I probably should have made this my first post, but I just got a little ahead of myself explaining how I am going to Rio. Anyhow, as it currently stands I am ranked as a third strip blue belt at Jamel McCurry's academy in Detroit, MI.
How This Addiction Began
I graduated high school as a small little surfer kid from Southern Cali, I was 5'9" and weighed a hefty 140lbs. Not very intimidating, but of course I thought I was. Once I started college I got really into weight lifting. Sick of being a little guy, and convinced that my size determined how much of a bad ass I was (I know I know but I was like 18/19 then) I started eating everything I could taking supplements and lifting like a madman. Over the next few years I my weight went up to a pretty solid 175lbs and I was feeling much better about myself.
Going into my third year of college at SDSU my bestfriend Ves and I decided that we needed to learn how to throw a real punch. Ves is Cambodian and his father fought real Thai Boxing back in Cambodia, so he convinced me to check out a Thai Boxing school near the college. We went, signed up, and started training three times a week. It was awesome, this wasn't cardio kickboxing but real Thai Boxing. Because we could train during the day, being students and all, we often got one on one instruction from Chris the head instructor (I think the name of the school was Black Tiger, or something like that...it's been a while). This went on for a year or so and then one day a Brazilian guy came into the school and talked with Chris.
Jumpin Ship
After leaving Chris was like in awe of this guy, Odie Neto, how Ves and I had never heard of. Keep in mind that this would have been back when Ken Shamrock was a big name and the Lions Den was a major MMA school. From what I can remember Odie was supposed to fight for the Lions Den in the UFC and was going to Chris to learn Thai Boxing. Odie was a blackbelt in BJJ and operated his own academy (still does, netoacademy.com). He started training with Ves and I for a few months. It was cool because he wanted to always go a little harder than we were supposed to. After a while he invited us down to check out his academy and this style known as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Open minded we did, and after the first class we were both hooked. About a month later we cancelled at the Thai school and were doing BJJ whenever we could.
After three years, I had competed a few times and was a one stripe bluebelt. At this point I was graduating college (five year plan) and thinking about my future. So what does any kid that just graduated from college do? I joined the military, the Coast Guard more exact.
Away From the Game
Thanks to the Coast Guard I couldn't train for the first three years I was in. I was stationed on the Great Lakes and there was not much JiuJitsu at that time up there. The last year I found a school in Detroit under Jamel McCurry (a blackbelt under Carlos Machado, jamelbjjacademy.com) and restarted my training. It has been amazing training with Jamel. The kind of game that he plays is the style that I want to be able to impose. Under him I have grown to a third strip bluebelt, and feel like my game is finally starting to come together.
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