the Sampa BJJ style of teaching.

If you like to participate in our classes and be part of our association, please call 626-419-2480.

Our subsequent seminar in Switzerland with my friend Marius

After the BJJ seminar in Belgium, The next stop we made was in Aarau, Switzerland visiting my dear old friend Marius Maissen. Part of our excitement was borne from visiting Aarau for Jiu Jitsu after a long time. But our main attraction was the independent institute New Legacy Aarau newly set up by my friend Marius.

Our contribution to Marius and Aarau

At the recently conceived New Legacy Aarau, we worked on making sure the Sampa Brazilian jiu Jitsu style or approach to the art is being used/developed and honored at the new legacy martial arts.  Our goal is making jiu-jitsu students to understand that the mutual benefit is the secret to growth. Besides that we worked on techniques of Side Control Maintenance, Side Control Escapes and Attacks from Side Control. These methods can be described in short as:

• Side Control Maintenance: This stable position is all about immobilizing your opponent and preventing yourself from slipping back into their guard.
• Side Control Escapes: These escapes are performed by alleviating the pressure on our rival’s shoulder and conducting a series of twist and under hooks.
• Attacks from Side Control: The goal here is to control the head and arm, then driving the knee into the opponent’s hip to turn his spine enough to scoop up the inside elbow.

Our attempts to perfect these styles had an extremely positive effect on the students. We proudly promoted three students to blue belt, one to purple belt and another to brown belt. It makes all our efforts worthwhile training a batch of such talented students. We congratulate each of them. Also, we give our best wishes to Marius for building a flourishing BJJ institute in Aarau.

To Gi or No-Gi

Marius has always been fonder of the No-Gi training method. This method involves getting hold of the body’s natural handles such as the neck, wrist, elbow, knees to coerce a submission. Yet, old school masters of martial arts have often preferred the Gi method due to its technicalities. The Gi routine consists of holding the partners sleeves, collar, or pant legs to gain a controlling position over the rival.

The most natural difference between the Gi and No-Gi style is the usage of the attire Gi or Kimono. This is the clothing worn in the martial arts world. It facilitates grappling among aficionados of the Gi style. Having been a doting No-Gi trainer, it was a daunting task to convince Marius to train with the Gi.

A gem in the martial arts world- Marius Maissen

Marius is a phenomenal martial arts champion. He has won accolades in tournaments all over Germany and Switzerland. His mastery is not restricted only to BJJ but he has also been a title holder in Mixed Martial Arts and Thai Boxing. Marius has 10 years of training under his sphere.

He has focused on training the young talent in the last five years. From personal experience as a social scientist, Marius has always been aware of weaker people being abused by the stronger ones.  As a coach, he makes sure to induct only those who would respect the art and not misuse it.

Marius has previously trained in the No-Gi style under the guidance of our institute. Even so he has been practicing for the last four years on the Gi style to attain a complete black belt. We would like to compliment him on his hard work and wish him all the best for his new endeavor.

If you like to participate in our classes and be part of our association, please call 626-419-2840.