I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it here before, but Marcelo Garcia is my favorite BJJ practitioner. I live in Virginia, and never really realized how close New York was (poor geography skills I suppose). I finally made the trip this past weekend because I was up in New Jersey for a tournament.
First of all, the tournament was a disaster. Some of my teammates convinced me to go, then I found out the day of, after I’d already driven 4.5 hours to New Jersey, that only one of them was coming. So I basically drove up there to watch one teammate compete, and I only saw one of his matches. Unfortunately, that was a wasted day, and I should’ve just gone to Marcelo’s that day too. Since the teammates cancelled on me, I went to New York the next day with my friend Daniel.
Marcelo wasn’t there. It was a pretty big let-down, but it was great to see his gym anyway. We stayed for two classes and Marcos Tinoco taught the first and Matheus Diniz taught the second. I learned a few cool details from the back and arm drag. The warmup was tough for both classes, and it was hot in there. At the end we rolled for 4 or 5 rounds. I rolled with my friend, then a white belt from Egypt, a purple belt from Marcelo’s that was about my size, and another purple belt of his that was a lot bigger. It was a really great experience because I got to see how the elite guys are training.
I have to go back. I think I’m going to try to make the trip about once a month. It’s a bit pricey, but if I join MG in action again, the day passes are only $20 instead of $40. It’s about $20-25 in tolls each way to get there, and maybe $100-150 for a hotel each night. Totally worth it. I hope Marcelo is there next time, because he’s like my BJJ idol. I recently got a pretty significant raise and I’ve been thinking about trying to do a private with him sometime in the next few months. Overall, it was awesome, and I wish I lived closer. If I lived within an hour and a half, I would definitely train there full time. It legitimately had me considering moving to New Jersey, my least favorite state.