Dear Globetrotters,

I thought I would come home from El Salvador and relax a little, but I pretty much hit the ground running. Our next three camps, in Italy, Belgium and England are now all sold out and I'm working hard these days on the preparations to make them as great an experience for the participants as possible. The logistics of doing these events are pretty crazy, but I enjoy trying to organize and control the chaos; it's an interesting challenge in which I find many similarities to Jiu Jitsu sparring.

Before the camps I have a few trips myself as I'm going to visit one of our affiliated academies in Norway next week for some tough rolls. And in two months, I'm heading off with a group of people for a "secret" little Globetrotters camp in a destination I don't think you'll ever guess. Stay tuned for epic photos!

Have a fantastic day,

A. K. Rupert, you've been part of establishing the impressive BJJ venture The Lionheart Project in Africa, could you introduce yourself to our fellow Globetrotters before you tell us about the project?
I am a career U.S. Marine and currently in my mid-forties. Although I have trained BJJ and MMA on-and-off over the years, my martial arts record is less than impressive and I am more of a fan than a practitioner (laugh), besides, LionHeart is so much bigger than me; with that said, my passion as a grappling arts and MMA fan, combined with my love for Africa set the conditions for the birth of the Lion Heart Initiative and the pursuit of its vision. I currently live in southern Germany, but have lived all over the world at different periods of my life.

So as a globetrotting U.S. Marine traveling the world - currently living in Germany - how did you find your love for Africa?
I actually grew up in West Africa where I lived with my American parents throughout the 80s. Having spent my formative years between Senegal and The Gambia, and fluently speaking the local indigenous language, I have a deep connection to its people, culture, and spirit.

Tough question... I was born in Luxembourg, mostly lived all over Middle East but now I am in Karachi. Technically I'm all Pakistani. After Shotokan in Karachi when I was a kid and moved to middle east, it was Aikido and Judo. However when I went to university in UK in 2006 is when my eyes really opened up. Growing up on Bruce Lee doesn’t do it justice. In 1997 was when I had first seen UFC 1,2 and 3 footage but it hadnt clicked with me then. I actually saw so many options, from Shotokan, Judo and Aikido, Shorinjikan was an easy and natural progression. Soon after I was looking to improve my ground game by any means necessary. I didn’t run in to any of the UK BJJ practitioners at the time however there was an American student at my university who started teaching me some basics in exchange for my help on keeping him from getting rusty.

After my MSc when I came to Karachi in 2012, I couldnt find any one with BJJ nor any one with international links for Judo or (traditional) Jiu-Jitsu. So After some deliberation and some support from family I decided and started my own gym in January 2013. Initially starting off on my own roof top. Later I found a gym called K7, willing to accommodate me and moved there. However by Feb 2015 the grappling students were dwindling but another gym was interested in promoting, continuing and growing grappling instead of the crossfit fitness trend rampant in the city so they made me an offer I could not refuse. For a year now I have been with Third Generation MMA (3GMMA) and I have seen my gym grow and theirs grow as well. It is the most mutually benefitial relationship that I have encoutnered ever in the context of martial arts.

Who are the typical guys and girls that train with you?
The students who train with me range from high school kids to middle aged men. Culturally BJJ and grappling is not something the soceity lets women get near hence the few and far between women if they even show up. Mostly it is men and even for the men BJJ is still something new. Most of the students are university going kids who have grown up watching UFC, Bellator and Pride.

Do you have a certain philosophy or ambience that you believe makes your gym stand out in Karachi?
Unlike other gyms here which specifically forbid cross-training or even visiting other gyms, I have an open door policy and sometimes I even encourage my students to try out other gyms and other instructors in the end this only helps me improve not just my teaching but also my gym.

The other factor that keeps them coming back or so they vocalise is the emphasis on hygiene and a family environment. If someone is sick or unable to attend for any reason we as a gym and a team and as friends often make the effort to get in touch with them to offer any assistance we can.

It's fantastic to see this sport spread, and we can imagine that it's sometimes a bumpy road you travel when opening a gym in an area where the sport is completely unknown. What are some of the challenges running a BJJ gym in Karachi?
BJJ is still relatively new for Pakistan. Only in late 2015 we got our first 4 Blue Belts (one of whom trained with me and now I would say I train with him). Being in a stage I would call infancy, I would say we are still trying to get the ball off the ground. BJJ pictures here are instantly linked with being homosexual because BJJ is something never ecnountered by the region before. This means marketting is difficult and the biggest draw comes in the form of challenges reminiscent of the origins of BJJ. But these challenges come after a person comes to the gym attends a class or two and then thinks they can beat up anyone at the gym much to their rude awakening. The other factor that lures in people is when there are events and people see the techniques being applied realtime.

A lot of the challenges come from the local culture. Any martial art is seen as violent and considered not to be participated in. In addition martial arts are seen as the domain of men and thus often women do not even take part in self defence. Also the lack of tornaments and events and the long time for BJJ belt promotions is seen as discouragement. Most people who do martial arts tend to divert towards Judo or Shotokan, get their black belts before joining the work force and then quit.

I should add that only in late 2014 I found out that there was a Carlson Gracie Jr UK blue belt in Karachi but nobody seemed to know him. I then went to train with him as well and he has a solid student base which has grown from 4 to 10. Being a blue belt in his own words he is not comfortable with cross training with other academies and that has seemingly forever put me at the outer fringe of his circles.

What should a fellow globetrotter pay attention to if they wanted to visit you guys?
One of the things we can offer is that they will have access to the largest gym in Pakistan. At last count last year no other gym was as large with wall to wall matting.

• We are an enthusiastic bunch.
• We are eager to learn and do everything we can to get more BJJ and more mat time.
• The rank and level of a visitor is not a factor, we will try and absorb everything they can offer and return the favour with a few crazy innovations of our own.
• We have a friendly almost family-like atmosphere and we will take care of you.
• There is good food and a wide variety of it.
• Really mesmerising sights and sounds.

Other comments for the Globetrotter community?
We are itching to be visited. We would love to have people come over fix out faults and show us new stuff. We would love for our guys to go out and visit other places, other instructors and other gyms/academies.

BJJ Globetrotters giving us this opportnity to tell our side of the story :D

school holidays. Feel free to contact me to discuss one of the dates.

city district, some museums and typical touristic things to see. Very close Sopot and Gdynia, two nice cities, together with Gdansk forming so called Tricity.