On a gloomy Monday afternoon, I packed my bags and clocked out of the office. It was one of those days that you wish you’d sleep in but decide to do otherwise. I then hailed a cab and asked to be brought to the dojo. I totally forgot that it was competition training, and boy, was it gruesome! Three freaking hours of it! Did I regret training? Not at all! Thus, we took a step further and asked a few jiujiteros to describe their BJJ experience.
REAL. You think yoga is the only meditative sport out there? Read on and see what inspires them to persevere in this sport.
Whether you like it or not, you expose your inner self with Jiu Jitsu and become vulnerable to everyone else. That’s where trust and attitude come in. The honesty on the mat will turn you into the best possible version of yourself, but only if you keep moving forward.
— Joel Yaptinchay, Team Deftac-Ribeiro
Kasi lumalabas lahat sa Jits — the character: who you are.
— Mark Anthony Gabilo, Team Deftac-Ribeiro
BJJ changes lives. In life, you have your family; your work. But once you’re in the mat, nothing else matters but yourself and the mat. It’s like self meditation.
— Jaguar Tang, Team KMA-Fabricio
DEDICATION and DISCIPLINE go hand-in-hand. Months of preparation for a five-minute roll on the mat during competition requires more than the physical training.
BJJ is hard. You have to put all your time, effort, and heart into the sport.
— Ayjell Acejas, Team Deftac-Ribeiro
Nothing in this sport comes easy. You do not automatically learn BJJ in a day. It is something you mentally train yourself as well, day in and day out.
— Patricia Gomez, Team Deftac-Ribeiro
(RELATED: Pinoy Wins Pan Jiu-jitsu Championships Gold Medal)
The BJJ journey comes with Faith and Gratitude .
I’m so grateful to the Lord for using jiu-jitsu to lead me to Christ, for granting all the blessings He has brought in my life through this sport, and for allowing me and many others to use it as a tool to share His love and transform lives. The fact that you don’t have to be athletic to do jiujitsu or that you have to have a certain body type to excel in it is a quality of this sport that more people should know about so they don’t get intimidated to try it out.
-Meg Ochoa, Team Atos
It is God’s gift. I never got into fights, but BJJ came natural to me. I knew what to do even if my past sports didn’t have intense contact. Among all the sports I’ve tried before, the closest “contact” sport would be flag football. But when I started BJJ , I found the passion for it. I got addicted to it. So addicted that two months into training, I joined my first competition and won bronze. I took this as a sign.
— Kiko Matos, Team Deftac-Ribeiro
Now on its third year, Arte Suave 2017 is gaining momentum in bringing the local BJJ and MMA community together. Headed by Franco Rulloda and his vision of providing quality competition for everyone, Arte Suave is an event that is well sought for. This has a positive correlation to the intention of participants who seek great satisfaction in BJJ. From roughly 80 participants in its first year to a whopping 200+ participants this year, the community is indeed a stronger one!
Similar to my experiences with other sports such as surfing, what I truly like about BJJ is its sense of community. As intrinsic as the sport may be based on individual learning curves, each of us have our team and the guidance of the higher belts to guide us along the way; a true family in its most raw and humanistic way.
Arte Suave Manila
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