Full circle in Los Angeles garage gym

Around 1999-2000, I bought my first ever Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructional tapes. They were a bunch of big, bulky VHS tapes, that I clearly remember came with the mail one afternoon when I got home from school. I was extremely excited to watch the tapes and see what this BJJ was all the about, so I could go to my Jeet Kune Do gym and practice it.

Chris Haueter was the guy teaching on the tapes, and I swallowed every bit of information on them. Today, more than ten years later, I am staying in his house for a round the world BJJ trip. I some way, I have come full circle. It is fun to think about how I ordered those tapes and that decision somehow shaped my life into what I am doing today and how I ended up sitting in his house right now.

Being a true BJJ Globetrotter, I have actually been a little disappointed, that I haven’t slept in a gym yet. So sleeping in Chris’ garage gym is really cool and very, very authentic. Chris has a very different and interesting approach to Jiu Jitsu than most others, and it shows in this garage. Tomorrow, I will be competing at the worlds and after that I will roll here with Chris and maybe go to Cobrinha’s school, depending on when I get a ticket to out of here.

I have spent the day relaxing. John from Kauai Kimonos and Søren, my friend from San Francisco are coming here to stay too.

The house is very close to Redondo Beach so I took a bicycle ride by the beach at a very slow pace, and I think that’s about all I want to spend my energy on today, while trying to rest my sore body before stepping on the mat tomorrow :)