A New Beginning

I never thought I would leave.

But I suppose that’s the way things always end up. I made a tough life decision this week to leave some of my BJJ family behind and join a new school. It was nothing personal, but some of my own life decisions had to be made and I’ll be switching schools this week. The benefits seem to outweigh the disadvantages but only time will tell.

R and I are moving on with our lives and it didn’t make sense for us to train at separate schools especially since our time spent together was already limited by our opposing work schedules. If we wanted to train, it meant spending an additional 3 hours apart when we wanted to go train. This way, we’ll see each other more and we get to share in something we’re both passionate about.

I was reading up on some threads on Sherdog and MMA.tv about training and an experienced BJJ practitioner made an interesting point. If you can, you should try to get your black belt from the same instructor who gave you your blue belt. The thing with R’s school is that I can envision myself going all the way to black (hopefully) with the same instructor, and training with the same team.

I’ll never forget my first submission, the fun times, the ridiculous jokes and the great team camaraderie from my old school. They’ll always have a special place in my life – they were the ones that helped me fall in love with BJJ. In some ways six months seems like a short amount of time. But when you’re sweating it out on the same mat with all your other friends, it also seems like an eternity.

Here’s to all the new friends I’ll make, the trials and achievements I’ll find at my new school. Cheers.

Thanks to all my friends who were concerned when I posted about this on other social media sites. Glad to know you guys have got my back. 🙂 *hugs*