Renzo Gracie e Demian Maia são presença garantida no The Camp. Foto: Reprodução

Tudo pronto para um dos mais esperados camps de Jiu-Jitsu do ano. Com uma seleção de professores e mestres, o The Camp será realizado em Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, entre os dias 4 e 8 de junho, e é a oportunidade perfeita para o atleta do Jiu-Jitsu aprender o mais puro Jiu-Jitsu direto da fonte, com a chance de aproveitar a paz e o visual de uma das melhores hospedagens do sul do Brasil.

O evento será realizado no resort Costão do Santinho, que irá juntar suas belezas naturais com grandes aulas de Jiu-Jitsu, Defesa Pessoal e técnicas de MMA. Escalados para tocar o camp, estão os faixas-corais Crolin Gracie e Rigan Machado, com presenças garantidas dos professores Renzo Gracie e Demian Maia.

As vagas para o camp são limitadas, então corra para garantir o seu lugar e fazer parte desta experiência única da arte suave. Para maiores informações, visite o site graciegym.org/thecampbr , e entre em contato pelo e-mail popovitchpaula@gmail.com ou pelo telefone 48 91745355.

Confira no vídeo abaixo a convocação do mestre Crolin Gracie e não fique de fora!

Rulivan Gracie when still a blue belt / Photo: Luca Atalla

Purple belt Rulivan Gracie suffered a fatal car crash this Saturday, in the town of Santo Amaro da Imperatriz, in the Brazilian State of Santa Catarina.

The talented son of Master Crolin Gracie, Rulivan was regarded as a great promise for the family both in competition as well as in producing young students, in the teaching vocation common within the Gracie family.

Yesterday was Crolin’s birthday. The master owns a successful Gracie academy in the city of Florianópolis.

The young Jiu-Jitsu fighter was buried in Santa Catarina this Sunday.

“We lost a warrior, and we gained an angel,” said friend and training partner Flávio Junior.

The GRACIEMAG team sends its sincerest condolences to Rulivan’s family, friends and students.

Last August, the roadways in Brazil’s South took another victim in the martial arts world. Holando da Silva, the father of MMA star Wanderlei Silva, died in an accident when driving his pickup truck in the Castro region of Paraná State.

Rulivan Gracie em foto de Luca Atalla / GRACIEMAG

O faixa-roxa Rulivan Gracie sofreu um acidente de carro fatal nesse sábado, em Santo Amaro da Imperatriz, no estado de Santa Catarina.

Talentoso filho de mestre Crolin Gracie, Rulivan era apontado como uma futura joia da família, tanto nas competições como no ensino e formação de jovens alunos, vocação que costuma marcar os Gracie.

Ontem foi aniversário de mestre Crolin, que tem uma academia Gracie de sucesso em Florianópolis.

O jovem lutador de Jiu-Jitsu foi sepultado neste domingo, em Santa Catarina.

“Perdemos um guerreiro, ganhamos um anjo”, resumiu o amigo e companheiro de treinos Flávio Junior.

A equipe da editora Gracie envia os pêsames para os pais e as irmãs de Rulivan, assim como para os muitos amigos e alunos do Gracie.

Em agosto, as estradas do sul do Brasil haviam feito outra vítima do mundo das lutas, seu Holando da Silva, pai de Wanderlei. Ele faleceu após uma batida de sua picape na região do Castro, no Paraná.

Hector with a young student / Photo: personal archives

Check out the interview with Hector, and, if you’re around the Central America area, find out how to get in on the next championship he’s promoting.

How did you end up in Panama and how did you start the academy and who was your main sponsor?

Hector: I was born here but moved to Miami in 1981. I did not visit Panama again until 1990. Then, in 1998, I started to visit Panama quite often and liked how the country was developing. The idea was to move back to where I was born. I was Paulo Castro’s main replacement at GB Miami when he traveled to Brazil for his business. Teaching class was getting me ready to make my move. On one of his trips he took me to the Gracie Barra main school, at Espacio Vital in Barra do Tijuca, where we asked Carlos Gracie Jr. for his blessing to open the first Gracie Barra Academy in Central America.

I’ll never forget his response while he looked over our shoulder, as he watched the class from his white plastic chair on the side of the mat: ¨Gracie Barra Panama,¨ in a heavy Brazilian accent! It was so cool hearing that! So in 2001 I took Paulo to teach a seminar to a group of guys who I met while visiting Panama in 2000. Ever since that first seminar he has been my sponsor. He has travelled to Panama at least once a year to teach a seminar or take the responsibility of being the advisor for my tournaments in Panama. So I dare say he has been the reason why I am where I am today.

Why did you start training Jiu Jitsu?

Hector: I started training Jiu Jitsu in 1994 in Miami, Florida. I began training primarily because I saw Royce Gracie submit all his opponents at the first UFC. I told myself, ¨This is the discipline I want to learn.¨ Then a friend from high school introduced me to a guy who knew some grappling and we started training together at my house. We would get together and watch reruns from the first UFC and, just for fun, do mock fights in the back yard of my house.

Then we started to meet other guys who had formal training and they started to train with us at my house. We did this for almost a years until our muay thai intructor, Mike Lee Kanarek, introduced us to Fabiano Iha, Amal Easton and Crolin Gracie, who had come to his academy in Weston, Florida, in 1996. We trained with them for a year. Fabiano Iha got involved in MMA and eventually made it to the UFC and Amal Easton and Crolin Gracie moved back to Brazil. Then we met Paulo Castro in 1998 and became part of the first generation of students from the Gracie Barra Miami Academy.

When did you first compete in a Jiu Jitsu competition, how did you do and what did you learned about these types of tournaments?

Hector: I first competed in 1999 at The fifth Pan-American Championship, held at the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami, as a blue belt. I lost my first fight by points, however, I learned from the defeat. I saw the unity between each team. Carlos Gracie Junior’s Barra team in a corner of the gym, Royler Gracie and his Humaitá team at another section, Jacare´s Alliance and many others screaming while one of their competitors was fighting.

I also learned that competitors were also used as referees. I saw Paulo Castro, Marcio Feitosa, Kaseka Muniz and Roberto Correa do this. So I learned that, in order to do a competition of this magnitude, you need everyone to help out.

What are your biggest achievements in Jiu-Jitsu competition?

Hector: My most remarkable achievement in competition (not necessarily a tournament) was opening the first Jiu Jistsu Academy in Panama, in 2002. I say it’s competition because it was not easy moving to a country where all the teachers of other arts are black belts and I was a purple belt in Jiu Jitsu. I had to show why my rank can teach other people in a martial art.

From that achievement I can say that I was able to send students from Panama to compete in different tournaments, especially the IBJJF championships all over the world, and bring back medals from white to brown belts. Another achievement in Jiu-Jitsu was when I founded the first Jiu-Jitsu Panama Association (APJJ) which I registered in the Panamanian Sport authority (PAN DEPORTES), which is the same as the Secretaria do Deporte in Brazil. This led to the first Jiu-Jitsu competition, in 2008. Competitors from Costa Rica and Panama competed in white, blue and purple divisions. Since 2009 more than 500 competitors from Central, South and North America as well as other parts of the world have taken part in APJJ Tournaments.

As far as achievements in my personal competition career, winning a gold medal as a black belt in the Miami Open 2010 in the medium heavy division and silver in the absolute is at the top. It was nine years since I did my last competition, at the 2001 Pan-American in Orlando, Florida, when I got the silver medal as a purple belt and took gold at the Florida State Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship also as a purple belt in the year 2000.

When did you get your black belt?

Hector: I train directly with Paulo Castro since 1998 and he is my main instructor but I received my black directly from Master Carlos Gracie Jr. in 2008 at the annual GB Instructors gathering in Lake Forest, California. Flavio Almeida recommended it be given to me since he saw the work we were doing in Panama during a seminar he gave in 2007.

Hector, what are you plans in the near future?

I´m currently organizing with the APJJ the first PRO-AM GI-NO-GI Jiu Jitsu Championship plus two super fights yet to be determined. The tournament will take place June 18 and 19, 2011 and the next in November. I was able to gather over $50,000. from sponsors to bring the level of Jiu-Jitsu in Panama to another dimension. You know, Panama has a lot to offer.

The Panama canal and its history are the main attraction. There are tours in different activities such as fishing, surfing, all types of extreme sports, shopping, and historical landmarks. In fact, the 2011 Billabong ISA World Surfing Games will be held on the beautiful waves of Panama (Playa Venao) from June 25 through July 3, 2011.

Both the ISA and Billabong are thrilled to announce the destination of next year’s event after receiving several attractive bid options for 2011. ISA President Fernando Aguerre stated, “The surf in Panama is exceptional, and after having great success with the Panama ISA World Masters Surfing Championship in 2010, they are eager to bring one of their feature World Championship events to the powerful waves and tropical weather of Panama. The ISA is looking forward to a great Billabong ISA World Surfing.”

How can competitors get involved in your tournament?

All they need to do is log on to www.apanjj.com; there they will get all the information they need to register. The website also provides all the information on the breakdown of the PRO and AM division, plus information in travel and accommodations. Thanks, GRACIEMAG! I wanna tell the rest of the world that you can find a place to train when ever you come to Panama.

Whether you are an MMA fighter looking to avoid getting put through a family-sized wringer, a Jiu-Jitsu competitor or impassioned practitioner, you need to delve deeper into the concept of the guard to evolve in training. So revisit what Rilion taught us last year, and don’t miss the next GRACIEMAG.

Rilion observes. Photo: Ray Santana.Rickson Gracie always said you have the best guard of the family. What makes a guard good?

The guard has always been a way of evening the playing field in a fight between two people, bringing the fight to the ground, where a 60kg guy balances out the strength difference and even goes on to have better chances of surprising the 120kg guy.

When I got my black belt, 25 years ago, I weighed 59kgs. And I always had the winning spirit, understood my family’s Jiu-Jitsu to be an art of self-defense, but one with the objective of submitting the adversary. The same way these days we see hundreds of scrawny guys, with good guards for lack of other options, the same went for me. The guard is the salvation of the weak.

How did you go about developing your game?

Guided by Rolls, Carlinhos, Rickson, Crolin, professors who I mirrored, I realized I had to have a really good guard to face anyone, but a complete guard – I wasn’t interested in just holding out against opponents, defending myself without managing to do anything in the fight. But the first idea that clicked for me, at blue belt, was: if I can’t manage to neutralize the guy with the guard, with which I have millions of options of barriers, my legs and hands and all, if he passes I’m dead – I have to exert triple the force, and on top of that with the guy’s weight on my chest, squashing my neck, ears. So my first concern is not to lose.

And what would be the second stage?

At purple belt I was already real flexible, and with a guard famed for being unpassable, at the little championships. But it happens that I’d win because the guy on top would wear out, and ended up leaving openings for the triangle, or I’d end up on his back and such. So, I went on to the next stage, developed at brown: to reconcile defensive with attacking guard, incorporating a varied game of submissions from the guard, sweeps and taking the back. That’s when my Jiu-Jitsu started improving on all fronts, because I started landing on top of my adversary, and I had to make the most of the favorable situation. These days, I think I’m better on top than on the bottom. I prefer playing on top – my objective is to jump the fence and attack my adversary.

I specialized in leaving an opening for the guy to pass, as that is the moment he exerts force – and so he wears out and falls in a trap” Rilion

What other tricks do you have for making adversaries fall into traps in the guard?

One kind of guard is that where you grab onto the sleeves, tie up the guy’s arms, but you can’t do anything either, and it becomes an ugly fight. Another is the guard where you give the guy a little taste. He sees his chance to pass, exerts force but doesn’t pass. I specialized in that, in leaving openings for the guy to pass – and there he either exerts force and tires, or falls into some trap.

Because I don’t believe there are humans who don’t tire. The best prepared guy in the world, confronted with the right technique, executed to perfection, he will be forced to apply force, and at some point will wear out. Everyone has their limit, it’s up to you to find the method and path to pushing your adversary to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQqaU-Vw2ro

Which is your favorite guard?

Jiu-Jitsu to me is easy and effective. It’s that which you can teach any student who walks into your gym, otherwise they’ll pick up their things and never come back.

I look to play guard right at the guy, at least in my way of fighting. I try to keep the guy worried about getting submitted the whole time, fearing getting tapped out. Even if the guy knows how to defend, the worry will fatigue him, exhaust him. And when he makes a mistake, he gets caught. The better your adversary’s technique, the more you need to worry him.

So of course, I’ll even play half-guard, sometimes. But, if the adversary is really good, after I sweep him he will still put up a fight from the bottom. So then one gets a sweep here, the other gets one there, and then it becomes that fight we’re seeing in competition these days. Of course, you need to know your objective when playing guard. If it’s to sweep for points, perfect. But I don’t want my opponent only to be concerned with not getting swept. He has to feel threatened the whole time.

Is there any bad type of guard?

I respect all positions. If I teach a technique to ten different people, I know that, as much as I’d like it to be otherwise, each student will be more suited to one aspect and not the other. Jiu-Jitsu is an infinite art; a shorty won’t have the same game as someone with long legs. That’s why a master can’t go blindly labeling one guard bad and the other good. The secret is to make out the weaknesses and virtues of the position, never condemn, arrogantly. Now, the guy who wants to be a reference in the guard cannot just know one guard. He has to know other paths, for the day he encounters a rock in his way.

Jiu-Jitsu is sensibility” Rilion

What’s your challenge these days, when training?

To conserve more energy than before. I’m better technically, more experienced, but I’m not the Rilion of fifteen years ago. I feel good for my age, of course, and know a Rilion of 35 would fatally defeat a Rilion of 25. But nowadays, at 45, I don’t recover as quickly as I did. Back in the day I’d push the pace, take two breaths and be ready to go again for 20, 30 rolls. I know physically I’m in the process of decay. At the same time, the more flight time, the more microscopic subtleties you have. For example, you start developing a sensibility where you can guess your adversary’s thoughts. A second before the guy makes a move your hook is in there blocking him. That’s what Jiu-Jitsu’s about. Without sensibility, without a certain spiritual connection to the art, you win on conditioning, durability, and you’ll always be coarse, someone with ugly style.

Your brother Rolls Gracie (1951 – 1982) is seen as the bridge between modern and classical Jiu-Jitsu. Was he also the link between the guard of the past and the modern guard?

Without a doubt. When Jiu-Jitsu fell into Rolls’s hands, it evolved 50 years in ten. He took a Beetle and made it into a Ferrari, and dropped it in our hands. Of course, the wheel, headlights already existed. But it was with Rolls that the guard went from being defensive, waiting for the opponent, to a position with an arsenal of attacks.

He had a really open and dynamic mind, always paid attention to the student, and liked listening to them, to see new positions. Now you take a guy in the spotlight and it seems you have to plead for the love of God for him to teach you a position. So it was Rolls who created what was, to me, the golden generation of Jiu-Jitsu: Carlinhos, Crolin, Rickson and so many of Rolls’s students from outside the family.

I learned a lot about the guard watching one of them train, a guy called Talarico, who even had short legs.

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