Samoa and Beyond

Hey guys just an update from me. On November 13, I competed in my latest event for Olympic Qualification. The Samoa Judo World Cup. I had a great day and despite losing the semi final to Sasha Mehmedovic of Canada I was able to defeat my USA opponent in the bronze final and secure 3rd place and another 40 points towards my Olympic dream. The result pushed my World Ranking up to 27. On the Olympic Selection order (taking out duplicates where more then 1 athlete from a country is in qualifying position) I am now in 19th. This is a great result as the top 22 in May 2012 are selected for London and I just have to maintain my form and I will realise my dream.

Before flying out to Samoa for this competition I was able to take up an invitation to be one of the 45 instructors at the Fight For Life Cancer Fundraiser, held in Melbourne on November 6-7. The event saw over 200 students learning from such notable instructors as Richard Norton, Mark 'The Hammer' Castagnini, Dan Cherubin and more. 

That is pretty much all for me for 2010. I will be competing in the Pan Pacific BJJ Titles next week and the Victorian State Judo Championships the week after. From then I will be taking some time off from training before launching my next training block in January 2011. 

Thanks for all of your support on my Journey to London 2012.

Ivo

Fight For Life

On November 6-7 the inaugural Fight For Life seminar was held in Melbourne. The seminar saw 45 martial arts instructors from 23 different Martial Arts conduct classes. I was honoured to be asked to conduct both Judo and MMA seminars over the weekend. Instructors included Richard Norton, Mark 'The Hammer' Castagnini, Dan Cherubin and many others. The event was a raging success with over 200 participants learning Martial Arts and raising money for Cancer Research. Over $30,000 was raised and everyone involved is excited for Fight For Life 2011.

Ivo

Al Pacino's Inspirational Speech

Quitters

Quitters never win, winners never quit

One Year On

Today marks one year from the lowest point in my athletic career. One year ago I was lying on a surgeon’s table. I did not know if the reconstruction of my elbow would allow me to eat with a knife and fork again, let alone compete and chase my Olympic Dream.
Everything seemed to have gone wrong. On top of the surgery I was dealing with:
• unsuccessfully balancing coaching a club and training myself,
• losing contact with my coach,
• a form slump that had seen me drop from my National #1 ranking (which I had held for over 2 years straight),
• missing selection for the World Championship, and
• missing my university exams due to injury.

As if this wasn’t enough, then the IJF announced it was changing the rules of Judo from 2010, banning pretty much every technique I did well.

To be honest, I nearly gave up at this point.
I had trained for 17 years in a certain style of Judo. All I could do was wonder how the hell was I going to recover and essentially learn judo from scratch in time for the Olympic Qualification process, which was only seven months away.

A conversation with 3-time Olympian Daniel Kelly brought me round. He just flat out appealed to the ‘meathead’ in me. He said “what, are you going to give up? Is that who you are?” I decided that when I quit my sport, it would be on my terms, not on a hospital bed and not in a referee’s meeting.

I have been on the grind ever since. I decided that every rehab exercise I was given I would double and every target I was set I would beat. As a result, I was able to compete13 weeks after the operation (not 24 like the docs wanted, but shhhh).

Things have definitely improved for me. I am now #1 in Australia again, #1 in Oceania and World #29. I am well and truly on track for London 2012.

Every day I reflect back and remember how low I was. It motivates me to run an extra mile, lift an extra rep and fight an extra round; and I wonder if I would have this work ethic if I hadn’t gone through what I did.

Ivo

‘Problems are opportunities in disguise.’
Henry J. Kaizer

One of my fights from VIOC

Unbelievable

most of what i post is related to my training and/or competing but i thought i had to post this. this guy is unbelievable and makes the impossible look easy. he must train like a madman!

NSW OPEN 2010 66 kg SEMI FINAL

This is my semi final at NSW Open this year, look out for the newaza at the end

My MMA Debut

MMA FIGHTER!!!

Hey guys I stepped (WAY) out of my comfort zone on Friday. There was one last thing I had to do before my training break and it was making my MMA debut last Friday night.
I am not about to join the UFC, but I do cross train in BJJ as well as submission grappling and have done some boxing. I have wondered for a long time how I would go in MMA and when I was offered this fight and realised it didn't get in the way of my Olympic training I thought I should give it a shot.

I was the semi-main event of the Style Wars card and fought against Rob Pryde from Numurkah Muay Thai.
I was able to get the fight to the ground pretty quick with a big double leg take down. From there I worked some ground and pound until my opponent gave up his back. From there I locked in a rear naked choke and he tapped out at the 2 minute mark of the fight.
It was a crazy adrenaline rush after that and felt unbelievable given how much training and competing i've done lately. The relief that I could go on my break on a win was an awesome feeling. I am not sure if and when I will fight MMA again because my dream of getting to the Olympics far outweighs my curiosity in MMA.

From here I will have 2 weeks off to re-introduce myself to my family as well as catching up on uni and work. From there I will begin my training block in preparation for the Samoa World Cup, Korea World Cup, Japan Grand Slam and China Grand Prix in November-December. These events are all Olympic Qualifiers so with some good preparation and solid performances I could be well on my way to London 2012 by Christmas!

World Judo Championships 2010

Hi guys quick update on what's been up with me. I am in Narita Airport about to fly home from the World Judo Championships. I left home 3 weeks ago bound for Miami where I contested the Miami World Cup and US Open. I lost first round in the World Cup which was disappointing because I fought well below my best and could easily have won a few fights. At the US Open I was really sick with tonsilitis and felt horrible but I managed to fight pretty well and win 3 contests ending up in 7th place.
From there we (Aus Team) travelled to Tsukuba University in Japan for a training camp in preparation for Worlds. The camp was pretty hard because there was 12 nations basing themselves at Tsukuba before worlds. Training with Japan, Russia, Portugal, Greece etc was hard but perfect preparation for Worlds.
At Worlds I was able to submit my first opponent with a choke and my second with an armlock. In the round of 32 I lost to the world number 9 from Slovenia by getting thrown for Ippon (full point) and that eliminated me from the competition. Making the top 32 got me 40 valuable points towards Olympic Qualification.
All in all I won 5 fights and lost 5 fights all against world class opposition and was competitive in all so I am very happy with my progress.

Now I have to fly home and rest for a couple of days before my MMA debut on Friday night against Rob Pryde on the Style Wars card. It's very exciting for me to get a chance to test my skills in a new environment and I feel in the best shape ever so I am confident of a strong result.

That's all from me.

be humble

Everyone I meet is in some way my superior.
-- William Shakespeare