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Crazy 88′s Newest BJJ Blue Belt is Mr. Andrew Carter

Andrew Carter received the rank of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt on the first of May. The last few months have been very busy for “Mr” Carter as he passed the Maryland Bar exam, becoming a full-fledged lawyer and now a Crazy 88 BJJ Blue Belt as well. Carter specializes in the guard, causing the several members of the school to nickname his bottom game “the Carter guard”.

Carter won the NAGA World Championships in April 2012 and followed it up with an impressive run at the IBJJF NY Open, which he won as well. He earned his belt on the competition mats despite having a “real” career – this is one of the things we believe at Crazy 88, that there is no need to lower one’s standards because of “circumstances.”

Carter had the following comment on his promotion, “I am herewith returning the stipulation to dismiss in the above entitled matter; the same being duly executed by me.”

Andrew Carter became the 2nd Crazy 88 Blue Belt of 2012

Behind Enemy Lines or Third Times the Charm by Jon Delbrugge

The new venue for the Brazilian Nationals - it is usually at the famous Tijuca Tenis Clube.

About 4 years ago I walked into the doors of Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and my life changed Forever. Thanks to Julius Park the last three and a half years of my life have been 100% dedicated to training in every way. Day in and day out I have the same schedule that repeats its self just like any person with a full time job. At first I started out at the academy working as a new student councilor From there I was given the opportunity to help out with the kids classes and work with an expert kids instructor in Danny Ives. Now I help out with just about anything you can think of at the academy. Being here from the start and working my way up the ladder has really taught me a lot. On top of the training full time and being so closely connected to the academy, I am a husband as well. My wife is a successful salon owner/professional so she understands what its like to be dedicated to something you love and really be active in pursuing your visions. She is 100% supportive in everything I do and insists that every decision I make be based around my training, competing and working at the academy.

So far 2012 is just another year on the grind. But every year things get more serious and the stakes get higher. Of course there are times when it is rough and the competitions are not going so well. There are also times when I accomplish things for the first time in my life. On the way to mastering the art of grappling the road will be bumpy and there will be ups and downs but in the words of Steve Young “Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.”

Not a bad sight to wake up to.

This past weekend I was in Rio, Brazil competing behind enemy lines at the Brazilian Nationals with some members of the travel team at Crazy 88! This competition is notorious for being the toughest tournament in the world for the lower belts (blue-brown) mainly because some of the top up and coming grapplers can not fund the traveling costs for the international tournaments. This is actaully my third time competing in Brazil and my second time competing at the Brazilian Nationals so I was fully aware of how tough this tournament is. I was coming off a 1-1 performance at the European Open so at that point 2012 wasn’t all that great competition wise! Physically I seriously injured the MCL in my knee around April so I was unable to compete in the Pan Americans. Another obstacle that the process presents. Only choice I had was to get it better and keep on going. Coming into this tournament I was feeling good physically and mentally. I arrived in Brazil about 4 days before I competed so I got a chance to adjust physically and get some training in. This is very important for me these days because I am getting older so I need some time to calibrate my body to the traveling. I use everything I have physically and mentally for about 2 hours straight for a competition of this magnitude so preparation needs to be serious. The blue belts competed on Friday and they all did great. Every blue belt meddled at the tournament which is pretty crazy considering how prestigious this competition is and to get a %100 medal rate from blue belts is a great accomplishment. Pretty much unheard of!

After a few days in between it was time for the purple belts to compete Sunday. I was extremely focused and very prepared. This doesn’t always ensure a victory, but it helps.
I fought in a total of four matches in my weight class and one match in the open division. There were multiple place winners from previous “Grand Slam” tournaments in the division. Each match I had was extremely intense. As I said before, you have to give it literally everything you have from start to finish. I exchanged a lot of different positions and had to put a lot of pressure on my opponents. I made it to the finals of the middleweight division without being scored on. ALMOST! My opponent was given two points because I was getting excessively warned for multiple infractions that I almost had no control over LOL but thankfully I was able to win the semi finals match giving me the berth into the 2012 Brazilian Nationals Purple Belt Middle Weight Division Finals. WHEW. With a sentence that long you know its important. HAHAHA. I met up with my teammate Keenan Cornelius to close out the division. This was actually Keenan’s third international title from the “grand slam” series of tournaments this year. He is now one step closer to history. In the open division, I faced a solid competitor from Barbosa BJJ in Sao Paulo. I was winning the majority of the match until I made a crucial mistake by having my position off by about a margin of an inch. I ended up losing a tough match on points 8-4. I have already corrected and drilled the position that got me in trouble on Sunday. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Team Lloyd Irvin closed out the Purple Belt Middle division!

After the tournament I was able to relax a little bit and enjoy some food and lay on the beach. It was a great experience to be there with my little brother who also medaled and my wife. Because I train so much I do not have a social life that consists of partying and going out. The people I hang out with most are pretty much my little brother and my wife. So to be able to share an experience like this with my two best friends was awesome. I wish I could write about all of the activities or victory partying we did but honestly…..we just relaxed and laid around LOL. Like I said I am a homebody so I prefer to stay in over going out any day. I am very happy with my victories but I never let my self get satisfied with anything So my focus goes right back to competition and training for the World Championships in five weeks. Today I got right off the plane and into my home gym to do an intense movement workout. This evening was regular hard training as usual. There is absolutely no reason to take off from training for any reason other than an injury. I do not agree with taking a few days off after you win a tournament. Right back into the fire we go because you never know when your hard work will truly pay off. The team is sharp and our system at Crazy 88 produces real bonafied international competitors every year so every day we challenge each other. As awesome as everyone did at this tournament……WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED!!!!!

Brazilian Nationals 2012 by Devon Delbrugge

The Brazilian Nationals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is one of the biggest tournaments in the world. It is also known as THE toughest tournament for the lower belts (blue, purple, and brown) since the locals in Brazil cannot afford to fly out to California for the World Championships. Knowing all this, I was preparing myself for some very tough fights.

Acai - Looks like feces but tastes great!

My very first day in Brazil I was ready for anything, meaning that whether or not I liked it, I would still fight just as hard being that I was not there for vacation, but strictly to handle business. On the bright side, the weather was nice and the beach was beautiful, so most of the team decided to relax and get mentally and physically ready for the next day. To start off, we went to an open market with tons of fresh fruit and vegetables. This was perfect since most were either cutting weight or close and needed to watch what we eat. The people at the stands were literally hand feeding us these tasty, fresh fruit. After bringing these bags of fruit to the apartment, we went to the beach. We spent a few minutes lying in the sun before we went to the water. These waves in Rio were nothing like the ones in Ocean City, MD to say the least. We definitely got a little of exercise in the ocean. Later in the day it was time to get our drilling in. It is very important to go through your game plan before a big tournament. Fortunately, Ricardo Viera’s Check Mat gym was very close. Since most of their guys were competing in the tournament the next day, the class we went to was all drilling. We were able to even get a really good sweat in the gym with no air conditioning in addition to the hard drilling. To finish the day off we stopped and got some of the best Acai in Brazil on our way to get rest for the upcoming day.

Jon tried to communicate with me via sign language but I was only 2 feet away from him...

The team headed to the venue early for our first up, Cathy T.Z. Cathy started the day off with an amazing 4 submission wins for the gold medal. From there on out, the team just took the momentum and ran with it. In the end, every Crazy 88 competition team fighter medaled. I was under weight and ready to go. For many, the bullpen can be very intimidating. This tournament, I did not let any of it get to my head and was only worried about one thing, finishing my next opponent. My first three fights were all submissions, triangle, armbar, and paintbrush. The last win meant a lot to me, since in the previous two big tournaments I had lost in the quarterfinals which is the round before the medal round. The difference between the past two quarterfinals and this one was how I handled myself from being nervous. This time I just accepted being nervous and did not let the thoughts get in between the win and myself. My semi- finals match was very close. The opponent was very strong and was hard to sweep after he had swept me in the beginning of the match. I lost 2-0 and finished 3rd in my division. Up next was the absolute. I was entering with my other teammate, Al Washington, after he had received the silver medal in his division. My first match was against the same guy I had lost to in my division. I was ready to get my revenge. The match started very similar except for after he had swept me from the 50/50 guard, I had swept him back. The whole match I was pushing the pace and finished the match winning 4-2. I was very proud of my self, knowing that I could beat him and that I had just beat the guy who won my division.

After 2 Grand Slam losses in the Quarters, Devon broke through to the Medal Round.

The purple belts were able to get another day of rest after the blue belts fought, since the next day no one from the team was fighting. Team Lloyd Irvin had two purple belts fighting, both in the middle weight division. I always get very excited to see my brother compete. It was very fun to watch both my brother and Keenan steam roll through the entire middleweight division closing out the weight class. This division is always known as one of the toughest divisions at tournaments and having two Americans from Team Lloyd Irvin win it was very amazing.

I adopted two children while in Brazil but could not get them through customs.

The next day, we had heard from a local friend in the area that Team Lloyd Irvins amazing performance at the toughest tournament in the world was on the sports news. Overall, the trip to Brazil was very fun and beneficial to my jiu jitsu career. I was able to see a lot of famous jiu jitsu practitioners and the area of which some of the greatest have gown up in. I cannot wait until next year when I come back and get what I wanted, the gold medal. Until then, I will use this week to help me to my even bigger goal which is the worlds gold medal this upcoming May.

Devon Delbrugge

Everyone from Crazy 88 Competition Team medaled!

Jon Connelly Promoted to BJJ Blue Belt

Jon Connelly became Crazy 88's first faux-French Blue Belt

Jon “Jean-Pierre” Connelly received the rank of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt this Wednesday night. Jean-Pierre just split the White Belt Featherweight division at the NY Open with fellow Crazy 88 grappler, Andrew “Mr” Carter. At the Big Apple, Jean-Pierre was on fire, utilizing his Reverse De La Riva game to sweep and then smoothly transitioning to passes and back attacks; his closest match was the opener which he won 9-2.

Jean-Pierre has always done very well in the room but was inexperienced in competitive environments. Listening to the coaches, he desensitized himself to competing by putting himself into the grinder for months, doing circuits, and drilling. Every tournament he has gotten better both physically and mentally. He brought himself from a guy who was fighting below his ability in competition all the way to a guy who was fighting above it. He is definitely ready for the next challenge!

Congratulations to Jon!

Jean-Pierre enjoyed a nice celebratory meal after being beaten mercilessly.

NY Open of BJJ – Blue Belt and Purple Belt Opens are Ours!!!

Sandwiched between the weekends of the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials (in the far-off United Arab Emirates) and the Brazilian Nationals (the Brasileiro) was the New York International Open – and of course, Crazy 88 would be there.

The team would consist of our best White Belts and a strong Blue Belt and Purple Belt squad (although, we would be missing many of our most consistent place-winners).

Andrew “Mr.” Carter and Jean-Pierre Connelly closed out the White Belt Featherweight division in impressive fashion, each winning 3 matches apiece and either submitting or scoring huge point margins (the closest points match was Connelly being 7 points ahead at the end of the contest).

"You're the best friend I've ever had." "You... pretty okay, too."

In the Lightweight division, Peter Petties AKA “the Pied Piper” made an impressive IBJJF debut. After a 2-0 war in his first match, he utilized his wrestling to the fullest, using it to take his opponents down into side-mount and then finishing them from mount and a variety of dominant positions. He defeated 4 opponents to reach the finals where he received Silver with both him and his opponent getting disqualified at some point during the competition (LOL!).

His opponent was DQ’d by the officials after numerous last calls to the mat but Crazy 88 found him, brought him to the mat, and told the IBJJF officials, that we would do the match. As soon as the match began, Pete shot a beautiful takedown and lifted the guy off the mat as his opponent attempted a guillotine (not on). Pete was then DQ’d for “attempting to flee the mat”. Although it was an insane finish, Pete ended the day happy and it was a lesson learned!

Big Sal, Big Lakota, and Jumani wait for Petties to get started.

John Kim AKA “The Army’s Most Dangerous Man” and Tarie Miles closed out the White Belt Heavy bracket. There was only one other competitor in the division and he had the unfortunate task of facing 2 of our grapplers back-to-back.

Tarie has been putting in work and improving each time he gets out there.

Chris “Short Round” Tran was temporarily banned by the IBJJF from competing in the Adult division due to his age and so he returned to the Juvenile division where he threw his opponent for two points, earned a few advantages for pinning his opponent (who had a very good guard) in the half, and ended the match working a Brabo choke.

Short Round returned successfully to competition after being grounded for receiving a B+.

“Big Sal” Washington continued his medal streak, winning both the Blue Belt Ultra Heavy and the Blue Belt Open. He is flying to Brazil on Wednesday to compete at the Brazilian Nationals.

Big Sal knows you think he looks a lot like Wesley Snipes in Blade when he wears those sunglasses.

“Big Lakota” Patterson performed well at her first competition at a lower weight class. Lakita made the cut to 141 lbs and looked dominant in her 3 weight class matches where she won Gold! Taking a page out of Keith Cebula’s book, she decided to have an insane first match where she fell back 9 points but came back in the last minute to score 9 points herself and finish her opponent.

Lakita finished two girls again in the Open, before losing in the Finals. One Gold & One Silver for “Big Lak”.

Timmy Spriggs AKA #1 Stunna, fresh off the plane from the UAE, also double Gold-medaled, winning the Purple Belt Heavy and the Purple Belt Open. Timmy was his typically dominant self. This time, Timmy on his back a few times where he was forced to use his bottom game to win; his opponents forgot that Timmy started at Crazy 88 as a lightweight and has a full complement of “little guy” moves from the bottom.

Timmy Spriggs is one of the top Purple Belts in the World at Heavyweight and he showed NY why.

One year after winning the Blue Belt Middleweight division, Tye Ryan returned to the NY Open and won the Purple Belt Middleweight. Tye’s first match was against the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials winner who he defeated 9-2. After a tight second match, Tye entered the finals where he finished his opponent with a tight Bow & Arrow choke. In the Open, Tye outpointed a half-guard specialist before losing a narrow 5-4 barnburner match to the Ultra Heavy Gold medalist in the Semi-Finals.

Tye dominated the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials winner in his first match.

Overall, the team took 2nd place which is always impressive considering the competition took place right in the middle of New York City – an area which probably has 100 BJJ schools in 15 mile radius and many of our key players were missing.

Next up, Brazilian Nationals!

Team Lloyd Irvin the 2nd best team in NYC without any schools there!