Contact:
Phone: 5037384080
Email: zjadamson@gmail.com
Website: www.orbjj.com
Address:
1601 S. Roosevelt
Seaside Oregon
97138
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Here’s a match from Coach Zach Adamson from the Revolution Tournament, in Seattle in early 2010. Notice how he uses the “Garcia Roll,” to get the finish from the back.
Invisible Jiu Jitsu
Invisible Jiu Jitsu. I heard this term for the first time about a year and a half ago on the Fightworks Podcast when they were interviewing non other than Rickson Gracie. Since that time I have heard it come up a few other times but most people never address it or speak of it, why you say, well because many might simply say, what the hell is it. I believe like most metaphysical things that one can not touch, hear, smell or see it with there own senses, that it is up to the individual to determine what “IT” is.
I liken it to an analogy which involves sports highlights. Stay with me here for a minute. It came to me as I was catching a ESPN top ten greatest plays, you know the ones where Lebron spins through 5 guys from 20 feet out and with his back turned to the basket falling in the opposite direction, without looking puts the ball up, over, and between two 7 foot tall defenders and into the basket for two and usually an and 1 or the receiver who shakes the relentless defensive back only to have to leap into the air moving in the opposite direction as the ball, reaches back across his body one handed bringing the ball in by his fingertips, than manges to spot the landing, which is a quarter of an inch from the side line, reverse his momentum to stay in bounds, get his feet underneath him and gracefully at near unimaginable speed burst down the sideline into the endzone for 6.
Many might say, wow what luck that was that those guys pulled that off, I say luck had nothing to do with it. It was body awareness, and countless hours of drilling, YES there is drilling outside of Jiu Jitsu. I am gonna start with the drilling concept first. Drilling as monotonous as it may be refines technique, creates muscle memory, strengthens muscles and coordination, speeds up timing and improves your overall flow. All these benefits or added attributes gained from drilling increases your body awareness. What I mean by body awareness is knowing where you are at any given moment during the rolling session. An example might be knowing where you want your weight, grips, and leverage weather you are in the guard, playing guard, or even inverted. It is not enough to not only know where you are at any given moment but more importantly where you are going to be next, whether this is by your intentions or that of your training partner or opponent.
I believe that as your technique develops and grows so will your Jiu Jitsu vision, seeing the invisible by feeling the invisible. As you continue to drill your technique either by solo, partner or flow drills you will not only see and feel what “IS” there, you will be able to see, sense and feel the gaps which are not visible to the eye because it those spaces are ingrained into you higher conscious from countless hours of drilling and training, the same way the basketball player can put the ball into the air with his back turned the basket with confidence seeing what he cannot physically see because he knows where his body is at that given moment in relation to his teammates, his opponents and the objective.
Something that works for me and may not be for you, is to roll from time to time with my eyes closed. This drill forces me to flow and makes it so that I can not react to what is visible and instead I can only react to what is felt at that specific moment. I am able to feel the opponents weight and balance, I know when they are going to move or shift, so that I can be a head of them in the loop. For me invisible Jiu Jitsu is seeing those parts or unseen gaps in the art which can only be anticipated and felt. This is something that I will continue to develop throughout my Jiu Jitsu journey. My money says that through drilling and more drilling, with a side of drilling for added effect you will develop your own meaning of invisible Jiu Jitsu and at the very least become a monster on the mats.
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Rafael Lovato Jr. talking about his training at Seaside Jiu Jitsu Academy!
Get Primal! →
As combat athletes we largely follow a health philosophy that in large part acts to mimic the diet and physical activity of our pre-agricultural ancestors. Check out the link attached to learn more about the primal lifestyle!
Kids Jiu Jitsu
One of the most rewarding experiences of my life thus far has been teaching the values of jiu jitsu to the kids in our community. This last Tuesday we promoted our first orange belts in our kids program. The three boys who were promoted have dedicated years of training with us, I have seen them all develop into great jiu jitsu practitioners. Along with a great jiu jitsu game the biggest changes I’ve noticed have been in their personality and the way they carry themselves. Confidence, self-respect, teamwork, self-discipline, and patience have been just a few of the values these young warriors possess. The future is looking very bright for our young students, and I’m excited to see how they’ll impact our community in a positive way in the future! If you know of a young boy or girl who would be interested in learning jiu jitsu and all its accompanying values, feel free to contact us or bring them in to try out a class. Check out all the photos from the promotions on our BJJ Seaside Facebook fan page under the Flickr tab.
Evolution of Jiu Jitsu in the NorthWest
I’m constantly amazed by the steady progress at which jiu jitsu has been able to spread its influence across the world. I’ve seen and experienced this evolution first hand here in the Pacific Northwest. When I say the Pacific Northwest I’m primarily talking about Oregon and Washington. I’ve seen jiu jitsu spread its wings through the growth of academies, the promotion of more high-level black and brown belts, and the increase of local competitions in the Portland and Seattle areas.
When I first started training jiu jitsu in late 2002 I was fascinated by the way this type of martial art engulfed my interest, as well as many of my closest friends. And apparently I wasn’t the only one that felt this way. Shortly after I started, jiu jitsu had gone viral and was spreading like wild fire. I knew we were a part of something special, something that would eventually be mainstream. The lime light finally came for jiu jitsu in the form of UFC and its television show the Ultimate Fighter Series. This was the defining point when jiu jitsu was becoming a house hold name that people recognized. At that point and time I trained with a small academy in Astoria, Oregon, and I also attended NWMA in Eugene, while attending school at Lane Community College. When I started training at NWMA there was about 30-40 students including only a few purple and blue belts. Now fast forward to 2010 and their academy is in a new location with easily 100+ students with black and brown belts on the rise. The school I attended in Astoria is still there today but hasn’t seen the growth that most schools in the Northwest have. I’ve noticed rapid growth in the NW with competing teams: Gracie Barra, Marcelo Alonso Team, Impact, NWMA, Pedro Sauer Team, and of course our home academy in Seaside which has grown from a handful of students to over 70 members now.
Along with the abundance of academies that have popped up in the last few years, there has also been a huge influx of higher belts. There’s close to twenty black belts in Oregon alone, along with a slew of brown belts. Even though I believe we as a whole are behind the curve as far as the national competition scene, there’s been major gains in the last few years. Having access to so many black belts in the state is helping rapidly raise the technical level of jiu jitsu players in the NW. More advanced positions and training partners are contributing to build ultra tough guys who are starting to make a name for themselves locally, and at the national level. There’s been students from local academies winning the World Championships at the blue and purple belt levels and I don’t think the brown and black belts trail far behind. Along with the Worlds competition, local guys and all belts are medaling at the Pan Ams, Nationals, US Open, American Cup, Grapplers Quest and IBJJF International Open events. Its good to see the steady growth of the competitors coming from the Northwest. In the next few years I can guarantee some of the tough schools around here will produce even more champions.
Since I love to compete and have been frequently competing in tournaments since 2003 I’ve experienced the huge explosion of the competition scene first hand. When I competed in my first tournament in Hillsboro, OR in the summer of 2003 there was about 85 competitors all crammed on the top floor of an old gym with a room temperature hot enough to make you pass out by just standing there.
Since then tournaments like the Oregon Open have had close to 600 competitors, and The Revolution Tournament has above 500 competitors. We now have huge blue belt divisions and at least a few fights for the purple belts at all weight levels. There’s even starting to be brown belt divisions with a few competitors in each bracket.
Along with more colored belts competing, the level of the competitors is also almost on par with some of the smaller tournaments across the nation like Grapplers Quest and NAGA. With local tournaments busting at the seams it wont be very long until we have an event with over 1000+ competitors. All these combined factors are pushing the evolution of jiu jitsu at a rate this area of the world has never experienced. If your like me, you are excited for what the future will bring for this amazing martial art.
Article Written by: Zach Adamson, Seaside Jiu Jitsu Brown Belt
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American Nationals tournament was monumental for Oregon jiu jitsu!
This past weekend I had the fortune to represent Northwest Jiu Jitsu (Team Ribiero) and compete in the US Nationals at California State Dominguez Hills. I flew to Los Angles with good friends and fellow competitors Zach Adamson (SBJJ/Lovato/Ribiero)) and Tom Oberhue (Five Rings/Ribiero) who all competed as part of Team Ribiero. This was to be my first competition on such a large stage. The vibe inside the venue is one that must be experienced to fully grasp, as you are engulfed in the spirit of Jiu Jitsu competition.
I was the first to compete on Saturday in the blue belt seniors 1 featherweight division. I was able to put on what I believe to be a strong display of good Jiu Jitsu, constantly pushing the pace and attempting numerous submissions and sweeps. Even though I fought hard, in the end my opponent was able to win on points by finally passing and securing a guard pass, I learned a great deal from the match and still secured a silver medal adding overall points for the team and had fun doing so. The thing that I am most proud of is that I was able to honor two academies by demonstrating techniques which I have obtained from each. I started the match by pulling guard and instantly going inverted side to side to stop a pass attempt and secure the closed guard, this is a technique I learned from Zach Adamson while training with him at the Seaside academy. Once in closed guard I worked numerous submission attempts using “hand position #2”, which I learned from Tom Oberhue training at Five Rings Academy. I was able to work a half guard transition to Z guard nearly landing the sweep, a technique that Zach taught me and I have been using in my game for some time now. I was able to use a cross sides guard recovery that Tom taught to frustrate my opponent, keep him from passing and recover the closed guard. Looking over the video of my match I can see how my training at both Seaside BJJ and Five Rings BJJ prepared me for a stage like the US Nationals.
Zach, Tom and James Popoulo (Lovato Oregon/Ribiero) all competed on Sunday. Zach was first to go in the adult purple lightweight division. Zach had the most stacked division of all of us and did an amazing job fighting his way to the finals, securing a silver medal. Zach tore through the first three competitors, controlling the pace and direction of every fight. I learned a great deal watching Zach fight, his top pressure was astounding and wore his competition down. Even though Zach was always up by a large margin in points he finished his fights with a clean submission via a choke. Zach faced a very strong competitor in the finals and they were tied 2-2 with one advantage each when they fell into a 50/50. Zach fought hard to gain the dominating position of this frustrating and neutral position, and just as the final seconds ticked away his opponent was able to come up on top and secure the 2 points for a sweep.
Zach went on the enter the absolute division and again fought very hard for himself and Team Ribiero, securing a bronze medal. Zach started the open class going against a much larger and heavier opponent. Zach controlled the fight and pushed the pace racking up points, with seconds left Zach sent a message to the entire open division by submitting the much larger opponent with a bow and arrow choke, letting them know he will not go easily. Zach continued to submit the opposition all the way into the semi finals where he finished with a bronze medal.
James Popoulo, our friend from Salem Oregon, fellow training partner and teammate from Team Lovato/Ribiero dominated the brown belt adult division. James won the gold medal in both his weight division and the absolute. James performance at the US Nationals and a write up about him can be found on Graciemag.com. James is a phenomenal competitor, amazing friend, training partner and asset to our Oregon group.
Tom Oberhue from Portland Oregon, black belt owner and operator of Five Rings Jiu Jitsu put on a marathon of a weekend. Tom not only competed in black belt seniors 1 division and black belt seniors 1 open division, wining a silver medal in each, but he also was an IBJJF referee during the event both days. Tom always made sure that he took his breaks from refereeing so that he could help coach and video tape mine and Zach’s matches, his enthusiasm and stamina is off the charts. Tom used his strong side control and mount techniques to win his first match 16-2. Tom continued on winning until the finals where he fought hard and finished with the silver. Tom had to referee a few more hours before entering the absolute, where he faced the same opponent in the finals and again fought hard securing another silver medal for the team.
It was an amazing time competing at such a large tournament and having the privilege to be part of the Ribiero Team. The four of us from Oregon all won medals returning with a combined total of 7. Not only were we able to return to our home academies with some bling we also helped contribute to the overall points of Team Ribiero, which returned to San Diego with the third place team title trophy. But more important than any medals or trophies we solidified friendships and made new ones, we showed the Jiu Jitsu community that Oregon is relevant and we are going to bring good, tough jiu jitsu to the competition scene. Keeps your eyes and ears posted as Seaside BJJ, Five Rings BJJ and Lovato Salem come together to represent our academies and the Ribiero/Lovato organization as whole in future northwest tournaments.
Aaron Sparling- Seaside Jiu Jitsu Academy Blue Belt
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