Counting down to the world championships: There is nothing like the ADCC world grappling championships to bring together the best no gi grappling talent on the planet. Our primary direction in training and style is towards submission only style, but no submission grappler would deny that ADCC currently brings the greatest talent pool in one place every two years. It's an amazing event to be a part of – it has a an international flavor that makes it stand out from other events. Last time it was in the homeland of the sport – Brazil – this time it is in the Nordic nation of Finland. I am extremely proud that our small team succeeded in qualifying more people for the event than any other. Half of our competition team are youngsters in their first adcc, but I am confident they will qualify and compete for many more. Training has been a joy to watch and the change in competition rules from our usual events created new directions in training are exciting for me as a coach and for the athletes created a great deal of growth in a short time. Everyone is looking forward to meeting up with the world's best and growing as a result. I feel all the athletes on our team who are going have already made big strides forward just in the preparation phase from who they were only two months ago, and that sense of improvement made necessary by meeting the best in competition will only get stronger as the event itself unfolds. In the end, that's the greatest benefit of all competition- personal growth out of the stimulus of intense opposition.
