2007 Year-End Award Winners Announced

Most Improved Grappler – Keith “Trainspotting” Cebula

Trainspotting transformed himself from the “chubby guy you want to spar with when you’re feeling down about yourself” to the “King of White Belts”, even beating a few records on the conditioning circuits along the way.

Rookie of the Year – Kwami Mensah

Kwami had an amazing push at the end of the year, competing in five tournaments and performing well in all of them. He finishes up his sixth month of training in December.

Competitor of the Year – Joshua Plashckes

Was a close vote between Josh and Mike Atkin but Mike cast the deciding vote for the new Blue Belt. Josh started the year sidelined with a shoulder injury, and ended it, having submitted all his opponents in the White Belt Gi and the Intermediate No-Gi. No one can question his heart after his match at the NAGA where he broke his foot and continued to fight. He now competes Advanced and has already been in there with some of America’s BEST grapplers (Bill Cooper). He is planning to build on that experience to move from the bottom step of the medal stand to the top in 2008.

2 of 3 Award Winners - Trainspotting, Malcolm, and Josh (all making funny faces)

Team Lloyd Irvin Kids Wow Audience!

As we prepare for the launch of our own Kid’s program in 2008, Don Achnick and Nyjah Easton, the head Childrens instructors from Camp Springs, were kind enough to bring up some of their very talented Kids for a demonstration. The Team Lloyd Irvin Kids program is THE BEST program in the country for realistic martial arts and the kids showed it tonight. I don’t know what scared me more – the thought of how good these kids will be in a few years or how well-behaved they were.

Master Donny Explains the Character and Physical Education Principles of the Kids Program

Ryan Villogram, 14 y/o, Gives Bottom Game All He Can Handle

"The Intimidator" Ti-Jean (11) Working to Pass Carlo's (10) Guard

6 Year-Old Demonstrates a Flying Armbar

Ben Lipov Promoted to Blue Belt

Ben Lipov is our sixth blue belt.

Great Turnout for White Belt Battle Royale

We had over forty competitors show up for the first White Belt Battle Royale. Grapplers from Ft. Meade BJJ faced off against those from Crazy 88 in sixty individual matches! White Belts were divided into total beginners and more experienced fighters and each group was given different rules so that everyone was able to compete. There were a lot of good matches and everyone had a lot of fun.

We ended up doing very well, with quite a few of our teammates going undefeated for the day. More importantly, it was a great opportunity for the white belts to roll against people from another school in a semi-competitive environment and take an intermediate step towards competing.

Mid-Atlantic Grappling Championship Results

 
Mike “Bottom Game” Florey had his first taste of the Advanced division – in the Open division no less. BG faced Rob Mudrak, a purple belt from Balance Studios. After a leg lock battle, BG went right into his closed guard and managed to get a high-guard armbar. It looked like BG would be able to submit the upper belt but Mudrak showed his skill, defending well, and almost passed off the escape. The match was now tied at an advantage a piece but BG was in a bad spot, turtled up, defending the choke, and the back mount. He turned to face the purple belt and got in on a single leg but his opponent defended quickly and managed to get behind BG again, securing a second advantage, and winning the 0-0 match.

In the Gi division, BG had a close match with a 4-stripe blue belt from Maxercise. Despite outweighing his opponent, BG had to fight hard and managed to pull off the 4-2 victory in the last minute by sweeping his opponent with an UmaPlata. The semifinal bout was a rematch against the blue belt who had defeated him last weekend in the Open. This match turned out differently, with Bottom Game submitting his opponent with a Kimura from the Side-Mount. In the finals, BG faced a HUGE guy from Balance Studios. Our strategy was to grip and try to get on top (don’t want to be on the bottom of a guy that size no matter what your nickname is). Unfortunately, the giant hit a beautiful foot sweep to take BG down and then methodically worked his top game for the victory.

Despite a long layoff, Wayne Johnson looked like he hadn’t lost a step. He took his first opponent down and then went through the entire range of top positions to win his first match 15-0. In the finals of the blue belt division, he and his opponent were gripping hard when his opponent was unable to continue due to an injured wrist from his previous match. It was a dissapointing finish but at least Wayne got another 1st place.

Wayne Being Emo

It was a good opener for the Open where Wayne was matched up first with the eventual division winner. Wayne managed to get on the board with an early sweep attempt but couldn’t hold off the giant and would eventually lose on points. Great to see Wayne back on the mats after all his shenanigans.

Wayne Being Serious

Kwami Mensah didn’t look like his usual self today but still brought back the Gold in the Executive No-Gi despite having to bump up to Middleweight.

Kwami Armbar

Julius Park fought up a weight class to get more matches and managed to submit 2 opponents (cross-choke and brabo) and defeat another on points to win the division.

Julius Chokes Opponent Unconscious!

Brabo Choke is Coming

Jovie Soriano came out flat in the No-Gi division, losing his first match. However, he managed to shake off the cobwebs (he hadn’t trained in 2.5 weeks due to a car accident) in time for the Gi competition. He added some strong submission skills to his already potent positional abilities; he Kimura’d his first opponent and then armbarred his second. In the finals, he strayed away from his gameplan and got caught in a submission himself, forcing the tapout.
 

Jovie in the Finals

Phil Thorn finally put the gi on and submitted all but one of his opponents to win both the Super-Heavyweight and the Open division.

Big Phil Smooshes Some Guy

Big Phil Smooshes Another Guy

Dave Zwanetz only had one match in the no-gi but managed to upload it for us. Here it is…

Dave then competed in the gi where he made a few strategic errors that cost him the division. We will be reviewing the tournament on Thursday so make sure you’re there so you don’t make the same micalculations.

Overall, it was a solid performance. The veteran members looked like they have been improving steadily. The newbies made a a few tactical errors but were not outclassed technically in any of their matches (not sure if that’s good or bad).

Mission Submission 2 Results

Keith “Trainspotting” Cebula had a great tournament, racking up 5 wins to a single loss. In the 30+ Executive division, he passed and breadcutter-choked both of his opponents. He then jumped to the Adult lightweight division which had 17 competitors, the largest division of the day. In the Preliminary round, he stuck with tradition, employing another breadcutter choke for the submission. Using his strong passing abilities, Trainspotting defeated his next opponent 8-0. He would lose on points in the semifinals to the eventual division winner but came back to score the Bronze with an 8-0 victory.

Mike “Bottom Game” Florey finally earned the right to compete in the Advanced division by submitting all his opponents in the Intermediate No-Gi division. In his first match, Bottom Game fell behind on points early when his adversary took him down and passed his guard. Down 5-0, Bottom Game knew he had to submit his opponent and he did with a kneebar from the 1/2-guard. In the finals, the 88 BJJ grappler jumped guard and locked on a Kimura very quickly, ending the match in under a minute.

Next, Florey confronted the other Blue Belt cruiserweights. His first opponent, who had been warned for slamming earlier in the day, continued with his unsportsmanlike behavior, and slammed BG. The referee called a halt to the bout and admonished the other competitor but did not disqualify him. It might have been better for him had he been disqualified as Bottom Game clinched up an armbar and tried to take the arm home with him! The finals turned out to be relatively uneventful with our teammate getting the tap with another Kimura. Bottom Game maintains his 100% submission rate and can now remove the label of “White Belt Champ” that had been affixed to his belt to motivate him to win the Blue Belt division!

Julius Park won the Purple Belt welterweight division, tapping out his opponent from Capital Jiu-Jitsu with a cross-choke and then outpointing his finals opponent, 11-0.

Five medals (four golds) with three competitors – not bad! Remember that the final tournament of the year is next weekend. We’ve been on a roll the last two months, let’s keep it up and end the year strong!

Third Law BJJ Expands to New Location

Congratulations to Roberto and the rest of the Naples, FL crew

Copa NoVA Results

Ryan “LadiesMan217″ Corsillo competed in his first tournament this weekend. After getting guillotined quickly in his first match, he used the experience to reevaluate his gameplan and was able to do much better with his next two opponents. He faced a collegiate wrestler in his 2nd match and lost 2-0 off a takedown. LadiesMan had the wrestler in a fullblown triangle with posture broken as time was coming to an end.

In the gi division, our teammate faced off against a 4-stripe white belt. LadiesMan was passed early but managed to escape to his guard. His opponent then jumped a flying triangle on him but LadiesMan kept his cool and calmly escaped, getting a solid pass position. He earned an advantage but could not secure the side-mount to tie the match. Most white belts freak out their first tournament; I was very happy that LadiesMan kept his composure throughout the matches, never gave up, and actually improved throughout the day as he figured out what worked for him and what didn’t.

Chris “Hawaiian Punch” Jaus had to win 4 matches to win his division. He defeated his first two but lost in the semifinals. In the Consolations, he took his opponent’s back and choked him for the Bronze.

Ben Lipov finally got that Gold medal. Ben has been destroying people in the room but has had some difficulty bringing the full extent of his skills to the competition mat. This tournament, Ben was able to reveal more of his game, finishing his first opponent with an Ezekielle after racking up 9 points, then submitting his next with an armbar. Ben hit a bit of a roadbump in the semi-finals, winning only 5-0, but submitted his finals opponent with another armbar. A dominant performance!

“Little” Scott Miller beat up a lot of other high school kids badly. He is a bully!

Fred Ramie competed in two divisions: the No-Gi Absolute and the LHW Purple Belt. His first match was against Yamasaki Black Belt, Dave Jacobs. Although Jacobs is a lot lighter than Fred, he is an experienced student of the game, having competed regularly since 1998. Fred maintained a slight lead the whole match but you can never count out the veteran; Jacobs countered Fred’s reversal attempt to win the match with only 15 seconds left.

Fred’s first gi match was against a grappler from Team DeLaRiva. Fred executed his moves perfectly, using a beautifully-timed footsweep to bring his opponent to the mat, passing him, and then using a breadcutter choke for the tap. In the finals, Fred rematched Monroe Hall of Maguilla; Monroe had beaten Fred earlier in the year by DQ when Fred accidently slammed him to escape an UmaPlata. This time, Fred swept him, passed, and then again used his breadcutter choke for the submission. Great job against a tough opponent!

“Lawyer” Dave Zwanetz has been a triangle machine in the room and has been dying to show off his skills in tournaments. Unfortunately, Dave injured his ankle on Tuesday and had to go to the Emergency Room. It looked like he would not be able to compete this weekend but he just put on a brace and went out there. After all, “it’s just pain.” Dave pulled guard and went right to his Spider Guard where he was able to lock on a triangle almost immediately. His opponent resisted for a while but eventually had to tap!

One of the strongest team performances of the year even without the regulars.