(15 Questions with ROGUE GRAPPLING)
1. Name of your Event/Organization:
ROGUE Grappling
2. Year founded/started:
2018
3. Name of founders (Name of current owners if different):
Josh Blanchard, Amanda Blanchard, Chris Jessulat, Jillian Jessulat
The Very Beginning...
Front L to R: Jillian Jessulat/Chris Jessulat/Josh Blanchard/ Amanda Blanchard
Back: (L) Chris Forsythe (R) Bryan Beyea
(2018)
Josh/Chris
4. What stimulated or generated the idea to create a BJJ/Grappling comp event in Atlantic Canada?
When we first started kicking around the idea of ROGUE there were a few tournaments around the Maritime scene - while they were great and did a phenomenal job bringing the community together, one thing we found was lacking was a cohesive feel - the rules were different and everything more or less existed in silo format... everything kinda felt disjointed. We wanted to do something different and came up with the idea of running events with a "Season" format, where we'd host 4 "open" events during the year and end each Season with a special/invitation only style event, which became the Grand Prix. We wanted all our events to have a systematic feel and operation so competitors and coaches knew exactly what they were walking in to and there would be a great deal of consistency from event to event.
NO MAN'S LAND
18 AUG 2018
5. What is your mission statement or overall objective with ROGUE Grappling?
Simply put, community development. Our goal is and has always been to build out the scene and offer a premiere tournament experience that was worthy of the quality of the jiu jitsu in our little corner of the world.
6. Was the original plan to deliver an event once or was it planned to be a regular occurring event?
Actually the original vision for ROGUE was a sub only, invitational style event, but we ran into tremendous difficulties navigating what was then the governing body (the NB Combat Sport Commission) and how BJJ was regulated at the time... which is in no small part why we invested so much time and effort working towards the creation of BJJNB (but that's a long story... and perhaps for another day lol).
7. Did you face any challenges when getting the event started? If so, how did you overcome them? Lessons Learned.
Many challenges! Whereas NB wasn't open for business (until the passing of BJJ as being a "prescribed sport" under the meaning of the NB Combat Sport Act), when we founded ROGUE we had to host all of our events outside NB, and we are eternally grateful to the town of Amherst, NS, and the guys at Breakthrough (massive shout out to the squad there + their venture, Breakthrough Grappling Series, which is doing incredible things for the Maritime scene) for welcoming us, as well as the NS Boxing Commission for their help and assistance in getting settled and working between the lines.
It's actually why we ultimately named the company ROGUE Grappling - we were a NB based company, unable to operate in our own province... we kinda joked about having to hop across the border like a bandit to be able to do anything and get to work on delivering our vision for the scene.
Beyond that - and as anyone who has ever organized an event like these has learned - there's tons of logistical and personnel challenges that emerge along the way... but it's all about letting that passion guide you, especially during the grind-y parts.
8. What is one of your most memorable and pleasant experience to date with ROGUE Grappling?
ROGUE has always been about growing the community and giving the athletes here a platform to perform and showcase the beast of the East Coast. It's no secret the jiu jitsu here punches well above its weight on the world stage - we're a tiny market, low population density and you see athletes from our community finding significant success on the international stage and bringing home all kinds of hardware and titles from prestigious events the world over... with that in mind, truthfully every event we run is special because we get to see folks get out there and showcase something new, ignite a fire, learn from a mistake... the list goes on.
But if you're asking us to pick really specific moments, we'd have to go with some of the stuff that's come out of the Grand Prix tournament. When you see the quality of the competition and the athleticism of the athletes in those matches - and we've had a number extend 20-30+ minutes of legitimate back & forth battling, it's incredible to see.
9. How much work goes into planning just one event? Time/hours; Logistics; Staffing, etc...
I think if we actually counted that up we'd retire (ha)!
I dunno, it's a lot of work, but it's a labour of love. We are blessed to have found a great number of people early in the game for us who shared our vision and passion for the scene, and somehow a ragtag group of mostly strangers (at the time - we now count many of those folks among our dearest friends) came together (and continue to come together) to offer ideas and build.
10. What do you enjoy the most of delivering and hosting BJJ events to the Atlantic Canadian BJJ Community?
I think there's a feeling here, shared by almost everyone in the scene, that we're in the early stages of building something beautiful... something that's gonna last well beyond our own respective time on the mats. We want to leave things better than how we found them, which is to say we want the next generation of jiu jitsu to have it easier than we did. The early & OG clubs and coaches around the Maritimes broke the ground and introduced the sport here, and it was their love & passion that cultivated that seed and nurtured it into a scene that could sustain a regular tournament schedule.
We can all attest about the benefits jiu jitsu brings to your life (on & off the mats), and it's a privilege to play a role in furthering the good work that was done by the generations before us so that every generation after us has a solid foundation to keep growing from.
11. Has ROGUE grown or expanded since the first event?
Absolutely... when we first started in 2018, a ~90 person event was a good showing. A few short years later (and a good chunk derailed by Covid), we're seeing 270+ registrations at events and we've had to invest in a 4th mat surface to keep up, which we debuted this past January at FLASH FREEZE with great success.
ROGUE - NO MAN'S LAND (AUG 2018)
ROGUE - NO MAN'S LAND (AUG 2018)
ROGUE - NO MAN'S LAND (AUG 2018)
ROGUE 16 - FLASH FREEZE (JAN 2024)
ROGUE 16 - FLASH FREEZE (JAN 2024)
ROGUE 16 - FLASH FREEZE (JAN 2024)
ROGUE 16 - FLASH FREEZE (JAN 2024)
ROGUE 16 - FLASH FREEZE (JAN 2024)
ROGUE 16 - FLASH FREEZE (JAN 2024)
12. What does the future look like for ROGUE Grappling? Future plans, goals, additions?
When we first started, the plan was always to run a Season with 4 Open events and then one "capstone" event, being the Grand Prix. We value the time of our staff, volunteers, and every athlete and practitioner around the Maritimes. We recognize how valuable everyone's free time is and how important having family time on your weekends are. A big reason for that 4th mat was to make sure that on a full size tournament day (call that 270 registrations, which is where we normally hard stop after putting a cap on around ~250) people were still out of the gym and home by supper time, and on smaller event days the 4th mat might even mean we can get out the gym by mid afternoon.
Josh and Chris were both wrestlers in school (highschool and elementary), and both train judo to some extent as well... so we love to partner and promote cross training with seminars between Lutte NB Wrestling, Black Bears Wrestling Club, and the Judo Shimpokai. We also try to host a few referee development clinics throughout the year (in conjunction with BJJNB), which we hope is doing a good job in developing the infrastructure around the Maritimes.
WRESTLING NB SEMINAR
April 2022
13. With new events continuing to appear on the scene in Atlantic Canada, what are your thoughts of the growth and do you have any advice to newcomers to hosting competitions?
Abundance, not scarcity. There is more than enough jiu jitsu for everyone. When we launched ROGUE we went out of our way to make sure that everyone who had a history hosting events knew what we were planning, and we wanted to make sure we worked around their needs and schedules. For example (and I'm going from memory here), but Pictou County Sub Only was always February, Abhaya was April, AGT was June, Titans used to do something in September... so we worked with them and settled on January, May, August and October to host our events. Our first event was August 2018 in Amherst, so we decided the Grand Prix would be something we'd fit in between May and August. We've kept the same schedule ever since as we want to be predictable with our event dates.
14. Is there anything you would like to see happen with the tournament scene in Atlantic Canada? For example, New Brunswick now has BJJ NB/Sport NB affiliation. Also, rulesets IBJJF/ADCC etc.. Are all organizations using one or mixing it up, etc...
Different rule sets are very cool and add a really interesting dimension to the scene here. I don't want to speak out of turn but I think you're going to start seeing some events looking more like ADCC in the future. It's good to see some variety, but I think that's also why ROGUE has stuck to its guns - we want people to know when you're competing on our mats, it's going to be the same, consistent feel. The Open events have more or less always been the same, and the Grand Prix will always be a no time limit, sub only bracket. We can't wait to see what others' visions will be.
15. The comradery and respect between the event organizations is evident as we have seen correspondence and compromising on event dates to witnessing the sharing/loaning of mats for a fundraiser event. How would you describe the relationship or event community in Atlantic Canada? What is unique about the community here in our region?
From our side of the table at least, we believe that's mostly true. We've always gone out of our way to accommodate others (and have moved events on a number of occasions), and that's also part of the reason why we try to be so predictable with our scheduling. Our hope is as the scene builds out others will follow suit and we can all find a way to work together to share our own visions and contributions to growing the scene. We'll continue to run our events in the same months every year and coordinate with other promoters, same as we've always done. We like to think the spirit of reciprocity there will carry through, and we'll continue to offer our time or network (either by volunteering or sharing/promoting their events) and/or providing prizes to other promotions to help them build some excitement, especially as they are getting their feet under them. We only exist because others came before us, and we hope we've done a good job in growing the scene & helping break the trail for the promotions that have (and will) come after us.
As a closing thought, we think the most unique thing about the BJJ scene in the Atlantic provinces in pretty similar to what makes the Atlantic provinces unique on the world stage... we're a small community, and we're known for our work ethic. That translates into all facets of life here on the East Coast - folks will grind for their passion and are there to help build others up. We're proud to be from here, and proud of the contribution of ROGUE and the incredible dedication of folks who've helped us with their time, feedback and guidance... especially those who've been there since the beginning.
We have nothing but love and gratitude for the community here, and hope we continue to be worthy of their support.
