2012 Recap

This one was harder for me to write than the recaps for our first two years.  This is not because 2012 was a bad year.  It was our best so far.   The reason, I think, is that I’m so focused on looking ahead.  In my mind are all the plans for Renzo Gracie Pittsburgh Academy’s new space in The Strip.  Along with the building we have new instructors and new programs being initiated.  It has been three years since we opened the first class during the 2010 snowstorm.  Although going forward is our focus let’s take a couple of minutes to look at what we have built focusing on last year.  2012 should give us confidence that we have a strong foundation that will keep getting better this year.  

One of the things that really stand out in my memory and shows in my jiu-jitsu game is that Daniel Gracie visited us and stayed with us several times in 2012.    He shared his years of knowledge and competitive experience for two weeks teaching classes in March.  He visited two more times and did three special seminars for us.  The nogi guard-passing seminar was amazing for the advanced guys.  We learned twelve battle-tested techniques and some strategies for making them work.   Marcio "Macarrao" Stambowsky, the highest belt-ranking instructor teaching in the Northeast, did a great seminar for us as well.  He focused on wristlocks as a strategy to stop guard passing and attack. He also showed us a great “Gymnastica Natural” based warm-up.  He showed us some self defense based techniques as well.  Right at the end of 2012, Garry Tonon (voted one of the worlds best brown belts at any weight) did a seminar for us.  Garry showed us new cutting edge techniques all to benefit the Red Cross’s Charity for Hurricane Sandy relief.  I also did a charity seminar this year in San Jose, Costa Rica benefiting disadvantaged children in the country that gave me so much in the way of great jiu-jitsu training. 

Some of our competitive highlights include, in chronological order:

• Lance Thompson 2^nd place purple belt adult in IBJJF NY Open.  This is a great tournament finish! Purple belt is so tough.  No one from other schools in the area can claim a finish in purple belt at such a top-level event.
• Mike Wilkins got his second pro MMA win this summer.
• Jonas Rubiano and Dino Juklo both got there first amateur MMA wins.
• Mike Flor won his divisions at the Kumite Klassic
• RJ Sache and Bob Demmler got blue belt wins at Steel City's martial arts tournament
• Dean Lewis won IBJJF Pan Nogi!  This is a top tier tournament.  Dean showed that he is the best blue belt around.  Look for him in some tournaments coming soon.  Mike Flor also won his weight at the Pans in the masters division.
• Logan Stout won the absolute at Pitt's grappling tournament.

That’s a nice list!  For those of you who enjoy competing, let’s get out and compete more this year.  No one remembers the ones you lose.  They only teach you how to be better.  The more we compete, the more we learn.  We have a great team to support us including the other teachers in the Renzo Gracie Association in NYC, Brazil and other places.  We have great training partners to keep us getting better. 

We also had many promotions to blue belt this year as well as two youth members earning their orange belts.  Check out our academy facebook page to see photos of all of our belt promotions.

We had some fun social events.  Everyone who stayed until the end of the summer barbecue remember Douggie P’s antics.  Anthony, thank you for hosting us, and the keg, after the barbecue to watch the Strikeforce fights where Roger Gracie dominated Jardine. Bowling night was fun also.  We established that I’m the worst bowler of the academy.  The end of the year party was really fun.  We had over 50 people there this year, up from about 30 in 2011.  The location was more fun also.  We had lots of other informal get-togethers to watch fights and jiu-jitsu tournaments.  It is so important that we enjoy doing things as a group outside of the Academy.  As people get more and more fragmented, isolated and specialized it becomes more important to have something universal to share.  Jiu-jitsu is that thing for many of our members and for me.  Our membership almost doubled from the year before. 

 Let’s get ready for even more growth and good things this year.

-Warren

Renzo Gracie Pittsburgh 2011 Recap

Two thousand twelve is here! The past year went really fast for me so writing this was a nice way to reflect on all the good memories. Challenges overcome are always good memories so I'll start with those. The toughest challenges were thrown at guys most of us respect. First, Lance Thompson had a very serious injury last December. I've heard that the number one reason purple belts don't move up the ranks is due to injuries. This is understandable having had one myself. It is amazing how such an obstacle can change your mental state. Injuries give some people a powerful reason to quit something, even when it is positive for them. Lance underwent surgery and came back even better than when he left! Mike Wilkins faced a different kind of challenge. After establishing himself as one of the areas best amateur MMA fighters, he decided to step up a level and go professional against the advice of the armchair critics and other people involved in mixed martial arts. He finally got a fight in Costa Rica. He lost at the very end of the first round (which he dominated) to a submission. It was a difficult way to lose after spending almost a year on improving his grappling. The critics and naysayers were vindicated, right? Wrong. Mike came back and had a dominating win in his first official pro fight right here in Pennsylvania. Heather Wiederstein also came back from injuries and losses.

The members of Renzo Gracie Pittsburgh participated in many competitions. In MMA we saw Mike Wilkins make his pro debut. Sean Clair made his amateur debut with a decision win over a tough 2-0 jiu-jitsu fighter. Lucas Burdette returned to the cage, fighting in the NAAFS organization after a long layoff. He came back strong with one of the most inspiring victories I've seen in my years watching MMA.

Heather Wiederstein and Curt Uniatowski stepped in the cage for the first time and fought hard but dropped decisions. In jiu-jitsu competition, I surprised myself by placing third in the black belt adult division (middleweight) at the Nogi Pan-Ams and third in the Miami Open black belt absolute division (www.ibjjf.org). While these are not the best tournaments in jiu-jitsu/grappling (that would be the IBJJF Worlds and ADCC), they are certainly top-tier competitions that few Americans (and no one training out of Pittsburgh) have placed in before. I have to thank all my training partners at RGA for getting me ready to compete successfully at a world level, especially considering the limited time I have to spend on my own training. On a less happy note, I was invited to compete in the Kerberus Pro Absolute and lost by footlock so quickly that I made Atos's highlight reel. As a team, we had a great showing at the Kumite Classic in Monroeville this past May. We dominated the white belt adult gi division. Individually we had many champs including Heather (gi and nogi), Jonas (gi and nogi), Phil, and Jarret Lewis (blue belt gi). We had several other place winners. At a local West Virginia tournament, Dave Ziegler took first place in blue belt gi and second in advanced nogi. Phil Norbeck took second in white belt gi. At the IBJJF New York Open, Dave took second in the blue belt division. He showed technical skill as well as toughness winning three matches in a tough, high-level event. Check out videos of the action on YouTube. We miss you, Dave! Jonas and Alex (youth division) also took first place finishes at Steel City's tournament during the summer. I think everyone who competed learned something valuable.

Some good friends and training partners are no longer training at the academy. Hopefully some will be back in the new year. Our membership numbers doubled. Heather organized some women's only training which brought women from other academies. Our kids program really took off in 2011. Jarret took the conditioning program to a new level. He continued his learning with a TRX certification and lots of hard training. Jarret also organized the David Clancy kettlebell seminar.
We had a world-class instructor from Brazil, Roger Ambrosi, join us for a few months. He brought a different perspective to classes and his championship technique to our school. He also did many private lessons and helped me with my training. I could not have competed at a high level in 2011 without training with Roger. Daniel Gracie awarded him his black belt in December at his home academy in Brazil. Roger and his wife Mel returned to Brazil not long ago so that he could undergo orthopedic surgery. We hope to see them back in Pittsburgh sometime in 2012.

We had plenty of social events and good times watching the UFC at bars and at our fellow members houses. Our year-end party was fun and lots of nice gear was won.

We hosted two seminars this year. The first was Igor Gracie. Since my son Jake was being born in Costa Rica, Logan helped organize the seminar. Everyone said Igor was an inspirational but down-to-earth guy and that they learned some valuable jiu-jitsu lessons. I think Mike Wilkins already dangerous guillotine got even meaner. I was really happy to bring my old teacher Shawn Williams to Pittsburgh and host his seminar. He showed us why he is such a respected teacher. We are still working on lots of the stuff he showed us.

Thanks to CPAMMA for attending the seminars and stopping by to train every now and then. We like having you! We have had many visitors who have added to our school by training with us and sharing technique. Will Durkee (adult purple belt pan nogi champ) and Garry Tonon (brown belt world gi and pan nogi champ) gave us great training and tips when they were in town.

We had many belt promotions in 2011. Here is a list:

Purple: Brendan Lupetin and Jarret Lewis



















Blue: Anthony Previte, Jason Coligan, Sean Clair, Chris Ripple, Casey Stapleton, Mike Mehalko, Doug Placko and Geoff Hogate.

Brendan and Jarret were the first purple belts I have given so they are extra special for me. Jarret got his blue from Jean Jacques Machado and Brendan got his from Renzo himself. Jason and Geoff started at Renzo Gracie Pittsburgh and are "home grown" (not in a Rastafarian way I don't think).

Thank you for the great camaraderie, great workouts, and for being members of the Renzo Gracie Pittsburgh Academy. I sincerely thank all of you. Unless the Mayans and ancient Indian Vedas writers are correct and the world ends, we are going to continue to grow and get better in 2012!

-Warren