Sorry for the no post yesterday, I was at a work function all day.
But Rick Brady of Middle Age BJJ asked a question that I wanted to respond to a little more fully in a post.
In the extremely brief time I have spend with both Ribeiro brothers, at the risk of sounding sappy, it gives me great peace of mind that we are associated with them. Both brothers I have found to be warm, encouraging, and a pleasure to learn from in the seminars they have done at our academy. I also like the mission and attitude behind the association, and the concept they seem to take to heart, which is “a black belt is a white belt that never gives up.”
I also find it kind of fun that (at least at the time) Xande had a thing for castle analogies, and Saulo has a thing for army analogies.
But, for a better example, at this past Pan games in California, Saulo checked in on the status of our entire team, who won, who lost, not just through John, our instructor, through us, personally. He wanted to hear us explain what happened.
I know that may seem trivial, but this is a man that has academies bearing his and his brother’s association emblems throughout the United States, and he was talking with a small fraction of the entire association. I don’t know how other big name black belts run their associations, but this kind of behavior I wouldn’t expect and am highly pleased to find at the top of the entire organization.
I know this kind of sounds like everything is gumdrops and sunshine, which of course very few things in life are ( like unicorns, and chocolate chip cookies), but really I cannot find any problems that would give reason to pause or doubt. I can honestly say I am happy our academy is a part of the Ribeiro Association.
So, each year The Ribeiro Association holds and annual tournament for all the academies to get together and compete: like an ENORMOUS in house. This year it is being held at Rafael Lovato Jr.’s Academy in Oklahoma City, OK.
According to the Maxercise Blog by our Purple Belt Maggie, there is some talk of driving to Oklahoma for the tournament. I’m down with that, I’ll just ride with these guys:
Looks legit.
A Skirt on the Mat 