06/06/11 by chrisdel | Blog, Events | No Comments »
On May 28, 2011, Team Ryano/BJJ Revolution had the pleasure of hosting a seminar held by Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (aka Big No & Rafael ”Feijão” Cavalcante. Big Nog has an extensive grappling & Mixed Martial Arts resume. Big Nog’s Mixed Martial arts resume RINGS King of Kings 2000 Tournament Winner, 2009 Fight of the Year, Pride Heavyweight Championship, Interim Pride Heavyweight Championship, 2004 PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix Runner-Up, 2006 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix Semi-Finalist, Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship, WEF Heavyweight Superfight Champion, 2002 Fighter of the Year in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and 2002 NHB Fighter of the Year in Black Belt Magazine. His Brazilian Jiu Jitsu resume includes first in the Pan-American Championships, receiving first 2x in the Brazilian Championships, second place in the World Championships and third in the Absolute division at the Worlds. Rafael is the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion and a highly skilled Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practioner.
A big thanks to Big Nog and Feijão for hosting the seminar, everyone enjoyed the techniques and open roll.
06/06/11 by chrisdel | Blog, Events, News | No Comments »
What happens if you stay still? What happens to you in a life without challenge? Comfort creeps in, stalking its way into your psyche.
Think about it realistically.
People actually surrender to illness because they would rather be comfortable! The comfortable job, the routine life, the snug sofa, the addictive overcoat (keeping us comfortable); the same train, car or walk for forty years- which leads us straight into the grave, having lived half a life.
I’ve been told numerous times,’ you’ll pay the price for excessive martial arts training when you get older’. So What! Imagine sacrificing your best years for a comfortable old age or suffocating the human spirit, for a ripe old age which may never arrive.
The irony of the argument lies with the perpetrators of this dangerous mindset; who snigger at the people engaged in the struggle. Because we are the failures, the dreamers, the scatter brains, the deluded and the losers with the bloodied hands and dirty faces.
Look at the MMA fighters or the dedicated Martial Arts Competitor who do it for the love of the sport. They don’t scream obscenities into cameras and pick up a weekly cheque for € 100,000. Or have legions of fans defending their indiscretions but yet they work harder, fight fairer and treat people with the respect every decent person deserves.
I recently watched a World Champion Fighter arrive in Dublin Airport in the early hours of a cold winter morning, as the cleaners shuffled past at the empty arrivals department. It was eerily quiet as his parents hugged him in congratulations of his triumph. There was no crowds, no media and apart from his own association and squad mates, very little recognition. I later learned he trained twice a day, every day, for six weeks, while trying to balance his studies and hold down a part-time job. He was still in his teenage years but far from being dejected there was a confident glimmer in his eye that could never be tainted by the naysayers. But I’ve went off the point.
What if there was a mechanism for growth? What if you couldn’t help but progress once you walked through the doors? How would you feel engaging with a mentor who refused to let you wither? In a gym where there are no hiding places? Where comfort is non-existent? Where you only earn your stripes through relentless, dogged, gritty determination? This leads me to Team Ryano and Interview with Head Coach Andy Ryan.
The calibre of this coach cannot- by anyone- be underestimated. He has trained in Judo since the age of six years old. Inspired by Kung Fu films he joined the Daigokan Judo club (thinking it was a Kung Fu Club) and trained under John Douglas – a well known veteran – in the world of Judo. He trained steadily up until his teenage years before moving on to Portmarnock to train under Ray Stears. Andy was and is an avid competitor who won ten national senior titles and represented Ireland numerous times. Andy’s reputation as a ferocious and technically gifted Judo Player was harnessed through hard graft, frequent competition and a willingness to step onto the mat, regardless of the prestige of the competition or the adversary facing him. As a soldier he also represented the Irish Army in international competition as his martial arts life easily blended with his chosen career.
Andy’s views are a testament to his career. ‘You will get out, what you put in. There are NO short cuts and you must hit the mat consistently for results. There is simply no other way. Recreational time will get you recreational results and be prepared to constantly learn lessons. You will never stop learning, that’s a fact of any martial art’.
As Andy came to the end of his Judo career he met John Kavanagh (of Straight Blast Gym) and from here his interest in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA began.
He opened his first MMA club in 2002 and began delving into many martial arts in order to gain an understanding into the fledgling sport. With Andy’s own attitude for learning and his credentials it wasn’t long before ambitious talented fighters such as: Neil Seery, John Donnelly, Patrick Boylan, Peter Doyle, Paul Redmond, Richard Edgeworth and Stephen Lowry began their training under the Team Ryano banner.
These fighters are some of the most ferocious athletes on the MMA scene at the moment. Neil Seery alone is the EFR Irish Champion as well as the Extreme Brawl British Champion.
Again what must be emphasised is the absolute dedication these fighters have to their craft. Their coach embodies an athlete who pushes past self imposed limits not with words, but with action. Half hearted excuses, niggling ailments or just plain complacency are non-existent in the gym.
I spoke with Richard Edgeworth who struggled with stiffness due to a ten mile run and an hour and a half of Jiu Jitsu training, the previous night. I kid you not!
I posed a question to Andy regarding a criticism levelled at MMA. ‘In the conventional Martial Arts, training is for life. What can a MMA fighter do when he/she retires? Where do they go?’
Andy rubbished the suggestion immediately. ‘What do all competitors do! They coach, promote their art or become more academic. This way technique is advanced and they teach their students. As I said before, we are all learning. No-one knows everything; we are ALL constantly progressing through knowledge’.
Not surprisingly Andy Ryan’s competitive career is far from concluded. In 2010 Andy became the BJJ Brown Belt European Champion followed up in 2011 by winning the prestigious Pan-Am BJJ tournament held in the USA. Andy credits his recent success to Norman Caprani who inspires him to keep a strict training regime and a focused mentality both in training and in every day life. The pattern I can see is that Andy places himself under the tutelage of some of the finest trainers in the country. Norman Caprani is a former Olympic Judo coach and chairman of the Irish Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Association.
I had just visited the club when I heard Andy say the victory was for the club. He wasn’t interested in personal gratification. This was for the stable of athletes and validation of Team Ryano-a validation which it doesn’t need.
I asked Andy how training impacted on his own life. ‘I’ve literally made friends across the World. There are familiar faces and good friends made no matter where you travel in the world. Regarding my own life, it’s nearly impossible for the discipline not to flow into your own life. The focus and the training make obstacles a lot easier to overcome. A lot of restraints are self imposed and through training we break those restraints and realise that most problems, which we think are insurmountable, can be overcome’.
Andy is also a pioneer in the rise of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The art has literally taken the World by storm. It’s ascendancy through the martial arts world cannot be understated. He is affiliated with BJJ Revolution under the guidance of Rodrigo Medeiros. Medeiros is also a titan in an art overflowing with icons. He trained under the instruction of Carlson Gracie at the legendary ‘champion factory’ and Rodrigo was also another practitioner, who began in Judo at the age of five before achieving his brown belt and moving on to BJJ at the age of eleven. Rodrigo has competed all over the world and also battled with Renzo Gracie in Abu Dhabi – perhaps the most prestigious No Gi tournament in the world.
His principles are strikingly similar to Andy Ryan and they are both avid supporters of constant growth through learning. They are both trying to bring an international and national structure to BJJ which, in comparative terms, is still in its infancy. Like minded individuals are a bonus to any organisation and the fact that Andy considers Rodrigo an exemplarily role model, makes the arduous task of constructing a well organised movement, less of a chore.
At this point, I am learning one pivotal lesson which is testament to all reputable martial artists. Their core principles never shift. At their nucleus is the desire to turn the weak to strong. They do this through placing every student in the centre of discomfort and what they offer in return is emblazoned across the walls of Team Ryano -Honour – Team- Loyalty. It is refreshing to see a club promoting the principle of TEAM in a discipline which is so solitary.
For Andy every individual achievement is for the Team. He is not interested in titles, glory or placing fighters on a pedestal.
‘Show me you have heart’, he tells me unflinchingly. ‘Win, lose or draw it doesn’t matter. Never lie down because you’re scared. We’re all worried before a bout and it’s not speaking specifically competition I’m talking about. I want to see heart in your training. Coming once a week, taking it ‘handy’ is a lack of heart. Just do your very best. That’s all I ask of my students and that’s what they should expect from themselves. By setting our standards high, we hope our students will elevate their own expectations’.
I also ask Andy if he has any heroes and I must admit I’m a little bit apprehensive, as this is an environment with an absence of glib sentiment. ‘Of course I do’, exclaims Andy without any reservations. ‘My Father, Mick Ryan. To this day he trains consistently and I grew up in that environment. It’s shaped who I am. In the Judo World it’s Kieran Foley of Coolmine Judo.’
I’m starting to form a picture of the role models which shaped Andy Ryan and they are elite. Kieran Foley was a Judo Player who represented Ireland in the Olympics only to be defeated in a very controversial decision by a Japanese Player. The crowd roundly booed the decision and it still rankles with Irish Judo Players to this day.
One certainty is not up for debate. Team Ryano will not wrap anyone in cotton wool. There are obvious bonds here amongst the fighters, however they are earned. Earned through experience, through gut wrenching training, through hundreds of hours on the mat, through bruised knuckles, tired limbs and a colossal work ethic- of the likes I have never seen before.
Andy was awarded his Black Belt on 23rd March 2011 by Rodrigo Medeiros. He has now joined John Kavanagh as the only holders of a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt in Ireland. Like it or not they are an elite group of pioneers responsible for a legacy of BJJ. It’s a heavy responsibility but no doubt they’ll be joined by many more as the Martial Art explodes across the country.
I’ll conclude with these words to consider; when you begin BJJ, it will not be days, weeks, or months before you fight in Team Ryano’s gym. It will be minutes. You’ll grapple with another fighter who will resist every attempt you make to beat him. This is an adversary you want; an adversary necessary to learn.
At first you will tap often and quickly. You will be nervous, a little lost and very baffled, most of the time. Eventually you’ll tap out less often, the game will become clearer. You will fight harder, roll better and resist your adversary’s every attempt to beat you. You are the adversary they want; they need YOU to learn.
Then you will become capable, adaptable, tough, and learned. You will progress, grow and have conquered your own fears. The nervousness will have dissipated but never fully disappeared; because it never disappears.
But know this; comfort has no place in Team Ryano and what is more, you’ll leave a fighter – My friend!
