Just curious fellas - how many of you guys out there are students under Rickson in West LA or train at one of his affiliated schools out there in the world? I train in West LA. Give a shout if you're out there.
I'm at Axis Fukuoka in Japan, which is under Rickson(the founder of Axis Tokyo is Watanabe,who recieved his BB from Rickson last year).
I wish I trained with him.
My "instructor" is under one of his affiliates, if that means anything... However, he took Judo for many years before starting bjj, and most of his bjj skill was fromm non-Rickson instrustion...
i train with shane rice when he is home in nova scotia.
I train with Mike Ortiz in Santa Clarita. A guy from the West LA academy, Shoji, just moved up here and has been training with us for the past few weeks. Super cool guy with some skills.
Shane Rice assists instruction much of the time in west LA. He is a skilled purple belt.
I haven't trained in a year (back injury+laziness) but my loyalty is still with Megaton in Phoenix.
I used to train with a Rickson rep ( Brown Belt Brad Hatcher) but for the last year Ive been training at Gracie Barra with Soneca and Pedrinho Brandao
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seems like Machado students do the best in mos major tournaments IMO...and from the stats I read
From Chicago my teacher is Dino C. a Rickson Rep.
Yes, I've rolled with Rickson at his academy in West LA. He is a great instructor (when he's there).
He was in last night teaching in west LA (Dec 18). Man, his presence really makes everyone focus in class. It's a bit strange training with a legend, but he's very friendly yet clearly in command and doesn't permit any fooling around. I really like the classes when he's there.
whizzard, how often is he there? i ask this out of curiousity, not disrespect
It varies, but he can go for months in a row without showing up. For instance, he was in Japan, then Brazil, then in Europe doing seminars for the past couple months. I hadn't seen him in 3 months. He tends to come in there irregularly now days. He might come in a handful of times in a given month then not at all for 2 months. It's not consistent.
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ChokEmOut -- What do you suggest as better places to train? When he's not there, you still have guys like Mauricio Costa (BB under Rickson), Chris Saunders (BB under Rickson), Henry Akins (Brown under Rickson)and Mario Aiello (BB under Royler) teaching. The instruction is top notch whether Rickson is there or not.
There are other good places in and around Los Angeles, of course. But it is pretty darn good whether Rickson is there or not IMO, but I've never trained elsewhere. Other guys who train at Rickson's place that have also trained elsewhere compare it pretty favorably to the other places - it is a bit more structured than some other BJJ academies.
Where do you train?
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