Daniel Alvarez works on a back-take at the IBJJF Toronto Open. Photo: IBJJF

The IBJJF Toronto Open held its second annual event on Saturday, August 3 at York University. The booming city in Canada catered to many local as well as visiting teams from all over the world. Some teams came with a force of many, others with just one representative but the level of skill was high either way.

GMA academies that took home bunches of medals were: Renzo Gracie Ottawa earned twelve medals at the event. Students from Marcelo Garcia Academy in New York traveled with nine competitors and came back with ten medals. Toronto BJJ had three competitors take home medals as well, although more members are not counted as they were registered as Ribeiro BJJ. Total, over 70 competitors from the academy alone were out on the competition mats earning them the first and third place trophy.

Oliver Geddes, a black belt under Roger Gracie from GMA Roger Gracie Academy in London, UK won gold in his black belt adult lightweight division and placed second in the open class.

Jorge Britto of Toronto BJJ placed first in his black belt master middle division and placed second in the open class.

Daniel Alvarez of GMA Alvarez BJJ in Arlington, Texas accomplished gold in the black belt master feather division defeating his opponent 9-0 in points. See the match below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epZiyEY9qSs

Professor:

Black Belt Pat Cooligan

Address: 1673 Carling Ave suite 215, Ottawa, Ontario K2A 1C4

Phone: 1 613 728 0880

Website: www.oama.ca

Facebook: www.facebook.com/oamateam

About:

At Team Renzo Gracie Ottawa our focus is maintaining the highest level of instruction in BJJ. BJJ is known as the most effective martial art in the world, although it is relatively new by martial arts standards. Today, in any reality-fighting tournament 99% of the competitors will have a certain level of knowledge in BJJ. Why? Because it’s been proven time and time again to work. We train with a partner almost all the time. In doing so, you quickly learn what works and what does not against an opponent who is resisting. We emphasize technique and position. Proper technique and good position will dictate the outcome of a fight whether in competition or on the street. BJJ is easy and fun to learn, but takes hard work, discipline and dedication to master.

Our students have the opportunity to train at any of our numerous BJJ seminars, which we conduct. We have world-class champions visit Ottawa on an almost monthly basis. Also, the academy frequently organizes trips to New York City, which makes our club unique. All our students have the occasion to train at the NYC academy with Renzo Gracie and his instructors when we travel to Manhattan.

Our classes (schedule) will generally comprise of a brief warm-up, guard-passing drills, positional drills, technique and training. The two Brazillian jiu-jitsu programs we offer, Blue Belt and Purple belt, are designed to help you achieve the colour of belt indicated. Our live practice classes, randori, are limited to those with a minimum 1-month of experience as to maximize the quality and safety for all involved.

We now have women-only classes (schedule) for ladies who want to train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and self-defence in a fun, safe, female-student only setting.

Private (one on one) instruction is also available. Please contact us to learn all of what our programs have to offer you!

Video:

Toronto BJJ / Photo: publicity

One of the teams closest to Rogers Centre, the venue for the UFC in Toronto, even offers a free month for you to become acquainted with Jiu-Jitsu. At Jorge Britto’s Toronto BJJ they’ll even loan you a gi so you can begin. Check out the list of the Jiu-Jitsu academies under the GMA umbrella in GSP’s homeland, and join up.

GMAs in Canada:

Toronto BJJ
813 Bloor St W
Toronto, ON M6G IL8
# 1 416 744 6868
www.torontobjj.com

Alliance Arctic Jiu-Jitsu
Yellowknife, NT
arcticjiujitsu@gmail.com

Arashi Do Martial Arts
12730 St. Albert Trail
Edmonton, Alberta, T5L 5B9
# 1 780 453 2695
www.arashido.com

Fight Planet
730 Upper James Unit 3
Hamilton, Ontario L9C
# 1 905 385 7111
www.fightplanet.ca

Fight Planet London
1794 Dundas St
(Inside the Adrenaline Training Centre)
London, Ontario
# 1 905 385 7111
www.fightplanet.ca

Gracie Barra Calgary
1830 52 St SE Suite #234
Calgary, AB
# 1 403 899 2880
www.graciebarracalgary.com

Gracie Barra Kelowna
#109, 140 Commercial Drive
Kelowna, BC V1X
# 1 250 826 4251

Gracie Barra Montreal
180 Peel St. suite 110
Montreal, QC H3C2G7
# 1 514 932 5777
www.graciebarramontreal.ca

Gracie Barra Shuswap
#36 Halksworth Rd
Grindrod, BC V0E 1Y0
# 1 250 804 9262

Gracie Barra Vancouver
2440 Main St
Vancouver BC V5T 3E2
# 1 604 916 9441
www.GracieBarra.ca

Premier Martial Arts
Team Megaton
#120 11300 No 5 RD
Richmond, BC V7A 5J9
# 1 604 278 6663
www.premierwestmma.com

Pura BJJ
1632 Upper James St.
Hamilton, ON, Canada
# 1 905 383 4BJJ (4255)
www.purabjj.com

Relentless BJJ/ Megaton
5948 Tyson Road
Chilliwack, BC V2R 3N9
# 1 778 808 6426

Renzo Gracie Ottawa
1673 Carling ave suite 215
Ottawa Ontario K2A 1C4
# 1 613 728 0880
www.oama.ca

Sudbury Brazilian Jiu JItsu

790 Lasalle Blvd

Sudbury, Ontario P3A 4B4

# 1 705 222 7655

www.sudburybjj.com

The earthquake in Haiti and the near total destruction of the country shocked the world. The UN estimates that close to 100,000 people have died, but there is no way to reach an exact number.

Amid such huge numbers, personal tragedy seems irrelevant, but it isn’t. Browsing the websites of our GMA associates, we stumbled upon the story of Mike Desir. He has lost his mother in the tragedy.

Mike and his mom

Mike is a BJJ student at Renzo Gracie Ottawa, owned by GMA black belt Pat Cooligan, in Canada. As usual, after the pain, comes the wish to help and comfort. So, Cooligan and his school decided to give their small but vital contribution to comfort Mike and help Haiti.

On the weekend of January 24th-25th, they are going to host a Trainathon. All the procceds will be donated to the US Red Cross, an organization playing a key role in aiding the victims.  For more info, go to oama.ca.

GRACIEMAG.com joins the effort to help Haiti. If you want to donate money or help in any way, here are some channels through which to do it:

In the US, text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts.

The earthquake in Haiti and the almost total destruction of the country has shocked the world. The UN estimates that close to 100,000 people has died, but there is no way to reach an exact number.

Among such huge numbers, the personal tragedys seem irrelevant, but they aren’t. Browsing through the websites of our GMA associates, we have stumbled upon the history of Mike Desir. He has lost his mother in the tragedy.

Mike and his mom

Mike is a BJJ student at Renzo Gracie Ottawa, owned by black belt Pat Cooligan, in Canada. As usual, after the pain, comes the wish to help and confort. So, Cooligan nad his school decided to give their small but vital contribution to confort Mike and to help Haiti.

On the weekend of January 24th-25th, they are going to host a Trainathon. All the procceds will be donated to the US Red Cross, an organization that is playing a key hole in the aid of the victms.  For more info, go to oama.ca.

The GMA Blog joins the effort to help Haiti. If you want to donate money or help in any way, here are some channels to do it:

In the US, text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts.