Several weeks ago I was invited to a Jiu Jitsu seminar by Professor James Foster at his club in Washington. This wasn't just a regular seminar - this was a fundraising seminar for a fellow Jiu Jitsu practitioner that was involved in an industrial accident. The name of the seminar was "Triumph for Tony", and was a resounding success in my eyes. More than 120 Jiu Jitsu practitioners ranging from white belt all the way to black belt attended this seminar and the energy and support for Tony was unlike anything I've ever experienced before. People from all walks of life and different clubs around the world came together to support ONE man, and I'm honored to say that I was a small part of it.
On September 4th, I headed downtown to meet with my friend Robert then headed to the harbour to catch a sea plane to Seattle. I've never been in a sea plane before and was lucky enough to get to sit in the co-pilot's seat:
I was able to get some really awesome pictures of Victoria harbour, and the tall buildings of Seattle as we made our approach to land.
Upon landing and getting through U.S. customs we took a shuttle to the airport, then hailed a cab to get to our hotel. We stayed at the Day's Inn and both of us had higher expectations of quality for the room. It was kind of run down, and didn't have a pool as we expected, but at least there was a hot tub, which useful for recovering after the seminar.
After checking in and relaxing for a while we headed over to Mitzel's American Diner for a late supper. I ordered the "Cowboy Burger", which was good, but I don't think I'd get it again. I really liked the restaurant itself; the service was incredibly fast and the waitress was really friendly. They have a kick ass apple cobbler too, which I devoured before being able to get a picture of it, lol
The next morning we headed over to a nearby gas station to grab some water, and snacks, then over to Denny's for breakfast. The Inn offered a breakfast service, but it was pretty dismal. Afterwards we waited for our drive to show up at the hotel. Robert had posted a message in the seminar event on Facebook asking if anyone could give us a ride from the hotel and someone was awesome enough to offer us a ride. Mr. Jonathan Moses showed up in a rental car and we threw our bags in the back. There was a special passenger with him however... Professor Giva Santana, the Arm Collector! I wasn't aware of who he was at the time, but Robert was. He said "Hi, I'm Giva" as we sat in the back seat, and the look of excitement on Robert's face was priceless. After we pulled over at gas station he explained to me who Giva was and why he'd been looking so surprised.
Me and "The Arm Collector" Giva Santa
Soon after we arrived at Professor Foster's club and got changed. The turnout was incredible, and the mats were packed with people! There were raffle tickets being sold for Gi's, and draws for other prizes as well, all in support of Tony. Professor Foster introduced everyone and kicked off the seminar. There were at least 20 black bet instructors that had shown up to support the seminar, and each of them took a few minutes to teach a technique or two. It was overwhelming at times trying to keep up with everything, but a once in a lifetime experience nonetheless.
The entrance of Foster's BJJ in Kent, Washington
Some of my personal highlights of the seminar were getting to meet Classy Grappler, who is good friends with my Sensei Ari, and Renato Leranja, a black belt under Eddy Bravo who portrays a 10th degree black belt instructor in a hilarious way. Everyone who instructed that day had shown some really cool techniques that I tried my best to grasp. Some of them were a little complicated and I couldn't quite get the hang of them before having to move on. Others were really simple and easy to follow. There wasn't a grappling session after the seminar, which I was fine with because it was about four hours long, and I was pretty worn out near the end of it.
Renato said he doesn't normally take pictures with white belts and was disappointed in my asking to take a picture with him... haha
The "Class Clown" of the Jiu Jitsu world, Classy Grappler. This guy is hilarious!
After the seminar, we were dropped off at our hotel and relaxed for a while with an extra large pizza, We noticed something weird was going on with the TV once we got back too... it wouldn't let us change the channel and it was stuck on "The Pacifier" with Vin Diesel. ARGH!! I was trying everything I could to troubleshoot the issue, but wasn't having any luck. I was convinced it was cursed by some sick, twisted demon until the hotel staff told us it had to be completely unplugged and reset for some reason. It worked, thankfully, and we watched Back To The Future parts I and II before calling it a night.
The MONSTER sized pizza we had after the seminar. We couldn't even finish it lol
The trip back home was a little longer since we weren't flying back. We took a greyhound bus most of the way, which was pretty comfortable, and watched some TV shows to pass the time. We ran into some guy from New York, that looked like a younger version of John Lennon. He was kind of odd, and kept asking us random questions. We caught the ferry back to the mainland and got a ride from a friend back to Esquimalt from there.
This was one of the best trips of my life, and I'd gladly go back in a heartbeat! The support, emotion, and funds raised for such a great cause were overwhelming. The Jiu Jitsu community truly is unique. To see such support for a man that many people didn't even know, myself included, was just incredible. I'm honored to have been a part of it and look forward to the next adventure on my lifelong journey of Jiu Jitsu!
Group photo at the end of the seminar. What an amazing crowd!
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