BJ Penn mentioned in a recent interview that after he won the mundials, he wrestled for West Valley Junior College. I found an excerpt from his book on-line where he mentions that he participated in a few events and did well, but never accomplished any major titles or even came close.
Anyone know anything more about this?
I have wondered how an accomplished BJJ athlete would do if they took up wrestling without prior experience. There are many examples going the other way -- accomplished wrestlers who have done well in BJJ -- but I don't know of any like this. Very curious how he fared.
i thought Rickey Lundel took up wrestling to help his BJJ, but i could be wrong...
Lundell did and ESPN did a great article on it. That was before Cael bolted to Sandusky State.
Interesting. I think I do remember hearing about Lundell. Here's the espn article about him:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3902916
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I read his book and if I recall correctly, I don't think he actually competed in wrestling. He mentioned that he was a red shirt when he was on his junior college's wrestling team. Not exactly sure, but if you are red shirted that means you train with the team but don't actually compete right?
He never mentioned anything about wrestling at a high school level so it's quite amazing that he was simply able to walk onto a college team.
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RoidGracie,
You partly right. Redshirt essentially means you're officially apart of the team but you have to forgo a year of eligibility. In other words, you have to sit out one year (or season) where you can't compete but you can train with the team.
Usually redshirted athletes are athletes who transfered from one college athletic program to another. They have to sit out a year before they can officially compete for their new college team.
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m.g - RoidGracie,
You partly right. Redshirt essentially means you're officially apart of the team but you have to forgo a year of eligibility. In other words, you have to sit out one year (or season) where you can't compete but you can train with the team.
Usually redshirted athletes are athletes who transfered from one college athletic program to another. They have to sit out a year before they can officially compete for their new college team.
Thanks, I always wondered what that meant 
m.g - RoidGracie,
You partly right. Redshirt essentially means you're officially apart of the team but you have to forgo a year of eligibility. In other words, you have to sit out one year (or season) where you can't compete but you can train with the team.
Usually redshirted athletes are athletes who transfered from one college athletic program to another. They have to sit out a year before they can officially compete for their new college team.
you don't forgo a year of eligibilty. that is why you have 5th year seniors, they were redshrited their freshman year.
(not sure if this is what you meant with the "forgo year of eligibilty)
-you still get to play four years.
BJ apparently didn't finish school though. I believe he was only there for a year, hence why I don't think he actually competed for his team. I could be wrong though.
As a redshirt you can compete "unattached" at open tournaments, so its possible he did actually compete. 
Tom Lawlor - As a redshirt you can compete "unattached" at open tournaments, so its possible he did actually compete.
Is it possible to be red shirted after your freshman year? Or is it like once youve competed then your 4 year clock is ticking?
^^^
Yes. It happens in football quite a bit. You can actually have two redshirt years in college. You can take a year off of eligibility like a red shirt freshman then you can also take a medical redshirt if you receive an injury that will not let you play that season. But you only get one of each type of redshirt.
At least that’s how it was when I was playing. I know guys that were 6 year seniors. I also knew a guy who was a quarter back and played his freshman year because the starting quarterback was injured and took a medical redshirt that year. He then took his redshirt year his sophomore year when the original quarterback was able to play.
He competed some and had good results. He had a really good single that he could score with and would basically take the back a lot when working on the mat.
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In his book, he says that he competed. He just doesn't say anything more about it than I said in the OP.
delicious bass: how do you have this info? ^^
I used to train with him quite a bit back then.
Here's a quote from BJ: "... I've stayed with Nova Uniao for 12 years now, I've always stayed with them, but there are so many different teachers over the years from my junior college wrestling coach, Jim Root at West Valley, to more and more and more. I mean, so many different teachers have taught me through the years that I don't even know. I guess the learning never stops. "
He is a good wrestler. Since then, he's trained with many good wrestlers including Randy C. and Matt Lindland.
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Sleepbomb,
What I meant by forgo a year of eligibility was skipping a year or season of eligibility in order to keep all the years of eligibility intact.
Like you said, there are many fifth year seniors playing ball because they decided to redshirt or forgo a season of eligibility (in other words offically not play/compete) so that they could play that fifth year in school.
misterw - BJ Penn mentioned in a recent interview that after he won the mundials, he wrestled for West Valley Junior College. I found an excerpt from his book on-line where he mentions that he participated in a few events and did well, but never accomplished any major titles or even came close.
Anyone know anything more about this?
I have wondered how an accomplished BJJ athlete would do if they took up wrestling without prior experience. There are many examples going the other way -- accomplished wrestlers who have done well in BJJ -- but I don't know of any like this. Very curious how he fared.
I have done bjj for over 2 years now with judo and I am now starting wrestling. As long as you have mat awareness you fit in pretty well especially using judo. Only problem I have is getting to comfortable on my back.
Tubster, what level are you wrestling at? Highschool, college or club?
Tom Lawlor is correct. BJ did compete in some open tourneys from what I recall.
Wrestling is not an easy sport for adults to pick up. It is much easier to learn it as a kid. It is rare to find someone of even a grappling background that can compete at any level of wrestling agaisnt true wrestlers.
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