On Saturday 9th November we had the privilege to share the mats with our brothers and sisters from Blenhiem. Newly graded MLT Black Belt Luke Leach, 2x Amatuer MMA World Champion and BJJ Brown belt Gase Sanita and MLT boy wonder Lucas Lopez all made the journey over the hill from MLT HQ.

This totally changed the atmosphere in the club, with some of our new members having the opportunity to test their skills or be schooled by these three jiu jitsu virtuoso's. All three of these grapplers have a fantastic approach to the art and there is always great learning to be had.

Now that summer is coming we as a club need to make more effort to train with Marcelo and his crew over in blenhiem more often. Steel sharpens Steel.

Another great year at Nelson Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is coming to an end, so it is time to have another grading. We have seen increasing growth this year both in our Senior and Junior classes. It is important to recognize the growth and commitment of many of our students.

The adult grading will be held at the club on Thursday 28th November from 6:30pm. The following Tuesday 3rd December, the Juniors will have their turn to be recognised for their progress this year. We welcome all former and current members to attend the grading. Will it be a tab or a change of colour!

Two weeks ago Christchurch and New Zealand experienced the darkest day in its history with the attack carried out at the two mosques. One of our members and former Cantabrian David Gordon organised an open mat last Saturday.

The invite was to Brazilian jiu jitsu and Judo clubs throughout the Nelson region. The event raised $260 with all proceeds going towards the victims families through the give a little page. There was a great turn out and it was a very enjoyable open mat. Our club is about community and this was a great example of how to support a cause through the recreation that we all love.

You can also follow us on our Instagram page @nelsonbrazilianjiujitsu

Former Nelson Brazilian Jiu Jitsu student and teacher Brodie Watkins has been sharpening his skills in Japan. The BJJ blue belt has been living in Japan for the last 8 months studying Japanese and training hard. He has been busy on the competitive circuit of late. In the weekend just gone Brodie picked up a gold in his weight division. The club is proud of his hard work and are enjoying following his BJJ journey.

keeping in touch with your success.

This year has been the first year that our club has had a Junior programme. We have seen a consistent growth in the club numbers in both our mini champs and junior classes. One of the major reasons for this is that a lot of our senior club members are either Mothers or Fathers within the club. On a Tuesday night you can often see parents training along side and supporting their kids. As the saying goes "it takes a village to raise a child"and in our case a BJJ club. This was evident during the recent competition where parents where supporting their kids and know from their own experience the pressure that competition brings. We pride ourselves on the clubs inclusive nature and know that the values learnt through BJJ are vital to the development of both children and adults.

Last weekend our Professor Marcelo Lopez hosted the Marlborough Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition at Stadium 2000 in Blenhiem. Their was a great turn out by bjj clubs from throughout the south and lower north island's. Our team has been training hard for the last couple of months in preparation and have had extra training's on Saturday's with Marcelo. For the Senior team we had 11 members compete and for 5 of them it was their first time. As always our team members fought hard and represented the club in a positive and humble fashion. This is the first year that we have had a Junior and Mini champs team. This was also their first tournament and it was great to see them out their competing.

We have come to the end of another term at Nelson Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with the Mini Champs and Juniors classes. We are seeing the club going from strength to strength which is clearly reflected in the growth in numbers and retention of our foundation members. Special thanks must go out to our Junior coaches and the support of parents who regularly bring the children to training. We finished the term with a games evening and some pot luck dinner. We look forward to seeing you all back on the 24th July, rested and ready for Term 3.

Two weeks ago, four Senior club members which included Simon, Bobby, Luke “Rambo” Smith and Dave went and represented the club at the NZ Grappler Gi Regionals on the Kapiti Coast. These four men represented the club sensationally well, bringing home two golds and one silver. All four members demonstrated the principles and values that our at the forefront of the club especially showing humility, in both loss and victory.

A special mention goes out to Luke in only his first year of BJJ, picking up a gold medal in his weight division. He won all three of his fights by points, this is a reflection of his hard work and consistent attendance. Also, to one of our newer members Dave Gordon who entered in the purple belt division and went 2-0 on the day. In the final he won by arm bar amassing a huge amount of points before submitting his opponent. This was great preparation for the upcoming Nationals on the 11th August in Auckland.

Finally, we recently said Sayonara to Brodie who went back to Japan for further study and adventure. Brodie is going be dearly missed as he has brought so much to the club since he has been back. His regular training slot on a Thursday was both well planned and definitely added to the technical growth of the club. He also built the current website, organised events and enriched the culture within the club. We wish him well on his journey and look forward to seeing him back one day in the future.

Several of our members have been busy traveling to both Auckland and Christchurch to compete in NO-GI Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitions. We had a great showing at both events with members bringing home Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in their respected weight class.

We trained a lot of NO-GI BJJ over the summer period and everyone developed their submission grappling game. We are excited to move back into some GI training and work those grips for the next couple of months :)!

Our club will also have members competing at The NO-GI nationals in Auckland April 7th 2018.

Congratulations to Anna, Bobby, Luke S, Timo and Luke G for representing our club with a skillful approach to the game and a respectful and humble attitude to both each other and other clubs competitors. And a special thanks to our coach Owen for taking the time to travel with us!

Brodie W