Trinkets or not, they remind you of something you should absolutely be proud of. Just the sheer amount of training, planning, driving, etc. it must've taken to even just participate seems mind-boggling.
Also, it's such a shame your Liberty Bell trophy got cracked. Maybe someone can patch it up?
Yes, I really didn't take care of even the coolest trophies and such I got. That bell is a rock-solid symbol of our nation's strength, and every one of the little idols should be pristine and decidedly un-cracked.
Well, I've certainly lived through some interesting things. Viewing them from the inside, I typically don't think I've done anything spectacular, but whenever I zoom out enough, I know it's worth telling some of these stories. Thanks for coming along for the ride!
Finally made it to this one, very impressed by your success! Competing is physically hard, but the mental training that goes with it is by far the toughest part for me. 3 golds at Pans is an incredible feat, congrats!
Hey, thanks! The competition was not what it is today, but it was the toughest tournament in the US at the time (Mundial was still in Rio). I was very happy with that particular performance.
Probably behind me. I did compete for about 10 years in masters divisions and such where appropriate, but generally in the adult divisions at local tournaments. I think I was about 40 during my last comp.
Congratulations Andrew 🎊. It isn't easy competing in a fierce competition with other talents of equal cutting edge. The efforts you put daily in any sport isn't pleasurable to many.
Thanks, Edwin! It was a lot of hard work to get good enough to compete at the regional and then national level. These days, I'm much, much more laid back, thank goodness!
How about you? Do you still compete from time to time?
I didn't keep up with the military-like training (I only run nowadays to keep myself fit once a week). It's not easy; one day I will do a story of some athletes who train daily and haven't had a chance to be selected and compete but still train and look for food to feed themselves and their families. It's hard balancing what you need now and preparing for the future.
I remember your Pan Ams victory! I think gi but then I can’t really remember clearly. You made it look really easy at the time but I think it was largely because you had a had a very specific strategy that you applied over and over while most others were just doing whatever came to them in the moment. It got me thinking a lot more about “working smarter, not harder” which resulted in me going from a decent competitor to just an ok one. 🤣 I guess the rules of logic have never applied to me. Also I was competing at brown belt shortly after. But I was a killer at purple- only losing one match and mostly winning by submission doing my weird stupid shit. Never underestimate chaos. The few matches I won at brown and black came from weird shit that I was always told wouldn’t work on anyone decent.
The only tournament I did really well at as an “upper belt” was the FILA Trials to determine who’s be going to Turkey when FILA was briefly interested in grappling. I fell short at 2nd place in no gi and got slaughtered in the gi (which Brian Cimins of Grappler’s Quest shared video of online as an attempt to backhand compliment me for trolling him online). The medal was a super shitty wooden thing that fell apart after a couple days and looked like it was made in a middle school wood shop class. But they also did give me a leftover official warm up suit that was pretty bitchin though I never wore it. I still have that in a box to give my kids and make them think I was a bigger deal than I was. When I had the gym, Cecily decided to take all my medals and frame them for display. But she cut off the neck ribbons for some reason. Aside from making most of the medals underwhelming in appearance, it also made it difficult for the framers to work with them. I guess it’s the thought that counts. 🤣
Man, I should have tagged you! I remember you telling me to watch out for that one dude's toe holds and other weird leg attacks. I was (for a brown belt) very confident about leg submissions, but I still remembered that advice whenever I was up by like 8 points and could just kinda avoid potentially tricky/sticky situations.
Never underestimate the power of weird jiu jitsu. Yes, you need to have solid fundamentals, but yes also - you can get away with some pretty crazy stuff too!
I think my faves are the arm attacks from the bottom of side control.
Lastly, I remember the FILA worlds time well. What a very strange moment that was for all of us!
I don’t have a lot of medals, but I ran a half marathon in the spring of 2003 and completed in a triathlon in the fall. I did okay in the half marathon and finished almost dead last in the triathlon, but I’m more proud of the latter- the swim took so much out of me that I wasn’t sure if I could finish.
I ran a 5K once for time, and that felt like it almost killed me (even though my time wasn't really all that great). I did a 10K at a much slower pace once, but the 5K was intense.
I never competed as a kid or young adult although I did stick my toe in the king fu waters for a hot minute in my early 20s. I was on a different path back then. After a year of doing jiu jitsu in my late 40s, of course I wish I had started sooner, but I think it’s pretty awesome how many older people I meet who are really loving it well into old age. I think as a “weird” kid who was more into theatre arts and music I just felt martial arts was a jock thing. It’s a shame we fall so easily into this kind of binary thinking though! Now I’m old enough to realize martial arts is a really powerful form of creative expression in addition to being a fun sport and a “jock thing”😂. I’m always pumped to hear from the black belts who have been doing it a while how the sport has changed and I love hearing your stories
Thanks, James! I'll keep telling the old stories when I can. It has been a very wild ride watching the evolution of the art and sport over 3 decades.
You're spot-on with the binary thinking thing. I was somehow fortunate enough to be on the wrestling team and heavily involved with art, D&D, comic book collecting, and (eventually) punk rock. People tended to stick with one group or another for the most part, but I managed to tiptoe everywhere a bit.
Jiu jitsu is such a welcoming community nowadays that, at least at my gym, it attracts a lot of “nerds” as well as more stereotypical “jocks” without any conflict. I’m sure it wasn’t necessarily always that way though? I wish I could have adjusted my thinking to see the benefits earlier on, but I’m just glad I made it eventually:)
I can speak to the culture of the late 90s and early 2000s a bit. Nobody was welcome! But once you got past the initial "toughness test", you were allowed in, and it didn't really matter any what walk of life you came from. There were punks and millionaires, janitors and lawyers and line cooks among that first group here in Richmond, and it was a tightly knit group.
I think that's how it was for most of the 2000s. That said, I really never noticed a jock vs nerd dialogue opening up... there are always factions, but they're usually along different lines.
Man, that's a whole lot of medals!
Trinkets or not, they remind you of something you should absolutely be proud of. Just the sheer amount of training, planning, driving, etc. it must've taken to even just participate seems mind-boggling.
Also, it's such a shame your Liberty Bell trophy got cracked. Maybe someone can patch it up?
Thanks, Daniel!
Yes, I really didn't take care of even the coolest trophies and such I got. That bell is a rock-solid symbol of our nation's strength, and every one of the little idols should be pristine and decidedly un-cracked.
Regret is a rough sheet to sleep on.
Wow! You are just as fascinating as your newsletter!
Well, I've certainly lived through some interesting things. Viewing them from the inside, I typically don't think I've done anything spectacular, but whenever I zoom out enough, I know it's worth telling some of these stories. Thanks for coming along for the ride!
Finally made it to this one, very impressed by your success! Competing is physically hard, but the mental training that goes with it is by far the toughest part for me. 3 golds at Pans is an incredible feat, congrats!
Hey, thanks! The competition was not what it is today, but it was the toughest tournament in the US at the time (Mundial was still in Rio). I was very happy with that particular performance.
Any interest in continuing to compete some at the Masters levels? Or are those days behind you?
Probably behind me. I did compete for about 10 years in masters divisions and such where appropriate, but generally in the adult divisions at local tournaments. I think I was about 40 during my last comp.
Congratulations Andrew 🎊. It isn't easy competing in a fierce competition with other talents of equal cutting edge. The efforts you put daily in any sport isn't pleasurable to many.
Thanks, Edwin! It was a lot of hard work to get good enough to compete at the regional and then national level. These days, I'm much, much more laid back, thank goodness!
How about you? Do you still compete from time to time?
I didn't keep up with the military-like training (I only run nowadays to keep myself fit once a week). It's not easy; one day I will do a story of some athletes who train daily and haven't had a chance to be selected and compete but still train and look for food to feed themselves and their families. It's hard balancing what you need now and preparing for the future.
Nice, man! Feel free to tag me when you write that so I see it for sure. I'd love to hear your perspective on that.
I remember your Pan Ams victory! I think gi but then I can’t really remember clearly. You made it look really easy at the time but I think it was largely because you had a had a very specific strategy that you applied over and over while most others were just doing whatever came to them in the moment. It got me thinking a lot more about “working smarter, not harder” which resulted in me going from a decent competitor to just an ok one. 🤣 I guess the rules of logic have never applied to me. Also I was competing at brown belt shortly after. But I was a killer at purple- only losing one match and mostly winning by submission doing my weird stupid shit. Never underestimate chaos. The few matches I won at brown and black came from weird shit that I was always told wouldn’t work on anyone decent.
The only tournament I did really well at as an “upper belt” was the FILA Trials to determine who’s be going to Turkey when FILA was briefly interested in grappling. I fell short at 2nd place in no gi and got slaughtered in the gi (which Brian Cimins of Grappler’s Quest shared video of online as an attempt to backhand compliment me for trolling him online). The medal was a super shitty wooden thing that fell apart after a couple days and looked like it was made in a middle school wood shop class. But they also did give me a leftover official warm up suit that was pretty bitchin though I never wore it. I still have that in a box to give my kids and make them think I was a bigger deal than I was. When I had the gym, Cecily decided to take all my medals and frame them for display. But she cut off the neck ribbons for some reason. Aside from making most of the medals underwhelming in appearance, it also made it difficult for the framers to work with them. I guess it’s the thought that counts. 🤣
Man, I should have tagged you! I remember you telling me to watch out for that one dude's toe holds and other weird leg attacks. I was (for a brown belt) very confident about leg submissions, but I still remembered that advice whenever I was up by like 8 points and could just kinda avoid potentially tricky/sticky situations.
Never underestimate the power of weird jiu jitsu. Yes, you need to have solid fundamentals, but yes also - you can get away with some pretty crazy stuff too!
I think my faves are the arm attacks from the bottom of side control.
Lastly, I remember the FILA worlds time well. What a very strange moment that was for all of us!
I don’t have a lot of medals, but I ran a half marathon in the spring of 2003 and completed in a triathlon in the fall. I did okay in the half marathon and finished almost dead last in the triathlon, but I’m more proud of the latter- the swim took so much out of me that I wasn’t sure if I could finish.
That's awesome! Good for you.
I ran a 5K once for time, and that felt like it almost killed me (even though my time wasn't really all that great). I did a 10K at a much slower pace once, but the 5K was intense.
I never competed as a kid or young adult although I did stick my toe in the king fu waters for a hot minute in my early 20s. I was on a different path back then. After a year of doing jiu jitsu in my late 40s, of course I wish I had started sooner, but I think it’s pretty awesome how many older people I meet who are really loving it well into old age. I think as a “weird” kid who was more into theatre arts and music I just felt martial arts was a jock thing. It’s a shame we fall so easily into this kind of binary thinking though! Now I’m old enough to realize martial arts is a really powerful form of creative expression in addition to being a fun sport and a “jock thing”😂. I’m always pumped to hear from the black belts who have been doing it a while how the sport has changed and I love hearing your stories
Thanks, James! I'll keep telling the old stories when I can. It has been a very wild ride watching the evolution of the art and sport over 3 decades.
You're spot-on with the binary thinking thing. I was somehow fortunate enough to be on the wrestling team and heavily involved with art, D&D, comic book collecting, and (eventually) punk rock. People tended to stick with one group or another for the most part, but I managed to tiptoe everywhere a bit.
Jiu jitsu is such a welcoming community nowadays that, at least at my gym, it attracts a lot of “nerds” as well as more stereotypical “jocks” without any conflict. I’m sure it wasn’t necessarily always that way though? I wish I could have adjusted my thinking to see the benefits earlier on, but I’m just glad I made it eventually:)
I can speak to the culture of the late 90s and early 2000s a bit. Nobody was welcome! But once you got past the initial "toughness test", you were allowed in, and it didn't really matter any what walk of life you came from. There were punks and millionaires, janitors and lawyers and line cooks among that first group here in Richmond, and it was a tightly knit group.
I think that's how it was for most of the 2000s. That said, I really never noticed a jock vs nerd dialogue opening up... there are always factions, but they're usually along different lines.
I know better than to try to sneak attack you now.
Do you think you'd have a better chance in a pre-arranged match? Surprise might be a good element to throw into the mix!