New Blue Belt in Gent.

And my ass still remembers it...

Thanks to Thomas for his time and patience with me. Thanks to the team and all the people I've been rolling with for the last 12 months.

Videos from my fights at the World Championship are up now on www.bjjedge.com. Use the search button and type in "sequana academy" or visit the following links:

Round 1: http://www.bjjedge.com/josef-de-la-vega-vs-jean-pascal-bolle
Round 2: http://www.bjjedge.com/jose-yanez-vs-jean-pascal-bolle
Semi-Final: http://www.bjjedge.com/carsell-swain-vs-jean-pascal-bolle


Last but not least, I went to fight at the Brabant Open in Tilburg on June 20th, two days after I received my blue blet. The least I can say is that I got roughly welcomed in the blue belt division. I lost my first two fight by submissions at -88,3 kgs (armbar and choke). I got to win my first fight in the open class by armbar (against a white belt, but at least a very good one as he got voted most technical fighter of the tournament) and finally lost my second fight by armbar to a very good blue belt this time. Niels came with me for his first BJJ competition experience. Niels got to fight 3 times and despite 3 losses, I still think he won the very first fight in his BJJ journey by stepping on the mat after only 2 months of training.

Jp-

World BJJ Championship results.

Adults White Belt -88kg
1. Vasili Nikolaev - (Cesar Gracie - US)
2. Carsell Swain - (Brazilian Top Team - US)
3. Stuart Tyrie - (Gracie Barra - UK)
3. Jean-Pascal Bolle - (Sequana Academy - Belgium)

Full results: http://www.ibjjf.org/results/2009mundial.htm

Needless to say that I had a blast in Los Angeles last week. I got to see so many great fights in all classes and categories and even more amazing competitors during these 4 insane days. This was a truly wondeful experience and I hope to be part of it again next year.

On a personal level, I want to thank once again my trainer Thomas Zenthner for his knowlegde and the hours spent training and sweating together. I finished both my first 2 fights by submission (triangle) and lost in semi-final to decision (2-0).

Most of all I want to thank all my teammates for making this possible. Without people to roll with, there would have been no serious training and in no way I would have ever thought about going to Long Beach for the mundial. This is a podium for the entire academy and all the dedicated people training relentlessly week after week. The academy in Gent is only about 18 months old and we struggled a lot in the beginning due to a lack of people to train with. Now things are coming together and we've gathered a much larger group of people to roll with which makes things way cooler and way better for all of us. So thanks again to all of you for your presence and support.

Jp-

The Long Beach State University pyramid.

Competition started early every morning at 9.00 am

Faixa branca - meio pesado - podium mundial 2009

New Blue Belts + Limburg Open 2009 results

Congratulations to Robin and Dominique who received their blue belt from Thomas and Ben last week. This is together with our first blue belt Stef, the second and third blue belts awarded at the academy in Gent. This proves that hard work and motivation remain some of the most important aspects of BJJ. Both Dominique and Robin have been with us since the begining and Robin recently won his first competition at the Limburg Open.

Results BJJ Limburg Open 2009:

Open class, Adults White Belt

1. Robin Venneman (Sequana Academy)
2. Wout Westra (Gracie Barra Eindhoven)
3. Chango Eersel (Team Agua)

Congratulations to Robin for his 4 (!!!) triangle submissions in 5 fights during the open class.

In other news, there's some change to the payment system of the Academy in Gent so head over to http://www.bjj-gent.be/ to find out more about it.

I'm in Los Angeles right now where I'm waiting for the World Championship to sart on thursday. I'm really excited to be here and I cant wait to fight. The weather is not as warm as I expected it to be which is a good thing right now. I'm already over the time change as I prepared myself to it during my last weekend in Belgium. I will try and post regular updates as the competition goes on. There are a lot of fighters I want to see especially in the black belts divisions but also in some of the purple divisions.

"Kill the snake of doubt in your soul, crush the worms of fear in your heart, and mountains will move out of your way" ~ Kate Seredy

The arena at the California State University of Long Beach