Once again, I was heading to the caribbean to visit my friends in the small, French island of St. Barth and help them with the development of their BJJ academy. They had managed to get me accommodation in a newly built guest house for visiting athletes that had room for seven people. It sounded a bit too lonely to me, so I decided to invite a handful of friends from around the world to join me. A few months later, the party crew had assembled from Denmark, Norway, Iceland, United States and The Netherlands, ready to hit the mats and the waves (after all surviving landing in a small propeller airplane at the 3rd most dangerous airport of the world).

It was basically a week of surfing, rolling, sailing, cooking-contests and driving vintage jeeps while wearing hats and smoking cigars. I'll leave the photos to tell the story and then you can read more about St. Barts in the interview with Pierre below :)

This island has a unique story. Although belonging initially to France, it was transferred to Sweden for nearly a century (1784-1878), before belonging to France again and up until now. The islanders are proud of their Swedish heritage as this period did correspond with relative prosperity. You can see Swedish flags everywhere and numerous events are being held with Swedes. Actually, my Swedish wife was better greeted by the locals than I was when we arrived.

The island went from dirt poor (as it is too small, 21 sq/km, and dry to sustain plantations) to really wealthy starting in the 80s after being discovered by rich Americans who wanted seclusion with a French touch not too far away from the US. St-Barth is now a real melting pot with a constant mix of cultures: French locals, French from the mainland, Portuguese, Americans, Swedes, and people from all the neighbouring Caribbean islands.

I began training in January 2012 in Naples, Italy under Marco Galzenati. He passed away 7 months later after I began training which was devastating for me so I took some time off BJJ and competed in bodybuilding. At the moment I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and train at Steel City Martial Arts under Sonny Achille.

You also do bodybuilding. How do you feel that mixes with your BJJ?
Bodybuilding has always been my first love and when I began BJJ, it was a mixture of the desire to find alternative ways to do cardio to shed body fat and also being an all-time Bruce Lee fan. I don’t fancy running on a treadmill and occasionally, I don’t mind jogging outdoors but BJJ became a way for me to improve my cardiovascular endurance and also burn fat and enjoy doing so. Also, I find that bodybuilding helps me get stronger which I think really helps with BJJ as well. Of course technique is just as important if not more, but being strong has its benefits. 

 
How did you hear about the Globetrotters and what attracted you to the philosophy?
I was googling BJJ videos on Youtube and ran into Christian’s [Graugart] mount escape trick where you sneak your foot on the other person’s belt and kick them off. I thought it was bad ass. Then I saw his blog and decided to visit Copenhagen. I had been incorporating BJJ in my travels before I saw Christian’s blog and thought it was amazing that there is actually a group out there, all over the world, who enjoy doing the same thing so I was really happy to have found this community. I love the idea of meeting people from all walks of life and different cultures who, just like me, love to roll. There’s something to be learned from everyone. I embrace the idea of steering away from BJJ politics and the whole BJJ business model. And also equality on and off the mats. At some point, that black belt was a white belt just like me. If anything, I think white belts need to be nurtured and mentored because if they quit, who will be there to become black belts?