4/13: HOW WAS YOUR WEEKEND?
About 20 years ago, a friend of ours was running for President of the Michigan Jaycees, an organization of about 10,000 members at that time. Early in the campaign I indicated my support for him and allowed him to put my name on his campaign material. As the campaign progressed, it started to become clear he was not as prepared as I thought, and I pulled my support. It caused him to have to re-print most of his campaign material. He did not win the election that year because others saw the same issues. The following year, this same individual became the campaign manager for my wife in her bid for the Presidency (which she lost as well….and if you are wondering, I did support her the whole way through…) . He could have held a grudge against us but he did not, because I knew that even though he was not yet prepared for the Presidency, he was an honorable man that always supported my wife. Fast forward a couple years and he ran again. This time I whole heartedly put my support behind him because he was now ready. At the end of the campaign, he called on me to show up at the last convention and work on convincing my home chapter to support him. I did, THEY did, and it helped him win. At the time, I told him I would only do that as long as he promised to NOT nominate for any board position. I was doing this for him, not for any reward on my part. Unfortunately, he ultimately didn’t listen and offered me a position that was something I thought would be a good growth opportunity for me and I took it. At his year-end convention, I relayed this story about him from the stage in front of thousands of people to let everyone know the character of the man.
I want to speak from stage again about the seminar from this weekend. This had been a 2 ½ year journey to bring Prof Carlos and Prof Marcos into the gym for a seminar. When we first discussed this as I was opening GB Northville, we had a date set then things fell apart on my end. Prof Carlos could have written me off, but by now I realize that was never in his thought process. As I have gotten to know him over the last year through many trips to Chicago, and many interactions at tournaments, I got to know the person behind the martial artist. While the latter is awesome, the former is even better. This was my first time meeting Prof Marcos, but he and Prof Carlos have been training together for 25 years, and he is every bit as honorable a person. I meant what I said at the end of the seminar, that it is more important to bring good people into the gym for seminars, than just good practitioners. Fortunately, he and Prof Marcos are both.
Most of you are probably not aware that they conducted the 3+ hours of the seminar having had no breakfast. After ordering at the restaurant next door, the wait time was going to make them late for the event so they cancelled the order. For months we had planned on focusing on half guard, but after my training session Friday night, I asked if they could share the guard passing techniques that Prof Marcos was using on me all night long, and they accommodated. I can tell you from so many past seminars, many practitioners will not take requests on material to present, and very rarely make changes at the last minute. What I saw Prof Marcos doing was so unique and so effective, I wanted everyone to have the opportunity to experience it first-hand. Finally, they actually went over the planned allotted time for the seminar because they wanted to get through the material they planned on sharing instead of making a hard stop on the time. Again, I can tell you that almost never happens. From the dozens of seminars I have attended, this one ranks right at the top of them all.
Beyond the people that they are, I want everyone to fully appreciate what was provided in the techniques. You got to experience the primary guard passing system from a 5th degree black belt….his “A” game. You also got to experience world class additions to my primary guard game, half guard, from another 5th degree black belt. I was very excited to see the responses from so many of you who attended, as you got to experience firsthand what I promoted for the months leading up to the event, and many of you have already expressed interest in the next opportunity. Yes, we will continue to practice the seminar material this week in class so those that could not make the event can learn the material. But for those that were able to attend, you can now see the benefit of being there in person.
For me this was a fantastic weekend. At lunch after the seminar, I told Prof Carlos and Prof Marcos that I had high expectations for this weekend, and I felt they exceeded them. We have already discussed other opportunities both in MI and in Illinois and I look forward to them when they occur. For those that attended, I hope your weekend was as fulfilling as it was for me. For those that were not able to attend, hopefully you will be able to make the next opportunity. As I’ve said so many times, these opportunities are fleeting. Do not expect there to always be “another time” with these practitioners. My former business partner had Gordon Ryan in for 2 seminars in a year right as he was becoming famous. Good luck trying to train with him now. Other practitioners just get tired of the travel and stop doing seminars. BJJ offers incredible opportunities to train with the best people on the planet, but these opportunities can end in a moments notice, so take advantage of every one. I believe we now have 30 additional people that see the benefit. I look forward to the next opportunity myself!
