San Diego Week 2 ........The RETURN!

So today we are having an afternoon off…….it has been a BIG week…..and a bit!

We started off the week with doing the school work ritual with the kids. We have managed to get into a good rhythm now with this and are enjoying watching the kids develop with their learning. I still don’t think that Lilly and Kobe are completely sold on having Mum and Dad teach them but it’s working! We kicked off the week’s training with the Kids and Dee taking some more classes at South Bay Jiu-Jitsu. That place has been so welcoming you could easily forget that there are Academy’s worth a visit in San Diego. It has been a great eye opener for Lilly as the level of some kids at South Bay is unbelievable.

Lilly at South Bay Kids class

When we purchased our tickets for Disney we purchased a CityPass, which also gave us entry into Sea World, on Wednesday, we headed to check it out. Now both Dee and I were a little apprehensive about Sea World as the flier had a lot of “shows” involving marine mammals. We spent the day checking out the exhibits and watching a few of the “shows”. The kids did enjoy it, but did ask a few questions as why were they not out in the ocean and why are their pens so small. We only spent a few hours there and to be honest were not overly impressed by the place…. As it was a lot more about entertainment than education.

The kids and Dee returned to South Bay Jiu Jitsu the following day and did the afternoon classes. My ass was starting to get a flat spot on it from all the bench warming I had been doing. I was really itching to get back on the mats with watching all the awesome techniques been taught.

On Friday, we headed to “Old Town” a section of San Diego that has been preserved. It’s like walking back in time. There are so many little shops and displays you could spend an entire day here. After a quick lunch and maybe an Ice Cream or two we headed over to the USS Midway, a aircraft carrier that has been preserved and converted into a maritime museum. This thing was Huge, the kids and us loved it! We spent a good few hours there moving through the maze of this enormous ship. It was very educational and a must see if you visit San Diego. We then made a stop in at a cinema and treated the kids to the “Emoji Movie” which they loved!

Kobe and Lilly directing planes

USS Midway Museum

The top deck

So today was the BIG day……… Saturday Open mat at South Bay. I had been working so hard at trying to rehab my injury and felt it was time to give it a little test. Nearly everyone at the club knew I was out of action. It was probably obvious from the sad face and the tear in the corner of my eye every time I sat down to watch. So, there were a few surprised faces and smiles as I gingerly put on my Gi and stepped on the mat. I had planned to just do a few movement drills to test it out and call it a day but ended up doing some flow rolls with Dee and one of the Black belts Tim. You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face!! Finally, I could move around without too much discomfort. The whole time though, I felt that pressure in the wrong place would result in another pop and me riling around in pain. I was on such a high after open mat…… My training trip had finally begun!

South Bay Jiu Jitsu Open mat!

We woke on Sunday without much of a plan and my rib was feeling ok. We did a quick search and found that Studio 540 had a Sunday lunch time class. We packed our gear and headed up to take the class, we were warmly welcomed by Jess the black belt who was taking the class. I managed to get through the warmup and technique but sat out for the rolling and let Dee have all the fun. Everyone was so nice there and we had such a great time we decided to return the following day. On the way home, we headed through La Jolla where we checked out checked out the seals and let Lilly and Kobe burn off some energy.

Learning from Jess on Sunday

Having fun in La Jolla

Lilly and Kobe Checking out the Seals

We headed to Studio 540 in the morning where Dee took the Women’s class ran by Brown Belt Anna. While I sat and did school work with the Kids (I think she got the better deal there).

Not a bad classroom for the day

After class, we headed back down to San Diego and to Victory MMA. Now Victory MMA is the home of the one and only Jeff Glover, someone I have always looked up to in his approach to Jiu Jitsu. I don’t think there is a single person that trains that doesn’t wish they could move like him. We took Jeff’s lunch time NoGi class and straight away both Dee and I loved his teaching style and attitude towards it. Again, I sat out for the rolling at the end as my body isn’t quite ready for that but got some one on one time with Gordon one of the black belts on some cool heel hook setups and defences. After class, I got talking to Jeff and decided to catch up with him for a private session the following day.

Working on some of the dark arts!

Gordon clearly confusing me with his leg lock wizardry

Us with Jeff Glover

On a high we headed back to Studio 540 where Lilly and Kobe both did the kids classes. While getting ready I ran into Magid “Gorilla hands” Hage, he picked up on my Australian accent straight away and we got talking. Magid quite often visits Australia and will be heading back over in September so if you can, make sure you catch one of his seminars. Dee and I then attended the first adults class ran by Andrew which was great that was then followed by Magid’s class. He went over a few of his favourite mount escapes which has some great little tweaks. We finished the day absolutely wrecked, after around 6 hours on the mats.

Kobe stoked to be at Jiu Jitsu!

Us with Magid “Gorilla Hands” Hage

Tuesday morning, we headed to Victory MMA to catch up with Jeff for some one on one time. It was by far the best moment I have had so far, this trip. Jeff ran me through his movement drills and some of his concepts, after this it was easy to see why he is such a talent, he puts so much work into movement. I was left with so much to work on and develop within my own game, it will definitely change the way I look and my Jiu Jitsu.

Working with Jeff on some deep half

Listening very carefully to some Jiu Jitsu gold

We finished the day off with some more Kids classes for Kobe and Lilly at South Bay while Dee and I did the NoGi class and Drills class with Henry. After Drills they run a sparring session. I managed to get some great flow rolls in with some of the guys that really got me testing out the rib. Everyone was really good and pulled up short when the opportunity to knee ride me came up, which I REALLY appreciated.

Today we hit up Jeff’s NoGi class again where we arrived a little early so I could practice some of the stuff we went over the day before. It was another class filled with some great movement and positional drills. We had planned to train again in the afternoon but decided to have an afternoon off to give the body some time to recover. San Diego has so much to offer that we may have to visit again before we go home near the end of the trip!