By ken primola

Lesson From
a Master
Training with Rickson Gracie
By ken primola
Lesson from a Master
After my first year of law school I had my sights set on something
dramatically different than most other first year law students. While others
were focused on gaining legal experience through state jobs or corporate
firms, my ambition was to train with Master Rickson Gracie, the most
revered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) practitioner of my generation. Rickson is
the Bruce Lee of the BJJ world. Although highly sought after, Rickson
rarely did seminars for the public. On the rare occasions he did appear, you
could neither take notes nor film his work. Rickson was highly publicized
but a rather private figure. Another obstacle to realizing my dream of
training with Rickson was distance. During this time period he lived in
California, while I lived in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, almost three thousand
miles away from his studio.
On the last day of school I packed my bags with workout gear, and a
few other odds and ends. I got into my car, and began driving. It took me 3
long days to drive across the country. It was pouring rain the night I arrived
in Los Angeles. Naturally I took a room at the nearest motel to Rickson
Gracie's school. To my dismay, the next morning I found out that Rickson
was not in town and would not be for a while. I was not told by the secretary
what that “while” meant. It broke my heart but being an optimistic young
guy, I knew other opportunities to get better at BJJ were available in
California. Southern California was likely the most saturated area for BJJ in
the US at the time.
The next day I headed toward San Diego. Thankfully I had a friend
there who was able to put me up for the night. I soon found lodging at a
local hostel. The hostel I stayed at was in an area called Pacific Beach. It
was 15 dollars a night to stay at the hostel. It consisted of about 8 foreigners
in a room. Most of the time people stayed there for a short duration. Privacy
was virtually unheard of. I was okay with this because I was the youngest of
seven children, privacy was a luxury I seldom had. I found a BJJ school to
train at about 20 miles away from the hostel.
The school I attended was owned by a man named Fabio Santos.
Fabio was a very nice and old school kind of jiu-jitsu guy. He came from the
Gracie lineage, having very strong roots going back to the arts inception. We
got along really well and I used to get history lessons from Fabio all the
time. I trained there almost everyday for about two months. The only
problem was that I had to drive about 45 minutes to an hour to attend
Fabio’s school due to traffic. As the summer was ending I knew I wanted to
stay in San Diego a bit longer, so I convinced the Dean of my law school on
the east coast to allow me to do a transfer program out in San Diego for a
little over one year.
In the meantime, I found a closer school down the street from the
hostel, it was run by Rodrigo Medeiros. I trained at Rodrigo’s during the
daytime and was also training at Fabio’s in the evenings for a short time
longer. I was not aware of the whole idea of one school loyalty in jiu-jitsu,
so I thought nothing of it. Rodrigo’s school was much closer. Fabio’s prices
were also a bit steeper so I made the choice to stay at Rodrigo’s. Rodrigo’s
school was also much smaller so I got a lot more attention.
Although I was very happy at Rodrigos, I was still curious about
meeting Rickson on the mat. This was a dream I was not giving up on, it was
simply delayed. Rickson was not only a legend among average practitioners
like myself at the time, Rickson was a legend among the top BJJ stars.
Everyone wanted a chance to train or learn from him. I knew this and was
willing to make the journey. Looking back, today it would be much more
difficult, if not impossible. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the
main stage of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), has catapulted BJJ to another
level, and therefore Rickson's legend with it. Today Rickson only teaches
seminars at rare times to the general public and has since moved back to
Brazil.
As my time in San Diego was coming to an end I still wanted to do
what I had once set out to. So, I took a Saturday out of my weekend and
drove up to Los Angeles to see if Rickson Gracie was available. When I
arrived, I stepped into the doors of his training center on Wilshire
Boulevard. I instantly saw Rickson as I peered through the glass window
that separated the entrance area from the mat. As I watched the master at
work I was star-struck, which was something I had rarely if ever been prior
to this moment. I immediately called my best friend from jiu-jitsu to tell him
the news. He was not there so I left him a message and said “Guess who is
standing in front of me?” I remember standing, gazing intensely with my
bag around my shoulder and my head tilted back. It was surreal, I was very
much present in the moment, experiencing learning, learning from him and
about him on many levels. I could have sat down but my curiousness
overcame my need for comfort.
Rickson was leading his students in a session of solo body movement
drills. Rickson had a routine that resembled jiu-jitsu movements. To my
knowledge much of it looked like the famous Alvaro Romano's Ginastica
Natural. Ginastica Natural is a combination of body movements geared
toward BJJ, almost yoga-esque but for combat athletes. Not many people
practiced it in their studios at the time. It was very interesting to watch how
fluid Rickson was while doing it.
I then saw him teach BJJ techniques to his class. I saw Rickson's
interaction with all of his students and remained transfixed as I watched. I
was surprised at his level of energy and thoughtfulness for his students. I had
thought with his status that he would have been “above” going into the
trenches and individually helping each student. I was wrong. Rickson was a
very caring master, he would help each student until he saw they performed
the movement right. Seeing this from my idol impacted me immediately. I
thought to myself, this is the way to teach and this is the way to learn. You
need to touch, to place your hands on the student, to guide them with your
body and mind.
After those watchful moments, I went over to the secretary at the front
desk and said “Hi, my name is Ken Primola, I am affiliated with Rickson's
Association and would like to train today.” I was not sure my affiliate card
worked. I had attended a seminar many months back in Philadelphia with an
associate of Rickson to ensure I would somehow be included in his
affiliation if it ever came down to the politics of it. In practice I was not
affiliated but in theory I was, at least I thought I was. In actuality, at that
time I didn’t know what truly being affiliated with Rickson meant. His
association seemed a bit more regimented and tighter than many I had
known. Regardless of my expectations, she was of little help finding my
name in the computer system. Still wanting to train but not being recognized
as an affiliate I said “Is there anything I can do to train here, today, now.”
She said I would need to pay $20 and wait until after class. I could spar
during what was called an open mat training session. This is basically where
you spar for ten minute intervals with a different student each time and are
not taught. So I waited and watched the final moments of class anxiously.
The wait and watching for me was still such a gift.
As open mat began I strolled unnoticed to the locker room and got
changed. Rickson was busy sparring and did not see me enter. I came out
onto the mat and Rickson stared me up and down intensely as if to say “who
the fuck are you?” I hurriedly came over to him, smiled, and shook his hand.
He did not smile at me, he was stoic. I quickly said “I am here for open
mat.” He paused, then said “where do you train?” I nervously responded “I
train with Rodrigo Medeiros.” He said “who?” So I kind of stood next to
him speechless, sensing what he was doing. I had seen a picture of Rickson
and Rodrigo together at one point and knew they knew of one another. I also
knew one of Rodrigo's students had beaten Rickson's son Kron when they
were very young children. Basically, Rickson was posturing like he did not
know Rodrigo for whatever reason he had. Then, almost immediately, I said
“I also trained under your brother Rorion's Philadelphia association at one
time. I knew Rickson could not deny his own kin. Rickson then said “Why
do you train at so many places, you need to find one school.” He looked
rather put off, I was sensing I was not welcome. But he allowed me to stay
despite his irritation.
So, the open BJJ sparring began. Rickson put me with one of his blue
belts and I was doing well against him. I was also a blue belt at the time.
Blue belt was considered a Novice level in BJJ. Rickson was standing within
five feet of us, looking at me, looking at each movement I was making. I
was dominating his student and he was intensely staring at me the whole
time. Rickson put me to spar with another one of his students and I was
doing very well against him too. Rickson then put me with a Brazilian guy
named Charlie ( if I recall) and although I was doing well against him, he
was very good. But my background of many years of wrestling was allowing
me to keep up with him. He put me in a submission hold known as a triangle
choke, and I broke out of it. A triangle choke is where your opponent has
their legs wrapped around your head and arms, essentially stopping the
blood-flow to the brain. Rickson was standing there watching and when we
came back to a neutral point Rickson was telling him what to do in
Portuguese. Rickson was not happy with his pupil.
Rickson, seeing how no one was clearly dominating me decided it
would be his turn to spar with me. Rickson came over to my area and got on
his knees, I was on mine. I looked at him with no emotion, pretending it did
not matter who he was. As we shook hands he looked at me cheerlessly and
said “Let's test your skills.”
After we shook hands I lifted my butt up off of my heels and began to
engage in an upper body strategy, looking for an arm-drag opportunity. I
used this tactic on everyone better than me and it usually worked. An armdrag is where I pull the person's arm across their body, attempting to get
behind them. As I went to drag his arm he simultaneously sat back. I'm not
sure if this was his intention or by accident, but I was sure of my intention
before we started and it did not work out as I planned. When I tried to come
back up to a neutral position I realized I was stuck in a triangle choke. I
quickly sat back and stepped my leg over his body in order to escape, as I
had done with his student earlier. He obviously was paying attention to me
grappling with Charlie. He sat back and put me in a straight ankle-lock. He
leaned back and squeezed. This is when your ligaments in your ankle get
stressed out to the point where they may even tear or you even have bones
broken. I did not want to tap. Tapping is when you tap your opponent or on
the mat, signaling a submission. I never tap to straight ankle-locks simply
because of pride and because they usually do not hurt that much. I had
broken the ligaments over the years, so I hardly feel it anymore and am desensitized. But Rickson's ankle-lock was so precise I started hearing
crackling noises on the top of my ankle. I was sure he heard them also. I
wanted to hold out as long as possible against Rickson. One part of me
wanted to show him how tough I was and another was hoping I could slip
out of it. I quickly realized that wasn’t going to happen, so I unwillingly
tapped. I felt if I had waited a moment longer it would have simply
fractured. He got up, looked me in the eyes and tapped the mats three times
and said “you have to “tap””. I felt he may have been thinking to himself
that I was stupid for holding out, not tough.
We squared back up on our knees from a neutral position. I held my
head low, looking down, awaiting our next hand-shake to signal to begin
again. We went a few more times. I remember he had passed my guard (my
legs in front of him) pretty easily and not many black belts were able to do
this without at least some struggle. He proceeded to tap me maybe a few
more times and then he just got up and walked away, leaving me there with
time still remaining. I felt rather stupid as others were still training and I was
just sitting there. I don't know if this was his intent, but I just sat there and
thought to myself how awkward it felt.
After time ran out Rickson put me with one of his better students
named Noah. Noah was beating me pretty good and after some time was
catching me in submission holds. Then when I went against Charlie a second
time and it was much easier for him. Now he was submitting me. It was like
after Rickson beat me others were able to. I don't know what you call this
phenomena, but it was the reality for me.
I stopped rolling after Charlie so I could watch others. Noah was going
against a bigger blue belt at the time. The blue belt was beating Noah in
many positions and was a lot bigger and stronger than he was. They rolled
for a good while and when it was over Rickson was commenting at Noah
from across the room. Rickson's comments were personal, they had nothing
to do with any one specific technique or position. He was talking about how
Noah reacted and about his mental state while rolling. Rickson was breaking
Noah's game down from a personality standpoint. Noah was listening
intently and respectfully. This impressed me and left an impact on my vision
of the art. So many times in my life I had been told what to do, but rarely
have I been told or commented to about what my intentions were through the
eyes of another. I felt this took a lot of time and caring energy. Rickson had
obviously cultivated a real relationship with his student. This was different
than many other jiu-jitsu schools I had attended. Many times a teacher will
just speak on the technical aspect of their student or simply speak at the
student. Rickson spoke to you, as the person.
Moments after, I watched Rickson spar against that same big, strong
blue belt, today that guy is one of his well-known black belts. Rickson
proceeded to effortlessly impose his will. Rickson looked very smooth, slow
and methodical, like he was gliding. He ended his sparring session with a
very creative submission technique that I still use to this day.
After the training session had ended I sat around the side of the mat
with my back against the wall by myself. Others talked amongst one
another. I was just sitting there, absorbing it all in. I asked Rickson if he
could show me a certain position regarding how he was passing the guard.
He looked a little weary but he then obliged by giving me his ear and
looking at me as if to say “okay.” I did not have a specific question in my
head. I just had an idea in my mind hoping for an epiphany-like answer. I
asked about how he passes the guard. I know asking specific questions
allows the teacher to understand my level of knowledge and my appreciation
for recognizing my game as it was happening. However, instead of getting
one specific answer I wanted a larger principle or theory if you will.
After he showed me the technical answer with some theory he sat
back and began speaking to me. He spoke to me and at me in the same
breath. He looked down and began making hand gestures and then looked
into my eyes confidently and said “I don't give my jiu-jitsu to anybody.
These people here, they are my brothers, I trust them with what I teach them,
they are part of my family.” I nodded as if to say “continue, go on.” He then
said “You train with one guy one day and another the next. You need to find
one place.” Rickson looked into my eyes and then stared straight ahead. He
extended his hand at nothing, paused, and said “I believe I could help you
reach your true potential.”
The whole time Rickson was talking to me I was cool and calm on the
outside, but inside I was beside myself with excitement. I actually had to
concentrate on what he was saying, extra, because my nerves were so awry.
As Rickson was talking I was literally thinking to myself, at this moment in
time Rickson is talking to me out of anyone else in the whole world. And so
many others would like to be sitting right here as I am. To me, even though
the level of notoriety was obviously different, it felt like if I loved basketball
I got to play one on one with Michael Jordan and then sit with him afterwards. That is the best way I can describe it.
One of Rickon's black belts then came over, interrupted us, and began
talking about something unrelated. I remained quiet as they began talking.
Their conversation went into a different direction and I kind of made my
way toward the locker room as everyone was getting dressed. These were
our last words.
In looking back on my experience, I am happy and feel fortunate I
placed myself in a position to train with Rickson Gracie. I often wonder
what my life would be like if the circumstances were different, if I had
stayed in Los Angeles to train under Rickson, had I taken him up on his
offer. I am happy with my choice to stay loyal to my professor at the time. In
fact, after having the good fortune to visit Rickson, I appreciated Rodrigo
even more. Unfortunately I had to relocate back to the East Coast. I still
have a lot of love for Rodrigo and his lessons.
In retrospect, I think training at various places helped me grow and
depending on one person to make me better would not have been the best
path for me at the time. I needed to understand this for myself. Over time I
came to realize the strength of serving a master, and the strength of the deep
relationship that can elevate the jiu-jitsu beyond technique. I still train at
various places and explore, but I am loyal to those I trust. Today, during
most times, that loyal relationship is to learning and not just to people.
Was Rickson all I made him out to be, what everyone has made him
out to be which lead me to this moment? My best answer is simply, I don't
know. I could not at that moment ascertain his skill level because he was far
beyond my own. Today I am a 4-year black belt and 14-year veteran in BJJ
and I am still not sure if I could make that judgment now. Ten years later I
think about that day, but on a much deeper level than simply technical
proficiency. Frankly, what happened physically during sparring doesn't
mean that much to me now as it did then. I think it is often a natural human
instinct to measure greatness by comparison. Yet the influence I took from
the experience was more than a comparison of his skill to mine. Rickson’s
greatness went much deeper.
In order for me to look back and better understand this moment with
Rickson, I first have to look through what is happening right in front of me.
Today techniques have come a long way, easily spread with the rise of the
internet and other media outlets. It's dissemination is worldwide and has
brought our community closer. The jiu-jitsu revolution and evolution is
happening at a rapid pace. Certainly the advent of the internet has become a
huge benefit in providing techniques, interviews, and given us extremely
valuable information we may not have otherwise learned about, even acting
as a supplement for many practitioners. Many primary relationships have
been formed and flourished where distance and circumstance would have
prevented it altogether.
However, as someone who went to law school and majored in
communication studies during my undergraduate years, I would be hardpressed not to also see the other side. While for many technology has been a
benefit, for others the medium may have lost some of the message, even
becoming the message, wholly replacing the messenger, taking away the
human element of our art known as the relationship. What to make of
community? Is the community truly closer or is it merely an allusion? Are
we in fact more isolated when we study on our own, in front a computer
screen rather than in person? Is a community allowed to liberally take notes
better than the community Rickson encourages, the one demanding us to be
present and take notice?
I do not know the answers.
I try to take the positive from every interaction I have. I only know
that when I think about Rickson Gracie today, I think about how he treated
those he knew and trusted. Surely Rickson could make videos and other
media and become a sensation overnight to strangers. But this is not the way
of Rickson. Rickson chooses to keep his jiu-jitsu personal and pass it on to
those in front of him. Whether this is the best way or not, I cannot judge. I
can only watch and learn. In retrospect, what I bore witness to then was
simply a pretext to what I learned today. As a great teacher of mine once
spoke “Perhaps all important teaching is pretextual - we think we are being
taught one thing but in fact we are given a glimpse of the larger truths which
cannot be conveyed directly, which cannot be heard, but only over heard if
we are indeed fortunate and deserving.” Humbly, I shall end this story with
what I over-heard; I learned about brotherhood, trust, and caring, the
covenants of humanness which truly preserve our art.
Special Thanks
I would like to thank the Gracies for having the courage and will to
help bring jiu-jitsu to the United States and introduce me to their art. I would
also like to thank Roy Rutter for the privilege to study under him and learn
the gentle art the way it was meant to be taught, the Gracie Way, from
generation to generation, father to son, brother to brother, soul to soul. The
gavel has now been passed.
For further information on Ken’s work see Amazon book suppliers.
For instructional information see:
www.worldchampiontakedownblueprint.com
www.superbeginnerbjj.com
www.facebooktrafficrenegade.com