(20 Questions)
1. (Brief Bio)
a. Where are you from? (If from outside of Atlantic Canada, when did you relocate to the region?)
Cole Harbour, NS, Canada
b. When not doing BJJ, what do you do?
(Profession/Career/business/hobbies and interests)
I work as an Avionics Technician in the RCAF and as an MMA referee on the side.
Hobbies: Watching BJJ instructional, boogie boarding, trail cycling and hiking, functional training, gaming, sauna enthusiast.
2. When and why did you start training in BJJ?
I started getting into watching UFC fights around 2008. I saw spectacular head kick KO's and thought, I want to pull that off someday.
I wrestled in high school and boxed with friends in my garage so I always had an interest in fighting. I wanted to be a human weapon and it felt good to fight and be victorious. I'm sure there was something deep rooted in me from having an older brother that made me feel like I wanted to have some control and be able to defend myself as the smaller human.
I began with Muay Thai at Fit Plus in 2009 and after about a month of watching the BJJ guys in the class next to me, I enrolled in both martial arts.
I gave kickboxing and BJJ equal effort for quite a while, but eventually started putting all of my energy into BJJ.
3. Do you (or have you) train in any other martial arts?
I primarily practice BJJ now but have also trained in Muay Thai, American kickboxing and Wrestling classes.
4. When did you receive your black belt and can you describe how you felt when you received it? Did you face any hurdles or setbacks?
I was filled with joy and emotion when I received my black belt. It was because of the hurdles and setbacks that it was such a big deal.
It was a long-term goal of mine to become a black belt in BJJ. I saw a lot of people quit along the way and I told myself to never be that guy.
I will not be one of those people who gets their blue belt, feel like they've "made it" and slowly disappear. I was determined to go all the way
and represent the martial art/sport as a lifelong martial artist.
The dream of becoming a black belt looked like a much rockier road, when in 2015 I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. I had to have a couple of surgeries,
but I figured I would treat it like "just another fight" and I would be back on the mats 8 weeks later. For the most part, that was true but in 2017, after a follow up CT scan and PET scan, I learned that the cancer had spread up into my lymph nodes I would either need to start chemo/radiation or undergo a 3rd surgery called "RPLND" where they would dissect me and remove some of the suspect lymph nodes. I thought I would bounce back just as easily as the first two surgeries but that just simply wasn't the case. I trained for a year post surgery but a chronic nerve pain in my hip (damage from the surgeries) seemed to get worse and worse as time went on. I needed to consider my quality of life. Even though BJJ was a huge part of my identity and my greatest passion in life I felt like I had no other choice but to hang up my Gi, likely for good.
I grieved Jiu Jitsu like it was a lost loved one and over time it got easier but I couldn't believe I would likely never reach my goal of being a black belt.
Over the next 1 year and 9 months I tried new hobbies. I focused more on improving my acoustic guitar playing skills and making music through music production software. It was okay but definitely didn't fill the Jiu Jitsu void. I've always been very physical and I'm passionate about staying in shape. Here I was doing much less physical hobbies, trying to make the best out of a bad situation.
Fortunately - I'm hard to kill. The attitude I started with, was the attitude that got me to the final dance. Just because there are setbacks, doesn't mean they are going to affect me for the rest of my life. Time played a huge role in the healing process but eventually I started taking a more active approach. Seeking help, exercises, stretching.. whatever I had to do to feel better. After my long hiatus, I slowly started dipping my feet back in the Jiu Jitsu waters training with my friend and fellow black belt James Locke. I worked through the pain and I made it back. My body is still getting stronger and I feel less and less surgery related pain as time progresses.
5. Belt lineage:
Originally (white to brown): Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Carlson Gracie > Murilo Bustamante > Fabio Holanda > Dana Dickeson > Eric Nevitt
Now (Halifax/Black Belt): Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Rolls Gracie > Romero Cavalcanti > Jonathan Thomas > Josh Whalen > Eric Nevitt
6. Where do you train? Other past locations?
Current: 12 Wing BJJ / Halifax BJJ Society
Formerly: Fit Plus MMA (Dartmouth, NS) TNT Karate and Kickboxing (Alliston, ON), Synergy Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (Fredericton, NB)
7. Competition history? Are still you still competing?
I've competed in 3 amateur kickboxing matches, never losing a fight in the ring.
I've competed in 5 amateur MMA fights and I'm guessing that I've had about 60 Jiu Jitsu matches in various tournaments over the years.
I'm currently not competing but I am gearing up towards putting my hat back in the race.
8. Do you teach/coach and what does a good teacher mean to you?
I teach at 12 Wing BJJ but also enjoy being a student at Halifax BJJ.
A good teacher should encourage their students to keep trying even if something doesn't feel natural at first.
We should do our best to emphasize on small details even if the detail is almost invisible.
We should make our best effort to continuously learn cutting edge jiu jitsu but also keep in touch with fundamentals and self defense concepts.
We should break down classes into bite sized chunks and sequences that can easily be digested by our students.
We should want our students to succeed and have fun.
9. Preference GI or NO GI? Why?
For learning new and interesting things - Gi
For competition and rolling - No Gi
10. How often do you train now versus in the beginning?
About the same, but perhaps a little less than when you're in your 20's. My weekly minimum I like to hit is 3x per week but 4x per week is ideal.
11. Advice you would give to your white belt self from yourself now?
"You're going to make it dude. Have faith and keep showing up. Go learn some takedowns ya' hoser"
12. Advice to anyone contemplating joining a BJJ club?
Do it. Side effects may include: confidence boosts, lean muscle mass, kind & competitive community and a bad ass skill set.
13. Advice to anyone feeling like they are not progressing in their training or become fixated on belts?
Plateaus can be hard to get over. I feel like I'm just getting over one that I've been stuck in for years.
My strategy was to just keep showing up and skill will follow but if you're really stuck, it may be time to start assessing where you're commonly getting wrecked in practice and start filling your most vulnerable holes. That sounded dirty... For example, you may be a beast when it comes to passing guard and a specialist at submitting people from side mount but every time you start on your back and play guard you're getting passed by everyone. This would be a good indication that you should be working on your guard retention and subsequent counter offense from different guards. I would recommend watching matches or watching instructionals specific to your problems. From there you must drill, drill, drill.
14. Your top go to submissions?
Japanese Neck Tie
15. Your game/guard? Any advice to someone in early stages looking for their style/game?
Heavy focus on guard retention. Although the guard is considered a neutral position, once it has been retained its important to put yourself in an advantages position with strong connection to your opponent where you can immediately start launching a counter offense. I've been drilling a lot of stuff from De La Riva guard as of late.
If you're just starting out I would recommend trying to establish a widespread base of knowledge. Try to learn as much as possible from different positions and familiarize yourself with lots of different scenarios. Later on, you can start to gravitate towards certain things and become more of a specialist but ultimately knowledge in all positions will be the power that keeps you alive when things get tough.
16. How do you feel about the evolution of leg locks?
I love it. Whatever achieves the tap! It makes things even more of a chess match, with lots of moving pieces. Again, knowledge in all positions is power.
17. Who to you is the Greatest of all time BJJ athlete/competitor? If not the same, current fav competitor/practitioner)
GOAT: Roger Gracie
Current fav: Craig Jones
18. Why do you feel BJJ is so addictive?
The ROLLING! There's nothing more fun than putting your techniques and knowledge to the test, challenging your ability and ego.
It's fun to have some interesting exchanges with your training partners and catch people in submissions. Its humbling to get absolutely destroyed.
Either way you're coming back to class to drill, add to your toolbox and get some more rounds in.
19. What has BJJ taught you?
Positive like-minded community is important.
Everyone has something to offer.
You CAN overcome adversity.
Be nice to everyone.. because you never know who might be able to f%&k you up! (lol)
Violence has consequences, de-escalate any tense situations so they don't get hurt! *zing*
20. What keeps you motivated to train once you achieve that milestone of black belt in BJJ and do you foresee an age you feel it will be time to retire?
I need to represent the belt well. I still have so much to learn and even though I've been training for over a decade, I feel like I'm only scratching the surface.
Jiu Jitsu continues to evolve and there is no shortage of different perspectives to learn from. It's very fulfilling to coach students and I will always do my best to raise the level of the next generation of Jiu Jitsu athletes. Perhaps a cliche thing to say, but I feel like my Jiu Jitsu journey is only beginning.
