Hi All!

For those of you who have been on Mars this past month and missed out on, or did not know about, the 2009 Will/Machado BJJ national titles, here is a report on all the fun you missed out on. First of all I would like thank all of the guys who made the huge effort to do the trip from the Engine Room over to Melbourne for the awesome weekend. Thanks guys, you know who you are .

Day 1: Saturday morning at 8:30 we left for the one hour trip from Geelong to Melbourne for the titles. After an uneventful boring drive to the City we got lost, those stupid tunnels (note to self turn off at Kings rd ). We finally made it to the Aquatic Center with around an hour to spare. First cab off the ranks were the awesome black belts, wow what a show they put on, such smooth graceful neverending array of techniques. The two winners on the day were Dave Heart (little Dave) and Dave Krstic (big Dave). They were shortly followed by the Brown and Purple belts. Though Terrafirma MMA did not have any one to compete in these higher grades due to injury (Johnny) we did have our first fight of the day thanks to the huge effort of Oz (Austin) who put on a great show in the Blue belts. He made it through to the second round with ease but sadly got submitted on the second round by choke. Well done Oz, you did us all proud .

Next cab off the rank was James in the white belts. Though he was choked out in the first round by the guy who went on to win the Austrailian title for 2009, he showed all of the courage of a true warrior. After all of the hard work both James and Oz put in I would like to thank them both for their commitment to Terrafirma MMA and for doing us proud. Guys you did not let us down in any way. In doing this you have lead the way for others to compete next year.

Thank you, djc

Day 2: Sunday morning saw us up early again, this time 7:30am to make it up for the legend himself, Rigan Machado. The seminar was at 10:00 at Dominance. Once again we got lost (we hate Melbourne) but we made it on time.

The advanced seminar was first, we looked into the history of BJJ through the eyes of Rigan Machado, what a great lesson to have. The two and half hour session went by way too fast for all of us. After the advanced session the white belts had their turn. As far as I can tell they had a session much the same as the day before. While the white belts were in with Rigan, Kylie and I went to the annual business lunch for school owners, organised by John B Will. This year the meeting was chaired by Frank Monea. Wow this guy is awesome and is the fundamental well of wisdom when it comes to making Terrafirma MMA a well oiled school. Thank you Sir, (JBW) for your wisdom and foresight in putting on these lunches, and to Frank Monea for sharing your immense wisdom and helping us all to live the lifestyle we deserve to.

Day 3: Rest day (sleep in) so we went for a run up to the aquarium in Melbourne. Guess what, we got lost!!! But back with the fish, awesome place to spend a day. Said bye to Oz and James, Mick took them to the airport for their flight home. Later that day we got back to the cabin where we were staying, to get a phone call from James saying they missed their flight (that's another story). So after a rescue (thanks Mick) we all ended the day wasting some time in Geelong's time zone, playing some old school car racing games. Much fun.

Day 4: Up early and off for a private lesson at John Will's house with Master Rigan. What can I say, you should have been there. "Awesome," said Chow to Mick as he headed for home. We ate at Robbo's Roast for lunch, a must do in Geelong. Johnny and I did the addvanced BJJ class later that night at Black Belt Studio. So many take downs, so much fun. I was embarrassed by Rigan in front of the whole school (ask Johnny for the story)

Day 5: Back home and to the Engine Room and my own bed!

I am sure that all who made the trip had a great time and will be training hard and looking forward to 2010 Titles. Make sure to check out our photo gallery in the Engine Room for some great shots of the 2009 Titles

Train hard,

djc