As we have now over 30 members,  I thought it would a good idea to randomly introduce each one on a weekly basis.  This is Andre Fitisemanu.   "Dre" is the first blue belt from our program. He help us start our new club in Onehunga in 2011.  I admire his half guard game.  Thank you for the support.  Especially at the start when it was maybe just 4-6 guys training in David Tua cage.  Which only has less of 1 inches padding.

I run out of time on the weekend to write up our weekly training report. We did guard submissions. As I am watching people training and improving, I realise that I do not often say how much the members are improving. I received positive feedback from students that came to visit after a lapse of training and I just wanted to pass on the compliments. As an instructor, we tend to think that the students are improving really well because we are such great instructors and our training program is excellent. But who am I kidding? The fact is that we do not chose our students, it is the other way around. Students choose their instructors. We put our blog and write report, we tried to be active on social media like Facebook and lately on Instagram. But I think the most important things (that keep attracting and retaining our students) are the camaderie and the positive social environment in our club. I really enjoy watching how welcoming our students are to...

This week, we did nogi in a cold Tuesday night. Thursday night was quieter as usual but we train Gi. The topic of North South is really interesting to teach because there is no perfect escapes in my opinion. It is mostly about anticipating and trying to avoid getting stocked underneath. We will be teaching guard subs next week. See you on the mats.

This week, we covered the topic of knee on the belly for the fundamentals. For advanced, we did a transition from de la riva guard to single x guard and also covered the de la riva X guard which made on the come back at the last World IBJJF Masters Competition. Tuesday night is still our most popular night and Thursday seems to always be quieter. I am still teaching the Saturday class. The attendance is smaller than the week night. The benefit is that I can concentrate on each students a lot more compare to a bigger group format. Joelle, Mr Chen and myself also attended the Judo beginner class right after our Saturday class. Now Regional Nogi is on Saturday 14 October so we have about 5 weeks to prepare. Bring your nogi uniform if you have one for the Tuesday class. If you do not have one, just wear your gi pants and a rash guard. A T-shirt is not suitable as it would get torn. See you on the mats.

https://youtu.be/hBXPbHcTeRo

This week, we covered side control for the fundamentals. For advanced, we did reverse de la riva and the Biejao aka kiss of the dragon. The topic of next week is Knee on the belly The Saturday class are not really growing in numbers but we are getting a good mix of students of all levels. I also took the opportunity to stay for the Judo class and learn Tai otoshi throws and practise my breakfall techniques by sparring with several Judokas.