tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6073076558074915492024-03-05T04:58:34.035+00:00GrappleThon | Bringing Grapplers TogetherA GrappleThon is a Brazilian jiu jitsu event for charity, where the BJJ community gets together to roll for a predetermined period, fundraising for a worthy cause. This site is intended to both publicise current GrappleThons as well as help others set up their own GrappleThon events.slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-7677134239218647912017-11-21T10:17:00.002+00:002017-11-21T10:31:13.954+00:00Setting up a Tap Cancer Out fundraising pageFor 2018, the <a href="http://www.artemisbjj.com/grapplethon2018/">Artemis BJJ GrappleThon</a> will be in support of Tap Cancer Out. It begins at 14:00 on World Cancer Day, Saturday 3rd February 2018, running through to 14:00 on the Sunday. The process of setting up a <a href="https://wecan.tapcancerout.org/campaign/artemis-bjj-2018-tap-cancer-out-grapplethon/c156804">fundraising page</a> on the Tap Cancer Out <a href="https://wecan.tapcancerout.org/campaign/artemis-bjj-2018-tap-cancer-out-grapplethon/c156804">platform</a> (powered by classy.org) is simple:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm50KXHK3mK6mF86mlGShvVl_AOdHjiv8gZuXUx8MvrVMhMpAlrdSHMTQGx8zCu7yWlvSZZFDUOeOpnfpR-ieVcKw_Ecnv2nFY-1fnSXYGAP8Iegw9wuh2T5Yibgl_tOxDFRM9nYnAouo/s1600/Artemis+BJJ+World+Cancer+Day+GrappleThon+for+Tap+Cancer+Out%252C+fundraising+page+set+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="825" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm50KXHK3mK6mF86mlGShvVl_AOdHjiv8gZuXUx8MvrVMhMpAlrdSHMTQGx8zCu7yWlvSZZFDUOeOpnfpR-ieVcKw_Ecnv2nFY-1fnSXYGAP8Iegw9wuh2T5Yibgl_tOxDFRM9nYnAouo/s320/Artemis+BJJ+World+Cancer+Day+GrappleThon+for+Tap+Cancer+Out%252C+fundraising+page+set+up.jpg" width="320" /></a><b>1.</b> Select 'Become a Fundraiser'<br />
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<b>2.</b> Set your target (it defaults to dollars, so you change to GBP for £s if you like)<br />
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<b>3.</b> Log in with either Facebook or set up an account (you'll need an email address, then create a password)<br />
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<b>4.</b> Choose your profile pic<br />
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And that's it! You can further customise your page after that, which I'd recommend, but your page is ready to go after just four steps. The main thing I'd suggest modifying if the story, providing more details about the event. If you'd like an example, this is what I wrote on <a href="https://wecan.tapcancerout.org/grapplethon2018">my page</a>:<br />
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<blockquote>On World Cancer Day 2018 (4th February 2018), Artemis BJJ will be hosting another 24hr GrappleThon at MYGYM Bristol. We'll be rolling continuously from 14:00 on Saturday 3rd February through to 14:00 on the Sunday, raising funds for the good people at Tap Cancer Out. All the info you need is on our <a href="http://www.artemisbjj.com/grapplethon2018">website</a>:<br />
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<a href="http://www.artemisbjj.com/grapplethon2018">http://www.ArtemisBJJ.com/GrappleThon2018/</a><br />
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Come and join us! Everybody is welcome, from complete beginners to seasoned veterans. :)</blockquote>slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-58711240916327612912014-12-17T10:15:00.000+00:002016-11-17T03:05:35.131+00:00Using MyDonate For Your BJJ Charity EventIf possible, I generally use JustGiving for GrappleThons. However, sometimes the charity I want to support is smaller, so goes for a free fundraising platform instead. From my experience, MyDonate is the best of the free platforms. That's run by the large UK company, BT. It has a few advantages over JustGiving, the main one being that they don't charge charities a fee to use their service (unlike JustGiving, which charges £15 per month). The downside is that MyDonate's interface is a bit more clunky and setting up a page is rather more fiddly too. However, the advantage of not costing the charity anything is considerable, so that's worth some hassle. :)<br />
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Here are the steps to set up your fundraising page on MyDonate, using the 2017 Artemis BJJ GrappleThon for SARSAS as an example (click on the pictures for a larger image):<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4j8zlE88XFMeww9TL7HnC5-E31nABaprQzh-oPWcVYZG41hMiCoSk52JssigiJOMCyswuy_24LbYqxFG90LfRUPg2l5HP34bwMvU-gCTWQNHznxk9YmaP_ACgAzswdBCQeDwPpHXNptk/s1600/Using+MyDonate+for+your+charity+event%252C+like+the+Artemis+BJJ+GrappleThon+2017+for+SARSAS+-+Step+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4j8zlE88XFMeww9TL7HnC5-E31nABaprQzh-oPWcVYZG41hMiCoSk52JssigiJOMCyswuy_24LbYqxFG90LfRUPg2l5HP34bwMvU-gCTWQNHznxk9YmaP_ACgAzswdBCQeDwPpHXNptk/s400/Using+MyDonate+for+your+charity+event%252C+like+the+Artemis+BJJ+GrappleThon+2017+for+SARSAS+-+Step+3.png" width="400" /></a></div><b>1.</b> Sign up to <b><a href="http://www.btplc.com/mydonate/index.aspx"><span style="color: blue;">MyDonate</span></a></b><br />
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<b>2.</b> Click on 'Start Fundraising' at the top. Alternatively go to 'my account', then click on 'Create fundraising page' in the left hand menu.<br />
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<b>3.</b> Select 'Create my challenge'<br />
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<b>4.</b> Type 'SARSAS' in the 'search for a charity' box<br />
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<b>5.</b> Select 'SARSAS' from the list that pops up, then click through.<br />
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<b>6.</b> Select 'Other' from the list of fundraising challenges, then put in something like 'grappling' or 'GrappleThon'<br />
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<b>7.</b> If you want to add the address, select 'Yes' on whether or not the challenge is taking place at a specific location (handily, this creates a map on your fundraising page), then enter:<br />
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<blockquote>MYGYM<br />
Unit 4B, Dean Street<br />
Bristol<br />
United Kingdom<br />
BS2 8SF</blockquote><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFdgk7b3YbUR63nMFx5rJcHVC1GqcPDOKaB9WyIOB6xe2_sgO1OuivlDhGwaHxi7deIBtnS2iXwjOhpPU3hAW58I72sIP4ZdyIN2mYgnsdodPuhX808GxiwLXTxFVpuB2H0ON9f1HQ_s/s1600/Using+MyDonate+for+your+charity+event%252C+like+the+Artemis+BJJ+GrappleThon+2017+for+SARSAS+-+Step+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFdgk7b3YbUR63nMFx5rJcHVC1GqcPDOKaB9WyIOB6xe2_sgO1OuivlDhGwaHxi7deIBtnS2iXwjOhpPU3hAW58I72sIP4ZdyIN2mYgnsdodPuhX808GxiwLXTxFVpuB2H0ON9f1HQ_s/s400/Using+MyDonate+for+your+charity+event%252C+like+the+Artemis+BJJ+GrappleThon+2017+for+SARSAS+-+Step+4.png" width="400" /></a></div><b>8.</b> The next part is important, as this determines how long your page stays open. Put in the date as starting 15-04-2017 from 14:00 through to 16-04-2017 at 14:00. <br />
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<b>9.</b> You can pick however long you want for keeping the page running after the event finishes, ranging from 3 months to 12 months. <br />
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<b>10.</b> Pick whatever url you want for the fundraising page (note it has to be all lower case), then be sure to link your page to <b><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://mydonate.bt.com/teams/grapplethon2017">the Artemis BJJ GrappleThon 2017 team</span></a></b>: the reference number is <b>532098561</b>. When you click 'Validate', the name of the team and owner will appear in green.<br />
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<b>11.</b> Select 'No' for the two tick boxes under Gift Aid.<br />
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<b>12.</b> In the fundraising story, you can write whatever you think will best inspire people to donate to your page. If you're looking for an example, <b><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/grapplethon2017">this</span></a></b> is what I put. Note that the 'page title' has to be less than 50 characters.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtea1GtXyfvwgSm7lhyhVdhaEwuDFHAgGt6CBTfY1sQ9Ls5m0BiO51uXY7DVyM8I16J_RLlFaGZvlE4iVhqSWNUK-JZISqVzo9PBgS-ns5KqYyWW5TSCDytPmSSujfBXjYhPzwiHWTfTQ/s1600/Using+MyDonate+for+your+charity+event%252C+like+the+Artemis+BJJ+GrappleThon+2017+for+SARSAS+-+Step+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtea1GtXyfvwgSm7lhyhVdhaEwuDFHAgGt6CBTfY1sQ9Ls5m0BiO51uXY7DVyM8I16J_RLlFaGZvlE4iVhqSWNUK-JZISqVzo9PBgS-ns5KqYyWW5TSCDytPmSSujfBXjYhPzwiHWTfTQ/s400/Using+MyDonate+for+your+charity+event%252C+like+the+Artemis+BJJ+GrappleThon+2017+for+SARSAS+-+Step+5.png" width="400" /></a><b>13.</b> Next, pick an image if you like (there's also the option to link to your Flickr and/or a YouTube video).<br />
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<b>14.</b> After that, you can set a target if you want, then you're ready to (finally!) move on to the next page and finish. :)slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-48276886338654611772014-11-11T12:36:00.000+00:002014-11-11T12:36:56.222+00:00Movember Rollathon 2014 Pre-Event Press Release<b>by Sofie Zambas</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_wty1uu3gzD3ilbHTlpsOBxcjstdUjZ4icjQwhd2d1Z_FWBrcEoHiSnF5maARBQtN8yyXmhuz9QWwWTjj5Ookn6TN2-yPpWIuNWfjPvlqG8LP0njy2Pdy3V4nh9f5lpLEh-dEmMWxypQ/s1600/Movember+Rollathon+2014+Meerkatsu+Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_wty1uu3gzD3ilbHTlpsOBxcjstdUjZ4icjQwhd2d1Z_FWBrcEoHiSnF5maARBQtN8yyXmhuz9QWwWTjj5Ookn6TN2-yPpWIuNWfjPvlqG8LP0njy2Pdy3V4nh9f5lpLEh-dEmMWxypQ/s1600/Movember+Rollathon+2014+Meerkatsu+Poster.jpg" /></a></div>November 22nd will mark Gravity Brazilian Jiu Jitsu’s 3rd Annual 24hr Movember Rollathon, a fundraiser for Prostate cancer research and bringing awareness to men’s health, beginning at 9am. <br />
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Prostate cancer is one of the most common health issues in men today. Many of us have known someone to have prostate issues due to poor diets or lack of the essential fruits and vegetables. With Jiu-Jitsu being a male dominated sport, we wanted to give back to the community by raising awareness to prevent these types of health issues. <br />
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The Rollathon, in which at least 2 people will be sparring in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) for 24hrs, will take place at Gravity BJJ in Surrey BC. Like last year, we will start the morning off with a kids cross training class, followed by the adults at 10am. This year we will be scheduling different black belts throughout the day to teach some techniques. <br />
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There will be raffle prizes given and a special Moustache Strut Off Competition in the evening at 7pm. Many companies have jumped on board to be sponsors for the event. Our returning sponsors include- Meerkatsu, Oss Gear, Fushida, Gi-Soap, Bacardi, Katana Fightwear, BJJ Depot & Tatami Fightwear. New sponsors to the event are Jiu Jitsu Journals and BC Kimono’s. We are so grateful for the support of these companies! <br />
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“This is an event we look forward to every year. We are not only helping out a good cause but we are also bringing the jiu jitsu community together outside of competition,” says organizer Sofie Zambas. “With jiu-jitsu a significantly male dominated sport, it’s important to create awareness on men’s health and prostate issues.”<br />
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The event is open to all schools and associations. We encourage moustaches, beards, goatees and any other creative facial ingenious to the event. We will also post a link for a livestream closer to the date. <br />
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Even if you’re not a BJJ practitioner, you are welcome to come down to the community event and get to know the friendly people at Gravity BJJ. Anyone who has been affected by prostate issues, directly or otherwise, is welcome to come to the event and support the cause. We would love to hear from you!! <br />
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A link to our donation page can be found here: <br />
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<a href="http://ca.movember.com/team/1525017">http://ca.movember.com/team/1525017</a> <br />
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As well as our Facebook page:<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/MovemberRollathon?ref=hl">https://www.facebook.com/MovemberRollathon?ref=hl</a><br />
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And our Event Page Details:<br />
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<a href="http://ca.movember.com/events/view-community-event/id/145049">http://ca.movember.com/events/view-community-event/id/145049</a><br />
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If you would like further information or would like to learn how you can get involved, please contact Sofie Zambas at sofie@gravitybjj.ca or 604-780-5154.<br />
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Quotes from last years’ event:<br />
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<i>“Big thanks to Sofie and Logan for hosting the Movember Rollathon. I believe this was the first time two different kids Jiu Jitsu clubs came together to train and all for a terrific cause! Our Apex kids had an awesome time cross training with the Gravity Crew.” <b>Marcy Hilario, Owner at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Apex-Martial-Arts/168994786452418">Apex Martial Arts</a></b><br />
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“Gravity BJJ’s 2nd annual Movember fundraiser is a great event for the local BJJ community. It’s an opportunity for people from the BJJ scene to get together (regardless of team/club) and have an awesome time on the mats all while helping a great cause. I had a great time at the event…Logan and Sofie are great host’s and harbor a really friendly and playful BJJ environment, which is another bonus to an already stellar event!” – <b>Jason Gagnon, Head Coach at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Genesis-Martial-Arts-and-Fitness/152855084875388?ref=br_rs">Genesis Martial Arts and Fitness</a></b><br />
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“The Movember Rollathon was a unique experience with open mat rolling, cool BJJ prizes from sponsors, and also a dance off. It was a very lighthearted event where Sofie and Logan were very welcoming to the rest of the BJJ community. With the help of their team, they brought together two families – immediate family and the BJJ community – to support this cause in a more active way than just simply donating money to an account.” – <b>Eric Cheng, BJJ blue belt</b></i><br />
slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-75118604245966090852014-10-21T15:09:00.000+01:002014-10-21T15:12:03.969+01:00Grapplethon supporting The Raining Season, October 2014 at The Clinch Academy, Frederick, MD, USA<small>Event Report #9, by Judy Riley, from the Clinch Academy GrappleThon supporting The Raining Season</small><br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Yr1uSW2cO6c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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On Saturday, October 11th, the Clinch Academy in Frederick, MD hosted its first annual Grapplethon fundraising event to support The Raining Season Orphanage in Sierra Leone, Africa. More than 60 grapplers participated from martial arts academies near and far in this 12 hour Brazillian Jiu Jitsu extravaganza .<br />
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Participants of all ages and skill levels collected donations through sponsorships and tested themselves for 12 hours of grappling. The event featured black belt instructed seminars by Clinch Academy owner, Luke Rinehart, retired Frederick County Chief of Police, Tom Ledwell, Evolve Academy’s Mike Moses and Clinch Academy’s Adam McWilliams. <br />
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“Just being a business owner and to have the opportunity to host such an event as the grapplethon for the orphans in Sierra Leone is a huge blessing. I am thankful that I have the place, space and time to help support The Raining Season in providing for these children. I am also thankful to all my students who are eager to help and to Judy Riley for her initiative and hard work in organizing & putting this event together,” says Luke Rinehart. <br />
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Judy Riley, organizer of the event, is a brown belt in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu who trains regularly at the Clinch Academy. Her connection to The Raining Season stems from the adoption of her youngest daughter from Sierra Leone. Ms Riley says, “When I first heard of the idea of a grapplethon, it seemed an ideal way to combine my passion for martial arts with my passion for orphan care. At the time I began planning the event, the goal was to raise money for the purchase of a ‘poda’ (mini-bus) for the Center. But as event planning progressed the Ebola outbreak had become center stage to the news in Sierra Leone. It was clear that the needs of the 102 children and staff had shifted to surviving this crisis. “<br />
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On September 1st, The Raining Season implemented a lockdown of the compound to minimize exposure to the Ebola virus. Provisions such as fuel to run generators, rice, water, diapers and cleaning supplies were gathered in a rush of fundraising efforts to last a period of 3 months. The provisions are quickly being diminished. The World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending a lockdown of 9 months for which funds have yet to be raised.<br />
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Founder of The Raining Season, Erica Stone Rust, explains that the cost of the basic necessities to run the center has skyrocketed due to demand. The financial strain to meet rising costs as well as implement new Ebola safeguards have placed a heavy burden on the orphanage. A quarantine room has been prepared to isolate a child if needed, an additional armed guard has been hired to patrol the gate and a home visiting doctor is being utilized to avoid exposure to the virus at the hospital. These additional expenses are not accounted for in the budget. <br />
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“Sometimes problems seem so insurmountable and too big for any one person to make a difference. I think people really do want to help, but often feel their personal contribution won’t make a difference in a crisis that spans several countries,” says Ms Riley. “I wanted my friends and training partners to know that there is an organization they could trust, whose founders I personally know, and that they could directly affect the lives of the 102 children at TRS.”<br />
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The Grapplethon provided an opportunity for the BJJ community to make a difference. Grapplers were each given a picture and name of the child they were ‘rolling’ for. They set the timer to 5 minute rounds, turned up the music, and got started. After 12 hours of rolling, they were exhausted, sweaty, empowered and accomplished as they walked away from the event. In total, grapplers, spectators and donors raised over $10,000 for the children of The Raining Season Orphanage. <br />
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“I am thrilled with the success of the Grapplethon and am so grateful for the entire Jiu Jitsu community for supporting this event. I would like to thank Luke Rinehart, owner of Clinch Academy for hosting the Grapplethon. Numerous sponsors stepped up, including Century Ford Motor of Mt. Airy, BDR Express, GAC Services, Riley Financial Services, Guru Gi, Downtown Piano Works, Enforme Interactive, Drama Rocks, Dominoes Pizza of New Market and Adventure Park USA. The generosity of these local businesses is a tribute to the good hearted people of Frederick County,” says Ms Riley. <br />
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The Raining Season Orphan Care Center continues to struggle for the safety and care of their children during the Ebola crisis. You can help provide needed supplies for the children by donating to <a href="http://www.helpstopebola.com">www.helpstopebola.com</a>. If you would like to learn more about The Raining Season, visit <a href="http://therainingseason.org">TheRainingSeason.org</a>.<br />
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Updates with news about the Center and the community are published regularly via The Raining Season Blog at <a href="http://savetheorphan.blogspot.com">SaveTheOrphan.blogspot.com</a>. The Facebook event page for the Clinch Academy Grapplethon (with more pictures etc) can be found <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/2014-Clinch-Academy-Grapplethon-supporting-The-Raining-Season/298783473637650">here</a>.slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-19089148360960671292014-08-19T01:53:00.001+01:002014-08-19T02:25:44.736+01:00Updates August 2014<a href="http://instagram.com/grapplethon" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://photos-b.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xaf1/10616460_350320878454129_1462735314_n.jpg" width="350" height="350" /></a>The GrappleThon concept continues to grow as 2014 begins to wind down. Since the last event report back in March, the Artemis BJJ GrappleThon supporting Kinergy raised £5,000 in <a href="http://www.artemisbjj.com">Bristol</a>. There has also been the third iteration of Performance Martial Art's Grapple-A-Thon in Springfield, OR, a 4DA Kids GrappleThon at Centurion BJJ in Panama City, FL.<br />
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There were also two GrappleThons on the same 16th August weekend: first, the NW High Intensity Training Center event in Olympia, WA, shortly followed by <a href="http://jodiebearsjourney.blogspot.co.uk">Jodie Bear</a>'s GrappleThon in Congleton supporting the Donna Louise Children's Hospice Trust. Jodie and her team have raised an incredible £6,000 so far!<br />
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There's more Grapplethon action to come this month, with Pura Vida Fighting For Kids on the 31st at Open Mat Fight & Fitness in San Diego, CA. Next month sees a stalwart returning for their second event, with another GrappleThon supporting NVRDC at BETA Academy in Washginton, DC on the 13th of September. On the same day, there will also be a Grapplethon supporting Liam Stark, over at Optimus BJJ in Laguna Niguel, CA (who have also hosted Grapplethons in the past). Finally, Gravity BJJ are into their third Movember Rollathon on the 22nd November up in Surrey, BC. <br />
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Good luck to all of you: hopefully I'll be able to add even more GrappleThons to the <a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/p/events.html">event page</a> soon! :D<br />
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slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-55427771840984983022014-03-27T16:06:00.000+00:002014-03-28T20:25:48.502+00:00Grapplethon for Dana Moore, March 2014 at Optimus BJJ, Laguna Niguel, CA, USA<small>Event Report #8, by <a href="http://monta-wiley.blogspot.co.uk/"><u>Monta Wiley</u></a>, from the Optimus BJJ GrappleThon Supporting Dana Moore</small><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjegpkcMeFs0Aky48AV4KJ73xQve78OIXTrrztMF9A2Cc8-25WutRUUACrg7WO59oGHqJqFcHis5ATPVCNBMPdQMO-1bXT8jEPVsGWn3X9qeP-x2AkODHIxNoKKFsg_zXN1t1XXagNf4/s1600/Team+Dana+Moore+GrappleThon+March+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjegpkcMeFs0Aky48AV4KJ73xQve78OIXTrrztMF9A2Cc8-25WutRUUACrg7WO59oGHqJqFcHis5ATPVCNBMPdQMO-1bXT8jEPVsGWn3X9qeP-x2AkODHIxNoKKFsg_zXN1t1XXagNf4/s320/Team+Dana+Moore+GrappleThon+March+2014.jpg" /></a></div>Over the past year Southern California has been a hot spot showcasing great unity in the BJJ Community. March 22 2014 proved to be no exception as a group of grappling martial artists gathered together in Laguna Niguel, California for another monumental Grapplethon charity event, showing their support for 24 year old BJJ blue belt Dana Moore (who recently sustained a spinal injury that left him paralyzed from the rib-cage down).<br />
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Hosted at Grant Collin’s Optimus Brazilian Jiu-jitsu academy, the event brought together over 60 grapplers throughout Southern California from Atos JJ, Checkmat, Ribiero Jiu-jitsu, Clark Gracie Jiu-jitsu and Tinguinha BJJ, amongst other top jiu-jitsu teams. <br />
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From start to finish Team Dana Moore didn’t hold anything back! This fun-filled extravaganza included over 3 hours of nonstop training, a 300 Roll Challenge, and almost every participant walking away with a raffle gift. Most importantly, it exposed the camaraderie that exists in the Southern California BJJ community.<br />
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After generating $2,505 from on-the-day donations, it’s safe to say 'Grapplethon: Team Dana Moore' was a remarkable success. The dynamic presentation and atmosphere displayed on the mats at Optimus BJJ exhibited characteristics of kindness and unification amongst grapplers, showing their support for someone in need. In a fascinating twist, we also learned from Dana’s story of perseverance to aid in our journey through life. <br />
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Here were some of the closing remarks from people who were a part of the event<br />
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<blockquote><b>Michael Cabrea (Event Participant):</b> I had a fantastic time today! It was great supporting someone in our community! Thanks everyone for the roll. And of course thanks Dana for being such an inspiration!<br />
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<b>Grant Collins (Owner/Instructor of Optimus BJJ):</b> Hey guys that was awesome! It was so great having so many talented fighters in one house for a good cause. In fact it was so much fun I wanna do it every month! I want to give big gratitude to everybody who came out to support Dana Moore!<br />
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<b>Dave Gieselman (Event Participant):</b> The best part about this event was the sense of unconditional love and support, no questions asked, in that room.<br />
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<b>Lynn Fillwber Moore (Dana’s Mother/ Event Spectator):</b> What an amazing BJJ family... We are so touched and honored... THANK YOU Brettimus Weekley, Monta Wiley, Professor Grant Collins, my amazing family Alicia Moore, Lizzie Moore; Pat & Julia Fillweber Foy, Karen and Chris Sabin & munchkins, Steve Pollmann &, Samuel, Megan Foy & Travis, Frank & VeVa Thing, Lindsy Eyler & Cruz, and our awesome friends, Jefe & Caroline Weekley, April Weekley, Brooke & Dave Jakovich, Barry Draskovich, Marilyn Reeves. AND all of the raffle sponsors and donations!!! Just amazing!<br />
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<b>Brett Weekley (Event Co-Host):</b> I would like to say thank you to everyone for attending the Grapplethon yesterday. It is amazing to see the BJJ community come together to support a friend. Thanks again Grant Collins for opening your doors and being a gracious host for the event. I'd also like to thank Monta Wiley for organizing everything and letting me help him out. It was an honor being a part of the event and I appreciate all of your hard work and diligence in coordinating everything. A huge thank you.<br />
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<b>Monta Wiley (Event Coordinator):</b> Not gonna lie a little bit in tears right now (good ones btw) after this event for various reasons. I just say thanks everyone and Dana Moore you are without a doubt the real champ in the BJJ world and life. <br />
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<b>Dana Moore (Event Recipient):</b> Thank you so much to everyone who came out and supported me today! Made a lot of new friends today and it was great to see the familiar faces! I hope everyone had a great time and is injury free! A huge thank you to Monta Wiley, Brettimus Weekley, and Grant Collins! Can't thank you three enough!</blockquote><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzAAmZKrXoEXnqeVMwzWSZG6y55_5WkcBNUQSHL9qTgC7KYe_T0vYaT8SMMKW7ou01Lm78k5l2MOHlRfAqe31rO3FDc5P9kir4xrVyEMGq5eRbToylIBzC3R8SnY3b7tKGHKoyGdKsJs/s1600/Team+Dana+Moore+GrappleThon+March+2014,+organisers+and+participants+with+Dana+Moore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzAAmZKrXoEXnqeVMwzWSZG6y55_5WkcBNUQSHL9qTgC7KYe_T0vYaT8SMMKW7ou01Lm78k5l2MOHlRfAqe31rO3FDc5P9kir4xrVyEMGq5eRbToylIBzC3R8SnY3b7tKGHKoyGdKsJs/s550/Team+Dana+Moore+GrappleThon+March+2014,+organisers+and+participants+with+Dana+Moore.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Let just hope this Grapplethon tradition continues making a positive difference in people lives, always aiming for the same goal showing we simply we care.<br />
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<i><small>Photos courtesy of Technically Sound/<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ESyFPhotography?ref=br_rs">EsSuyFe Photography</a></small></i>slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-70898730192678734552013-12-31T09:33:00.000+00:002014-02-13T15:15:36.204+00:00December 2013 NorthWest Grapplethon For Haiyan in Seattle, WA, USA<small>Event Report #7, by <a href="http://gbedmonds.com/about-us/team-members/"><u>Griff Sombke</u></a>, from the Grapplethon for Haiyan supporting the <a href="https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/adiC8/ab/02F8Mf">typhoon survivors</a></small><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN68Vlclhyphenhyphen5LvbvZB-vNB3p6d4EgfYq3zxDtsWMWCKAJnRrWVq1lPdlUeMxAFmyUKXsGDMceBFUq6cuETKXDLzYh1kwtVeUQ3cpvBeC_1TMYMh5gjCDwZUqkKPYWms2PPLL5AumALxHYc/s1600/NWGrappleThon+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN68Vlclhyphenhyphen5LvbvZB-vNB3p6d4EgfYq3zxDtsWMWCKAJnRrWVq1lPdlUeMxAFmyUKXsGDMceBFUq6cuETKXDLzYh1kwtVeUQ3cpvBeC_1TMYMh5gjCDwZUqkKPYWms2PPLL5AumALxHYc/s400/NWGrappleThon+1.JPG" /></a></div>You know it’s a good party when you end up needing this much time to recover…<br />
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Grapplethon for Haiyan was, in my opinion, one of the most fun things I’ve ever been a part of. The fact that we had over 50 people training at midnight on Friday night says something about how other people felt about it too. It was amazing to see the whole Northwest Grappling Community coming together for a good cause. And we raised over $9,230 after expenses for the victims of the Typhoon, which was donated to the International Red Cross.<br />
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The impetus for all of this was the fear and frustration that I found myself feeling while waiting for news of my extended family in Tacloban. My wife's family live there, and while most of them managed to check in right away, we didn't end up hearing from one of her cousins and her three small children for almost a week. It hit me that, since the Grappling Community in the PNW is very Filipino, I am probably not the only one who was feeling like that. So, as a result, I decided to see if we could put something together to help, rather than just feel frustrated. Sure enough, people jumped on board, and we ended up having a total blast while raising a gang of money. If you were there, you know. You learned some moves, sparred with some new people, and generally had a blast. There was no drama, politics, or anything negative. Just a bunch of people training and smiling.<br />
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The biggest challenge I personally ran into was that we ended up using the wrong crowdfunding platform, <a href="">FundRazr</a>. If you are going to donate to a charity overseas, you're really going to want to check and make sure that your platform can handle that. Otherwise, things get messy. You end up paying way too much in commissions and fees as a result. That cost a good chunk of money right there, and ended up being our single largest expense. I think, unless you are way more savvy with the potential tax implications of this kind of thing, you really want to stick to charities based in your own country. But, honestly, if that's the biggest mistake a first timer made on organizing something like this, then we done good.<br />
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Anyway, all thanks and praises to the following: <br />
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All of our corporate sponsors: Artlete, Keiko Raca, OK Kimonos!, Liberty Events, KristenPhoto, Foster BJJ, Ring Sports United, and the Carter Automotive Group<br />
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All the folks who shared the hell out of this project. Especially Mr. Tom Callos and The 100 Method, Team Ivan Salaverry, Georgette “The Red Menace” Oden, James Foster, Michelle Lena, Brian Martin, Eric Young, and all the rest. You know who you are. <br />
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My partner John Sylvester, who was instrumental in securing several huge donations, and functions as critical check on some of my crazier ideas. Professor Rodrigo Lopes, for stepping up with the use of Gracie Barra Seattle when it became apparent that we were going to need a bigger venue, as this idea was a huge hit. Brian Martin again, for lending a much needed hand with some of the back end organization and detail work. My wife Stephanie, who was one of the main driving forces behind this project. Thanks for waking me up to a few things. Love you <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB8G_L6Kr2itU3QFiolc6mxitQ_hltXFfnRt09hxGTUkyIGNf7TmidgqliTRHAv37iVJTXdSoGTxf75eH1xxfVIX08MpI8l2DTt3Fg-kXUh4w7KOaq3wOXi0e-k4w35LWMIre9gsrAGYY/s1600/NWGrappleThon+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB8G_L6Kr2itU3QFiolc6mxitQ_hltXFfnRt09hxGTUkyIGNf7TmidgqliTRHAv37iVJTXdSoGTxf75eH1xxfVIX08MpI8l2DTt3Fg-kXUh4w7KOaq3wOXi0e-k4w35LWMIre9gsrAGYY/s400/NWGrappleThon+2.JPG" /></a></div>And, an extra special shout out to the homie Dan Dejos and Artlete. This LITERALLY would not have been possible without you. Thanks for the killer designs, the networking, the tough rolls, the 5am Jack in the Box run, and for generally being a great guy. I am proud to have had you on the team for this, and I owe you big time, man.<br />
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All together, we managed to donate $9230.44 to the Red Cross Typhoon Relief Effort. Good job, folks. <br />
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<i><small>Photos courtesy of Michael Baltierra: full set on <a href="http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/mjbaltierra/sets/72157640712427483/">flickr</a></small></i>slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-18537325658477516532013-11-20T18:14:00.001+00:002013-12-30T13:22:44.756+00:00Roll4Life November 2013 in Dunfermline, Scotland<small>Event Report #6, by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Martial-Fitness-Dunfermline/355190271166936?id=355190271166936&sk=info"><u>Conor Robertson</u></a>, from the Roll4Life Supporting the <a href="http://www.ifucareshare.co.uk/">If U Care Share Foundation</a></small><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWDcg2BwQeuCk2eJI91pmGx5-KSZyBsALEB7U-gH5UOliwkZx-Nfi_cLhTOfiQg1HyCl9I7dIEF2_cCqslsaiZVKie8Jx8TyEMpxXB9bO8DttZy66fflSLV1jbehDSOs2-DHisjyXYLHE/s1600/BJJ+Bouncy+Castle+Rolling+at+the+Charity+Roll4Life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWDcg2BwQeuCk2eJI91pmGx5-KSZyBsALEB7U-gH5UOliwkZx-Nfi_cLhTOfiQg1HyCl9I7dIEF2_cCqslsaiZVKie8Jx8TyEMpxXB9bO8DttZy66fflSLV1jbehDSOs2-DHisjyXYLHE/s400/BJJ+Bouncy+Castle+Rolling+at+the+Charity+Roll4Life.jpg" /></a></div>A hectic week of planning, stressing and harassing every grappler I know, over every social networking site I know, all seemed pretty silly when it came to the day of our Roll4Life event. It went something like this.<br />
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I opened the gym, people arrived. They made generous donations, drank some bad tea and coffee with some very tasty cakes. Then of course, everyone rolled, chatted, ate even more cake. We rolled some more, took an awesome group photo and then went home. <br />
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All the rushing around and stressing out was for nothing apparently. By the end of the day, it was clear to me that if you offer up a clean mat to roll on (and some free cake between rounds!), everybody’s happy.<br />
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I’ll admit I couldn’t take my eyes off the clock for the first fifteen minutes of the morning when no one had walked through the doors. If I did, it was only to look at the two guys rolling on the large open mat, dreading what the group photo of three people would look like. Thankfully ten minutes later, the gym was full of bodies, everyone warming up and helping themselves to the drinks and snacks.<br />
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The rest of the day was filled with that reassuring noise of about 50 conversations going on around you all at once. Within the first hour I had eight different gym names listed on my sign-up sheet. It was a great turnout for us, especially considering I only gave a week's notice about the Scottish Roll4Life location, not to mention the massively more popular <a href="http://www.slideyfoot.com/2013/11/03112013-rickson-gracie-seminar.html">Rickson Gracie seminar</a> on that day. I was told he’s kind of a big deal, so I didn't take it personally :P<br />
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In terms of the marathon side of the event, we were only covering a small portion of the global 24 hours (simultaneous events also took place in Taiwan, Russia, the United States and Denmark). It was honestly rather easy to make sure someone was always rolling for our five hour chunk of responsibility. Realistically it was more of a pain getting everyone off the mats when I wanted to go home at the end of the day. Those BJJ guys love rolling!! <br />
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Speaking of rolling, I spent most of the event watching guys mix it up on the mats and was very impressed with the technical level and discipline on display that day. Everyone avoided going to war on the mat but didn’t take it easy on each other at the same time. I almost felt lazy watching some excellent sparring going on all around me as I sat on the side-lines.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGYz8SdnM3cMXi0sB-okdGa71DcEb5Hq9mpU14VHSfsy3Kz1atL5S00ZzM5VuaJiKeZ1J1CPXqp1rSmpawjenbzAefAPKL5jZBzmO-JT4PlQj8RCEt_ltT-r5VejV49zYl6DdMGTHlfZA/s1600/Roll4Life+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGYz8SdnM3cMXi0sB-okdGa71DcEb5Hq9mpU14VHSfsy3Kz1atL5S00ZzM5VuaJiKeZ1J1CPXqp1rSmpawjenbzAefAPKL5jZBzmO-JT4PlQj8RCEt_ltT-r5VejV49zYl6DdMGTHlfZA/s400/Roll4Life+logo.jpg" /></a></div>So of course, the temptation to get involved was just too much. I gave my responsibilities of running the gym to an eight year old girl (who as it turned out bullied everyone into coughing up extra money for charity: eight year olds can be tough businesswomen), meaning I got a nice couple of hours on the mat myself.<br />
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In the end, it was a good day for a good cause and I hope we earned some awesome karma points. All money raised from the event was donated online using the following link: <a href="https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/shirleysmith1">mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/shirleysmith1</a>.slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-91418662231119836642013-10-24T06:07:00.002+01:002014-03-28T20:28:51.647+00:00BETA Academy October 2013 Grapplethon in Washington, DC, USA<small>Event Report #5, by <a href="http://www.betaacademy.com/page50/page50.html"><u>Laurie Porsch</u></a>, from the BETA Academy Grapplethon Supporting <a href="http://www.nvrdc.org/">NVRDC</a></small><br />
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Let’s address the elephant in the room right away: I am a part of BETA Academy. BETA Academy formerly was a part of Team Lloyd Irvin, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu team mired in scandal following the rape of a woman by her teammates on New Year’s Eve. My personal thoughts on the matter aren’t important, and I won’t get into all of the sordid details of what came out in the aftermath, but you can read more <a href="http://www.lloydirvinrapetruth.com/">here</a> if you’re interested. It started ugly and only got worse as time went on. <br />
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Eventually, a lot of the publicity surrounding the TLI issue died down and life continued, if forever changed. One of the worst things about a sexual assault (or any violent act, really) is that it leaves you feeling powerless. I know I felt powerless in the whole matter; I had strong feelings about things, and I wanted to do something, anything, but what could I do? There was really nothing to say that hadn’t already been voiced more eloquently and more notably by someone else, and I am a nobody in the BJJ community. I am not a world champion, not a black belt, not a prominent blogger. I am just a mediocre (at best) blue belt who really loves jiu-jitsu. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv-_CnUv-XbH2TZbBKo75eaZfNEkmAkW5vQQN5G3EDSLWcC7IbXivM85O-szgf5CXRpeBvXH3w90x_XJeeiu2T_qYCbMKN7s3OhAq4y3qah1p9EqS_ZlcZ2-voDxX_YcCe2rMdNmNHAzk/s1600/BETA+Academy+Grapplethon+2013+-+grapplethon+sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv-_CnUv-XbH2TZbBKo75eaZfNEkmAkW5vQQN5G3EDSLWcC7IbXivM85O-szgf5CXRpeBvXH3w90x_XJeeiu2T_qYCbMKN7s3OhAq4y3qah1p9EqS_ZlcZ2-voDxX_YcCe2rMdNmNHAzk/s320/BETA+Academy+Grapplethon+2013+-+grapplethon+sign.jpg" /></a></div>Sometime in the summer I stumbled across <a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/p/run-your-own-grapplethon.html">GrappleThon.org</a>. I thought a marathon rolling session sounded really fun, and I started to toy with the idea of holding one at BETA Academy. The biggest draw for me was that a Grapplethon was a way to bring people together in a non-competitive atmosphere. Following the TLI debacle there was a lot of debate about the culture of BJJ and how it had become focused on winning tournaments and competitions at all costs. It is easy to see how this could happen, and I definitely started to slip into this mindset—winning is fun and I still intend on doing it as often as possible—but as an academy we wanted to refocus on BJJ as a lifestyle and as a martial art. Thus, BETA’s Grapplethon was born. <br />
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BETA’s owners, Nakapan and Melanie Phungephorn, gave me the go ahead to plan a Grapplethon for October. I first contacted Can Sönmez looking for some advice and guidance, which he provided in spades. Next up, I contacted Seymour Yang a.k.a. Meerkatsu, who generously offered to design a t-shirt for the event (this was key, as people will do anything for a sweet t-shirt.) Origin Gi also stepped up and offered to donate gear for raffles and giveaways. We decided early on to have a 12 hour Grapplethon rather than 24 hours because a) I didn’t want to stay up for 24 hours straight and b) U St Corridor in DC is not necessarily the best place to be sitting with a cashbox and an open door at 2 am on a Saturday. <br />
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Picking a charity to support was relatively easy. I had reached out to the <a href="http://www.nvrdc.org/">Network for Victim Recovery of DC</a> (NVRDC) in the aftermath of the NYE rape and asked how we could help. In July, I reconnected with one of the executive directors there and offered our support. We wanted to benefit a non-profit that worked within our local community, and NVRDC already had some exposure within the BJJ world, thanks to the <a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/2013/07/socal-women-bjjs-june-2013-grapplethon.html">SoCal Women’s Grapplethon</a> and the UNITED patches designed by Liz Sussan, Maggie Ghamry, Lana Hunter and Brittany Senter. <br />
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<a name="eventbrite">W</a>hen we first selected NVRDC as our beneficiary they were not on any of the peer-to-peer fundraising platforms (FirstGiving, StayClassy, etc). We knew we wanted to donate to NVRDC, so I went about finding a workaround. At NVRDC’s suggestion, I set up an <b>Eventbrite</b> account and created an event. <a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/">Eventbrite</a> is extremely user friendly and even has a “donation” option, where you don’t have to set ticket prices and registrants can just enter their preferred amount. Eventbrite is free to set up, but there are fees for credit card processing. The 'event page manager' function also allows for customized questions, such as “which t-shirt size do you wear?” which were very important when it came time to order shirts. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_jf9OlNHnlPilr6dLFD23of7qGUXRQBtrgzBZt2QxBp1nklZn1Yk8ML7p79NNiBlBt55WaeYQXNwFMaNK8-Qs6sz0ePEVQh6Jbmpk0MHEeXZVzP6OuQpqTtwFTR_IcqPTEJKFagkygrw/s1600/BETA+Academy+Grapplethon+2013+-+Laurie+grappling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_jf9OlNHnlPilr6dLFD23of7qGUXRQBtrgzBZt2QxBp1nklZn1Yk8ML7p79NNiBlBt55WaeYQXNwFMaNK8-Qs6sz0ePEVQh6Jbmpk0MHEeXZVzP6OuQpqTtwFTR_IcqPTEJKFagkygrw/s320/BETA+Academy+Grapplethon+2013+-+Laurie+grappling.jpg" /></a></div>As I started to promote the Grapplethon, several BETA students asked me about peer-to-peer fundraising. After poking around on the Eventbrite site, I realized that Eventbrite had teamed up with <b>FirstGiving</b> (the US equivalent of JustGiving) and claimed that they could be “seamlessly integrated”. NVRDC set up a FirstGiving account in anticipation of this event (sometimes all you have to do is ask!) and I was able to link it to the Eventbrite page. I will say that Eventbrite’s claims of “seamless integration” may have been a bit exaggerated, but it worked out well enough. After registering on Eventbrite, people were prompted to set up their own fundraising page via FirstGiving. Most people declined this, and that’s fine; the idea was to have it as an option. As the administrator on both accounts, I had to manually record any funds donated through Eventbrite into FirstGiving as “offline donations”. This wasn’t a big deal as I became pretty proficient at doing it, but it would have been great if the donations were automatically tallied into <a href="http://www.firstgiving.com/nvrdc/grapplethon">our total</a> on FirstGiving. <br />
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We didn’t set a minimum suggested donation on the Eventbrite page (we wanted the event to be free and accessible to all), but we did ask for a minimum donation of $40 to get a t-shirt. There are many ways to solicit donations, and this is but one. It worked quite well for us though, so we’ll likely repeat it again in the future. As for peer-to-peer fundraising: those of us who offered ourselves up as sacrificial lambs seemed to raise the most money (i.e., “for every $10 donated, I will roll one round”, etc.). Some of my particularly sadistic friends donated $200+ each to ensure that I would be grinding it out on the mat for as long as possible. Social media works wonders for collecting donations—I only posted the link to my FirstGiving page three times and was able to get multiple donations each time. <br />
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A week before the event I ordered the t-shirts, complete with Seymour’s awesome design. I used the Eventbrite registrations to guide my order as far as size and quantity; we ordered 135 shirts and decided that when they were gone, they were gone. A week out we didn’t have a ton of registrants, so at the time I didn’t know if the shirts would fly or if I would be stuck sitting alone at a table with 100 t-shirts and a sad look on my face. Happily, all 135 t-shirts were spoken for by the time we were two hours into the Grapplethon.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVfeYh83vc8dsEe9Qm5Lso0bLB9d-EiueO6AtPrOm5_-aFCRJuCIFRf-ql3ZwlQKcDQ_xhKvWpoaaXzl-xh-kvFQ4e616bpboieDzW5SY_iOUQfW-0YNFqGK8Kfp3FFl7SdyOdWT3fnLU/s1600/BETA+Academy+Grapplethon+2013+-+shoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVfeYh83vc8dsEe9Qm5Lso0bLB9d-EiueO6AtPrOm5_-aFCRJuCIFRf-ql3ZwlQKcDQ_xhKvWpoaaXzl-xh-kvFQ4e616bpboieDzW5SY_iOUQfW-0YNFqGK8Kfp3FFl7SdyOdWT3fnLU/s320/BETA+Academy+Grapplethon+2013+-+shoes.jpg" /></a></div>The day of Grapplethon, I showed up at the academy early to set up. One of our students, Jola Breegle, brought snacks and water donated by her company, <a href="http://hautecateringdc.com/">Haute Catering</a>. I staked out our kids’ room, setting up a registration table with the t-shirts, a laptop, and a stack of waivers for anyone joining us from outside the academy. I was surprised when people started showing up before 9am! By 11am the mats were already packed, and around noon I counted 52 grapplers on the mats, either rolling or hanging out at the edges. I had recruited some help from fellow staff members and students, so I was able to get off the desk and onto the mats. <br />
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In order to be as accessible as possible, we asked several instructors to donate their time by teaching a one-hour workshop. This way students who weren’t yet comfortable rolling live were still able to take part in the event. One of our Muay Thai instructors, Kru Daniel Chacon (who also happens to be an awesome BJJ purple belt) put on a teep (foot jab) workshop for our Muay Thai students and encouraged them to donate and pick up a shirt. We had five workshops throughout the day, including one taught by BETA co-founder and BJJ black belt Nakapan Phungephorn. Each of these workshops was well attended and helped to break up the monotony of rolling all day. Some participants (including me) chose to roll instead of attending the workshops. The two grapplers who rolled the most would get an Origin Pro Comp Gi, so there were precious rounds that could not be wasted! <br />
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At 2pm the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MidAtlanticGrapplingGirls">Mid-Atlantic Grappling Girls</a> took to one of our matted rooms (we have two), led by brown belt Liz Sussan from Richmond BJJ. Liz taught an awesome spider guard break series, and the women got to hang out and roll together. It was nice to break away for an hour or so and just get to meet new people and roll with women whom we had never met before. We rejoined the larger group around 4pm.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizbNg2wxw_HomjPcxGm4h-cArTwxYzuezjwu4cClVNDm2ov_geFpTgbdPkDHANMs0uLMqVlrgPRDzGZvbl7-fl16KBQzgfSPmz7XqI5ywVpDXswHnqWDgr3IxXJiw4X3dXuctehptdY1Q/s1600/BETA+Academy+Grapplethon+2013+-+marathon+grapplers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizbNg2wxw_HomjPcxGm4h-cArTwxYzuezjwu4cClVNDm2ov_geFpTgbdPkDHANMs0uLMqVlrgPRDzGZvbl7-fl16KBQzgfSPmz7XqI5ywVpDXswHnqWDgr3IxXJiw4X3dXuctehptdY1Q/s320/BETA+Academy+Grapplethon+2013+-+marathon+grapplers.jpg" /></a></div>The crowds started to dwindle at about 5:00pm. Many grapplers had gotten there early, at 10 or 11, and were smoked by 4 or 5. There were a few in the running for the gi, though, and they just kept going! At the end of the night there were three grapplers standing: Michele with 62 rounds, Devante with 66 rounds, and Malcolm with 86 rounds (73 of them CONSECUTIVE. No water breaks, no rest. Just jiu-jitsu).<br />
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One of my concerns was how to track rounds. I didn’t want to be stuck to my computer, tallying grapplers. We chose to set up a white board and operate off an honor system, where the grapplers were responsible for marking their own rounds (my rationale was if you’re going to cheat at a charity event, karma will eventually catch up with you...or I will, and it won’t be pretty). I set the clock for 5 minutes on with 1 minute off, so there was plenty of time to make sure that the rounds were recorded. After about 4pm it became pretty obvious who was in the running for the gis, so a lot of people who weren’t on the leaderboard stopped recording and just focused on rolling.<br />
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By the time I started my last roll at 8:55pm, I was exhausted but still exhilarated. When all was said and done I had gone through three gis, two rash guards, and about 6 hair ties. Cleanup was a breeze, as students were ready to lend us a hand. After the dust settled and I was able to add up all the donations, it became clear that we had raised <a href="http://www.firstgiving.com/nvrdc/grapplethon">over $10,000</a>. I emailed the folks at NVRDC; we were pretty excited. <br />
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Only then did I realize I had been so busy rolling, socializing, and collecting donations that I forgot to take any pictures or post anything on social media! Thankfully, BETA’s own Evan Barocas and Luza Bohorquez-Thomas were on hand to capture the day and took lots of awesome photos, some of which are up on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/489322677827216/?ref_dashboard_filter=calendar">event page</a>. Next year I will be sure to stop and get a group photo, or to stop and post things on Facebook (perhaps I’ll even learn how to use Twitter and Instagram by then). I don’t know exactly how many people attended, but my best guess is somewhere between 150 and 200 people. We had at least 50 visitors from other academies (which is awesome!). All in all I think it was a success. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoPE9IJEtmACWBOjobi-xZQ9nkzBRpyY57_GtopmJ4-Wfm8fvEi4OCNvFwcjei_fNBlvecp2w3cJEWrrS3YKpQzltyQO86Kz1Hq2_oPzI42gIUlavSvhMwdwPmN7lBLHGGkitZYDRVm3k/s1600/BETA+Academy+Grapplethon+2013+-+group+shot,+Evan+Barocas+Photography.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoPE9IJEtmACWBOjobi-xZQ9nkzBRpyY57_GtopmJ4-Wfm8fvEi4OCNvFwcjei_fNBlvecp2w3cJEWrrS3YKpQzltyQO86Kz1Hq2_oPzI42gIUlavSvhMwdwPmN7lBLHGGkitZYDRVm3k/s550/BETA+Academy+Grapplethon+2013+-+group+shot,+Evan+Barocas+Photography.jpg" /></a></div><br />
A huge thanks goes out to our sponsors, <a href="http://www.meerkatsu.com/">Meerkatsu</a> and <a href="http://www.originbjj.com/">Origin Gi</a>, for helping make this happen. Thank you to Melanie and Nakapan for trusting me enough to open their school up to the world, and thank you to all the fundraisers and participants for joining BETA in taking a stand against violence. Now go start training for Grapplethon 2014! <br />
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<small>Photos courtesy of Luza Bohorquez-Thomas and Evan Barocas</small><br />
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slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-84065731285182702562013-09-27T16:42:00.000+01:002014-03-28T20:27:01.633+00:00Movember Rollathon 2013 Pre-Event Press Release<b>by Sofie Zambas</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiI26blYQyL6D95yTSR6akWdkYClFfsYZNSWWsp7-534i8FPQ7DCyVvFyeZyo2lL7FtnOo_8_zB4Cbv_p0O1RVsLeMHpCI-vDW2zcJ0nKN5BEyV_DgoGjgaKpg6eP_zmsZyX79rpvaHgE/s1600/Movember+Rollathon+2013+Poster+by+Meerkatsu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiI26blYQyL6D95yTSR6akWdkYClFfsYZNSWWsp7-534i8FPQ7DCyVvFyeZyo2lL7FtnOo_8_zB4Cbv_p0O1RVsLeMHpCI-vDW2zcJ0nKN5BEyV_DgoGjgaKpg6eP_zmsZyX79rpvaHgE/s400/Movember+Rollathon+2013+Poster+by+Meerkatsu.jpg" /></a></div>On Saturday November 23rd beginning at 9am, Gravity Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will be hosting its 2nd Annual 24hr Movember Rollathon; a fundraiser for Prostate cancer research and bringing awareness to men's health. <br />
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Prostate cancer is one of the most common health issues in men today. Many of us have known someone to have prostate issues due to poor diets or lack of the essential fruits and vegetables. With Jiu-Jitsu being a male dominated sport, we wanted to give back to the community by raising awareness to prevent these types of health issues. <br />
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The Rollathon, in which at least 2 people will be sparring in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) for 24hrs, will take place at Gravity BJJ in Surrey BC. Black belts are scheduled to arrive throughout the day, in order to help lighten the load on the 150 people expected to attend the event over the twenty-four hours. There will be raffle prizes given and a special Moustache Strut Off Competition in the evening. Many companies have jumped on board to be sponsors for the event. They include Meerkatsu, Gameness, Oss Gear, Fushida, Gi-Soap, Katana BJJ & Tatami Fightwear. <br />
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“Jiu-Jitsu is a sport that changes a lot of lives for the better. It’s an individual sport but without the support of your teammates, there’s no room to grow,” says organizer Sofie Zambas. “Why not build on that camaraderie on a larger scale and make a difference in our community by helping a greater cause?” <br />
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November is a competition filled month: November 23rd will be an opportunity to put the competitions aside, make new friends and come together in the BJJ community. The event is open to all schools and associations. <br />
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Steve Loeck from Surrey BC says - “My only regret last year, was having other plans that day making my time at the gym too short”<br />
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Even if you’re not a BJJ practitioner, you are welcome to come down to the community event and get to know the friendly people at Gravity BJJ. Anyone who has been affected by prostate issues, directly or otherwise, is welcome to come to the event and support the cause. We would love to hear from you!! <br />
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A link to our donation page can be found here: <br />
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<a href="http://ca.movember.com/team/962949">http://ca.movember.com/team/962949</a> <br />
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As well as our Facebook page:<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/MovemberRollathon?ref=hl">https://www.facebook.com/MovemberRollathon?ref=hl</a><br />
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And our Event Page Details:<br />
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<a href="http://ca.movember.com/events/view-community-event/id/102393">http://ca.movember.com/events/view-community-event/id/102393</a><br />
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If you would like further information or would like to learn how you can get involved, please contact Sofie Zambas at sofie@gravitybjj.ca<br />
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slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-75051699579807234802013-09-09T09:31:00.000+01:002014-03-28T20:25:48.505+00:00August 2013 'Grapplethon 2' in Brea, CA, USA<small>Event Report #4, by <a href="http://monta-wiley.blogspot.co.uk/"><u>Monta Wiley</u></a>, from the Brea GrappleThon (Grapplethon 2) Supporting Frank's Fight</small><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_ZzhGfPPRqKQ_nSK_E8u7GSZrQhhLvEtgSadMFgi9reUkmkM8EIvvlWheRUC1wtHlF7EU-60ZY0ejAXIzuqDV21DJbFcJcEf3v8G0kxF_FU20Etnb4kvT2xEMV4Bd2RMhmrL-HYyyJE/s1600/Rolling+at+Grapplethon+2,+Brea+Jiu+Jitsu+in+California+for+Frank's+Fight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_ZzhGfPPRqKQ_nSK_E8u7GSZrQhhLvEtgSadMFgi9reUkmkM8EIvvlWheRUC1wtHlF7EU-60ZY0ejAXIzuqDV21DJbFcJcEf3v8G0kxF_FU20Etnb4kvT2xEMV4Bd2RMhmrL-HYyyJE/s400/Rolling+at+Grapplethon+2,+Brea+Jiu+Jitsu+in+California+for+Frank's+Fight.jpg" /></a></div>Giving and receiving are frequent sensations a practitioner will experience being involved in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Employing the technique of giving, August 24th marked a monumental day for the Jiu-jitsu community in Southern California. Unifying together for a charitable rally, Grapplethon 2 unveiled the true power of the strong support system that exists in our community, through the event’s efforts in aiding cancer battling contender Frank Edge.<br />
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Hosted at Dan Lukehart’s Brea Jiu-jitsu academy, the event brought together over 67 grapplers from various schools such as Atos JJ, Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu and Gracie Barra, amongst other well established jiu-jitsu teams.<br />
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With gathered proceeds aimed toward assisting Edge, Grapplethon 2 featured a three hour fun-filled extravaganza. This included nonstop training, raffle prizes and an insane 180 minute charity challenge. Most importantly, it exposed the unique camaraderie that exists in the Southern California BJJ community. <br />
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“It was truly a pleasure to host Grapplethon 2,” said event host Dan Lukehart. "The Grapplethon concept fits well with our gym’s philosophy and we want to support any attempt to bring the jiu-jitsu community together, particularly for such a great cause. Seeing so many people rally for somebody most had never met really shows how tightly knit our community is.”<br />
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The event’s humbling and friendly atmosphere could be felt once anyone walked into the room. In the midst of the great training, along with the participants’ selfless commitment and care for one Frank Edge, many Grapplethon-ers walked away with not only a memorable experience, but also an increase of growth in their own progression along their grappling journey through the various interactions they came across that day.<br />
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“This was my first chance to attend a Grapplethon. I can say it won't be my last,” said 52 year old white belt Matt Grant. "I would be lying if I said I was not worried that someone was going to try to work me over, or that I would just be ignored once I got there. When the rolling started, people came up to me and invited me to roll. They asked me if there was anything specific I wanted to work on and rolled to my level. I ended up rolling about 12 times. Even though I felt the pain the next day, I felt that everyone was there for the purpose of helping Frank.” <br />
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“It was awesome training with other BJJ practitioners from other schools, getting ourselves better and knowing at the same time we are doing this for charity as well,” recalled University of Jiu-Jitsu purple belt Waseam Dannoui.<br />
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With charity profits generating $2,745, it’s safe to say 'Grapplethon 2' was a remarkable success. The dynamic presentation and atmosphere displayed on the mats at Brea Jiu-jitsu exhibited the characteristics of the kindness and unification amongst grapplers when responding to someone trapped in a dire situation. <br />
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Looking onward, event organizer Monta Wiley looks to continue the Grapplethon charity tradition, which aspires to make a positive difference in many people lives.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfWz_uSBMhxF7bIxoaZ3guLUMBTfoYIz1LONUSnmUeugEhHDkn5TScc0_FDL8BNiBRDYjL6CJeYMKPVJXKuJbgFTaDNwcPBYct9GSlTg1GTHTGdCKn7nG_9ExRGjkH88VwIxXmQyBleRg/s1600/Grapplethon+2+at+Brea+Jiu+Jitsu+in+California+for+Frank's+Fight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfWz_uSBMhxF7bIxoaZ3guLUMBTfoYIz1LONUSnmUeugEhHDkn5TScc0_FDL8BNiBRDYjL6CJeYMKPVJXKuJbgFTaDNwcPBYct9GSlTg1GTHTGdCKn7nG_9ExRGjkH88VwIxXmQyBleRg/s400/Grapplethon+2+at+Brea+Jiu+Jitsu+in+California+for+Frank's+Fight.jpg" /></a></div>“What I have learned from organizing these Grapplethon events is the concept of giving,” said Wiley. "The work of helping someone through these events must be done for the work and work alone. The primary goal centers on bringing some light to dark circumstances, like those Frank Edge is currently experiencing.”<br />
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<small><i>For more information on Frank Edge or donation inquires, visit <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FranksFight?fref=ts">Frank’s Fight Facebook Page</a> and <a href="http://franksfight.webs.com/">Frank’s Fight</a>.<br />
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For more on Brea Jiu-jitsu visit <a href="http://breajiujitsu.com">BreaJiuJitsu.com</a></i></small>slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-59464354578894232272013-08-05T06:19:00.001+01:002013-12-30T13:22:44.768+00:00Updates August 2013It's been a while since an update, so I thought I'd put up another one. Weekly is probably too often, but I want there to be some kind of content on here at least once a month, preferably more (<a href="http://www.slideyfoot.com/"><u>slideyfoot.com</u></a> is updated much more regularly, but that's easy as I always train several times a week). Things will pick up whenever there are GrappleThons to promote: I am actively looking out for them as well (please <a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/p/contact.html"><u>contact me</u></a> if you know of any events), which is why I've been in discussion with four people since my last post about GrappleThons past and present. <br />
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One of those four is in the planning stages for a GrappleThon later this year. I'll put up the full details when that's all confirmed: like the Bakersfield GrappleThon (Jill's report on that <a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/2013/07/socal-women-bjjs-june-2013-grapplethon.html"><u>here</u></a>), this GrappleThon will also be in support of the Network for Victim Recovery of DC. Monta Wiley is running one on the 28th August at Brea Jiu Jitsu: the event page is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/229070387240972/?fref=ts"><u>here</u></a>. The fourth event is due to take place in the country where it all started, Canada: I'm waiting on further information, which I'll be posting on the GrappleThon <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GrappleThon"><u>Facebook</u></a> and <a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/p/events.html"><u>Events</u></a> pages as soon as I have it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijy3qepRRp63Xg6dRdLpeWg9K1HwFTt4o8PlLECQc-NdYVuRih6bVuqkPbAzdZ_BCkqVzoYKk18AeFSGaZo022jnTs_kbPcXTVHNuBgnAQVeasw7NU7Mb_oRvTyU5_j14CIZJr0rs95rUi/s1600/Saulo+and+Can.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijy3qepRRp63Xg6dRdLpeWg9K1HwFTt4o8PlLECQc-NdYVuRih6bVuqkPbAzdZ_BCkqVzoYKk18AeFSGaZo022jnTs_kbPcXTVHNuBgnAQVeasw7NU7Mb_oRvTyU5_j14CIZJr0rs95rUi/s320/Saulo+and+Can.jpg" /></a></div>During my <a href="http://www.slideyfoot.com/2013/06/usa-california-3rd-17th-june-2013.html"><u>trip</u></a> to California, I was able to speak with Caleb on the Fightworks Podcast about the whole GrappleThon idea: you can check out that interview <a href="http://thefightworkspodcast.com/2013/06/23/264-brazilian-jiu-jitsu-in-the-information-security-community-with-jeremiah-grossman-sitting-down-with-slideyfoot/"><u>here</u></a>, starting at about 35 minutes in. More recently, I wrote an article for GiFreak Magazine summarising the numerous charity efforts in BJJ. That's part of the inaugural issue <a href="http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/606075?__r=255355"><u>here</u></a>, currently available for free. I was also pleased to see the excellent BreakingMuscle.com give the Bristol GrappleThon a mention <a href="http://breakingmuscle.com/martial-arts/6-months-later-how-to-be-a-force-for-good-in-grappling-and-in-the-world"><u>here</u></a>.<br />
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I'm continuing to look at ways to expand the GrappleThon internet presence. There's this website, the Facebook group, a Twitter account and the occasional bits I write on slideyfoot.com, which have now been joined by <a href="http://instagram.com/slideyfoot?ref=badge"><u>Instagram</u></a> and <a href="http://pinterest.com/slideyfoot/grapplethon/"><u>Pinterest</u></a>. If you're on either of those, let me know. :)slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-33269182691118356902013-07-04T22:18:00.002+01:002013-12-30T13:22:44.765+00:00SoCal Women BJJ's June 2013 Grapplethon in Bakersfield, CA, USA<small>Event Report #3, by <a href="http://mattbakerbjj.com/women/jill-bio.htm"><u>Jill Baker</u></a>, from the Bakersfield GrappleThon Supporting the Network for Victim Recovery of DC</small><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1xG3Cnb_qhBpx2_Qetho_X_rHOfrcZF6l5iXP9MyhJMmSKrGGQ3WP9oGuAdVKh4gezsFCgVIVcn5y8zitcHQKuwngGQWQ3fcGihehpXSJzynuE3P8DkYK7qWmYjpqG7Jv1_vuvUUZoOw/s890/Bakersfield+Grapplethon+(Group+Pic).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1xG3Cnb_qhBpx2_Qetho_X_rHOfrcZF6l5iXP9MyhJMmSKrGGQ3WP9oGuAdVKh4gezsFCgVIVcn5y8zitcHQKuwngGQWQ3fcGihehpXSJzynuE3P8DkYK7qWmYjpqG7Jv1_vuvUUZoOw/s520/Bakersfield+Grapplethon+(Group+Pic).JPG" /></a></div><br />
SoCal Women BJJ is an organization of women grapplers from all areas of California. We hold monthly open mats at different academies in California to promote the growth of jiu jitsu for women. It is the sole intention of the organization to support the women of this amazing sport by offering training opportunities with other women who train.<br />
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We also want to promote growth of the sport for women, which is what led to the idea of our event in Bakersfield. Immediately following the DC rape, that so violently impacted our sport and community, we held an open mat with an open discussion about the crisis. We sat down as a group and just vented about our concerns, our sadness, but most of all our sympathy for the victim and the situation. <br />
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We wanted to reach out and express our support in some way. We just could not seem to pinpoint a show of support that was not overstepping boundaries. Later in the year, one of our members came to me with the idea of grappling for charity. We scheduled the event and decided to make <a href="http://www.nvrdc.org/">NVRDC.org</a> the recipient of our funds (to make a donation, please click <a href="https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=qwk6utmn2CBfhfW7ei2MaMbSpKGqWXfRU_7yMq9bYLyO-U8lx-Uzn7m1Ft0&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8d14f86393d55a810282b64afed84968ec">here</a>). This is the organization that is helping in the DC case, the very case that sparked the idea in the first place. <br />
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The Grapplethon was scheduled for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/258190884320971/">June 8th</a> in Bakersfield,CA. The day of the event, women of all skill levels and all areas of California made the journey to Bakersfield to participate and unite. There were raffle items including tournament registrations, and gift cards that were given away. Women also donated money for UNITED patches that are an expression of support as well. <br />
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Mother Nature decided to give us a challenge at completing our six hours of grappling by presenting us with the hottest day of the summer: 109 degrees. But we were not bothered. We set the timer for five minute rounds, turned up the music, and got started. The enthusiasm of the 42 women participants was amazing! As always, girls were free to roll with whomever they chose. They rolled, then found a new partner, and rolled again. Technique was discussed and refined. New friendships were formed and others were strengthened as training continued. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzs0sk0dIGkGOtY1VrhbDMrh11w1P0Aec99mIwdlgAmLTsGRzBtDJDtTsSEIufwfaq4QqdhD6l3cxo2uvEsqxuxhjw3NqKni_Oki-_IoLNfYrJvI_s6UWABl4_QsBXLy6c8laAtZNIVI/s1600/Bakersfield+GrappleThon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzs0sk0dIGkGOtY1VrhbDMrh11w1P0Aec99mIwdlgAmLTsGRzBtDJDtTsSEIufwfaq4QqdhD6l3cxo2uvEsqxuxhjw3NqKni_Oki-_IoLNfYrJvI_s6UWABl4_QsBXLy6c8laAtZNIVI/s400/Bakersfield+GrappleThon.jpg" /></a>We stopped training each hour on the hour to play a quick game of dodgeball and give away some raffles. Midway through the day, one of the girls did a Women Empowered presentation, that is a set of self defense techniques for women in crisis situations developed at the Gracie Academy. Women were encouraged to take part in the mini lessons and many reported learning a great deal. This added to the overall charity and goodwill message of the day and also allowed us a quick cooldown from the scorching heat!<br />
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We then continued training until our six hour grapplethon was successfully completed. Women were exhausted, sweaty, empowered, and accomplished as they walked away from the event discussing plans for next year's Grapplethon! Plans to make this an annual charity event are now under way as we see a need to reach out to people who are hurting and make a difference in some way in hopes that people will see our sport and the athletes involved for what they are: helpful, positive, intelligent, problem solvers.<br />
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<small><i>Jill Baker is a brown belt teaching at <a href="http://mattbakerbjj.com/">Bakersfield BJJ</a> in Bakersfield, California. She is also one of the main organisers of the SoCal Women BJJ group: their Facebook page can be found <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SoCalWomenBJJ">here</a></i></small>slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-74760942728930993182013-06-23T10:55:00.002+01:002013-12-30T13:22:44.770+00:00Team Assault's April 2013 GrappleThon in Denton, MD, USA<small>Event Report #2, by <a href="http://www.teamassault.net/"><u>Jennifer Gardner</u></a>, from the Denton GrappleThon in Support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society</small><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRfDUej7krn8Oxhrp89mCBIKfkcPM9pdIovkVf67d6em1N0vzIlLZsB-n1sM_1hmMbJ6Nm8kQ2yER8B_3a668B6EvZIAsOS1CoCTUN0OeKGLarSca9t7tReTyGMvQY8NeZypAzq3iUaxY/s1600/Team+Assault's+April+2013+GrappleThon+in+Denton,+MD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRfDUej7krn8Oxhrp89mCBIKfkcPM9pdIovkVf67d6em1N0vzIlLZsB-n1sM_1hmMbJ6Nm8kQ2yER8B_3a668B6EvZIAsOS1CoCTUN0OeKGLarSca9t7tReTyGMvQY8NeZypAzq3iUaxY/s320/Team+Assault's+April+2013+GrappleThon+in+Denton,+MD.JPG" /></a></div>On April 27th, 2013 Team Assault hosted its first GrappleThon in Denton, MD. What an amazing opportunity to “roll” for a cause! <br />
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In January, we were approached by a candidate of <i>The Man & Woman of the Year Campaign</i>, which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, to host an event to help raise awareness and donations. This hit very close to my heart, as I lost my closest friend to a battle with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when we were only 17 years old. This society does spectacular things in way of donations to help fund research and educate patients and their families. We were excited to be able to help. <br />
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After talking with our students and getting their ideas, we decided to hold a 12 hour GrappleThon. We invited students from other academies and had registration open to the public. Participants could register at the door, or online at <a href="http://www.teamassault.net">TeamAssault.net</a>. We charged a minimum fee to participate, with the option to also make a donation. We also set up an online link where anyone could donate. <br />
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The day of the event, we set up a food table with sandwiches, fruit, protein bars, drinks, and snacks. The items were for sale to all spectators, but free to participants. It was important to keep the participants energy up!! In an effort to raise money we also had raffled off a Team Assault t-shirt and a Team Assault Gift Certificate. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpLVoub53vExlOYH4ctAmFCtrwp7_xjREk94P5rTdxuBTFAoOWLj3BHz3A-z_fPGrtnVsUWA7rNokRjF_iNMjbE1_gk97LDBZ4eVZxGyqrv1jA5wbdIFowU5OBSOY2chN9VJol0pl19hY/s1600/Father+and+daughter+at+Team+Assault's+April+2013+GrappleThon+in+Denton,+MD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpLVoub53vExlOYH4ctAmFCtrwp7_xjREk94P5rTdxuBTFAoOWLj3BHz3A-z_fPGrtnVsUWA7rNokRjF_iNMjbE1_gk97LDBZ4eVZxGyqrv1jA5wbdIFowU5OBSOY2chN9VJol0pl19hY/s320/Father+and+daughter+at+Team+Assault's+April+2013+GrappleThon+in+Denton,+MD.JPG" /></a></div>We had a great turnout and most of the participants stayed the entire 12 hours!!! The turnout of students from other non-affiliated BJJ schools was impressive. What a great feeling to have so many participants from different backgrounds come together and work towards the same cause. Everyone was exhausted, but kept going! It was such a fun event to spend the day doing what we love and helping the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. <br />
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We are excited to host another GrappleThon event and are planning our next one for October 2013. We definitely learned so much after our first event, and cannot wait for the next one to be even bigger and more successful!!! <br />
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<small><i>Jennifer Gardner is the owner of Team Assault in Denton, Maryland</i></small>slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-23288935213823067392013-05-28T12:30:00.000+01:002014-03-28T20:27:48.979+00:00Rolling at a GrappleThon (A First Timer’s Experience)<small>Event Report #1, by <a href="http://www.hirenlaxman.com/"><u>Hiren Laxman</u></a>, from the Bristol GrappleThon 2013 in Support of RapeCrisis</small><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLzPXkOfgSkjHho4552JVT_zqZAAzbR2ljhrktFSVo6AWsvgI53zgbJitZGXFIP_NAmgYv7G4ueSLQX7sUqGnPqg1KPXCCSD5CvXvGEGP2pG6axaO8aI1iNpcicfhnuq2S-KSmw2278dY/s1600/Hiren+and+Christian.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" style="float:left; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLzPXkOfgSkjHho4552JVT_zqZAAzbR2ljhrktFSVo6AWsvgI53zgbJitZGXFIP_NAmgYv7G4ueSLQX7sUqGnPqg1KPXCCSD5CvXvGEGP2pG6axaO8aI1iNpcicfhnuq2S-KSmw2278dY/s320/Hiren+and+Christian.jpg" /></a>I’d first heard about the GrappleThon for Rape Crisis a couple of months earlier. After talking it over with a training partner and friend, we decided to put our names down and go for it. It should be noted that I’m not any sort of super athlete, I train BJJ two to three times a week and attempt to lift some weights every now and again. I do however have a history of signing myself up for events, which I’m in no way physically prepared for, and just going for it (I once ran up the stairs of a skyscraper where my “training” consisted of walking up and down the stairs in my house).<br />
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The point I’m trying to make is, lots of people might put off taking part because of the “24hrs” part of the GrappleThon, or feel they would be inadequate if they weren’t able to roll for as long as their team mates. My own goal for the 2013 GrappleThon held at Gracie Barra Bristol was to roll for half the amount of time of my training partner. E.g., if he rolled for 20 rounds I was aiming for 10. I ended up doing considerably better than expected being only 3 six minute rounds behind his <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhFhtFygPvHNdEFqSWotYVh0T1Q1dFlJcExSYzI4bVE#gid=1">overall total</a>. <br />
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What do I put that down to? Well, once you actually start rolling it becomes difficult if not pointless to try and keep track of your own rounds. You soon forget about how many rounds you’ve sparred or how many times you’ve tapped and before you know it hours have flown by and you’re still going. <br />
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The atmosphere at the GrappleThon also made it incredibly easy to find partners to spar with. That's contrast to most open mats and sparring classes I have attended, where the etiquette is to wait to be asked to spar by higher belts. At the GrappleThon, because everyone is trying to get as many rounds as they can, everyone is extremely approachable. The chance to roll with so many highly skilled practioners is a great learning opportunity. <br />
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In fact I’d go to say that a few hours spent at the event has done more for my jujitsu game than a few days training at my home gym. The reason? You will be exposed to a wider variety of body types, styles and techniques in a short space of time while the intensity and speed is at level where you can process what is happening. Outside of competition I struggle to think of many instances where you would get to roll with people from other gyms in such a way.<br />
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Finally I thought I’d end this article with a list of tips and tricks that I took away from participating at the event.<br />
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<b>1. Fundraising:</b> My advice here is to be shameless. Plug every social network; harass workmates (I sent out nearly daily e-mails to my entire company). Constantly remind people it’s coming up and that your training really hard for it! (You don’t actually have to train really hard, most non-bjj people have no idea what your doing).<br />
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<b>2. Explain what your doing!</b> My two favorite ways to explain BJJ or grappling are: “It’s judo but on the ground” or “aggressive man-cuddling”. The important bit here is get across the message of the cause your trying to help. The event I took part in was for Rape Crisis, so naturally it was easy to explain why it was worth supporting.<br />
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<b>3. Preparing for the event:</b> My “preparation” was to try and spar as much as possible in the run to the event to attempt to build some sort of grappling cardio. Actually all I really did was try to get myself into positions where I could catch my breath on a more regular basis. And to force myself to roll when I had no energy left at the end of the class. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYBoAu4qB-6YQ83rmpZxmO79eCKCnHgEtOQrNc5pAFbwCzOawKY3mRkUAUFZncYlT9phPFQ23Okcb-yTH-FfKnmah93__P2yNOPiRBrl7wAHesiq1Ci8XVHubxiiGBz9ScksAH_34zUVs/s1600/Hiren.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" style="float:right; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYBoAu4qB-6YQ83rmpZxmO79eCKCnHgEtOQrNc5pAFbwCzOawKY3mRkUAUFZncYlT9phPFQ23Okcb-yTH-FfKnmah93__P2yNOPiRBrl7wAHesiq1Ci8XVHubxiiGBz9ScksAH_34zUVs/s320/Hiren.jpg" /></a><b>4. Packing List:</b> Right so you are all ready to head off to event. I’d highly recommend taking at least two gis (trust me they will get soaked in sweat quicker than you think). As many rashguards (if you wear them) as you own, a sport towel (wipe yourself down in between rounds) and shower gear. Many people also brought along snacks for the group to share, which was a nice sentiment. Doesn't have to be healthy: boxes of donuts were rapidly devoured at the event I attended. <br />
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<b>5. Be friendly and approachable:</b> If the event isn’t in your home dojo, remember you are a guest in someone else’s house. Whilst there might be a more chilled vibe, try to follow any house rules they may have, bowing towards the center of the mat etc. If you're not sure, your host will be happy to explain. <br />
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<b>6. Have fun!</b> GrappleThons are a great way to meet new people and to learn. Remember to enjoy it!<br />
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<small><i>Hiren Laxman is a blue belt under Roger Gracie and trains out of the Roger Gracie Academy in Westbourne Park, London. To support the GrappleThon in which he participated, go <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/teams/grapplethon2013"><u>here</u></a>.</i></small>slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-23332559290529911492013-05-22T05:52:00.002+01:002013-12-30T13:22:44.763+00:00Updates May 2013I've been playing around with the Events, Press and Donate pages over the last month, so that should mean there is now a fairly comprehensive listing of GrappleThon related material in there. Donations are still coming in for the Bristol GrappleThon 2013 in support of RapeCrisis: we're up to £8,612.97/$13,047.38 at the time of writing. If you would like to add to that, any amount no matter how small is welcome, <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/teams/grapplethon2013">here</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzs0sk0dIGkGOtY1VrhbDMrh11w1P0Aec99mIwdlgAmLTsGRzBtDJDtTsSEIufwfaq4QqdhD6l3cxo2uvEsqxuxhjw3NqKni_Oki-_IoLNfYrJvI_s6UWABl4_QsBXLy6c8laAtZNIVI/s1600/Bakersfield+GrappleThon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzs0sk0dIGkGOtY1VrhbDMrh11w1P0Aec99mIwdlgAmLTsGRzBtDJDtTsSEIufwfaq4QqdhD6l3cxo2uvEsqxuxhjw3NqKni_Oki-_IoLNfYrJvI_s6UWABl4_QsBXLy6c8laAtZNIVI/s400/Bakersfield+GrappleThon.jpg" /></a>There has been more press coverage as well. The site Mixed Martial World did an interview with me about charity in BJJ, <a href="http://mixedmartialworld.com/308/">here</a>. That was followed by BJJ Legends Magazine posting up an event report, <a href="http://www.bjjlegends.com/bjj/jiujitsu/item/1114-grapplethon-2013">here</a>. The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GrappleThon">GrappleThon Facebook page</a> has been steadily climbing up the Likes, which is great to see: we're not far off our first 100 now. ;)<br />
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As I keep mentioning, one of the big reasons I set up this site is to try and expand the GrappleThon format further afield. I'm therefore thrilled to announce that there will be a GrappleThon taking place in <b>Bakersfield, CA on the 8th June</b>. Though I'm pretty sure they didn't get the idea from this site, it's still brilliant to see the concept crop up in another country. For full details, check out the <a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/p/events.html">Event page</a> on GrappleThon.org: if you want to donate, then the links are all on the <a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/p/donate.html">Donate</a> page.<br />
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I'm not sure if I should be updating monthly or weekly, or indeed at all, but I want to make sure I'm posting regularly on here to keep the blog part of GrappleThon.org active. I'm hoping to get some guest posts in on various related topics (e.g., running a stream), but that depends on guest writers. If you've run and will be running a GrappleThon and have a topic you'd be interested in writing about, please <a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/p/contact.html">contact me</a> as I'd be interested in hearing from you. ;)slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-20807543023888858962013-05-14T10:55:00.000+01:002016-03-15T04:55:03.116+00:00Using JustGiving For Your BJJ Charity EventThere are quite a few online fundraising platforms available now, but the most reliable is probably JustGiving (the US equivalent is FirstGiving, but you can donate to JustGiving from the US and indeed anywhere else in the world that has an internet connection). This is the site that colleagues at the charity where I work recommended to me: it isn't buggy, it is unlikely to break in the middle of donating and it is easy to use. <br />
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I take advantage of the 'team' feature on JustGiving, which enables me to combine everybody's individual totals into a single page. It is simple to set up a team page, which I'll cover in a future post. For now, I wanted to share the steps I send to people when they ask me how to set up a page to join a GrappleThon (although now I can just link to this post: hooray! ;D). Setting up a team isn't entirely dissimilar. <br />
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<b>Setting Up A JustGiving Page For A GrappleThon Team</b><br />
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<b>1.</b> Go to <a href="http://www.justgiving.com">http://www.justgiving.com</a><br />
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<b>2.</b> Enter an email address to sign up, or go via Facebook, then fill in your details.<br />
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<b>3.</b> After you create an account, click on ‘Create a page’ under the ‘For fundraisers’ bit at the bottom of the screen.<br />
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<b>4.</b> That will open a new window, with a box saying ‘Search for the cause you want to support’. Search for the charity you want to support and select it. However, be careful: there may be several other similarly named but completely separate charities. <br />
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<b>5.</b> Another window will open. Click on ‘Personal challenge’ under ‘Doing your own thing’.<br />
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<b>6.</b> Yet another window. In the first bit, click the arrow by ‘Please select an activity’ and select ‘an appeal for a charity’. In the box under that, I’d suggest writing ‘grappling’, ‘sparring’ or something like that.<br />
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<b>7.</b> Click ‘No’ in the next section, then fill in your desired url in the ‘Choose your JustGiving web address’ part.<br />
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<b>8.</b> Finish by clicking ‘Create your page’. You should now be able to fill in your new page. You can fill it in however you want, but if you’d like some ideas, this is what I wrote in 2013: <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/grapplethon2013">http://www.justgiving.com/grapplethon2013</a><br />
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<b>9.</b> It may be worth extending the deadline, to make sure your page doesn't expire before the event. When you edit your page, there is an option on the right hand side under ‘Page settings’ that says ‘Extend your page’. Click on that, then change the deadline to as far in the future as you'd like (the cut-off is several years).<br />
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<b>10.</b> You may also want to change your theme, depending on what the default theme for the charity you've chosen looks like. From the same screen that has 'extend your page', click on 'Change your theme' (this will be above the box that says 'Create a video update'). You want to make sure your page is easy to read.<br />
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<b>11.</b> Go to the GrappleThon team page and select 'Join the team' to add your page: for the 2016 event in support of One25, that is <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/teams/GrappleThon2016">here</a>.<br />
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<b>12.</b> Raise lots of money by promoting your fundraising page among friends and family (so, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc)! :D<br />
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<b>Other Platforms</b><br />
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The negative side is that JustGiving does charge charities to use it (around £15 a month) and they also take a percentage from Gift Aid (that's an additional 25% a charity can claim back from tax, as long as the person donating is a UK tax payer and isn't getting anything in return. Or at least that's the basic description: there are some grey areas). JustGiving has a description of how their fees work <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/en/about-us/how-justgiving-works">here</a>, which is fairly clear. <br />
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If you want to avoid any fees for the charity, you have some other options. For example, one of the charities I regularly support, Equality Now, is on <a href="https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/equalitynow#">MyDonate</a>, run by the large UK company, BT. I used that platform for the 2015 International Women's Day GrappleThon: <a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/2014/12/using-mydonate-for-your-bjj-charity.html">here</a>'s a guide if you want to use MyDonate for your event. Another big UK company, Virgin, also has a charity site, Virgin Money Giving. Neither of them charge charities any ongoing fees (though Virgin Money Giving do charge charities a one-off sign-up fee), which sounds good, although they are not as reliable and robust as JustGiving. slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-12239879013517214522013-05-09T21:06:00.000+01:002014-03-28T20:27:48.975+00:00GrappleThon 2013 Post-Event Press Release<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie_kF0aYIuik9l_6fkiKp12MXvvGpZUTw1Wy9em8X4iKLCqX4eS8-UmnHwHlJ8LTA6-FvCsFxh0QFjdgWvrQpwDPZqm_10Qi1UVW5Qr0-nsmt_AUwvOxe2l5IQIXPhdsftqGCKvhLeIv1a/s1600/RapeCrisis+GrappleThon+Poster+by+Seymour+'Meerkatsu'+Yang+(Edwardian+source).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie_kF0aYIuik9l_6fkiKp12MXvvGpZUTw1Wy9em8X4iKLCqX4eS8-UmnHwHlJ8LTA6-FvCsFxh0QFjdgWvrQpwDPZqm_10Qi1UVW5Qr0-nsmt_AUwvOxe2l5IQIXPhdsftqGCKvhLeIv1a/s320/RapeCrisis+GrappleThon+Poster+by+Seymour+'Meerkatsu'+Yang+(Edwardian+source).jpg" /></a></div>On Saturday 4th May, a ‘GrappleThon’ in which at least two people sparred in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) for a day and a night took place at a martial arts club in Bristol. The event was attended by grapplers from all over the country, part of a collective response from the BJJ community to a recent rape at a US martial arts club. So far, the GrappleThon has raised over £8,500 for the charity <a href="http://www.rapecrisis.org.uk">RapeCrisis</a>.<br />
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70 people took part in the event this year, sparring round the clock from 9am on Saturday until 9am the following day. The event was streamed live online so people around the world could watch. <br />
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"Jiu jitsu is a very close contact sport and is all about trust," says Can Sönmez, a prolific BJJ writer and organiser of the event. "The international BJJ community was therefore totally outraged about this rape. We wanted to turn that strong feeling towards something positive."<br />
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The violent rape and beating of a woman by two of her team members from Team Lloyd Irvin was perpetrated on New Year’s Eve. In a church car park, the two men beat their team mate in and out of consciousness while raping her repeatedly. They were indicted on nineteen felony counts in the District of Columbia Superior Court. <br />
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“Many women will start training BJJ to avoid exactly this situation,” says Can.<br />
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Katie Russell, a spokesperson for Rape Crisis (England and Wales) added, "We are extremely pleased and grateful that the organisers and participants of the GrappleThon have chosen to support our vital work with this event and to highlight important sexual violence issues. This is particularly important because only around 15% of women and girls who are raped or sexually assaulted ever report to the police and around a third tell no-one at the time."<br />
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The GrappleThon took place at Gracie Barra Bristol and involved at least two people wrestling at any one time. "Christian Sayer managed almost 10 hours of grappling, closely followed by Danny Suman and Shane Chittenden, who were the first on the mat and the last to leave.“ said Can.<br />
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Raphael dos Santos, a black belt who runs several BJJ clubs in Cornwall, was on his way to a seminar in London when saw the GrappleThon mentioned on Facebook. He immediately decided to make a quick detour to Bristol so he could take part. <br />
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For full details about the event and how to donate to the GrappleThon, please go to <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/teams/grapplethon2013">this link</a>: <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/teams/grapplethon2013">http://www.justgiving.com/teams/grapplethon2013</a>slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607307655807491549.post-37132867240863751072013-05-07T11:30:00.000+01:002013-12-30T13:22:44.766+00:00The GrappleThon ProjectIf you've been following me on <a href="http://www.slideyfoot.com/">slideyfoot.com</a> over the last two years, then you'll know that I've put an increasing amount of time and effort into organising something I've dubbed the '<a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/p/about.html">GrappleThon</a>', an idea which I first saw in <a href="http://www.martialartsplanet.ca/grappling-for-health-2011/">March 2011</a> via a live stream from Martial Arts Planet in Ontario, Canada. I arranged my first event (changing the name from 'Grapple-A-Thon' to simply 'GrappleThon') in <a href="http://www.slideyfoot.com/2012/09/22092012-meningitis-uk-charity.html">September 2012</a>, in support of the charity I currently work for, Meningitis UK. The second GrappleThon took place <a href="http://www.slideyfoot.com/2013/05/04052013-rape-crisis-bjj-charity.html">last weekend</a> and went really well: we raised a fantastic amount of money for RapeCrisis (almost <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/teams/grapplethon2013">£8,500</a> at the time of writing, which is over $13,000!).<br />
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Fundraising for charity is a great feeling. I was also really impressed at the way the BJJ community came together to help a good cause. I want to expand that community aspect, enlarging the scope beyond just national. I hope in future to do simultaneous GrappleThons at various gyms around the world: we almost managed it in 2013 with a club in Arizona, so for 2014 that's one of my goals.<br />
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As somebody has apparently snapped up grapplethon.com (which wouldn't have been suitable anyway, given the GrappleThon is very much about charity, not business or profit), I thought I better grab grapplethon.org before somebody squatted on it. I've got big plans for growing the event, so we'll see what happens over the next few years! :)<br />
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If you happen to be viewing this on the mobile template, don't forget to check out how to run your own GrappleThon, <a href="http://www.grapplethon.org/p/run-your-own-grapplethon.html">here</a>. :D<br />
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<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg50PjGyS4lTsMMGzCw3cOywYFxMQIGn00ghX69gXiEKAeuU7JWsyCrilH8B7AXDwTEGrgITLWOb8vXlzB6zKmRwEl9x4wV2sH7I5Y_N3UglJ9xI6IBsFm5rQKFsm3Xm3HUSE4S7jYi_fF9/s1600/RapeCrisis+GrappleThon+2013+Pose+(small+&+cropped).JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" height="162.45" width="417.15" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg50PjGyS4lTsMMGzCw3cOywYFxMQIGn00ghX69gXiEKAeuU7JWsyCrilH8B7AXDwTEGrgITLWOb8vXlzB6zKmRwEl9x4wV2sH7I5Y_N3UglJ9xI6IBsFm5rQKFsm3Xm3HUSE4S7jYi_fF9/s1600/RapeCrisis+GrappleThon+2013+Pose+(small+&+cropped).JPG" /></a></center>slideyfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374174757753962274noreply@blogger.com0