04-16-2014, 08:10 AM
The Luck of The Draw
TWEEEEEET |
The bell rings for the last five minute roll to begin in the Jiu-Jitsu gym. A roll would be what live wrestling at the end of a practice is to Jiu-Jitsu. A muscle bound man wearing a black Tatami gi with blue trim, that is wrapped up tightly with a purple belt approached the head black belt of the gym challenging him to the "roll". The black belt's face shows confusion followed by anger. In America it would be perfectly normal for any belt to challenge a black belt, but in Brazil especially for an American to challenge a Brazillian is not only unacceptable but also suicide! The anger turns to complete utter fury and the black belt accepts the challenge.
| TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! 5:00 |
The match starts out on the feet where the purple belt is more familiar than his opponent. A grip on the lapel of his opponent's gi and the right sleeve, quickly jumping to his side he is able to judo toss the black belt and surprise the entire gym. A gasp is heard from all that are watching the match. The judo throw that would take the wind out of any person only infuriated the black belt. The bounce that only happened because of the force of the throw gave the black belt all the time he needed to re-position himself in a safe position from side control to guard.
In this safe position the black belt quickly scoots his hips backwards giving space for his famous triangle choke. His legs shoot up into the air and around the neck of the purple belt!
BUT NO! The speed of the purple belt was too much for the black belt and out of the triangle goes the purple belt and right into the mount position!
| 3:09 |
Not much time left for the purple belt to do anything fancy so he did what he could and intertwined his legs with those of the black belt. This bought him just enough time to regain his breath and slow down the pace of the match up. The American was actually winning against the Brazilian black belt! Thanks to pure instinct when the black belt bridged and bucked the purple belt off, the purple belt was able to whip around and lock up a knee bar. The lock was on tight and it seemed impossible to break it up!
| 2:30 |
Much too much time for the black belt to ride the match out! A face of anguish sprawls across the Brazilian man. His hand slowly and almost unwillingly rises, as the entire gym watches in amazement.
TAP! TAP! TAP!
The tapping of the hand on the American's back is the submission of the black belt and means victory for the purple belt! Half of the gym cheers and the other half sits in astonishment. There is no way in 1992 an American Jiu-Jitsu player would ever be able to beat a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu player, not to mention a purple belt beating a black belt, but that is exactly what has just happened!
"Don't worry about it too much I've been working knee bars since I was a white belt!" The American says in hopes of not angering the black belt any more.
"Hey man, don't worry about him he'll be fine... Ele está trabalhando desde que um cinto branco... Oh and he doesn't speak English." The other black belt in the gym says to the American. "Great work today everyone! Now let's line up, it's time to end out class... Grande trabalho hoje todos! Agora vamos alinhar a sua hora de acabar com a classe."
Both of the school's black belts line up in front of all the other belts, who are along the wall in order of belt rank. The head black belt looks to still be angry and even steps away from the mat almost looking like he stormed out of the building. But he stopped behind the front desk and reached down for something, picking it up he placed it inside of his gi and walked back over to the line up of Jiu-Jitsu artists.
"Hoje aconteceu algo que eu nunca pensei que faria. Vem cá americano"
"He said come here American! That's you! The English interpreter points to the purple belt, who looks confused looking side to side then cautiously steps forward. He walks away from the wall of his peer group and stands before the black belt ready to take what ever punishment deemed necessary.
The suspense is killing the American who is almost positive he is going to be beaten down by the entire gym or stabbed with some type of knife. He squints his eyes imagining the blade penetrating deep into his rib cages just between two bones and possible piercing a lung! Sweat beings to build up on the forehead of the American and his short panicked breathing beings to become noticeable.
Still the black belt has a sour look on his face directed towards the American but it slowly turns from anger into a smile noticing the panic attack that the American is going through.
"Parabéns!" The black belt laughs and pulls out the brown belt he has in his gi. This was the absolute opposite of what the American believed was about to happen. A belt promotion instead of death, he had felt the stabbing when the first syllable was spoken from the professors mouth. He had felt his breathing stop, and felt the embrace of death. But yet it had not come. No instead a new belt rank.
"Congratulations!" Everyone at the gym takes turns shaking the man's hand then both black belts smile and the English speaking one approaches the man. "It is Brazilian tradition to hee-move you gi top, and shirt and walk down the "gauntlet"."
If you haven't noticed it is regular for Brazilian's to pronounce the R in words as an H. "Remove" becomes "Hee-move" or in the Gracie family names like "Rener" become "Hener"
But even more important than the lack of pronunciation in Brazil is the "Gauntlet". It is something almost all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gyms do and is a sign of respect as well as proving you earned your place. All members of the class including the black belt instructors line up in two rows. Everyone removes their belts and whacks the back, or stomach of the man walking through the middle as hard as they can. It is very common for the participant to walk away bloodied and/or bruised.
The head of the school starts to tie up his belt and creates special knots at the very end that will surly be painful. But the former purple belt is up for the challenge. Everyone starts cheering and the walk begins.
Snap! Crack! Whack!
The sounds of the belts whipping off the newly crowned brown belt are sickening, but he is showing no signs of pain. With every step he gets closer to the end of the line and closer to the knot wrapped black belt. Now within a step or two, but he is ready for it.
Or so he thought!
The black belt takes a double hit smacking across the American's stomach and back and makes the entire line up of men cringe. But with out a flinch the brown belt finishes the line up. A smile comes across the owner of the gym and he shakes the hand of the American.
"Nice work today man looks like Damien is really warming up to you! See you tomorrow?
"Of course! Thanks again guys, I won't let you guys down!" The American walks out the doors of the gym clinching onto his duffle bag full of training gear.
He walks around the gym and into the dark ally ways. At this hour bums litter the sidewalk so it isn't uncommon to see people sprawled out on the street, or sidewalk. But walking towards the parking garage where his car was the American noticed something that just didn't seem right. It was normal to see human beings spread out full eagle on the concrete but something caught his attention. He continued on his way speeding up with every step until he was at a full sprint.
This was no drunken bum, it was not a sleepy old homeless man who wondered, or even rolled out into the middle of the road. This was something far more disturbing. Something no one would wish upon another, something impossible to even imagine.
There was a child in the middle of the road with blood leaking out of his nose and his heart barely beating. The American holds his two fingers to the kids neck and feels the faint pulse of the boy.
"HOLY SHIT SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP! HELP! PLEASE!"