Alessio de Liberti wins in NY and Hamburg

Our grappler Alessio de Liberti left Livorno, Italy to venture alone in the No Gi Pan-Ams last week in New York. His effort was not in vain, as he brought home the gold medal in the blue belt master division under 67kg.

No Gi Pan-Am Results (blue belt master feather)

1st: Alessio de Liberti – Rio Grappling Club
2nd: Alberto Robles – Renzo Gracie
3rd: Kevin Saboe – Kioto
3rd: Scott Vieira – Renzo Gracie

Not a person to sit down in the sofa after a win, Alessio went this weekend to Hamburg, Germany, fighting in a submission tournament with rules without points or time limit. He submitted 6 opponents to become the winner there, a great achievement only a week after the comp in NY.

We hope his feat inspires all our grapplers. Alessio always competes, in big and small tournaments, and his dedication is being paid with fantastic results.

Grappling sessions

This is my last week coaching in Livorno before I fly to Wroclaw in Poland, and we are having great sessions with our local students as well as many visitors.

Wednesday was not different and we had Matteo and Gambe driving from Ferrara, and the brazilian black belt Thier Tavares, who came with his student Davide all the way from Arezzo.

I am pleased to introduce Thier to our guys in Tuscany, as he moved from Brasil 8 months ago and is still adjusting to life in Europe. He is a very humble and down to earth person and very technical, and trained in Rio de Janeiro, the craddle of BJJ.

Tonight is our last class until summer and we expect some of our friends from Firenze to come down, as well as our students from Ferrara.

Next week I will start the classes in Wroclaw and I am really amped because we will introduce No GI and Beginner classes and start weekly focused programs elaborated by myself that will speed up the learning proccess.

This is not a marketing hype, is a new concept on BJJ classes that I developed that can only work inside a group with advanced students and must be carried on for 6 months in order to be really effective. After 15 years of teaching experience, I feel very confortable to say that this will really work.

I do not want to explain too much or else people will be copying that elsewhere. One must come and train with us for a few weeks at least to really grasp what is going on. Anyways, since I have not arrived in Wroclaw yet, I am posting group pictures from my last visit in 2007.

RGC Livorno

Since I arrived in Livorno last week, I am taking the classes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Yesterday the class was busier than usual, with 4 of our guys from Ferrara and Bologna, and the visit of 3 friends from Massa Carrara. Carrara is famous worldwide for its marble, but BJJ is picking up there too. In the class I taught 2 sweeps and later we drilled guard passing and defending.

Our club in Livorno is located inside the Popeye Club, owned by Riccardo Niccolini, a great freestyle wrestling coach that was placed 5th at the Olympic Games in Moscow 1980, before having a car accident that tore his leg muscles and prevented him from competing.

His passion for the sport, however, never faded, soon he started doing arm wrestling and won many titles including the World Championships. Later he was in the famous movie “Over the Top”, starred by Sylvester Stallone. Now he coaches one of the best freestyle wrestling teams in Italy and owns the Popeye Club. At his gym one can train Freestyle Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Arm Wrestling and Olympic Weight Lifting.

Gianluca Boni drilling sweeps with Matteo Mena

 
Group picture from yesterday

 
Riccardo Niccolini in Moscow 80