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| | | BJJ Globetrotters Newsletter // February 2015 | | Dear Globetrotters,
I am writing this from the hammock you can see in the photo above. It's our third year here in El Salvador for our Beach Camp and it is as amazing as always. We're just a bit over a month into 2016 and it feels like so much has already been going on for BJJ Globetrotters. First the Winter Camp in Austria, then the many people competing for us at the Europeans and now this; Two weeks of surfing, eating and rolling. But it's not over yet - there are still many, many experiences and friendships waiting for us out there and I am looking forward to meet many more of you in the months to come.
This is also a special newsletter as in it is the last one produced by my good friend Guttormur from Iceland. His work with this over the last two years has given us all some amazing stories and interviews every month and I'm sorry to see him leave, but completely understand his decision, knowing just how much time and effort he has been putting into it. A big thanks to Guttormur for his work and best of luck with his new little family.
Have a fantastic day, | | | | |
What you'll find in this month's newsletter:
- Think you started BJJ too late? Lars Roskær started BJJ at 52. He just won the Europeans at 58 as a brown belt.
- A farewell from the editor: Two years of Newsletters!
- Greetings from the Beach Camp in El Salvador
- Free travel offers from Matsurfing.org
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| | | | | | Lars Roskær started BJJ at 52 and just won the Europeans at 58 as a brown belt! |
| Lars Roskær from Denmark is 58 years old and he just won his 5th gold medal at the European Championships in Portugal, this year as brown belt just a few months after being promoted. Since he took up Jiu Jitsu at age 52, he has been competing extensively, taking 19 medals at competitions like NAGA Paris, Danish Championships, Swedish Open and Scandiavian Open, often taking on much younger opponents due to a lack of competitors in his age group.
We asked the /r/BJJ community on Reddit to shoot Lars some questions and he was happy to answer them over a Friday morning brunch on a cold winter day in Copenhagen. |
| | | Top of the podium in Portugal again |
| | Is old man strength a real thing? I think it depends on what you have been doing and varies from person to person. For me it comes from doing sports all my life. Youth wrestler, Judo and such. And my work as a carpenter, where I use my hands a lot.
How many matches did you have in order to win the Europeans?
This year I had one match in Master 5. There were no opponents in Master 6, so I moved down one age group. In the absolute, I had a total of three matches, winning two of them. The other years at the Europeans I’ve usually had between to and four matches to win the gold, but sometimes only one. I always compete in the absolute division too, unless I’m injured. |
| | What kind of training did you do before you took up Jiu Jitsu? I started wrestling in the mid 60s when I was 8-9 years old and did that until I was 15 when I broke part of a bone in my leg and had to have it in a cast. After that I never really got started again, especially since other things became more and more interesting, girls for instance. I then started Judo in the mid 70s and continued doing it when I moved to France to work for seven years in Paris, Cannes and Nice as a chef and waiter. I also played a lot of football and rugby.
In 1979, I got my Judo black belt there and trained until the mid 90s when I started to lose interest in it, picking it up a few times since but never really getting back into it. There started to be fewer people in the classes and fewer people going to competitions, so I was ended up just running and such in that period until I found BJJ. |
| Are you taking any supplements?
No, not really. Just a vitamin pill and a Tuborg now and then. I think a lot of my strength and physique also comes from my upbringing, where my mother - who was a nurse - would feed me with lots of solid food. I always had fish oil, liver, heart, whole wheat and such, so I don’t think I ever needed anything.
How much do you train?
I train Jiu Jitsu no more than three days a week, as it is too hard on my body to use the same muscle groups more often than that. But I do at Jiu Jitsu at least twice a week and then supplement with running and a bit of weight lifting on the other days. So in total I’m doing at least four days a week. Running is helping me a lot with my endurance and cardio. |
| | | Lars and the modestly sized Globetrotters flag |
| How hard do you roll?
It depends on the day. I never go 100% in training, I think that comes from experience. When I am training for a competition, I like to feel relaxed in that period and then focus on peaking when I am supposed to do it. One of the main criteria for my success in competition is whether or not I get injured in the preparations, so I am very aware of that in my training. I’ve made the mistake a few times to go too hard in the final period leading up to a competition and getting injured there, sidelining me for the rest of the preparations and affecting my shape a lot. When competing, I also try to not go too hard in the first match to avoid injury.
Any good advise for those who started Jiu Jitsu late in life?
You have to enjoy the training and accept that it takes time. Especially if you come from other sports, since you have to get rid of a lot of movements that are natural. When I started BJJ, I constantly went to my knees or stomach like in Judo and it took a long time to get rid of that. I still do it, but it is getting better. I think my best advise is to take it nice and easy and don’t be afraid to lose a lot. |
| Takedowns or guard pull?
Haha
How difficult is it find opponents and how much are you willing to adjust in terms of age
and weight category?
I’ll move to where ever I can find opponents. I’ve competed in everything from Adult to Master 6 and have no problem going up against the young guys too. It’s all experience.
Do you do anything specific to prevent injuries?
I listen to my body and is of course aware of my age. I think the key is to know what I can and can not do.
What kind of injuries have you had?
My elbow was dislocated a few years ago during training, I’ve broken a toe and had small meniscus- and disc injuries, but apart from that, nothing crazy really. Oh yes, I once partially broke my chin when the new “Russian cross” moves were introduced in Wrestling in Denmark many years ago. It was the week before the Copenhagen Championships, so I missed that. |
| | | Lars with a gold medal as a purple belt last year |
| Did you ever win anything before Jiu Jitsu?
I was second at the Danish Championships and also a big competition in Sweden with 32 people in my division. I got a trophy for the fastest win, under 30 seconds. In Judo I won a few local championships and I was at a trial for the national team in Rugby.
What made you start Jiu Jitsu that late in life?
My son and his friend started Jiu Jitsu and it inspired me to pick up Judo again, so I went to the club next door, but there wasn’t really anyone training. So I went back to sit down and watch my son train and thought that maybe I should try it so I could do something together with him. So that’s how I got started. A year later, my son stopped due to typical teenager reasons but I’m still there.
Do you have any advise for how to handle nerves before a competition?
Compete as much as possible. Sign up for everything you can. It helps a lot to be comfortable with the whole feeling of being at a competition, the sounds, the routines and such. You will never get rid of the nerves, but you can learn to control them and turn them into something positive. I still have butterflies in my stomach and weak knees when I am competing, but as soon as the match starts, it’s all gone. So my advise is to just compete. |
| | I watch folks like Keenan Cornelius, Jeff Glover, Eddy Bravo, invitational competitions and think I'll never be worthy of a black belt! Does you feel this way and if so, how does you cope with that feeling?
I don’t really think about it. These guys are 30 years younger than me, competes all the time and trains with the best guys 7 days a week, so I don’t think I can even start to compare myself with that. I’m fully satisfied and confident with my brown belt when I’m comparing with my peers.
What was your mindset and goals like when you started as a white belt and has it
changed as you were promoted and started winning competitions?
When I started and was a white belt, I didn’t really have any thoughts about what I should accomplish. It was just for general fitness and for having something to do with my son. But it was a natural thing for me to start signing up for competitions, as I have always done with all the other sports I’ve done, and I don’t like to lose after all. And I think that if you want to accomplish anything, you have to compete. Otherwise you don’t know where you are, what you can and what mistakes you are making.
How was your physical shape when you started and how did you athletic background help you?
Having done sports all my life of course helped me a lot to come back to training. But my general shape when I started was not very good, as I had just been traveling around the world doing nothing but eating and drinking and weighed 94 kg. Now I’m down to around 78. |
| What else do you do in your life?
I work as a carpenter and enjoy concerts and traveling. Last year I walked the “Camino” - an 800 kilometer walking route from France over the Pyrenee mountains and down the Spanish coast. I also traveled around the United States for three weeks the same year. I’ve always enjoyed traveling and worked as a chef several places, including New York and France as we already talked about.
Do you think training just twice a week is enough to achieve anything?
There is only one way to find out and that is by competing. Then you know if it is enough or maybe you should do more. During my preparations for this years Europeans, I skipped some of the advance classes in order to recover more, but I think it affected my last match in the absolute division, where I was really tired. It is always a balance for me between being in shape and not being injured.
Did Jiu Jitsu change your life habits?
I’m not sure, but it has definitely brought some positive things into my life. First of all, it’s always a pleasure to go to training. And I’m really glad that I’ve gotten so many international friends all over the world. |
| | | Brown belt promotion just a few months ago |
| | | | | | | Clearance sale in the webshop |
| | | | A farewell from the editor: Two years of newsletters! |
| | Dear Globetrotters!
I must admit that It feels a bit weird writing to you in the first person. For the last two years I’ve been the editor of the BJJ Globetrotter Newsletter, assisting Christian in bringing you interesting stories from our awesome community. We’ve featured a whole bunch of stories from all over the world and probably had close to a 100 interviewees. Recently I’ve had to take on other responsibilities, such as the birth of my first children; two baby girls that were born in October, and as a result I’ve decided to do less newslettering and spend more time with my family.
I first met Christian in late 2011 when I walked into his gym CSA in Copenhagen. I’d moved to Denmark from my native Iceland a few months earlier. I was severely overweight, out of shape and miserable, although I didn’t know it at the time. I was also a zero stripe white belt with very little experience. I’d done maybe 4-5 classes back home and I sucked – another thing I didn’t know at the time. I actually thought that my 4-5 classes of BJJ experience, coupled with my growing MMA obsession would be an advantage over other beginners. In short, I was pretty delusional.
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| | I’d done some research on BJJ clubs in Copenhagen and ‘shopped around’. At that time Christian was a brown belt, and in my white belt mind training under a black belt was the only way to become good at Jiu Jitsu. Iceland had just one black belt at the time, Gunnar Nelson, and so black belts seemed to be almost mythical creatures. I decided to check out CSA nonetheless.
As soon as I stepped into the gym on a dark November evening in 2011 it became apparent that this gym was something different from any other gym I’d set foot in before. As soon as I stepped on the mat Christian jumped my way to introduce himself. He was super interested in hearing about me and where I was from and this mentality, I soon found out, rubbed off on everyone in the gym. All the members were extremely friendly and sociable. At all the other gyms I’d visited previously, people had been more guarded towards newcomers, much like I had gotten used to in other places of life. At CSA however, there seemed to be a conscious effort to socialize; members were encouraged to stay after class and chat, there were lots of parties and trips etc. This felt more like a community than a gym. From that day on I was hooked on BJJ.
At first I trained twice a week. Soon I was training five times a week. In the span of about a year I was able to lose around 30 pounds and earn my blue belt. |
| | So where am I going with this rant? Well, in much the same way as I experienced CSA as a unique gym I believe that the BJJ Globetrotters are very unique as far as BJJ communities go, and I’m extremely proud to have gotten the chance to be a part of it.
When I first started as editor of the newsletter we had around 1000 subscribers. Currently the number of subscribers is around 4500. I’ve been a part of 23 editions of the newsletter, writing over a hundred stories. The community has grown immensely, in no small part due to Christians great dedication and hard work. It’s quite clear to me, having worked alongside Christian for the last two years, that he truly eat, sleeps and breathes the ethos of the Globetrotters. Always open to new experiences, never petty or interested in politics and just has a generally laid back approach to life, something that has been hugely inspirational to me.
So in closing, it’s been a blast and I look forward to seeing all of you at future Globetrotter camps. Keep training, keep travelling and keep living life to its fullest!
All the best,
Guttomur Árni,
Editor of the BJJ Globetrotters Newsletter. |
| | | | Greetings from the Beach Camp in El Salvador |
| | The first week of our Beach Camp in El Salvador has just come to an end and we are now awaiting for the arrivals for the second week. It's been an intense time of surfing, eating, relaxing and rolling under the open sky. Dates are in the work for next year's camp here already :) |
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| | Free travel offers from Matsurfing.org |
| | | Every month in this newsletter, we'll be bringing a few of the interesting travel destinations offered by Matsurfing.org. The rest will be published seperately in the monthly Matsurfing email. If you are interested in opening up your own home and/or academy to BJJ travelers, sign up on www.matsurfing.org!
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| Taupo, New Zealand Host: Mark Vandermade
Contact email: markintaupo@gmail.com
Can host: 1-2 people in a double bed
The host: I am a long term white belt living in a beautiful town called Taupo in the centre of the North Island in Taupo, New Zealand.
The place: We live very close to a lovely lake which is great for jumping into after training. I have a home looking over the lake who I share with my wife and our 13 year old son. We have a double bed so we can have up to 2 people at a time. Best time is from January to March for our kiwi summer but BJJ people are welcome anytime. See you down under. Cheers Mark.
The training: We are a small gym with lots of keen white and blue belts.
BONUS INFO: Mark was the first person ever to sign up as a Matsurfing.org host. Go visit him! :)
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| | Saint Malo, Bretagne, France
Host: Thomas
Contact email: thoval@hotmail.fr
Can accommodate: 1-2
The host: I am 33 years old. I am the president of malo saint club and the coach .I am purple belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu .
The place: I'm between Dinan (which is a medieval town) and St Malo (former city Corsaire). The house is located 7km from the sea in the countryside. If you love nature and the sea you will be thrilled. Furthermore it is possible to paddle and surf.
The training: We have 3 training sessions per week Saint-Malo. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It is also possible to go to other clubs. If you come during the French school holidays the gym is closed, but we can go turn in the other clubs .
The accommodation: I have a large room available.
Anything you wanna add? : I work from Monday to Thursday .I have time during the school holidays . Feel free to contact me to discuss one of the dates . |
| | Orlando, Florida, USA
Host: Mason Coriell
Contact email: maseone27@mac.com
Can accommodate: 1-2
The host: Outgoing, creative well traveled, well rounded extreme sports adventurer. Quiet most the time unless telling a story. I refuse to have weightless banter. I much rather ponder difficult questions. But always smiling.
The place: Downtown Orlando. See the city beautiful. We have an MLS soccer team that is picking up serious steam. Very close to the house. Downtown shops and groceries. Great bars and clubs. Disney and then parks are a short drive away. We have more things to do here than some would expect.
The training: I can offer 3-4 different academies to train at that I'm friends with. I currently and enjoyably train at FRBJJ, Fabin Rosa is the head black belt instructor under Roleta. We have several world champs under different belts that gladly roll hard or teach incredibly. An academy with creative simple answers to problems and a competitive team spirit unlike any other. Then there is Gracie Barra under Marcio Simas and Alliance with Bruno. The jungle with Seth Petruzelli for the MMA guys.
The accommodation: I offer a room or couch if you just pass out watching tv. The room is a sun room with an air mattress. The couch is comfy and has hosted me several nights.
Anything you wanna add? If visiting I can bring to training most morning. Afternoons are difficult cult but I will easily help get rides to the later classes if you want double training sessions |
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