I wanted to take a moment to congratulate our entire team from Warrior Way/Team Caique. A crew of about 10 competitors and a couple of spectators made the trip to Grand Rapids to participate in what we thought, and hoped, would be a big event. Unfortunately, when we got there we were shocked by how few people showed up to put it on the line. I figured with a chance at the ADCC Qualifiers a who's-who from Michigan would've been there to get a shot at the 'big time'.
Apparently, only a few teams showed up in force ready to do battle. One of them was Warrior Way. No matter what tournament we go to we always show up in force. In return for our effort THREE of us from Warrior Way will be going to the ADCC Qualifiers in 2010. Josh Bagalay (purple belt, former CMU wrestler), Saif Askar (Blue belt, former wrestler at Brother Rice), and I (Black Belt, and good looking hunk) all received invites to advance to the qualifiers.
Truth be told, having few or, as in my case, no competitors in your division definitely helps your situation, but I was just struck with awe that no one showed up to take advantage of the situation. They say that sometimes luck is when opportunity meets readiness. That was definitely the case today. There we came to compete and do battle, some of injured, and some of us deciding to compete the night before, only to find a few dozen ready to return the favor. Win or lose, I respect everyone on our team for willing to put it on the line.
I am so proud to be a part of team that puts our money where our mouth is and practices what we teach. It'd very easy for us to hide behind our belts and do seminars all over the state making all sorts of claims, yet never getting our gis sweaty. On the contrary, we test ourselves so our students can have faith in the words we say and the art we teach them. I couldn't think of a more appropriate name for our school than WARRIOR Way.
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
A big congrats goes out to Clint Crabtree and his team that also showed up strong. With the tournament in his backyard, Clint brought a crew ready to fight and like us, was disappointed to find no one to meet the challenge.
A huge thank you to Carlos Diaz, Jerry Rodgers, Clint, Tony and his wife Michelle, the always cheerful Randy Bloom and everyone else I'm forgetting or didn't get a chance to meet. The staff was incredibly professional and courteous and gave the competitors a great venue to compete in.
Well congrats!! Being a good looking hunk blackbelt sounds like it's awesome.
Angelo,congrats to you and your team,you looked unstoppable Saturday,Clints team chewed up their matchs also.Also congrats on your merriage,very beautiful lady,will be back Nov. 1st with OTM fight shops for a Gi event.
Thanks Randy! Always a pleasure hanging out with you. I'll make sure to introduce you to the wife next time :) talk to you soon.
Angelo is just lucky I wasn't there. I would have taken the gold medal from him.
When he wasn't looking....
Where is the love Angelo? Hooked yo up with that Zebra Home mat for winning the Absolute and I don't even get a shout out?
Brett Boyce
Thats how good looking hunk blackbelts are...they just take people for granted..
Damn! I knew I forgot something... Sorry Brett, I was all fired up after we came home last night when I posted this.
I do have to give a BIG shout out to Brett Boyce and the rest of the ADCC crew. We were coming in late on Friday to the weigh ins and Brett agreed to hang out and wait for us so we could check in and weigh in. That was really cool of him and something he didn't have to do. It was greatly appreciated as we could go on and enjoy the rest of our evening before the tournament.
Also, for winning the absolute division, I was awarded a sweet set of roll up Zebra mats - 10 feet by 10 feet. Not a bad first place prize. Thanks Brett and Zebra. By the way Brett, we all commented how much we liked the mats used for the competition. I know they were Zebras, but I've never felt ones like those before. Instead of vinyl or plastic-type top, it had a slight rubberized feel to it. It wasn't as slippery as new mats are, which is always a pain to compete on.
Angelo,
It was our pleasure man. All of ADCC competitions uses those Zebra mats and they are actually on sale at huge savings. It was great seeing you and your team and hopefully we wont have to wait until Nationals to see you guys again.
Brett Boyce
congrats!
TrainBJJ - Thats how good looking hunk blackbelts are...they just take people for granted..
"I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is."
-Derek Zoolander
oops double post.
"Ooooh, the files are IN the computer."
Angelo,
First, was great to see you and hang with you again, at least for a little bit.
Second, I agree with everything you said. There are so many people/schools here in Michigan doing and saying many things, none of them showed up.
There will be a World Grappling event here Nov 1st. Hopefully people will come support events like this right here in Michigan!!
Thanks again for coming over. We are sending some guys over to your event!! We can talk more then.
Until then, just keep showing up and doing your thing. Those that talk and don't back it up will expose themselves.
Thanks Clint! Unfortunately, the same people that no-showed the ADCC Regionals, will more than likely not be going to the WGC. It's much more profitable holding 'seminars' than actually proving you know what you are talking about, LOL. Oh, well, I know we'll see you guys there. Thanks for the support of our tournament, see you next weekend!
Respect to Angelo and the other competitors