Blue Belt Paul

After receiving blue belt; with Professor Anthony Ferro

This past Tuesday, March 5th ‒ almost exactly two years to the day I participated in my first ever Brazilian jiu-jitsu class ‒ is the day I was awarded a blue belt.

Being a black belt in taekwondo ‒ from the American Taekwondo Association ‒ since sometime in March of 2004, in late February of 2017 I walked into the UFC Gym in Lombard, Illinois with the intent to improve myself in every aspect—from better physical shape to more confident in everyday life. While taking a cardio boxing class on my first Tuesday night, I noticed a bunch of people wearing gis and grappling on the small mat in the front.

Being a longtime fan of combat sports, I had always been interested in submission grappling because of the dominance by wrestlers in mixed martial arts. After my first night as a member at UFC Gym, I looked at the schedule and saw a cardio kickboxing class on Thursday taught by the same instructor as the BJJ classes—Anthony Ferro. My plan was to show up on Thursday and impress the instructor with impeccable cardio, top-notch punches, and heavy kicks before the following night's no-gi class.

That was exactly what I did and by Friday night I was learning how to do an armbar. After an intense warm-up and learning three techniques that likely went over my head, I was paired with one of the best jiu-jitsu practitioners on the mat—Donato. After drilling, all of the slightly more seasoned guys started rolling while Donato was personally explaining each move and even walked me through an omoplata.

For the next year I was doing one or two BJJ classes per week (one gi and sometimes one no-gi) and was slowly improving each week. I always rolled hard from the first time I was allowed and that caused the more experienced guys, as well as often much heavier, to beat me up. Weighing 190 pounds, I was always paired up with the heavyweights. I'm sure that made me improve my technique faster in order to survive their top pressure and at the same time it improved my top pressure from trying to keep the big guys on their backs.

Bronze-medal match at Newbreed in Oak Lawn, IL; February 2018

Almost exactly a year into training I signed up for my first tournament—Newbreed Ultimate Challenge. Held in Oak Lawn, Illinois on the first weekend of February 2018, I competed in the middleweight division (between 185 pounds and 170 pounds). I defeated my first opponent in the quarterfinals by points; however, with the adrenaline rushing I wore myself out and lost by points in the semifinals to the eventual gold medalist. In the bronze-medal match I faced a much taller opponent. Knowing only basic techniques, I was stuck in my opponent's guard. He attempted an armbar with the score being 0-0 with under two minutes left in the match. I managed to roll out of that just seconds later, got full mount (and four points), and eventually submitted my opponent with a cross-collar choke with just over a minute remaining.

After winning bronze medal with Professor Ferro in my first tournament

Shortly after the competition, my yearlong membership with the UFC Gym expired and I stopped training for over four months. In the meantime, my former instructor opened up his own BJJ school—Ferro Academy in Elmhurst, Illinois. The same town where I graduated college from. Having still been in touch with some of the guys I had been training with, I randomly signed up for another Newbreed tournament in July 2018.

Bronze-medal match at Newbreed in Oak Lawn, IL; July 2018

Without any training for months, I signed up to compete in the cruiserweight division (200 pounds to 185 pounds). Being in a higher weight class ‒ with the heavyweight and super heavyweight divisions being the only higher ones ‒ I secretly decided to sign up for this division because there would be fewer opponents and not having rolled in just under half of a year my cardio wouldn't be that much of a factor.

My first opponent in the semifinal was nearly the same size as me but ultimately he was better conditioned. I almost caught him with a kimura off of my back but he defeated me by only a few points. Going into the bronze-medal match, it was a must-win for me. Either medal or go home. My opponent was taller and heavier but I took the fight to the ground within seconds and just minutes into the match was ahead 9-0. Like I predicted, I ran out of gas with under two minutes left; however, I secured my tight guard and he was unable to do anything. I won a second bronze medal in two tournaments.

The class when I received blue belt at Ferro Academy; March 5, 2019

Ever since, I'm back with my original and only BJJ instructor. I train three or four days per week at Ferro Academy and even recently took up wrestling to improve my stand-up game.

You can read about my third and most recent tournament in my previous blog post. I won a silver medal even though I was injured and most likely would've won gold if I stayed injury-free. Anyway, I knew the blue belt was coming soon. Not because I was cocky but because it felt right. I would've competed at the IBJJF tournament in Chicago as a white belt in May but I have already signed up for a half marathon on the same Sunday as white belts compete. Staying a white belt just because of that doesn't make sense. I'm surrounded by a good coach and a loyal team, with a top-class lineage behind.

My belts

They say that only 10% of people who have ever tried Brazilian jiu-jitsu receive their blue belts. Half of that ten percent quit; however, I'm determined to go all the way. For now this is Blue Belt Blog ... until it becomes Purple Belt Blog 😄

This Silver Feels Like Gold

https://www.instagram.com/p/Btrsaf1Hngj/

The last seven weeks have changed who I am...

By the end of December 2018, I felt like I ended up at the lowest point of my life. From being miserable at work to being unhappy with my private life ‒ something desperately had to change.

At some moment around Christmas ‒ which I spent completely alone at home ‒ I registered for the 2019 Newbreed Illinois State Championship. It's a smaller grappling tournament series in which I competed in twice in 2018 and won a bronze medal both times. As soon as the payment went through, during the last days of December, I decided to train like I have never trained for anything before—including drinking less alcohol, eating healthier food, and changing attitude in general.

At the end of the last BJJ class of the year at Ferro Academy, my coach ‒ Professor Anthony Ferro ‒ awarded me the fourth stripe on my white belt. He said, "You know what's next." And I did.

Multiple BJJ classes each week—sometimes staying way after closing just to roll more. A lot of sessions in my basement throwing around kettlebells, lifting weights and doing cardio at LA Fitness, as well as dieting and tons of total hours in a sauna to get to my best physical shape ever. I started at the heaviest I had ever been ‒ 194 pounds (88 kilograms) ‒ and worked my way slightly under the middleweight limit of 185 pounds (83 kilograms).

I suffered a couple of injuries during the excessive training but kept a positive mindset even after rolling with the toughest guys many 6-minute rounds and getting mauled while having a hurt left elbow. My coach and I developed an understand of each other and that meant positive emotions among everyone at the academy.

Despite all the snow, the polar vortex that brought dangerously cold temperatures, and the delays by Metra I still managed to show up and train with higher level grapplers (including black belts), study moves I find videos of online, and plan out my days accordingly. I sacrificed behaving like a regular 24-year-old because I wanted to be more than just a regular guy.

February 9, 2019; Oak Lawn Park District Community Pavilion—When the tournament Saturday arrived, it was time to showcase all of the hard work. Initially my three teammates who were competing along with me ran into tough opponents. Two bronze medals out of four divisions. Not bad. The pressure just kept rising and then it was my turn:

My opponent in the quarterfinal was one of the strongest guys I have ever competed against. He was so strong that he threw me down and within six seconds of the match I suffered a left hand injury. I was used to getting the top position and mauling guys until I racked up points in my previous competitions. This time I showed that all of the hard work has paid off and it taught me to work off of my back. 1 minute and 25 seconds into the match I found an armbar and won by submission. On to the next one...

In the semifinal I went up against a smaller opponent—because of my sore and worsening hand I still couldn't get the takedown and gave up 2 points early just to bring the match to the ground. Once there, I began working in my world: sweep into half guard, side control, full mount. As soon as I went up 9-2 with just under two minutes to go I knew I was going to win. I could've won by a number of submissions but my left hand was so sore that I was only using my right hand to grab my opponent throughout the entire four minutes.

After talking to the doctor, I decided to try and compete in the final. By this time my hand was swollen and in extreme pain. I pulled guard but gave up full mount and as soon as I knew it was losing 0-7. I really couldn't continue and decided to tap in order to prevent any additional injuries to my hand. I honestly believe gold was mine to lose but I don't regret my decision in the end. Yes, maybe I panicked because of the hand but it is what it is.

Left hand the following day at hospital

I had my hand checked out the following morning and there was no fracture. They decided to put a splint on for the next 3-5 days and then see from there. The diagnosis as of now is a contusion.

I'll be back at the academy shortly.

U.S. Nationals in Detroit

Bradie Tennell (Photo by Paul Sancya/AP)

The past two weeks have been filled with sports—the ending of the Dakar Rally (Congrats to Benediktas Vanagas!), the UFC's first ever live event on ESPN, American football conference championship games, etc. I haven't made a new post in 14 days ‒ mainly because I have been searching for an original topic to cover, as well as spending a bunch of time training for my next Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament ‒ but here I am with a new piece. As I'm staying indoors during the freezing cold weather in Chicago this week, I decided to spend my time productively and describe my trip to Detroit last weekend and my thoughts after watching the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships for the first time.

Second row; Little Caesars Arena

First of all, I want to make this clear—I can't dance at all, I can barely skate around an ice rink in hockey skates, and I know just a little about figure skating technique-wise. As a sports geek, I try to know at least a bit about every sport out there and I believe I know more about figure skating than the average person. Therefore, here is my attempt to drop some knowledge on what happened in Detroit.

A few months ago, my sister was accepted to volunteer at the U.S. Nationals. Around that time she also bought tickets to the ladies' free skate in order to watch events that she wouldn't be working as a volunteer. That's how I got myself into Detroit. Having grown up with a figure skater in the family, this is clearly not the first time I found myself in an arena watching figure skating. Naturally I was looking forward to seeing the ladies skate. I'm actually a big fan of figure skating when the Winter Olympics come along. My earliest memories of watching figure skating include Sarah Hughes, Irina Slutskaya, Michelle Kwan, Alexei Yagudin, Evgeni Plushenko, etc. during the Salt Lake City games in 2002. And my latest are of Evgenia Medvedeva and Alina Zagitova just a year ago in PyeongChang.

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I left Chicago's suburbs at around 7:00AM central time on Friday in a rented 2018 Toyota RAV4. Thanks to icy roads and lake effect snow, I arrived in Detroit at around 2:00PM eastern time. I showed up at Little Caesars Arena at 6:00PM ET in freezing temperatures—at least the walk between the parking garage and the arena wasn't too long.

The competition reached its maximum intensity on Friday night when the last three skaters were set to skate: Bradie Tennell, Alysa Liu, and Mariah Bell. Tennell was the defending champion and was the first of the trio to perform. Having earned the top result in the short program, her lead over Liu was 2.71 points and over Bell was 6.30 points. Unfortunately for the Illinoisan, she stumbled on her first triple lutz-triple loop combination and fell on her second triple lutz-triple toeloop attempt in the second half of the program. She received the fourth-best score for the free skate and finished the event with a total of 213.59 points.

Next to skate was 13-year-old sensation Alysa Liu. After opening with a triple axel-double toeloop and another triple axel right after, she set the bar high and brought the crowd to a standing ovation. Liu received almost eight fewer points for the presentation than Tennell but her elements topped the Olympian by almost fourteen points. Her grand total for her two programs was 217.51, enough to take her to the top of the standings. The last to skate was 22-year-old Bell who came out with a small chance to top Liu as she wasn't planning to do a single triple axel. She fell on her triple lutz attempt but likely performed the most admirable program because of artistry. A perfect program might have won her a gold medal but she finished the night with 212.40 points, enough for a bronze medal.

The 20 hours in Detroit went by too fast. My stay at the Hilton Garden Inn at 351 Gratiot Avenue was fine other than the fact that I wish my room was higher than on the second floor, the Dime Store restaurant is great but I wish I wasn't doing my weight cut right now and could have enjoyed more food and drinks, and the figure skating was great as well. Last week had a lot of skating—European Championships in Minsk and U.S. Nationals in Detroit. I quietly keep an eye on all sports and figure skating is really interesting nowadays, especially with so many great Russian ladies and the rise of Nathan Chen in the United States. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Worlds brings in the second half of March.

Ashes in the Snow review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — 5 out of 5 stars

Film's poster

A surprisingly harshly criticized film about the Soviet Union's occupation of Lithuania and deportation of its' people. Based on the The New York Times best-selling novel Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys, it is a story about a young girl and her family as they experience the atrocities in the Baltic States by Joseph Stalin's regime in the midst of World War 2.

Built around actual facts from what happened in the 1940s, I find it hard to understand why film critics are extremely rough towards this movie. As a Lithuanian whose family was actually touched by these events I may be a bit biased; however, this film is our Schindler's List and our holocaust.

The majority of the world is oblivious to this part of history and I believe that is why Ashes in the Snow is misunderstood. Directed by Marius Markevicius, the casting of this film is outstanding. Even though the main actors are non-Lithuanians, all of them have the appearance of a Lithuanian. Bel Powley does an incredible job of portraying the main character ‒ Lina Vilkas ‒ and I felt a deep connection to her role. Everything that Lina went through in the story is unbelievably close to what my father told me about his experiences in Siberia—everything from being exiled out of Kaunas to the deaths of his parents.

My initial opinion was that this film is likely aimed at the American audience, with the intent to explain history. In order to relate them to the viewers, the Lithuanians speak in English; the Soviets converse in Russian, to separate the "good guys" from the "bad guys."

Ashes in the Snow is not a drama with a hidden message; the film is made similarly to Titanic: a story about a made up person with a real major world event as its' basis. I know, high praise for a movie that received a terrible review on RogerEbert.com but you have to take it in yourself with history and humanity in mind.

Watch Ashes in the Snow on Amazon:

For people touched by this cruelty, it is nearly impossible to sit through the whole film without shedding a tear. If you're looking for a wartime drama, remember that there is not as much effort to showcase a specific story of a single character but rather the events that took place and the emotions that people lived through. Think of it as: put yourself in their shoes.

More Than a Game

While streaming the EuroLeague regular season game between Žalgiris Kaunas and CSKA Moscow on Friday, I felt a bit of nostalgia because of the historic rivalry. That led me to check out a couple games from the mid-1980s between the two clubs. Fast-forward to Sunday evening when the Chicago Bears lost their playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles—maybe the nostalgia wasn't just because of the rivalry itself.

The sadness of Bears fans reminded me of what every Lithuanian knows since birth: sports are more than just a game. That sounds cliché, I know. But in the mid-1980s, Žalgiris and CSKA battled multiple times for the Soviet Union Premier Basketball League title. Each game became sort of an inspiration for the re-establishment of the Lithuanian independence. People who don't appreciate the effect of sports are probably laughing at the last few sentences but we have many examples in the past that show a number of times when sports were significant, far more than just for entertainment – Adolf Hitler was determined to use the 1936 Summer Olympics to promote his government and racial supremacy; in 1947 Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line by starting in a Major League Baseball game in Brooklyn; the medal-round ice hockey game to determine the gold medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Second Cold War, known as Miracle on Ice.

Žalgiris was formed in 1944 – as World War 2 was ending – when Lithuania was newly under the Soviet regime. The team was a powerhouse from the get-go and won the Soviet league title in 1947 and 1951. During the decade, they continued earning top spots on the podium each year but the team's performance declined in the 1960s—when older players left and new players started filling the roster. In the 1970s, the renewed Žalgiris stepped on the podium three times—winning bronze medals in 1971, 1973, 1978.

As the 1980s came around, Žalgiris was joined by eventual captain Valdemaras Chomicius (in 1978), new head coach Vladas Garastas (in 1979), and future basketball legend Arvydas Sabonis (in 1981). The team finished on the podium three more times – winning silver medals in 1980, 1983, 1984 – second only to CSKA each of those years. In 1983, Žalgiris prolonged the best-of-three Final series to all three games and lost the last game by just two points (77-79). After the season, Rimas Kurtinaitis – who was part of the CSKA teams that won the Soviet league titles in 1982 and 1983 – returned to his hometown of Kaunas to join Žalgiris. In 1984, Žalgiris pushed CSKA to three games again but the Central Sports Club of the Army (full name of CSKA) won their ninth consecutive title and fifteenth in sixteen seasons.

The first video in this piece is the second game of the best-of-three series of the 1985 USSR Premier Basketball League Final between the Lithuanian Žalgiris and the Russian CSKA. Held in Kaunas at Kaunas Sports Hall, the clip shows a small portion of the first half and then the whole second half, as well as the overtime period. In the few series between these two clubs that required only two games, Žalgiris defeated CSKA in Moscow 86-71 and followed that up with a 77-75 win in front of the Lithuanian crowd. The victory resulted in Žalgiris' first championship in 34 years.

After repeating as champions in 1986, Žalgiris returned to the Final in 1987. Having lost the first game in Kaunas (81-92), the Lithuanian side faced elimination in Moscow. However, the defending champions managed a win in enemy territory by three points (70-67) and set up a third game at Luzhniki Sports Arena. Many Lithuanians made their way to Moscow for the final game in what promised to be a tough match. The second video in this piece shows the hard battle that Žalgiris had to deal with. CSKA led the game in the first half by double digits but Žalgiris eventually found their groove and took a double digit lead of their own when it mattered most—in overtime (93-83).

The end of the 1980s saw a political turn in the Baltic States. Encouraged by Mikhail Gorbachev's rhetoric and policies, activists began rallying for independence in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. In June of 1988, Sąjūdis – the organisation that paved the way for the re-establishment of independent Lithuania – was created. On March 11 in 1990, Sąjūdis led to the declaration of independence. It's worth noting—as much as we like to say sports are just games, founding members of Sąjūdis and all Lithuanians who dreamed of a free nation have always said that basketball in Lithuania, and Žalgiris in particular, kept Lithuanians believing.

World Of Sports

Photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels

The beauties of life can all be found in sports. There is joy in winning games and pain in losing them; when adrenaline and emotions wear off – any athletic activity provides the same feelings as any other type of activity: happiness, sadness, pride, fear, etc.

Going into the new year many of us have plans to live a healthier lifestyle and that almost always includes some sort of athletic activity. Same here; well, a little differently – I have been involved in sports since before I was seven years old. There has never been a moment in my life when I had to try to convince myself to move. I suppose my life has revolved around sports because participating in one type or another sets up long-lasting friendships, teaches a lot of skills, and emphasizes the highs even when you lose.

Sports take up a lot of my time – lifting weights, running marathons, practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu, simply watching the pros on TV. In 2009 I added sports journalism to my arsenal – writing weekly recaps and reporting directly from professional sporting events. I have been involved in this kind of work in some shape or form for ten years. And my goal is to increase the time I dedicate to this.

Maybe I'll instill the same love for sports into at least one person who accidentally comes upon my ramblings here. The plan is to inspire through the athletes and the things they do that inspire me, and highlight their achievements.