SO, Ash and I are fairly
well settled in now here in T-Bay. Interesting note, people here
refer to their cottage as their “camp.” Very cute, this takes
some adjustment. The city is pretty OK. It's unremarkable in almost
every aspect. It feels like it has a lot of un-achieved potential in
fact.
The club up this way is
going well. They have a very strong MMA team. Easily the strongest
one I've been around. Looks to me like they have 4-6 guys who fight
and win on the regular. Along with this, they have a lot of no gi
grappling and solid wrestling. As Lakehead U has a good wrestling
team, the guys who graduate from LU with wrestling experience tend to
end up there.
So this is good stuff,
there's dedicated guys who want to train. My difficulty is preference
for the gi. I really just enjoy Gi a heck of a lot more. This
situation has made me think more and more about the cross over-value
of training in a gi. It's a common saying that the people who are
the best in the world in the Gi are the best in the world at No-Gi.
Obviously, there's a exceptions to this. I can think of two guys off
the top of my head from Pura who roll at a brown belt level without
having worn the gi.
I feel like the Gi game
*can be* slower and more technical. This is obviously a function of
the combatant's games. More importantly it requires more thought (the
game is more complex), problem solving(more complexity means more
exposure to unknown positions), and technical accuracy (flailing is
far less useful) to do something in a gi than in No gi. While some
people want to talk about the specifics of the Gi game and say that
it's non-transferable (usually, these are specific position that
don't work because of a lack of good grips) the unseen, less obvious
bits (thought, problem solving, technical accuracy) are incredibly
transferable. I'd argue they are of far more value.
I'd say this train of
thought has all been fairly new to me. I'd thought about it at some
length the other night when we had to do a drill (start guard, take
back, roll back to guard) for max reps. I did this in my gi (it's
slightly big too) on a partner wearing their gi. With all the extra
friction present, you would think the No-gi fellas would have
outpaced me. It wasn't the case. I managed to do it fastest in the
class. I was quite surprised.
I am fortunate that this
club has a couple of high-belts who are keenly aware of the value of
the gi. One, my new pal Keith, lamented that it had proven hard to
find gi-partners and sometimes he'd have to roll no gi despite not
preferring to. I told him that Ash and I are gi-players first and
foremost. We will always be there with our gis on. I'm not opposed to
no-gi, and I will roll without (mat time is mat time) but if I can
help foster a group of people who train in the cloth by always being
present with a gi, I make it my duty.
So that is my plan for
now. School starts in the near term and I'm uncertain how often I
will be able to make it out. When I am there though, I will be there
with a gi on. I also plan on talking more about the value of the gi.
I want to get other people thinking about it.
