Any posts discussing a GrappleThon event, which is a charity BJJ sparring marathon where at least two people are rolling at any point over a predetermined period, raising money for a good cause. There is more information over at GrappleThon.org.
This year for the first time, our annual GrappleThon was over two legs in two different locations. We began in Bristol at our home in MYGYM, with numerous clubs taking part. Our wonderful returning sponsors gave us lots of support once again, with Seymour ‘Meerkatsu’ Yang popping down in person to take part in GrappleThon 2016. The Tatami Fightwear shirts were well received, with Laura winning the grand prize of a GIMONO gi. Lisa Chappell was also back to massage, a very popular choice for all the aching grapplers on Sunday morning.
The massages continued into the second leg of GrappleThon 2016, held a couple of weeks later at the London Wing Chun Academy, along with a ‘donate to play’ arcade and plenty of healthy food on sale. Mike Cowling organised an excellent event that helped to boost the fundraising grand total even higher. At the time of writing, we’ve raised over £5,000, which climbs to a fantastic £6,000 including gift aid (you can still donate here). Very well done to everyone who has taken part across the two One25 GrappleThons, whether that was fundraising, rolling and/or donating!
In the run-up to our GrappleThon in support of One25 next week, Artemis BJJ student Tracey headed down to their offices (a short walk from MYGYM) to talk to them about their wonderful charity work.
A morning at the One25 drop-in centre gave me a wonderful insight into the work they do. There are 3 ways they help women who are trapped in street sex work:
Van outreach. The van goes out 5 nights a week around central Bristol and offers women food, first aid, warm clothing and a chance to sit in the van to talk if they want.
Drop-in centre. This is open in the afternoons and caters for their basic needs… hot meal, shower, laundry & free clothes and a weekly health clinic. There are also creative activities available: cooking, sewing, writing etc. Plus, an opportunity to have someone listen to them, be a friend and help build up their self-esteem.
Women wanting to move away from working on the streets are linked up with the casework team, who support each woman to take steps to improve their life. This could be finding them somewhere safe to live, rehabilitation, re-connecting with family etc.
80% of the women that use One25 are homeless or are in unsafe accommodation. They are usually malnourished, have neglected their health and many are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. One25 takes care of all their needs, both immediate and long-term. The work they do is outstanding and worthwhile, as demonstrated in Andrea’s story:
Grappling for 24hrs is hard. That much BJJ results a lot of aches and pains. But there is an answer. She’s called Lisa and will once again be offering free massages on Sunday morning (27th March). Perfect after a tough night and day of sparring.!
Remember, you can still join the fundraising team, not only raising money for a wonderful charity, but also putting you in the running for some great prizes (including your very own GIMONO gi)! To get the full details for the GrappleThon, click here. To learn more about Lisa, click here.
What: The concept behind a GrappleThon is very simple: at least two people are grappling at any one point over a predetermined period.
When: 14:00 on Saturday 26th March 2016 until 14:00 on Sunday 27th March 2016.
Where: At our central location in St Paul’s, which is MYGYM Bristol, Unit B Dean Street, Bristol, BS2 8SF
How: To take part, simply turn up and roll. If you want to earn a fantastic custom Meerkatsu t-shirt (kindly provided by Tatami Fightwear), there’s only one way: join the fundraising team on JustGiving! Full guide on how to do that here. If you want to keep updated via Facebook, the event page is here.
Why: We will be raising money to support One25. They support vulnerable women, helping them to break free and build new lives away from violence, poverty and addiction. To learn more about One25’s important work, have a read of their website, here.
Press: Take a look at the Artemis BJJ press page for upcoming articles and interviews about the GrappleThon (as well as previous events), here.
Thanks to our wonderful sponsors, renowned BJJ apparel brand Tatami Fightwear, top BJJ artist Meerkatsu, NZL based gi innovators GIMONO, local fitness specialists MYGYM and purveyors of premium hygiene products, Idee Pure.
Thanks also to Lisa Chappell, who will once again be offering free massages to all grapplers taking part. David from MoveStrong is also offering up his services for free, giving you the opportunity to try out kettlebells and kaatsu training. Both of them will be down on Sunday morning, don’t miss it!
Finally, we’ll be tying in with the UKBJJA #UnstoppableGirl campaign, which aims to encourage women into BJJ. So, if you’re a woman in Bristol (or you can get to Bristol), the upcoming One25 Charity BJJ GrappleThon would be a great opportunity for you to try out BJJ. There will be lots of other women from various clubs around the country, meaning you can ask questions, learn some technique and (if you want to) give sparring a go, in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Give it a go!
On the 12th December, Artemis BJJ will be taking part in the ROLLforROWW event, organised by Chantelle Martin over in the US. She’s set up a global GrappleThon, with clubs from around the world holding simultaneous charity open mats to support Reach Out Worldwide. ROWW is a non-profit set-up by the late Paul Walker (who also happened to be an avid BJJ practitioner).
The donation link is here. If you’d like to take part in the sparring, check out the event page over on Facebook. Everyone is welcome! We’ll be running our charity open mat from 12:30-16:30 at MYGYM, who have once again kindly agreed to let us use their venue.
Grapplers from around the country gathered at MyGym in Bristol for International Women’s Day, with the aim of rolling for twenty-four hours to support the charity Equality Now. It’s always great seeing the BJJ community get behind a good cause
So far, we’ve raised almost £3,000 for Equality Now (you can still donate, here). Thanks to everybody who came down to roll, especially those who went the extra mile and got stuck into fundraising. Special thanks to our fantastic sponsors, Seymour ‘Meerkatsu’ Yang, Tatami Fightwear, MyGym and Gimono!
If you want to show your love on Valentine’s Day, how about donating to a cause that makes the world a better place? Equality Now works tirelessly to end violence and discrimination against women around the world, which is why we’re supporting them at the International Women’s Day GrappleThon in three weeks time.
Our fundraising is going well, currently just shy of the £1,000 mark. The target is £4,000: if you’d like to help (no donation is too small), head over to the donation page. If you’re interested in joining the fundraising team yourself, or you’d like to find out more information on the event, all the details you need are here.
Can also recently did an interview about the GrappleThon with Eddie Goldman on the long-running podcast, No Holds Barred. You can either follow that link, or click ‘play’ on the embedded version below.
What: The concept behind a GrappleThon is very simple: at least two people are grappling at any one point over a predetermined period.
When: 14:00 on Saturday 7th March 2015 until 14:00 on Sunday 8th March 2015 (for the Facebook event, click here)
Where: At our central location in St Paul’s, which is Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym, Unit B Dean Street, Bristol, BS2 8SF
How: To take part, simply turn up and roll. If you want to earn a fantastic custom Meerkatsu t-shirt (kindly provided by Tatami Fightwear), there’s only one way: join the fundraising team on MyDonate! Full guide on how to do that here. The person who raises the most money will win an incredible GIMONO gi.
Why: We will be raising money to support Equality Now. They work tirelessly to end violence and discrimination against women around the world. To learn more about Equality Now’s essential work, have a read of their website, here.
Thanks to everyone who took part in the GrappleThon last weekend, whether you were a fundraiser, donating to the JustGiving page or simply turning up to have a roll. The event went really well, raising over £5,000 for Kinergy! If you’d like to read more, have a look at Can’s write up over on slideyfoot.com.
There’s also a cool video from Vy-liam Ng, which at the end previews the next GrappleThon, (organised by one of last weekend’s fundraisers, Jodie Bear). Special thanks to our sponsors, artist Seymour ‘Meerkatsu‘ Yang and renowned BJJ apparel company Tatami Fightwear!
Further details of our expanding timetable will be on the Artemis BJJ site next month, when we update the Classes and Locations pages.
T-shirt and poster design by renowned BJJ artist, Seymour ‘Meerkatsu’ Yang
Artemis BJJ, a new Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club that opened in Bristol this spring, will be holding a 24-hour ‘Grapplethon’ at the Hit Fit gym in Longwell Green on 12 April, raising money for Kinergy, a Bristol charity providing counselling to survivors of rape and sexual abuse (full details here).
“We always wanted our club to have a strong community focus, as well as an emphasis on equality,” says Can Sonmez, co-founder of Artemis BJJ. “This GrappleThon is one of the many ways in which Artemis BJJ will be giving back to the Bristol community.”
From 2pm on Saturday 12 April until 2pm on Sunday, people will be on the mats wrestling round the clock. “I think it’ll really hit us in the early hours of the morning,” says Can, “but it will be great fun.”
Already over £4,000 has been raised, a figure that continues to rise. Dónal Carmody, co-founder of the club and counsellor for Kinergy, says “Kinergy is an amazing charity open to everyone, regardless of location, age or gender. The waiting list is a year long. Some clients come to Kinergy trying to deal with the indescribable levels of abuse they have faced. Counselling can potentially be a huge step.“
The fact that already ten women are signed up to wrestle is demonstrative of the club’s focus on equality. Pippa Granger, one of the more experienced women taking part, remembers her thoughts before she took up martial arts over a decade ago:
“Originally, I didn’t like the idea of martial arts because I thought I would just embarrass myself by getting hurt and crying, but I wanted to learn some self defence. I went to a self defence class first then gradually moved on to other martial arts, started training just for the love of it and eventually found BJJ.”
Artemis BJJ, which runs classes in the St Pauls and Longwell Green areas of the city, has a mission to create a better training atmosphere ‘on the mats’ with more women taking up the martial art.
Both Can Sönmez and fellow club founder Dónal Carmody are passionate about creating a friendly and welcoming training environment. “We are hoping to attract more women because we believe not only is BJJ a fantastic martial art for women, a good gender balance also creates a better atmosphere on the mats,” says Can.
BJJ has also been named by several women as something that has helped them grow in confidence. It can even function as a form of sport therapy. Elena Stowell’s book Flowing with the Go, which has been translated into several languages, details how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu helped her deal with her grief over the sudden death of her daughter.
Artemis BJJ will be starting a free women’s class in May at Hit Fit: please see www.artemisbjj.com for details. For more information about Kinergy and the important work they do, go to www.kinergy.org.uk. Thanks to GrappleThon sponsors, Seymour ‘Meerkatsu‘ Yang, Tatami Fightwear and Hit Fit.
