JIU JITSU: MANLY HUGS by chelsea whitmore

jiu jitsu

: man

ly hugs

ch

elsea whitm

ore

READ THIS BOOK

Jiu Jitsiu:manly hugs

written, designed, and photographed by Chelsea Whitmore 1

Dedicated to my brother, who has been an inspiration and a rolemodel to me. Thanks for testing your throws on me all the time.

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Acknowledgements None of this would be possible, of course, with-out the help and support of Freestyle Academy, which has already changed my life invaluably. I especially want to express graditude towards the Freestyle stu-dents, without whom classes would probably be ex-tremely dull, if not just empty. Courtney especially made design an exciting time. Thanks for letting me punch you, even if you said I was abusive. Thanks to Rue for always logging me off and never messing with my stuff. Unless you did and I didn’t notice, in which case, how could you? I trusted you! My brother, too, deserves some praise. I mention him again in my foreword and it sounds a little creepy but that’s ok. I love my brother. He’s really cool.

Alan “Gumby” Marques, owner of a jiu jitsu school and original student of Ralph Gracie.

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TABLE  OF    CONTENTS

forewordpg.  8

intropg.  10  

chapter  1:  jiu  jitsu,  I  choose  youpg.  16  

chapter  2:  jiu  jitsu  and  youpg.  18

chapter  3:  jiu  jitsu  and  the  troubled  youthpg.  23

chapter  4:  not  that  deadlypg.  24

chapter  5:  to  jiu  jitsu  and  beyond

pg.  27index

pg.  28bibliography

pg.  29

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FOREWORD

The process of writing this book has been really to bring me closer to and to understand my brother. As a child he was al-ways my favorite person, even if he was sometimes mean to me. He was who I aspired to be, as he was always seemed to be charis-matic. As I grew older I became more jaded and had that misguid-ed preteen cynicism that comes with age and spending too much time on the internet. Still, though, I viewed Sean in the limelight. I wouldn’t know anything about jiu jitsu were it not for Sean, and I would not have written a book about it if it weren’t for him. In the

beginning, though, I still didn’t

know much about jiu jitsu or what secrets it held, and I didn’t know what I was going to say about it. Not knowing what to expect, I jumped into the world of jiu jitsu.

he was close and convenient. As I began to go deeper, and do more research, the world began to build around me- the com-munity, the art, the philosophy.The second interview seemed like it would be successful. He was a friendly black belt who had trained under Ralph Gracie him-self and started his own school in San Jose. By the time I got there, it was becoming dark, and the building didn’t seem to have

giant windows still didn’t let in very much natural light. With the darkness and my novice skills, the photos were doomed to a life of blurry blackness. Still I had hope

for the interview, and it did seem to go well. He answered the ques-tions thoroughly and gave a few statements that would make for great quotes and I was pleased. Leaving the place and going home, I was tired but eager to lis-ten to the results. Finding head-phones, I plugged them in and was greeted with static-y silence. I was only slightly dis-appointed by the mistake and I continued on anyway, hop-ing to discover the reality of jiu jitsu and the role it’s played in people’s lives. I interviewed oth-ers (too embarrassed to go back to Gumby) and feel as though I’ve only gone through the be-ginning layers of the dress of jiu jitsu, and many more await. But

I’ve discovered about jiu jitsu.

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Introduction

When the Toronto school board heard that someone was trying to start a pro-gram teaching martial arts to youth, they slammed the idea. Teaching a population of violent and at-risk teens prone to bullying how to harm others seemed like an open and close case. Natasha Jones might argue other-wise. When an intruder tried to have his way with her, Natasha, being the wonderful lady she is, gave him a friendly arm-bar and kindly showed him the door without a second thought.

But self-defense isn’t the only -

ing from the jiu-jitsu program that she and many of her other friends attend.

As Rapport (a teacher) says, “You learn how to channel your ener-gies rather than unleashing them.”

Translated from Japanese, jiu jitsu is “The Gentle Art.” As Alan “Gumby” Marques (a black-belt) explained to me, it describes that unlike striking martial arts, like

Kung Fu and Tae Kwon Doe, which focuses on using your own force, Jiu Jitsu takes the force of the assailant and manipulates it against them. It prioritizes strategy and technique over strength, allowing the little guy to beat the big guy- size doesn’t play a role in success when it is your size that is being played against you.

Students and practitioners of jiu jitsu program

“You   learn   how   to  channel   your  ener-gies   rather   than  unleashing   them.”

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fought in the studio rather than outside on the street. Doing this made him friends while keeping him off the street. “This is my home,” explains Marine, “I feel at ease here.” An emphasis on groundwork makes the martial art perhaps confusing to the untrained eye. To a master, however, following a match is like following a chess game. It is not simply a matter

“It’s a sport for the highly intelligent,” says Gerson. “You can’t just get re-ally good at one technique and expect that to be enough. It’s not like base-ball, where being 95-mile-an-hour fastball will get you in the Blue Jays’ lineup.fastball will get you in the Blue Jays’ lineup. Like Aristotle said, the complete man should work, study and wrestle.” (Hooper, Barrett. 23 Mar. 2012.)

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Black  belt  William  Dias  gives  his  students  pro-tips.

Ralph  Gracie  Jiu-Jitsu,  where  stu-dents  learn  valuable  skills.

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“It’s   a   sport   for   the   highly   intelligent.”

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C h a p t e r 115

Jiu Jitsu, I Choose You

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a relatively new art with much less ancient history than its martial arts brothers, but it has a lot to of-fer. It introduces its students to a new mindset and keeps them on a rigorous path of disci-pline and self-control. Jiu Jitsu gives its students the ability to control their opponent, which is an impossible task without a certain level of self-control. The original form of jiu jitsu was developed in Ja-pan during the feudal period, where war was the status quo. After the end of the feudal period, there was a need to practice the art (which was not

necessarily called jiu jitsu

at the time) in a non-deadly yet still realistic and practi-cal way. A martial arts master, Kano, then developed Judo, which took away all of the weapons and killing strikes and prioritized takedowns and throws. Compared to other styles, Judo won-out due to its grappling nature and be-

style for the Japanese police force. However, as guns won out over swords, the martial arts world was at a loss for establishing its relevance in the world. Kano and his top students sought to spread their Judo around the world to pop-ularize his art. Maeda, one of his top students, brought Judo to Brazil. (Simco) There, the Gracie family took up Judo and reformed it into what they called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. From there, the Gra-

own style, which had more emphasis on groundwork than Kano’s Judo did. The tech-16

through real experience- the brothers would issue no-rule challenges to anyone who

and takedowns and armlocks went through a state of evolu-tion and continue to evolve. The Gracie family created several schools and taught students in the United States, where it continued to spread and gain popularity (Simco). Now it is well estab-lished as an art form and has shown its usefulness in the UFC mixed martial arts world. Many people from all walks of life- age, gender, socio-eco-nomic standing- are inspired to start attending one of the many schools and walk away with much more.

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Jiu Jitsu and You My brother, Sean, trained in one of these schools at a nice but unimpressive place just off El Camino. I only remember going once. It was the ceremony for his purple belt, which pre-sented itself with very little fanfare but seemed to have a very humble seriousness. The windows were tinted with perspiration. Men I didn’t know

very mystifying experience for little me. But it was an even bigger day for Sean.

He started Jiu Jitsu during highschool as a small

was like 120-125 pounds,” he explains. Sean had just quit baseball and, “I wanted to stay active, and I remember doing tae kwon do when I was little, and I was then looking for a martial art to get into just for sport and that’s how I found jiu jitsu. I went to a couple of different martial art places and that was the one that stuck out to me the most.”

Aurellian Keller and Sean Whitmore, both stu-dents of different jiu jitsu places, shared similar motives for joining jiu jitsu in particular. “Well, because I didn’t really like the idea of standing there striking the air for hours on end, so, instead you throw people, strike people, and it’s... more fun,” explained Aurellian.

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Sean also felt more of a draw towards martial arts because it wasn’t a team sport. “One thing I really like about martial arts, as opposed to team sports, is when you do team sports- not that it’s a bad thing, just a personal preference- you rely a lot on your teammates. When I was pitching, if I was doing well, that doesn’t necessarily mean you would win the

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ball get past you, you really let the team down. But for jiu jitsu, if you mess up, it’s your own fault- or if you succeed, it’s your own victory, and your training, your own practice- what you put in is what you get out.”But that shouldn’t paint Sean as a loner. Com-pletely the opposite, in fact. Sean still had a team that stood by him. “You know, when you train

you try to defeat the other person but afterwards you kind of have this bond between- I’ll go so far as to call them teammates, and you help each

where you may be lacking and help each other improve.”In Aurellian’s case, he feels it has helped bring him out of his shell, allowing him to blossom

though, he emphasized that it gave him a sense of control that he had once lacked. “It’s given me a lot more control over my body, and, self, like, not self-respect. … Yes, self determination, self-control.”

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chapter 3 jiu jitsu and the troubled

youth

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“We  don’t  teach  ag-gression.  We  teach  you  how  to  defend  your-self.”

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chapter 3 jiu jitsu and the troubled youth

When you join a gang, you don’t do it because you’d like to. Gangs gain and control their members through fear. Fear of the gang itself, fear of other gangs, fear of the system. They think that’s the only option, the only way to go on, and often that is true because of little oppor-tunity and a bad environment. When you join a gang, you forsake your independence for safety and a chance at a better life, albeit a risky one. Jiu jitsu offers an alternative; it gives an individual independence, em-

phasizing it, even, while prof-fering a welcoming community. To maintain a jiu jitsu lifestyle requires that one stay healthy and focused, keeping them on a safer path. William Dias, an original student of Ralph Gracie and the main teacher at a local acad-emy, explains it better than me- “[we] give something them a focus, a sport that they can learn very fast, give them a sense of family, a community. They spend time here with us rather than outside, getting in trouble, or not doing well in school. We work with parents also to make sure that, you know, we can give guidance to their kids here. We tell them they need to do well in school so they can con-tinue to train.”At the same time, jiu jitsu pro-vides practical skills. Jiu jitsu is praised as being one of the most practical martial arts in real life situations, so for self-defense purposes, it is reliable, and even superior in that it doesn’t aim to injure the opponent. Unlike boxing or taekwondo, jiu jitsu

doesn’t try to strike the oppo-nent, or cripple them. Jiu jitsu manipulates the opponent to achieve a better positionBlack belt William Dias says this on the topic, “You use technique against pure strength to achieve superior position according to the situation. If its possible we diffuse the situation without hurt-ing the opponent, without having to hit them. If the person doesn’t stop the attack, you can put them in a submission hold and still give them the chance that you don’t have to hit them. That’s the goal of jiu jitsu, to be able to defend yourself. We don’t teach aggression. We teach you how to defend yourself.”

evidenced. All around, the acad-emies are affecting American youth positively. Giving people a safe ground to explore is im-portant; in these walls, they are given a supportive community and the time and space to better themselves and to be productive.

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not deadlyJiu Jitsu draws all sorts of peo-ple. Many are eager to join the

draws a lot of knee-jerk criti-cism to the sport. However, as mentioned earlier, jiu jitsu has brought a lot of order and control to people’s lives along with a practical skill in real life situations. The youth in Toronto boast a wide array of success sto-ries for the troubled youth involved. Sherri says of her training in an interview with Emily Jackson for her article- “I love jiu-jitsu,” she said, joking that the “fun version of yoga” prompted her to quit smoking. “Your eating, habits, routine —

everything revolves around

training.” (Emily Jackson, Dec 11, 2011). However, one can not

-ing and self-defense, despite it being the “gentle art.” To dress it up as otherwise would probably be offensive. With the second death in MMA

year, mixed martial arts has been taking more heat. (Bland, Scott. 29 June 2010). Even in the Gracie’s ad in newspapers,

you want to get your face beat-en and well smashed, your ass kicked, and your arms broken, Contact Carlos Gracie at this address...”

Jiu Jitsu indeed empha-sizes the need for sparring to be realistic in order for the training to be effective. The point of sparring, however, is not to hurt your partner; the goal instead is to be able to control and manipulate them so that you have the upper-hand. As Sean explains, “There’s a saying that the most dangerous belt you can train with is a white belt, because they have no idea what they’re doing and, as opposed to a black belt, their movements are very wild and sporadic and they use a lot more force than they need to, so in white belt versus white belt matches you see a lot more uncontrolled in-24

juries, compared to a black belt on the other hand they may put force but the force has a reason and not as wild, not as crazy, and they move with much more purpose.” Still, it must be argued that jiu jitsu is safer and perhaps healthier than striking martial arts such as kickboxing and taekwondo and even popular sports such as football. Socially accepted as football is, the players take and are expected to take tackles and hits to the head and get dirty and rough. It’s a part of the game, after all.

knockouts - and thus fewer serious brain injuries - in MMA bouts. Kirkham’s death was the sec-

fatal injuries sustained in matches.” In the same article, the New York state Assemblyman Steve Englebright is cited as a sup-

say we need this to [afford to] put cops on the street,” says Mr. Englebright, “but I’m also not go-ing to get on a soapbox and say it’s debauching our society. It’s already out there.”

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Jiu Jitsu is continuing to spread and gain more popular-ity, despite the traction with those

MMA. Heralded as being practical and realistic in real life scenarios, jiu jitsu will gain more followers for those seeking a self-defense art, while also being a good work-out. Enjoying a good bout be-tween fellow practitioners means

chess, but faster, forcing you to be on your toes. Jiu jitsu sharpens the mind while building relationships. Once caught in the squirming

be sure

tendrils and appendages of jiu jitsu, it’s hard to get out of it; the training entices you to return! Following the regimen forces you to take control of your life, because without control of your life, of your body, how will you be able to take control of your opponent? Jiu jitsu is an evolving art, constantly being innovated and adapting to suit the circumstanc-es. In itself, it forces the user to be adaptable and constantly aware and anticipating. I’ll leave you with this, a quote from Rick-

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BIBLIOGRAPHYBland, Scott. “Death of mixed martial arts !ghter another black eye for the sport.” Christian Science Monitor 29 June 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 23 Mar. 2012.

Dias, William. Personal Interview. (22 March, 2012)

Emily Jackson, UFC-style jiu jitsu a positive force in the lives of trou-bled youth, Dec 11, 2011.

Greco, Jason. Personal Interview. (14 March 2012)

Hooper, Barrett. “Why We Fight.” Toronto Life. 01 Apr. 2009: 41. eLi-brary. Web. 23 Mar. 2012.

Keller, Aurellian. Personal Interview. (8 March 2012)

Simco, Gene. Brazilian Jiu-jitsu: "e Master Text. Poughkeepsie, NY: Jiu-jitsu.net, 2001. Print.

Whitmore, Sean. Personal Interview. (3 Feb 2012)

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