Fat Guy in a Little Gi – Discipulus vagi luctationis and the trip that made me so 
We live in an awesome time in the grappling community. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is becoming even bigger and other grappling arts are gaining more notoriety. For the first time in ages, Catch-As-Catch-Can wrestling is seeing a resurgence off the heels of Josh Barnett’s ending of Dean Lister’s no submission streak. Sambo is once again proving its effectiveness on the world stage with younger Russian fighters starting to make a name for themselves (Khabib anyone?). Yet, there is one thing I personally am happier about; the return of the wandering student. In ancient China and Japan, martial artists would roam their countries and visit schools to challenge themselves against that school’s doctrine. Sometimes this was in the form of challenge matches, but most often it was in the form of spending time learning as a student from these other schools to augment their current abilities. Now, hundreds of years later, we see the same thing happening with BJJ and other grappling schools. Practitioners have been doing it for years now, but it wasn’t until guys like Stuart Cooper and Christian Graugart that the movement gained momentum. I am happy to say, I have joined them.
Before I go on, I want to explain this blog’s title a little bit. Discipulus vagi luctationis is what Google Translate told me Student of Grappling was in Latin. Why Latin? Well because wrestling as we know it started in Greece and Latin was the primary language back then. Why a weird other language for a title? Well I was hoping to coin a new title to name us wondering students. I want us to have our own title, but it was a little long. Simple solution though, I am shorting it to “discipulus.” It may not catch on, but you know what, from here on out it is what I am going to call myself. I am sure my Marine brother and one of the greatest grappling theory mentors I know, George Pardos, will agree it is applicable. Moving on.
For me, the hardest part of going to another school was the fear of being labeled Creonte. Some people reading this may not understand what that word means, for BJJ specifically it roughly means someone who leaves their school and trains somewhere else against their prior school. Of course there are always circumstances where someone can leave and not be considered Creonte, in my opinion it has always been about the spirit of why someone left. Anyways, my biggest issue was always, would I be viewed as Creonte? For those who have the similar issue, the answer is a surprising no. When you visit other schools for knowledge to bring back with you, all you are doing is enriching yourself and your school, and your professor. Grappling is one of the only martial arts you truly make your own. Something that works for Keenan Cornelius or Marcelo Garcia may not work for someone who is 260lbs of raw unadulterated saturated fat. Yet, learning from them, would allow that same person to take their ideologies and techniques, and make them their own. When you wander and learn, you become a better grappler, and when you return home to the gym that is family, you are able to show them new and exciting ideologies and explain how your own ideologies fared against them in live rolling. It is truly a wonderful feeling.
I decided a few years back that I wanted to do this, but never really had the nerve (as I said above) and I was always worried about spending the money. One day my parents told me that their time share was over points and they had to spend them before they expire, and they could cash them in for hotels all throughout the county if I didn’t want to go to a resort. We talked and they agreed that I could take some smaller trips rather than one giant one. The wife and I decided each of us would get a weekend away with friends and then a trip together. I told my mat brother and best bro Eric we could go somewhere finally and join the discipulus movement. He lost his mind to excitement and we both knew where we wanted to go in an instant, Roy Dean Academy*.
*Some people know that there has been some controversy regarding Roy Dean and Stuart Cooper lately. As far as I am concerned it has nothing to do with me or my path of knowledge. Whatever beef they have going on is between them and is going to stay that way in this blog. If either of them are reading this, I respect you both very much and I love what positive stuff each of you have done for our culture*
We chose Roy Dean for a few reasons; only 5.5 hours away, we knew Bend, OR was beautiful, and we loved watching Roy Dean’s videos. We set the date for the end of summer. I called and spoke to Roy Dean himself the week of the trip to ensure he was okay with us coming down. He was, and when the time came, my brother and I set off. The excitement was palatable and we acted like high school boys on their first road trip all the way down. The trip to Bend, OR from Olympia, WA (Tumwater for those who actually live here) is breathtaking. It is gorgeous, and with summer slowly coming to an end this year, we were blessed with skies that went from cloudy to clear and warm weather that went from 75-85.
When we got there we had hours to kill before class started, but to be honest we were tired from the drive. We rested in the hotel after eating at IHOP (yeah, I know, drive 5.5 hours to eat at the restaurant that’s five minutes away). As the hours drifted we had in depth discussions on which Gi we were going to wear for our first day, and nerves set in on how we thought we were going to do against the students. When it was time to go, we packed up and headed out, excitement overtaking our nerves.
We got there a little early, okay super early, almost a half hour early. As we waited we started getting nervous again, thinking maybe we mis-read the schedule. In a few minutes however, one of Roy Dean’s students showed up, and a few seconds later, Roy Dean himself. We introduced ourselves, and after some obligatory paperwork and pleasantries, we put our gi’s on and hit the mats. There were four of us and Professor Dean that night. It was almost like we had a one on one. It was awesome.
We worked two grip breaks I have never seen, an Ouchi Gari setup, and an Osoto Gari setup off of the same principle. Our school doesn’t get a lot of Judo so it was great to get some in depth Judoka training. After drilling those, Professor Dean split the class up to work on different things. His two students continued to work Judo, whereas Eric and I got to each pick a few things we wanted Professor Dean himself to teach us. Eric chose a knee ride escape, I chose a way to get out from under pressuring wrestlers with good hips. In addition to both of those techniques, Professor Dean showed us a few others that went along the same vein. The entire time he made us feel welcomed and treated us like honored guests, even though we were only a blue belt and white belt. At the end of drilling, we had about 30 minutes of live rolling, and Eric and I both got a chance to roll with Professor Dean himself, as well as the two other students who were present.
Rolling with Professor Dean is a lot like using a single shot .22 to hunt bear with. Yeah, you may get a lucky shot, but chances are, he is still is going to get you even if you do. For those who don’t know, Roy Dean is tall, very tall, and moves like water cascading down ice. He went very light with us, going very slow and methodical, but still using extremely solid technique. Of course he submitted both of us repeatedly, but he also allowed us to play our game too. He didn’t just completely shut us down and dominate, he allowed us to communicate with our art. It was an awesome learning experience.
After the class we went back to the hotel and, while we had plans to hit the nightlife, only ended up going and getting food, then coming back to recoup. The next day we attended the lunch class where we worked kimuras, hip bumps, and straight arm locks. Gained some different insight than I had had before, as there were a few different ideologies that were presented. We then had open mat, and since the class was much bigger, we had a ton of partners to roll with. I have to say this, Roy Dean students are really, really good at defending and positioning as a whole. Our school is much more of a Carlson Gracie school, grind from the top and force the submission. They had a much more patient and defense oriented game. It was excellent, as everyone I rolled with taught me something, and allowed me to teach them something. The fusing of their style and the broadening of our own really made the trip worthwhile as a whole.
After class, one of the students invited us to go for a hike that afternoon with him. We ended up going to Smith’s Rock. Let me tell you, two hour of rolling followed by a 3 mile hike up a very steep rock will make you feel alive.
(Eric and I at the top of Smith’s Rock)
That night we went out to see the nightlife and found out Oktoberfest was going on. Even though we participated, in the morning were still ready for our last day in Bend. We were lucky enough to be there for a purple belt test. I know some people disagree with testing for belts in BJJ, but you have to remember Professor Dean’s background and he isn’t just grading on BJJ alone, but on all grappling arts he teaches. The demonstration was amazing, and the comradery in the academy was truly uplifting. Even Eric and I, who didn’t really know anyone there, got caught up in the excitement. An hour of hard work, and we witnessed someone get presented their purple belt. Afterwards, another hour of open mat rolling. Again we rolled with Professor Dean, and again it was just like the last time. We rolled with some new friends and at the end of class we invited a few of them to come visit our school. Goodbye’s said, and hands shaken, we set off for home, after eating of course.
The trip has changed me and my mat brother Eric immensely. Our game was just a little slicker, a little tighter, and a little more respectable when we got home. If you haven’t cross trained or gone to another gym, I highly recommend it. No, I don’t mean go to an affiliate (although that is good too), nor do I mean go to the gym that is down the street from yours. I mean go find a gym in another city, state, or country and try it out. For those of you who want to try to do this, I recommend a few things;
1: Let your coach know!
So they know you aren’t sneaking behind their back, so they know you are coming home, and most importantly, so they can give ideas on what to look out or ask for!
2. Call the school first!
You don’t want to go long distance and find out the instructor you hoped to see isn’t going to be there. Also, you need to gather some information to make your trip worthwhile…
3. Gather the following information!
In addition to all the other stuff you have to gather on a vacation, make sure you find out:
Class times (you don’t want to go off of the internet, sometimes pages don’t get updated)
Gear/Gi restrictions (some schools still don’t allow black gis!)
Visitor policies (some schools are open door, some restrict)
Cost (money makes the world go round)
Are there any seminars going on?
4. Pack appropriately
Duh
5. Be humble, respectful and overly gracious
These gym owners are opening up themselves to you, the visitor. They want to make sure your trip is worthwhile, so make sure it is worthwhile for them to do so. Don’t be a dick or assume they owe you anything.
6. Lastly, make sure you give props were props are due
Thank everyone and anyone for everything and anything! Thank your new training partners, thank the gym owner, the head instructors, the guy who told you about the awesome bar, the lady who told you about the sushi place…again be overly gracious. Don’t be a ham about it, be sincere. They have let you into their family for a time, show them it means something.
That’s all I have for now my fellow discipulus. Don’t be afraid to hit me up on Facebook with any questions, Ken Dunbar (Polar Bear).
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