Congratulations to our 3rd Generation Jiu-Jitsu Team members that competed last Saturday at the event held in Downingtown, PA.
RDBJJ Academy member Jason Edward scored two 3rd places in his gi and submission grappling divisions.
Berks County BJJ members Erik Faust brought home 1st place in the men’s over 30 purple belt division. Ricardo Pena scored 3rd place in the advanced no-gi division and 2nd place in his purple belt division.
Harrisburg BJJ member Scott Cook took 1st place in his purple belt division.
Our Youth Program starts getting into gear after Labor Day. Give your child the self confidence that he/she needs to go through life happy and healthy by enrolling them into our academy’s youth program.
Our Youth classes, ages 10 to 14 years of age, run on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00pm to 7:00pm. They focus on providing your kids with a sensible balance of fitness, fun and self defense training. This program offers the busy parent an affordable after school activity that doesn’t require a ton of commitment.
Visit or call the academy today! We’ll let your child train in our program for 2 weeks at no cost so that he/she and you can get a good sense of what we do, how we do it and why your child will love their experience in learning the art of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Call us at 267.476.1858 or email us at heelhook21@aol.com or just visit us at 27 W. Butler Avenue, Chalfont, PA.
Check out this slick spider guard pass video by 3rd Generation Jiu Jitsu Team affiliate Shane Mock of Berks County Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy located in Sinking Springs, PA. If you are interested in training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu then please visit his site atwww.bcbjj.org.
Daniel Hilal, a graduate of political science from the American University of Beirut and a professional MMA fighter, was born into a culture where BJJ was a concept fighters could only dream of. Lebanon has no federations, no academy, no black-belts, and no sign of hope, until now.
Daniel began his martial arts journey at the age of 11 with Karate. Shortly after, he was introduced to Judo, and this is where it all began for him. After achieving a well-deserved brown belt in Judo, Daniel felt he needed to raise the bar and decided to upgrade his arsenal of techniques and adapt to training without the gi to become an even more complete grappler. The fast-paced activity and explosiveness of Freestyle Wrestling was very appealing to him. He joined the Taadod Wrestling Club in Beirut, and through his determination, hard work, and supportive team of wrestlers, he excelled quickly, progressing from a local competitor to a regional talent. In 2009-2010, Daniel easily topped his rivals in Lebanon without a single loss, taking first place in the Lebanese Championship at -66kg and 5th in the Arab Championship in Doha, Qatar, at -60kg. To wrap up the year, Daniel made his first professional MMA debut in Jordan’s Desert Force Championship.
Daniel has had a passion for grappling from the start. BJJ, in specific, has long been Daniel’s preferred martial art. He did everything possible to fuel this passion, which consisted of, hosting seminars, demonstrations, training relentlessly, and even holding classes. Within Lebanon, all Daniel could do was gather bits and pieces of BJJ to feed this passion.
December 23, 2010 marked an historical day for Lebanon when Daniel was promoted to blue belt under the patronage of 3G black belt Fadi Khouri, marking this occasion as the first ever official BJJ promotion in the country. It was through Fadi’s empathy and good judgment that Daniel’s flame for BJJ was kindled and the sport took root in Lebanon. Up until recently, Daniel was a BJJ orphan. He was alone in his training, and in his goal. Thanks to Fadi Khouri, Daniel is no longer an orphan. He finally found a home, a home called Third Generation Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Congratulations go out to Dan Spangler and Gerry Laird who both earned their blue belts this past week. Both Dan and Gerry have put in a great deal of time, effort and committment into training in the art of Jiu-Jitsu. Good job guys!
2010 has been the year for newly promoted 3rd Generation Jiu-Jitsu black belt, Fadi Khouri. With some outstanding showings at both local and national tournaments culminating to his 1st place, no points scored against him, finish at the US Open in October. We caught up with Fadi to get his take on training and his future plans.
You have a background in both Judo and BJJ. How do you feel the two arts complement each other? This is an interesting question and the generic answer would be, Judo is the missing piece of the puzzle since it’s the “Throwing” part of the game……While that is true, the actual take downs under a BJJ setting can get a bit hairy if you rely purely on Judo. In a Jiu Jitsu tournament if you go in for a big throw and Miss, you can easily get penalized for missing (I have missed a few throws and my opponent was awarded the take down for doing nothing except falling on me). I rely heavily on foot sweeps to avoid exposing myself…..
From my point of view, the true value of Judo comes in from the balance and aggressive grip fighting that you learn from playing Judo! I hear it all the time “I competed against a wrestler and he had great BASE”. The same theory applies to Judoka’s, they have great base that will help tremendously when they are playing on top, the trick is to mold it with the BJJ style so they flow together well.
Do you view BJJ more as a sport or as a form of self-defense? My main focus right now is Sport Jiu Jitsu, but it’s impossible to separate the sports aspect of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from the self defense aspect! I would say that 60% of the sport Jiu Jitsu techniques would not be ideal in a self defense setting, but at the same time sport jiu jitsu has a built in safety mechanism to prepare one to defend himself when needed. I would attribute three important factors developed from Sports Jiu Jitsu that will be valuble in a self defense setting.
a. Basic Tech.
b. Instinct
c. Cardio
Who have been some of the biggest influences on your game?
This is a more complicated question than it appears . The first response is always my instructor, I started my training at Modern Combat Academy in PA (Which since then has developed into its own association 3rd Generation Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) under the tutelage of Rosendo Diaz. His style of BJJ is a very technical one and even though I was a big guy I learned to focus on the technical part of BJJ vs. becoming a power player. The second response to this question is my training partners…..a player is only as good as his training partners decide to push him! I was fortunate enough to have very motivated training partners in the gym with me pushing me over the years and I would say that it’s a huge factor in influencing the way your BJJ is developed (I’d like to mention William Alford, David Harris, Alex Gotay, Evert Guetterez and Jeff Messina ).
You’ve competed in both small local tournaments and large scale such as the Pan Ams and the Worlds. Can you tell us the differences in how you prepare for these types of events? For small tournaments I don’t really prepare, I just enter them as they come along for experience. Big tournaments are totally different though, there are a lot of factors that come into play when I start my preparation. I train 2 x a day , 5 x a week for 8 to 10 weeks prior to the tournament date. Here is a sample of my training schedule for the US Open (which is the same for all other major tournaments)
i. Sat: BJJ in the AM and Conditioning in the PM
ii. Sun: BJJ in the AM and Conditions in the PM
iii. Mon: Rest
iv. Tues: Weight training in the AM and Judo in the PM
v. Wed: Conditioning in the AM and BJJ in the PM
vi. Thur: Weight training in the AM Judo in the PM.
You teach in Houston at Bam Bam’s Martial Arts, tell us a little bit about the academy. BamBam is a great training facility located in the West U area inside the loop in Houston. It’s a full training facility that provides its students with a full BJJ, MT, Boxing and MMA program. (the BJJ program has 3 black belts from 3 different lineages so come in and pick your style ) we are located at 4007 Bellaire blvd. Houston TX.
Any future plans for opening your own academy?
Not sure yet …..I think I have a few things to learn first before I can venture into that world LOL! But everything is possible, I am just happy that I can contribute back to the sport now, and would love to have an academy one day, when though I am not sure.
Tell us what your plans are for the upcoming competition season in 2011.
In 2011 I am hoping to do 4 to 5 big tournaments, my plan is to start in the Masters division first and test the waters! Gaining some experience as a black belt will be crucial for me, as it is shark infested waters…..I will probably start at the Pan American games in March and hope to compete at the Nationals, US OPEN and hopefully the Rio Masters tournament in Brazil.
For more information about Fadi and training in the Houston area please visit www.bambammartialarts.com or contact Fadi directly for information on private lessons and seminars fadihkhouri@gmail.com
Core Jiu Jitsu is the perfect combination of the fundamentals of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and self defense. It’s perfect for the beginner or those who are more interested in the self defense aspects of BJJ. It’s also a great refresher for the experienced practitioner. As with all our programs, each class has the best combination of technical learning and fitness to get you in great shape.
Classes will start on Tuesday, November 16, 2010 and will run on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6pm to 7pm. Call today or contact us for your free 2 week trial.
Rosendo Diaz Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy - Chalfont – PA
Congratulations to Matt Coletta from the Rick Royce BJJ Academy in Gilbertsville, PA. Matt has been training now for a year and has excelled both in class and in competition. He was promoted to blue belt at the Rosendo Diaz Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Chalfont on Saturday. Way to go Matt!
