Our team did GREAT this Sunday DEC 2nd at the
Royler Gracie Jiu Jitsu Championships! We took 1st or
placed in almost every division we had fighters
in!<br><br>Here is a message from team member, Sundara Brown,
Blue Belt at our club, to
everyone:<br><br>--------------------<br><br>Members: <br><br>I'd like to take
this opportunity to
express how extremely grateful I am to be a member of the
Basulto team. I have an immense amount of appreciation
for everyone's performances on the mat yesterday
(especially Marcus- 1st place AND most technical!
AWESOME!)<br><br>One thing in particular, though, made a deep
impression in my heart- the performances that took place OFF
the mat. The level of support and affection and
respect and goodness that was exhibited amongst all of us
yesterday was unparalleled. Every single team member that
was present there gave their all, not only on the
mat, but off the mat with each other as well. Every
time I turned my head I saw one of my teamates either
coaching, or encouraging, or training with, or warming up
etc. another. That constant supportive interaction
actually created an element in which the execution of each
individual's jiu-jitsu became extremely favorable. And the
results showed.<br><br>We've been training together for a
while now, and all this time we thought that Armando
was only teaching us jiu-jitsu. After yesterday, it
became clear to me, as I'm sure it did to everyone else,
that we've been learning so much more. All this time
he's been teaching us how to give ourselves to each
other. Yesterday proved that we had, in fact, learned
that most important of lessons.<br><br>St. Augustine
once defined love as "wanting the other to be". By
this he meant that when one feels affection for
another, the source of that individual's happiness becomes
the happiness of the other. And everyone can easily
agree that yesterday all of us shared much happiness.
In this way, a constantly reoccurring dynamic of
positive reinforcement was going on. <br><br>This kind of
thing is contagious. Other people noticed it too. David
Adiv personally went to Armando and told him, "Your
guys really give their all for you!"<br><br>Team
Basulto proved yesterday that either you succeed together
or you don't succeed at all. Each time one of our
team members went out on that mat yesterday, he did
not go alone. He went with the full support,
blessings, and well-wishes of all of his team mates.
<br><br>We have an incredible group of people here, and
we've all been blessed with each other's association,
knowledge, experience, and, of course, with each other's
friendship. I'm convinced that not only I, but all of us,
hold that very dearly.<br><br>From the bottom of my
heart, thank you to all of you. See you tomorrow night!
<br><br>With gratitude, <br>Sundara