–Bryan
1. Kid’s BJJ. We’re adding an additional day to the Kids BJJ program. Starting this weekend (March 3rd) there will be a kid’s class on both Sat and Sun from 10-11am. Luke & Tony will instruct the class on Sat. Tony will instruct the class on Sunday.
2. No-gi program. For everybody that’s been asking about it, here’s your answer- We will now have no-gi classes on Tues and Thurs nights (7:30-9pm). The idea is that the no-gi class schedule coincides with the wrestling schedule. For all you no-gi enthusiasts, you now have a fixed schedule 7:30-9pm where you can practice no-gi/ wrestling, Mon-Thurs night.
We will also keep the Mon morning no-gi class from 7-8:30am on a trial period for the month of March. (Please note that if there is not enough interest in the morning no-gi class, it will be canceled in April, so please attend if you’ve been asking about a Mon morning class.)
3. Chris Haja. While our resident no-gi instructor, Eric Gerber, is away for the next few months, Chris Haja will be instructing all of our no-gi classes. Chris is a great guy and a talented grappler. We’re very happy to have Chris as part of the team. For those of you that don’t know about him, here’s a little info about Chris:
Krzysztof Hajtalowicz (a.k.a. Chris Haja) began grappling in 2006 in Opole, Poland at a small Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Club. Even though there was no head instructor the club encompassed true passion for grappling.
It wasn’t until two years later, after having moved to Dublin, Ireland, that Haja would receive official instruction under John Kavanagh (SGB Ireland). At the same time, Chris dedicated himself to improving his stand-up at Bridgestone Muay Thai.
Having made the move to Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2009, Chris began training under Gracie Humaita black-belt, Pedro Schmall at MMA Chiang Mai. Dedicating himself to training both gi and no-gi, Chris was able to integrate his previous training under close tutelage of an accomplished black-belt. He continued to live in Chiang Mai for the next two years studying and teaching gi and no-gi BJJ.
Chris is an active competitor and always up to the challenge. Some of the events he’s competed in are:
Grappling
Nevertap Asia (2009)
Local BKK in-house tournaments (2010-2011)
Fairtex NO-Gi festival (2011)
Thailand Open (2011)
MMA
Naksu (2010)- Win (arm bar) & Win (RNC)
Rising Star (2011)- Win (arm bar)
DARE 2/11 (2011)- Win (RNC)
4. Friday morning class. The Focus Training Format has become too chaotic. Starting this Friday (March 2nd), the 7-8:30am class will now be an officially instructed class with Phil. The general format will be (but not restricted to) as follows:
• Warm-up
Passing the guard drills 8 minutes
(Partners switch positions after 4 min. 2 min break between rounds.)
Open or Closed Guard drills 8 minutes
(Format same as above)
• Positional sparring:
Guard passing- king of the hill for 10 min
Mount or side control- Partner sparring for 10 min
Turtle or back control- Partner sparring for 10 min
Spar from the knees for the remainder of the class
• There will be no Q&A format
