A brief follow up to the seminar with Luiz Filho that took place last week on Friday, November 2nd. Luiz and I go back a long way. He was my first instructor in Brazil back in 1997. I trained with Luiz until I was a 2-stripe blue belt.
I also found out something very interesting that I didn’t know about Luiz the night of the seminar. Luiz began training BJJ in the 80s. He ended up marrying Rherika Gracie, one of Helio’s daughters and trained in Rio. His jiu jitsu then follows the style that Helio helped to evolve. Luiz talks a lot about Rickson Gracie and models his own jiu jitsu after what he learned and observed from training with Rickson.
What I didn’t know about Luiz was that he actually trained for about a year with (Milton) Kimura. I am unsure of the first name, so for the record, I may not have the first name correct, but I think I do:)
(Milton) Kimura was the grandson of the Kimura that defeated Helio Gracie during their famous challenge match. Over dinner the day after the seminar I asked Luiz about this experience. What I was so interested to hear is the difference between the jiu jitsu taught by Kimura and that taught by Helio. Luiz is one of the few that have had the experience to train with both and that actually was able to see the difference of what Helio actually did with what they had originally learned from Conte Koma.
Anyhow, he mentioned that Helio made the jiu jitsu less physical and really sought out the leverage points to make the positions easier to execute for a smaller person. That the Japanese version was more physical or athletic. He also talked about how Kimura’s classes were much more formal that the Brazilian version. "Stand up straight", "Tie your belt correctly", that kind of stuff came out of Kimura’s school, where Helio’s academy was much more Brazilianized or laid back.
I thought that this was a very cool subject to talk to him about and was something that I never knew about my first instructor.
The seminar was 3 hours long. Luiz showed some of his postural game that he is known for in the closed guard. He also went through some of his favorite attacks from side control, turtle, and went on to answer a lot of questions and demonstrate techniques that everyone wanted to see.
Here at Carlson Gracie Team Indianapolis, we strive to bring in different Black Belts from all over. Our goal is to demonstrate that while jiu jitsu is one art, there are many ways to do it. Each person over time will develop their own games off of the techniques that they are exposed to. There is no "one way" to play BJJ, but as a result of your personality, body type, flexibility, athelticism, and so on we each develop our own style eventually that best suits you. The fundamental science behind the technques will always stay the same but way that we string them together and each of our strengths and weaknesses vary as a result of who we are.
For more information on upcoming events, keep an eye on our website or contact us!
See you on the mats!
Carlson Gracie Indianapolis Jiu Jitsu
916 E. Main St.
Suite 111
Greenwood, IN. 46143
317-979-4466
http://www.carlsongracieindy.com