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BJJ Globetrotters Newsletter // June 2017
I’m sitting in the plane on my way home from my 25th BJJ Globetrotters camp. A quater of a hundred camps feels like somewhat of a milestone. I had taken a leap of faith this time and moved the camp to a new location, even though the one we’ve used twice before had been fantastic. The decision was very difficult but at the end of the day, I had to stick with my own principle of constantly attempting to push myself and my projects outside of my comfort zone. It paid off; the new location was better in every way and I had an amazing time there.

Growing up right by the forest and then moving to a big city made me long to get back out in nature. My original idea with the USA Camp was to provide a way for me to get out of the city for a bit. Bonfires and laying in a hammock in between the trees is pure bliss for me and takes me straight back to my childhood. Then add a massive amount of Jiu Jitsu, food, new friends, old friends and a few beers and you’ll have a solid recipe for something I’d wanna set up year after year.

I’ll be home in Saint Barth in a few hours and will hit the ground running. In 10 days, I’m flying to Copenhagen for summer holiday, visiting family and hosting our camp there. Every muscle still seem to hurt from the last five days, but I’m already excited about doing it all again.

What you'll find in this month's newsletter:
  • May's photo competition winner 
  • The journey so far with Nick Lanspa
  • Photos from USA Camp
  • Travelling and Teaching with Steve Austin
  • Photos from Caribbean Island camp
  • Globetrotters Academy in focus: Chimp Gym, Düsseldorf, Germany
May's photo competition winner
Congratulations to the Sigurpáll Albertsson, who took the best travel gi photo of May!

Every month we will give away a prize to the best travel photo starring our lightweight travel gi. If you want to participate, send your photo to mail@bjjglobetrotters.com with the subject "Photo competition".
More than 75% of tickets sold for the Fall Camp
The journey so far...
"Always have some toilet paper on you when in South East Asia."
- Nick Lanspa

BJJ Globetrotters sponsored traveller Nick Lanspa has just set off on his travels, spending a month in chosen locations before moving on to the next. Looks like it's already been quite an adventure!
Hey Nick! Let's start by telling us a bit about yourself.

Age: 27
Belt: Purple
Profession: Advertising/Marketing Freelancer
How many years in BJJ: 8 years
Other martial arts: I trained a little Muay Thai
Where do you live: I’m a nomad currently, but moving back to Orange County, CA in about a year is the current plan
Where are you originally from: Omaha, NE, USA

Other fun or curious information you would like to share?
I will serenade anyone with the chorus of Hanson’s “MMMBop” to break a silence or just when I’m bored.
So Nick, tell us what inspired you to travel and train?

I saw all my friends getting lost in their real job, starting families and giving up on adventure until they retire. I had a small freak out and knew I couldn’t do that. I didn’t want to wake up one day and realise I spent 30 years in a cubicle working for meaningless title upgrades and saying “I’ll travel and experience life when I don’t have anything else going on.” After considering my options, I decided it was better to make some mistakes by traveling when I’m young and poor than playing it safe. I found a program called Remote Year, that takes care of all the logistics while I travel the world for a year and work remotely with about 60 other newly initiated digital nomads. That way I can pay for my travel and I won’t  have a gap year on my resume.
Adding training into my travel just made sense. I feel like crap whenever I’m forced to take brakes to heal. I get irritable, stressed and restless. I know I need BJJ, and the community around it, to stay balanced. I’ve noticed that many other people are the same way. I wanted to experience how BJJ builds communities and helps people around the world. Check out my first blog for a more in-depth explanation.
It's great that you have found a way to keep working and fund your trip as you go. Tell us about your most recent and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?

On January 29th, my 27th birthday, I landed in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Since then I have been to Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Phnom Penh, Koh Rong Samloem and Siem Reap. The rest of my itinerary looks like this:

May—Bangkok, Thailand

June—Belgrade, Serbia

July—Lisbon, Portugal

August—Prague, Czech Republic

September—Sofia, Bulgaria

October—Buenos Aires, Argentina

November—Cordoba, Argentina

December—Santiago, Chile

January—Lima, Peru

These cities will be where I call home for a month at a time, but I will take many side trips. Let me know if you’re going to be close to any of these and I might make plans to visit!

That's going to be quite an adventure! What are the things you enjoy about traveling?

I love how everything is different but still similar to home (same same but different). The food, culture, infrastructure and languages are all different but the way people treat each other and the love of delicious food is consistent across every country. It’s amazing how everything might feel completely foreign but people all over the world are excited to make you feel comfortable and happy.
Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth traveling and training?

All of Asia was celebrating the Chinese New Year while I was in Malaysia. That meant people were travelling everywhere for vacations. On just one night that week, I trained with people from China, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, England and of course Malaysia. I have never had that kind of diversity in any gym in the US. It was amazing to see in just one night how BJJ cuts through so many cultural and language barriers.
In Cambodia, I feel like I’m witnessing the very beginnings of BJJ in the country. There are a few gyms offering classes but only one dedicated BJJ gym. The team I was training with had only been around for 6 months and just entered their first big IBJJF tournament. I didn’t know until after I had my last roll with him, but I found one of the guys I was with was about to become the first local Cambodian to compete outside of the country.

Pretty cool! What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling?

Uber Moto! On the first night I was in Ho Chi Minh City, I found myself about a block off a crazy backpacker street and just wanting to go to bed at 3 in the morning. I had no idea where I was, but I knew the address to my hotel. I called an Uber and waited in the street corner. Only about 2 minutes later, a guy flew, jumping the curb on his scooter, and told me to hop on. I had no idea if this was legit but the blue Uber helmet was enough to convince me. That was by far the best ride home from a bar I ever had… and it was only 40 cents! I had no idea scooter taxis existed, but I use them whenever possible now. It’s even more fun in Cambodia since you can flag down just about anyone with a scooter and negotiate a ride.
The cheaper, the better! Are you a budget traveler – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip?

Yes, I am working while traveling to help cover expenses but I still need to be very careful with my budget. Food is a major factor. In Asia, it’s been easy to eat cheap, but I will have to cook for myself a lot more when I get to Europe. Another easy way to save money is to be ok with generally sketchy and cheap accommodations and restaurants (I plan to have a steel gut by the end of the year). As long as you’re fine with a few bugs, power outages and reduced sanitary standards, you can save a lot of money.
If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be?

Always have some toilet paper on you when in South East Asia. Also, if you go to a tropical destination, be prepared to be the most wiped you’ve ever been after just one roll. Wearing a heavy gi to wrestle someone in sweltering heat and high humidity for the first few times will completely wreck you. Drink plenty of water, power through it and eventually you will adjust.

Thank you very much for sharing your stories with us, Nick. No doubt we will be back in touch to hear all about the other destinations. All the best for the rest of the trip and enjoy!
Super light travel gi v2 in stock in all colors and sizes!
Photos from our USA Camp last week
Join us in Austria for our 4th legendary Winter Camp!
Travelling and Teaching
"For me it's about living in the moment and enjoying what I have. I get to travel with the woman I love and do what I love while she is doing the same thing."
- Steve Austin

BJJ black belt Steve Austin is planning a few trips to teach Jiu Jitsu - he will be visiting Italy very soon and tells us of plans for a similar trip to Ireland next year.
Age: 35

Belt: Black

Profession: Gym owner

How many years in BJJ: 15 years

Other martial arts: Tae Kwon Do, Kempo, some Judo, some amateur MMA

Lives in: Southampton, PA, USA

Originally from: Philadelphia, PA

Other fun information: I like to make origami flowers and wire tree sculptures as a hobby.
What inspired you to travel and train?

I love seeing the world and meeting new people on and off the mats. The Jiu Jitsu community is one of the most fascinating sub cultures out there today. I have been travelling since I was a blue belt, trying to go train with anyone whom I was interested in meeting and learning from. Any time I travel, whether it’s for Jiu Jitsu or vacation, my gi comes with me and I always find a gym to train at while I am in that area regardless of who runs the school or what rank they are. Sometimes I find a gym that has a higher rank and others may be a lower rank than me, but it's all the same - I don’t mind taking a class from lower ranks because I am sure they know something I don’t. There is too much Jiu Jitsu out there for one person to master it all and I am far from that myself so I just enjoy picking new tricks up for my game regardless of what rank it comes from. Being a black belt now a lot of the time I travel and stop in places if I am higher rank they ask me to show something or help out with the class, which is an amazing feeling to have people pick your brain for knowledge. More often than not I open a door to come back for seminars in the future and new friendships with these gym owners. One of the coolest places I got to share Jiu Jitsu was in Costa Rica on my honeymoon. My wife is an amazing woman and is a tattoo artist so we both are able to travel for our jobs. We both understand that we always like to stop in and network with people in our industries when on the road. That was the first time I ever had the chance to teach in a different country, let alone one that I did not speak their language. The instructor spoke english but no one in the class did so I had to work around that and learn basic words to help teach. It really didn't hit me until the next morning having my coffee how amazing that was to be the foreigner sharing Jiu Jitsu and not knowing the language. It was how I imagined it for the Gracies when they first came to America. The feeling of being on that side of the fence now in this journey made me realise there is a whole other world of Jiu Jitsu out there and I just wanted to be a part of it even more.
Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel, where have you been and where are you going?

The last thing I did with travelling was taking a few of my students to the New Hampshire Globetrotters camp in 2016. That was a really great time not only for the camp but there was so much amazing Jiu Jitsu being taught by all the instructors and everyone that was there was so into the camp and lifestyle. I have done a few different camps both attending and teaching and this was by far one of the coolest and well put together camps out there. What was really a lot of fun was I got to take a good group of students with me to experience this as well, and they all had a blast. For most of them it was the first camp ever, and they still talk about it like it was last week. So many doors have opened since, between people reaching out for seminars, or even having a super fight against one of the other instructors from that camp. You meet some of the most amazing people on these trips and make life long friendships with them too.
The rest of the year is pretty booked up with events. May 30th to June 7th I will be in Sardinia, Italy teaching at the Sardus Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Camp along with ten of my students who are coming with me as well as my wife. This will be the biggest group that I have had travelling with me so far on one of these trips. I have already been talking with Admir who is running the camp about future opportunities.
Also, this September 13-17th I will be hosting Jeff Glover in San Diego. Jeff was out not too long ago at my gym doing a seminar and I was telling him some ideas I had. It’s a smaller group with only ten spots available and half are taken already. I rented a house through Air BnB that can host up to 13 people and we are stocking it with food for the week so that’s all included in the price. We have training and activities planned for each day with a night out in downtown San Diego.
Throughout the year I will be travelling and doing seminars in Arizona and New Hampshire as well as other gyms more local to me. The big trip for seminars is coming in the Spring of 2018 when I have an Ireland tour set up. I will be travelling to Dublin and staying there with a group of guys while teaching seminars throughout the week. I have four gyms booked so far and now its just locking down the dates and details for the trip. I will have the details for this adventure later in the year after summer.
Sounds great! What do you love about travelling?

Travelling is an amazing thing in itself. Seeing the world and how different cultures live is very eye opening but travelling inside the Jiu Jitsu community brings that experience to a whole new level. Training Jiu Jitsu is like knowing a secret password to every underground club out there, the secret handshake that opens all doors for you. We just have the respect for one another because we know what its like to live this lifestyle and we open our doors to each other without really knowing who that person is or maybe even never meeting them before. Its unlike any other sport or art out there. No one just calls some NBA basketball player up and have them come teach at the gym. But in this community I can reach to a “BJJ Celebrity” and have them not only come out and stay at my house but hang out with them for a weekend too, it's pretty amazing. So for me making these connections when I travel are one of my favourite things about it and you never know what can build from that. Plus for me it's about living in the moment and enjoying what I have. I get to travel with the woman I love and do what I love while she is doing the same thing. She is doing a guest spot in Sardinia tattooing for a few days while we are there, Its a pretty cool set up we have going on that we both can travel for work.
Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth travelling and training?

 The first Costa Rica trip was one of those life changing times for me. Being the foreigner with the knowledge but not the native tongue was a really cool experience. Every trip has its everlasting moments. You test yourself by stepping out of your normal environment to go explore the world and yourself, plus you build these bonds with people everywhere now. The New Hampshire camp stands out a lot for me too because that was one of the biggest classes I have ever taught in front of, especially without knowing the students. I teach to a decent size class back home, but I know them and they are already students and friends of mine which makes it easy. Teaching to a crowd that size full of people that you don't know is a whole new challenge for me. So being able to pull that off helps build the confidence in your teaching ability, which in the end helps me share more Jiu Jitsu with more people from all over the world.
What has so far been the most surprising experiences for you when travelling?

Getting not only the chance to meet a rock star idol but to get to train with him as well! Since a teenager I was a huge fan of Maynard James Keenan from the band TOOL. I remember finding out when I was blue belt that he did BJJ too and I said to myself “I am going to do Jiu Jitsu with him one day”. Really just talking crazy to myself but then I actually had the opportunity to travel out to where he lives and train with him thanks to building relationships with people. Now when he is on tour, I sometimes get to train with him before a show while he is in town. It was one of the craziest moments in BJJ for me and I still have trouble believing it's real sometimes.
Go on a road trip with Carl-Magnus in February!!!
Are you a budget traveler and if so how do you plan a cheap trip?

I am not a rich man so yes I try to budget travel as much as I can. It’s a little easier now since I teach seminars so that really is what pays for my travelling now. I started with trying to stay with people or look for cheap hotels and paying whatever it cost to train with that person I was interested in. Now I try to find places to teach at so I can travel there like this Ireland trip coming up. I am not making a whole lot of money off of these seminars. They basically pay for the trip and travelling expenses really, but that is way better than putting money out of pocket for them. If you are serious about BJJ, it’s all an investment in yourself so it’s well worth it in the end to me. Sharing this art is a way for me to travel and see the world, being a vessel and passing this on to others is a gift in itself and makes me rich in a way people could never buy but only earn through non stop hard work and dedication.

If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotter, what would it be?

The more you travel the more connections you make with people and that is really the secret to not breaking your pocket if you are on a budget. Most of us will open our doors to you. There are so many apps out there now like Air BnB and Cheapoair, so take advantage of these to help with the price of travelling. Finding a group of training partners to travel with to split the cost of everything is a great way to travel plus, in my opinion, it’s a lot safer way to travel since you all look out for each other. A big thing I tell my students is your attitude travelling is another big thing to keep in check. If I have a student travelling I make sure they understand they are walking into someones else's house and house rules so be respectful of that and don't be the guy who is trying to kill everyone while training. Have the mindset of learning more than competing with their guys. Travelling inside this secret group from the rest of the world has so many benefits, take advantage of that but don't abuse it. Going out and travelling has built some of the biggest connections I have right now in my life and a career which I am very grateful for.

Sounds like you have a very busy year up ahead, Steve! Thanks for sharing your stories with us. Hope all the trips go to plan and you have a great time!
Maximize the space in your backpack with our new compression bags
Photos from the Caribbean Island Camp last month
Less than 20 spots left for the Zen Camp in Poland
BJJ Globetrotters affiliated Academy in Focus: Chimp Gym BJJ, Düsseldorf, Germany
"We are a pretty relaxed group and are, in my opinion, really welcoming to everybody."
Simon Dallmann, The Chimp Gym, Düsseldorf, Germany
Check out this months featured gym - Chimp Gym, Düsseldorf, Germany. These guys and gals have a very relaxed place to train, while still providing a high level of teaching and producing European champions!
Name: Simon Dallmann

Age: 31

Belt: Purple

Profession: IT Consultant

How many years in BJJ: 2017 is my 10th year of Jiu Jitsu.

Other Martial Arts: Luta Livre, but since it is basically No-Gi Jiu Jitsu it doesn’t really count!

Where do you live: Düsseldorf, Germany

Where are you originally from: Dortmund, Germany
Can you tell us the story of how your gym came into existence?
The Chimp Gym was founded in 2015 by an already existing training group consisting of 8 members. We decided to start our own place after we parted ways with our old gym, which was an MMA gym and not really interested in Jiu Jitsu anymore. There was a lot of “drama” going on regarding mat times and luckily, we were able to find a nice location (around 200m² of mat space) for a really great price. Since then we had our ups and downs regarding class size, but the founding members are mostly still around. We consider ourselves a “training group” since most of us are already training for a long time under different teams and we didn’t want to commit to one professor. We just invite whoever we think is interesting to learn from. Since the founding some members left because of their job or to pursue the dream of a career in professional fighting.
I never really planned to teach Jiu Jitsu, but I got dragged into it somehow and now it’s really fun, because it forces me to learn new things and think about techniques in a different way.
Usually we split classes between all the purple belts so everybody has the chance to continue learning from somebody else. This helps us a lot because, since everybody comes from a different school, we all have different styles of Jiu Jitsu.
Sounds like a fun place to train. Tell us about the people that train in the gym – who are they?

Most of us are already working, mostly in intensive professions and therefore sessions start late in the evening. I think the average age is around 28 so I think this is pretty old for a BJJ gym. We are quite an international group with people from Poland and the UK training with us.

Why do they train?

In our gym we train a competition based style of Jiu Jitsu and most of the people are (semi-) active competitors. Freddie, who is currently living the Globetrotter lifestyle in Thailand, Brazil etc. was even able to win the No-Gi Europeans as a purple belt.
In general most people train because Jiu Jitsu is really fun to do. We really like to give each a hard time in sparring!
What are some of the challenges running a BJJ gym?

There are quite a lot of challenges in running a gym especially if you work full time. People come to training with different expectations and it is difficult to give the same attention to everybody. Also growing is a challenge, because there are quite a few schools in the area and Jiu Jitsu is not a big scene in Germany, except for hotspots like Berlin or Munich.

How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?

We have a slow but steady growth and I expect that more schools will open. Also there is not a single competition happening in Düsseldorf and I hope this changes in the near future.
Hope so! What’s the best thing about your gym?

We are a pretty relaxed group and are, in my opinion, really welcoming to everybody. Also, we offer a decent level of Jiu Jitsu, especially considering we don’t have a “black belt level” of instruction on a daily basis.

What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym?

That’s a tough one living in Düsseldorf, but of course the famous cathedral in Cologne, which is about an hour by train is worth a visit. Düsseldorf itself has some nice buildings with famous architecture in the media port. Furthermore, there is a famous shopping street, the Königsallee, where all famous brands are located.
If you are interested in other sports there are a lot of Bundesliga Clubs in the area and you might want to visit one of the best stadiums in the world (Quote from the Times Magazine) in Dortmund.

Simon, thank you for giving us an insight into what it's like to train with you guys! If anyone is travelling through Germany and wants to pay Chimp Gym a visit, you can contact them here or check out their website for more information.
 
 
 
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