Grappling Photo Series

While searching for some other photos in my 2009 folder I came upon these photos that I took during a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training session. I thought them to be nice and decided to share them here.

Self-Portrait: Grappling

Technically this is not a self-portrait since I didn't take the photo. It was taken during last Sunday's grappling tournament that I partook in and sent to me by an acquaintance, a fellow competitor named Justin.

Jiujutsu Tournament

Last Sunday I went to watch a Jiujutsu tournament in Seoul. The main reason was becausing members from the Brazilian Jiujutsu (BJJ) club where I train competed, including my instructor Tae-Hong (in the photo) who took gold in his division.

Am I jealous of those abs? You bet I am.

Jiujutsu Tournament

 

Last week Saturday night while in Gochang I received a text message reminding me of the Jiujutsu tournament occurring the next day with some members of our Brazilian Jiujutsu club competing. My intention was to only leave Gochang on Sunday afternoon so that I could sightsee a bit more and buy some memorabilia at the Gochang Mojang Fortress Festival. The text message, of course, made me change my plans. Although I’ve only recently joined the club, I’ve already grown fond of the club members. They always try hard to include me into their activities. I’m the only foreigner in the club, and also I’m the only faculty member (non student) in the club. Thirdly, I’m a number of years older than most of the club members and as anybody that knows a little bit about Korean culture knows, Koreans only consider their peers (same age) part of the group. They call me Sanko-hyeong [상구형]. “Hyeong” means older brother. Therefore I really appreciate their attempts at making me feel comfortable and really wanted to support them at the tournament.

Early Sunday morning I went to the bus station, changed my 15:30 ticket for an 8:30 ticket, and departed back to Seoul. Although I missed some of the matches, I did get to see a number of our club members compete. Unfortunately our instructor did not win his matches – he was quite disappointed.

The tournament took place in the afternoon with the afternoon sun beaming at an angle through the windows, causing for nice long shadows which created beautiful photo moments.

The event had a wide variety of attendees, with a surprisingly big foreign constituency. The competitors were also of all shapes and sizes. 

Although the Brazilian Jiujutsu club train two times a week, I only go once a week at present. My other weekdays are spread among the other martial arts I currently train in; namely ITF Taekwon-Do and Hapkido.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Where am I?

About two months ago I joined the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Club that started on campus where I work. Grappling martial arts are not my favourite; I prefer striking arts. Nevertheless, my first exposure to the martial arts was to grappling. My father used to do a hybrid martial art; a mixture of Karate, Judo, and Aikido. When I was still in elementary school our father taught us children Judo. My first martial art memories are of countless forward rolls and break falls. So even though I prefer striking arts, like Taekwon-Do, grappling is probably my earliest foundation.

Although grappling arts are not my first choice, I’ve been missing it of late, so when I learned of the BJJ club on campus I immediately set out to find out more. I eventually joined (being the only foreigner, and only faculty-member, i.e. non-student). At the end of September we had a training session with another university’s club. We all came together at the BJJ-club in Apgujeong. It was a three hour session, from 3pm until 6pm.

My work load is too busy to attend the BJJ training regularly. I go once a week. I also train in Hapkido once a week, and go to Taekwon-Do twice a week. This is the only exercise I get in at present. I try to go to the gym on Sundays but there is usually something that comes up, so I end up going to the gym maybe once a month.

And in recent history...

So many things had happened over the last couple of weeks, yet I just haven’t had the time to record them here. For instance, I went to see the musical Rent – which was excellent. I went to Hoengseong 횡성 (were, apparently, one can taste the best beef in the whole world) and visited a traditional market and took photos of rice paddies. I attended a three hour Brazilian Jiujutsu workout in Apgujeong 압구정. I accompanied a friend to hospital who came down with serious abdominal spasms. I met some friends and had lots of good quality ice-cream. I’ve seen a number of good movies and read a couple classics (Of Mice and Men and Lord of the Flies), not to mention some good poetry. All of this in between work-work-work.