Seminar – Squad style: Today I went to teach our approach to jiu jitsu at the dojo of my close friend and Renzo Gracie team mate, Magno Gama in Astoria, Queens, New York. Mr Gama is one of Mr Gracie's original NYC black belts. He comes from the famous classes of the 1990's and came up with me under Mr Gracie, Ricardo Almeida, Matt Serra and Rodrigo Gracie. He was one of my favorite training partners and experimenters in the early days of the development of my leg lock system. He runs a great dojo in Queens New York where he teaches his talented students with passion and skill. Today I was ably assisted by Mr eddie cummings who wowed the crowd with some beautiful movements into leg attacks and triangle (sankaku) attacks. Mr Gama is an inspiration to his students. He came to America as a young man, found jiu jitsu, learned from one of its greatest teachers, took the great risk of opening up his school in one of the most competitive cities in the world, and through his talent and knowledge, created a body of dedicated students who impressed me on the mat today with their capacity to learn new skills. It was wonderful to see Mr Cummings demonstrate his mastery of sankaku- so often people think he only does leg locks – yet I watch him train every day and his triangle attacks are as good as anyone I have seen. Often students tell me that they cannot do triangle attacks because their legs are too short. Whenever I hear this, I use Mr Cummings as an example of an athlete with shorter legs who excelled in its use. Congratulations to Mr Gama on his incredible success with his school and the example of following a dream and through planning, hard work and patience – making the dream a reality
