UK Seminar 09 Part I
The 2009 UK seminar was one that I looked forward to with great anticipation. It would be my first time to Europe, and my first time to see Stephen Greenaway, Paul Laver, Jamie Jackson, and the lovely Kirsty Geoghegan on their own turf. Since all my interactions with Stephen have been nothing short of excellent, I decided to make him my first official RDA affiliate. I was looking forward to meeting his students, and sharing as much BJJ as they could possibly stand.
Rick Ellis and Glen Farris also joined me for the adventure. Rick is in involved with an independent documentary on jiu jitsu, and Glenn was the chief videographer. We captured much of the trip on film, and in pictures. As you can see, even documenting the documentation is important for these media moguls.
Flying out of Bend on Monday, we arrived in Heathrow on Tuesday, and were whisked from London to Bournemouth by our gracious hosts. They set us up at a Ramada Encore hotel, which had a cool minimalist euro vibe to it. On Wednesday, I gave Stephen a private lesson and taught his evening BJJ class. I started with several basics that the students were noticeably crisp on. I rolled with everyone at the end of class, one at a time, as the others watched and observed. I was pleased with how his students were progressing, and saw that he had a strong base to build his Academy on.
A day trip to London took place the next morning. Although I had scheduled a private lesson with Roger Gracie, he contracted a case of the mumps and was still recovering. In retrospect, it was fortunate that I could devote all my energy to exploring London on foot. There was so much to see. Stone buildings. Lush parks. Underground transport. The multiculturalism was refreshing. I don’t know if I would want to live in London full time, but it certainly was a joy to visit.
On Friday, we took a pilgrimage to Stonehenge, which needs no introduction or explanation, as it was made famous in the cutting edge documentary “This is Spinal Tap.” The version they had in England was not only quite a bit bigger than the stage model used by the Tap, I have to admit, it was even more powerful.
Amazing. Alien. Stones. Like giant 11’s.
To be continued…
Comments
Great shots. Great write up.
It is funny that our generation identifies Stone Henge first and formost with Spinal Tap. My first thought when I visited Stone Henge was, “Now these are in no danger of being trampled by dwarfs.”