Mike Diaz Gracie Jiu Jitsu Seminar – May 2013

After months of preparation and build up, Pedro Sauer Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Association 2^nd Degree Black Belt Mike Diaz came to Laurence Sandum’s Black Belt Martial Arts Academy in Chelmsford in May 2013, for his first ever visit to the UK.

The weekend of seminars began at Dave Birkett’s club, Dartford BJJ. The session focused mainly on submissions, starting from an arm wrap in guard position, before then moving on to an informal Q&A session.

Saturday’s sessions focused on the PSBJJA White to Blue Belt in preparation for the impending testing on Sunday morning. Mike was keen to give points of fine tuning to make the techniques even more effective.

After the preparation of Saturday, Sunday started out with assessment; with some people, including myself, testing for Blue Belt and others testing for stripes on their White Belts. After a lengthy and thorough three and a half hours, we were done; I am pleased to say that everyone who tested was successful!

Sunday afternoon’s session again took the format of a Q&A session, where attendees had the chance to ask Mike how he might deal with a particular position or problem they were having.

A huge thank you to Mike for travelling across the Atlantic and leaving his own full time martial arts academy in Park City, Utah, USA.

A final thank you must be made to Guro Laurence Sandum. His hard work, much of which is behind the scenes to most, means that we have the opportunity to train with the best of the best, so close to home!