June 29, 2010 in News by Gumby

Stefano Mendoza gets his blue belt!

Stefano Mendoza is the latest blue belt at Heroes Martial Arts!

Stefano has a background that made him perfectly suited to the environment in Heroes.  Not only has competed in judo in his native Peru and grappling runs in his family, he is also a talented fantasy graphic artist!  Check out his site darklegends.net

Congrats Stefano!

Congratulations

June 27, 2010 in News by Gumby

Heroes at Bushido Cup!

The Heroes swooped into the East Bay this past weekend for the Bushido Cup. Thrown by our good friend Crosley Gracie, it was a smaller event, but a good experience overall, especially for the Heroes who took home a lot of trophies!

We’ve got lots of photos and videos of the Heroes in action, we’re gathering as much as we can here (you can also check the Heroes Facebook page)

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June 22, 2010 in News by Gumby

Cool Article about visiting Heroes

We love visitors at Heroes!  And we like it when they share their experiences at Heroes!  We have to share Monta Wiley’s blog about his trip to San Jose and visit to Heroes Martial Arts:

While I was there I visited Heroes Martial Arts Academy ran by Ralph Gracie black belt & co-founder of the famous OTM brand Alan “Gumby” Marques”. A lot of peeps have told me good things about this academy & his style of teaching fitted right into my game which is the main reason I choose to visit the academy plus it was right across the street from my hotel.Anyway upon arriving there Gumby and the crew made me feel right at home which is very rare at most gyms you go to nowadays.

Read more here!

June 6, 2010 in News by Gumby

A Very Good Week

A Good Week for Heroes Martial Arts

To start off this week, Rich came up and announced it was his 1 year anniversary of training at Heroes (time flies when you’re having fun).  He made mention of the nearly 40 pounds he’s lost in the year since he’s joined, and the fact he generally feels much better.  And I could tell he’s doing better without him actually saying anything; sometimes it’s hard top see because it happens gradually, but his progress over the year has been dramatic in many years.

Honestly, it’s days like this that remind me that I have the greatest job in the world. The majority of students at Heroes are not planning on competing, but they found something here that makes them feel better about themselves and improves their outlook on life.  It’s what I found in Jiu Jitsu over the years, and sharing that with people brings me my fulfillment.

That’s not to say that people aren’t competitive at Heroes, or that we don’t have some excellent competitors among our ranks.  Fortunately everyone works well together no matter what their ultimate goals. Although Jiu Jitsu is in many ways an individualistic sport, every student can count on every other member of the Heroes teams to ultimately help them fulfill those goals.

This week a few of the Heroes travelled down to Long Beach for arguably the largest and most prestigious tournaments in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the Mundials (BJJ World Championships).  The best of the best enter this tournament, and the black belt that wins the absolute title can claim to be the best Jiu Jitsu Competitor on the planet for the year, but matches are held for all levels of competitors.  This year Heroes Martial Arts took six competitors to the Mundials:  Zobair “Z” Farhir, Ed Solis and Mike “Colossus” O Conner in the white belt divisions, and “Ron”Rob Morales, “No Neck” Nick Greene, and Kyle “Doodlebug” Gudgeon in the blue belt divisions.

Z started off the day winning in fairly dominant fashion in his first match.  His second match went even better, in which he finished off his opponent with one of his favorite armbars (which he’s definitely used in the academy more than a few times).  In the finals, Z threw everything he had at his opponent and attempted multiple submissions, on a the final triangle attempt an exhausted Z had his guard passed and wound up losing the match on points, but took an impressive silver medal.

Colossus was up next and his first match was textbook display.  Opponent pulled guard, Colossus passed, got side control, took the mount and slapped on an americana for the submission.  His second match was the final, and rolling though a takedown his opponent landed hard cracking some ribs and unfortunately Colossus was forced to exit due to injury.

Ed Solis recently took over wrestling coach duties over at Heroes (Scott couldn’t because of his schedule but will soon be running the fitness program).  Ed had a tough draw, as both of his opponents were definitely going to test his wrestling abilities as well as his Jiu Jitsu abilities.  After some intensity in the first match (including a headbutt that jarred Ed’s teeth!), Ed got the takedown then quickly established the mount and got the submission.  Ed’s second match was even more intense, and the war of takedowns was at once explosive and technical.  Late in the match Ed pulled off a spectacular takedown lifting his opponent over his head in a move that had the entire tournament take notice!  Ed got the mount and ended the match that way as your gold medal champion!  

“RonRob” ended the day for the Heroes losing a very close match in the blue belt featherweight division.  His opponent played a deep half guard most of the match and although Rob was fairly aggressive and for the most part dominating the action, a mid match decision to attempt to jump to guard when his opponent stood up cost RonRob two points and the match.

After the day had ended in recognition of their accomplishments on the day, but more importantly the consistent hard work, dedication and improvements in the gym Z, Colossus and Ed were all awarded their well deserved blue belts!

Friday was Nick and Kyle’s turn on the mat.  Nick competes at virtually every tournament he can, he looked confident and relaxed in his first match and although the score was tied at 0-0, he won on five advantages.  In his second match Nick ran into a solid wrestler (BJ Penn’s wrestling coach as a matter of fact!) who’s pressure turned out to be too much for Nick and he dropped the match on points.  You learn more from a loss than a win, and Nick was back in class that very night working on his shortcomings.

Finally it was Kyle’s turn.  Kyle is getting into more of a competition mindset, and while his nerves may have cost him some matches in the past, Kyle showed a lot of composure in his match.  Kyle initiated all of the offense in the match, including the takedown attempt which his opponent sprawled, and when Kyle pulled guard to counter he lost two points in the process which would determine the match.

All in all, very proud of ALL of the Heroes, competitors and everyone!

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