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Judo Background

I began training Judo more than 10 years ago, at Kokoro Judo, in Austin, TX. I got all of my ranks through shodan (first black belt rank) there. I competed throughout central texas, with a very strong record, winning gold or silver at every competition I participated in with 2 exceptions.

Kokoro did not have one single instructor, but instead classes were taught by a variety of black belts. The primary organizers of the club are Glenn Macias and Dario Alvarez, but I had the good fortune to train with many skilled Judoka from around the world there.

My nidan (second degree black belt) rank was advocated for by hachidan (eighth degree black belt) Ron Hansen. After approval by USA Judo, it was awarded to me in 2019 at a seminar with Travis Stevens present (though to be clear, I have no direct training relationship with Travis Stevens).

My rank is recognized and documented under USA Judo, the primary Judo org in the US.

Jiu Jitsu Background

I began jiu jitsu shortly after turning 16, in Austin, TX, under William Vandry, though I never received a rank under him. I traveled for a few years when I turned 18, training occasionally.

Years later, when I returned, I began training again in Austin, under David Thomas (himself a black belt under Travis Tooke, who was under Carlos Gracie Jr). I received my blue belt under him; within less than a year I won 3 golds in a competition, with every win by submission. I was awarded my purple belt the next day. Within 6 weeks, I competed at purple belt and in the advanced (highest skill level) no-gi division at NAGA, and again won double golds; in no-gi in particular, I beat a black belt with a score of 14-0, and all other wins by submission, showing the promotion was not premature.

I stopped training with Dave Thomas shortly thereafter, and focused on Judo, sometimes attending open mats around town, developing a strong network in the Austin community.

Around three years later, some months after getting my shodan in Judo and being problematically under-ranked at jiu jitsu at this point, I took a trip through Europe, and trained Jiu Jitsu and Judo in Northern Ireland, Portugal, Germany, and finally Poland.

In Germany and Poland, I attended camps run by BJJ Globetrotters, a large organization of jiujitsu practitioners who are very much about ignoring 'politics' in jiu jitsu and focusing on enjoying the sport as friends. They run camps around the world where people from around the world study and spar together for a week.

On rare occassion, if requested, the Globetrotters will allow students who don't have an instructor to request the black belt instructors present to collectively decide if a promotion is merited. In must be unanimous.

While I did not request a promotion, my performance was noteworthy enough that Oliver Geddes pushed strongly for my promotion, and the other instructors agreed, promoting me to brown belt in Poland, in October 2017.

I shortly therafter co-led a gym in the mountains of North Carolina with another brown belt for close to two years, bringing Judo back to an area where Maeda had first brought it a century before. In 2019 I taught Judo for Jiu Jitsu at the first Arizona Globetrotters camp.

I competed a decent amount at brown belt, and with the exception of one competition I entered while injured in the UK (where I got two silvers), I otherwise got 8 gold medals (every division I entered), which included an open weight division in Austin and a division where I went up a weight class in Ireland. Of these matches, all but two were by submission.

During Covid, I moved abroad. I lived as a traveler for years. As Covid eventually eased up, I trained when my travels permitted.

Finally, being many years overdue, and having not had an instructor for 10 years, I attended the Jiu Jitsu camp in Poland I had originally received my brown belt at. A few days after the 7th anniversary at brown belt, I received unanimous approval from the black belts present to be promoted to black belt in jiu jitsu.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe I was only the 5th person to ever receive a Globetrotters black belt; it's exceedingly rare to get a group of black belts to unanimously sign off on this rank.

I should also note that it was Francesco Fonte who specifically advocated for my promotion and encouraged me to pursue this promotion. There are various other black belts that offered to promote me over the years, but I did not want to 'just get my rank'; I wanted to get it in a way that mattered to me.

While in the end I decided that the most fitting path for me was to get a 'rank without lineage', through comittee, as I spent many more years teaching myself than I was ever taught, I should say that the only person I considered accepting the belt from that offered it to me was Francesco.

Support and validation for my rank from my peers in the Jiu Jitsu community can be found here, on beltchecker.

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