Wednesday 15 July 2015

And so it begins – Nova Forca BJJ


For the last 6 weeks I have been training BJJ at Nova Forca’s new headquarters in Epsom. They now have a fulltime dedicated dojo which includes a reception area where they sell training equipment and sports drinks, a well-equipped gym, toilets and of course a fully matted area with kick bags and a half cage for those also training MMA.

I’ve been training at Nova Forca for almost 5 years now but usually my training consists of a few classes in the summer when my Judo club is closed. However this time it’s different, I am here to stay. Unfortunately I am not able to commit any more time than once a week which does put me at a disadvantage especially when you consider that some of the guys train 5-6 times a week. So what I need to consider is that I need to measure my progress against myself and not the other guys who are currently at or near my level as its likely they will improve faster than me.

So what are my aspirations and goals in BJJ? I think I need to be realistic here and understand that getting a black belt in BJJ will take me forever if I’m only able to commit to one class a week but that’s ok. What I’d like to do is to get to a decent level of groundwork ability and I think a blue belt represents just that level. This doesn’t mean that I would quit once I got to that level it just means that blue belt is an achievable goal if I consistently train for the next couple of years.

This doesn’t mean that I will be giving up on the Judo though, I will still continue to train and try and make myself a solid 1st dan.