Breaking News! Choke Copenhagen expands:
We're moving to a full-time location in September
As we celebrate our sixth anniversary, we have very exciting news to our current and future students: our main school in Copenhagen is about to move to a new, full-time location right in the center of the city. The new school, which is scheduled to open on September 1st, is located at Nørrebrogade 32, only two blocks from the lakes and 800m from Nørreport Station.
In addition to our popular evening classes for beginners and advanced students, we will offer many other training possibilities:
- Morning Classes
- Weekend Training
- Ladies BJJ Self-Defense
- Kids BJJ
- Private & Semi-Private Classes
- BJJ Conditioning
- Competition Training
- Seminars & Special Courses
When the new Choke Copenhagen opens in September we will implement a structured training program that will expand to all other Choke schools in 2011. This program is a result of our 15+ years of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu experience combined with the latest developments from some of BJJ's most traditional schools, all of which are directly related to Choke.
If you are interested in one of the specific programs listed above - such as Ladies, Kids or Private Classes - or if you would simply like to sign up for our regular group classes, make sure to contact us today to receive further information and book a free intro class. We look forward to seeing you on the mats of the brand new Choke Copenhagen school!
Six medals (and one sword) at Nordic Open of BJJ
Some of our students recently participated in the Nordic Open of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Næstved. We took four competitors to the event and those guys managed to win a total of six medals. Jack Strand, the junior blue belt who is one of the top young prospects in our organisation, managed to snatch three medals himself. He started the day with a silver medal in the adult 70kg division and then came back with a vengeance in the juvenile division, winning both his weight class and the absolute with submission victories in all the matches. The absolute prize was a cool Japanese Katana sword.
Nicolaj Garde entered a purple-brown-black belt heavyweight bracket and finished in third place after losing to a black belt and quickly dispatching a purple belt with a beautiful armlock. It's also worth mentioning the efforts of Anders Rosendal (2nd Place, Purple Belt 70kg) and Morten Pedersen (3rd Place, Brown Belt 82kg). Below are a couple of matches for you to watch...
Choke Cup IV report
We held our fourth annual in-house tournament on May 8th. The Choke Cup IV had 14 divisions at stake including purple, blue and white belt classes plus a ladies division. Students from all Choke schools gathered in Odense for a very competitive day on the mats. The highlights of the tournament were definitely the absolute classes with Nicolaj Garde (Copenhagen, purple belt), Tajs Kolman (Århus, blue belt) and Alexander Carlsson (Limhamn, white belt) coming out on top in their respective belt classes. These results show how far our schools have come, as each one of them is now producing their own champions.
It's also worth mentioning that the event had a submission rate of +60%, with competitors displaying a beautiful arsenal of moves and very aggressive games. We will post a highlight video in the coming weeks, as well as a photo gallery. In the meantime you can go to the Choke Forum for full results and photos & unedited videos.
New instructor at Choke Sweden
Our school in Limhamn, Choke Sweden, now has a new full-time instructor: Michael Pedersen, the highest ranked student in our organisation, took over the classes in the beginning of March. Since its inception, three years ago, the school was being led by our head-instructor Joao Pedro Santos. "It's been very rewarding for me to see the school flourish over the past years. I feel like all the hard work has paid off. Today we have a very close group of students with solid skills plus a girl's team, which I am extremely proud of", says professor JP, who will now turn his focus towards managing the Choke organisation and teaching classes in our main school in Valby, Copenhagen.
"It is an honor for me to become the main instructor in Limhamn. I have many good friends here plus a number of new students like Benny, Dalibor, Sofia and others. So I'm really excited about spending time on the mats with them regularly from now on. It's gonna be awesome!", says Michael, as he prepares the students for another one of his intense warm-up routines.
Book a free intro class at Choke Limhamn today!
Choke Team at 2010 Danish Open
Our team won 12 medals at this year's Danish Open of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, held in the city of Hillerød on February 20, 2010. Some of the highlights of the day were:
- Gabriel Jacobsson, from Choke Sweden, snatched two silver medals in the Junior Division (weight class + absolute) after a total of seven matches and many sleeve chokes.
- Yuichi Sakaguchi, from Choke Århus, showed great skill in the White Belt 70kg division, which included a beautiful crucifix choke submission on his way to a bronze medal.
- Troels Nielsen, from Choke Odense, got a third place finish in his first competition after only a few months of training. Well done!
- Michael Pedersen, Choke Copenhagen, competed in the Absolute Black/Brown Belt class and despite being outweighed by more than 10kg, was very game on losing by points to his black belt opponent.
Other results:
Jon Kristensen / Bronze / +100kg White Belt
Lasse Bager / Bronze / 70kg Blue Belt
Emil Mattsson / Bronze / 74kg Blue Belt Junior
Daniel Malheiro / 2x Silver / 74kg & Absolute Blue Belt Junior
Nima Baharlooie / Silver / 64kg Blue Belt
Oscar Dalitz / Silver / 52kg Yellow Belt Junior
Helsingborg Open results
Some of our students took part in the Helsingborg Open of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu on Saturday, Feb 13th. The Choke Team won four medals in the event: three golds and one silver. Michael Pedersen (Brown 76kg), Peter Månsson (Blue 76kg Junior) and Alexander Carlsson (White 76kg Junior) won their divisions, whereas Emil Mattsson got second place in his (Blue 69kg Junior).
It's also worth mentioning the efforts of Martin Mellemkjær, Simon Månsson, Gabriel Jacobsson and Nicolaj Garde, who was one of the favorites to win his division (Purple 88kg) but injured his knee in an accidental fall in the first seconds of the first match. Our partners from Omnifys were in attendance and provided Nicolaj with medical assistance right on the spot. Luckily the injury was not so serious and he should be back on the mats within the next couple of weeks.
New official partners: Omnifys
We are happy to announce Omnifys as the new official partners of Choke Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The rising company, which was founded by our students Jesper Nielsen and Martin Mellemkjær in 2007, is quickly establishing itself as a leading supplier of physiotherapy and health programs for individuals and companies in the Nordsjælland region.
Our students benefit from this partnership because Omnifys is developing a specific branch for dealing with martial artists and sports people in general. They started this work in our main school in Valby and the great results so far have led us to expand the partnership. From now on Choke students will receive treatments at reduced prices.
And there is more: Omnifys is already taking care of our assistant instructor Michael Pedersen as he prepares for the upcoming European Championship of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Lisbon. They will also travel to Portugal to provide total assistance to our fighter during the event.
To find out more about Omnifys:
- http://omnifys.dk
- Facebook group
Happy Holidays + 2010 Season
We would like to wish all our students and instructors a happy new year with even bigger and better challenges! Our main school in Valby - Choke Copenhagen - is now closed for the holidays and will resume its acitvities on Monday, January 11th. The big news is that starting from that week we will also offer classes on Wednesdays 1800-1915 and 1915-2030.
Choke Sweden is also on a break. The first class of the new year is scheduled for Wednesday, January 13th. Our schools in Jylland and Fyn will have special training sessions for those of you who cannot stay away from the mats for too long. Make sure to check training times in the Choke Forum.
And get ready, because we have plans to start the new year with a bang. Tournaments, Choke Cup, seminars and many more events are on the list. As always, we will do everything we can to help you take your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills to a whole new level in 2010. Until then!
Graduation Report & Photos
This past Saturday we held our annual graduation, the last major event of the year. There were 50 students from accross Denmark and Sweden gathered on the mats to celebrate another chapter in their Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu journey. 13 people were promoted, including five purple belts. As expected, the whipping session was ferocious!
Once everyone had new belts around their waist, it was time for the infamous game "Allies & Traitors" to get people pumped up for the technical class. Our head instructor Joao Pedro Santos and brown belts Michael and Morten Pedersen taught a class focused on one of the most common and efficient locks in Jiu-Jitsu: the "Americana".
After the event most of the students attended a Christmas Dinner, our first ever. All in all it was a really cool day where people from different Choke schools had the chance to train together and interact on a personal level as well. The picture gallery is already online and it features over 65 high-res images. We also have lots of video footage of the event and plan to release it in the coming weeks. The updated Choke Ranks list is available in our forum.
We would like to congratulate all our students for another amazing year. It is a joy to see our organisation grow through everyone's efforts and dedication.
And remember: this is just the beginning!
Annual Graduation
Our annual graduation, the biggest event of the year, is scheduled for Saturday, December 12. We are expecting over 50 students on the mats to celebrate another year of hard work with new, darker belts around some people's waists. Who will be promoted?
As usual, we will have the belt ceremony followed by a photo session, seminar and dinner afterwards. Full info is available on the Choke Forum and in our Facebook Group. Make sure to check the links out and confirm your presence. This is definitely an event you don't want to miss!
Below is the video of our 2007 Graduation. As you can see, it doesn't matter whether you are being promoted or not, as long as you are there to share the experience and your sweat with all your Choke friends. This year's event will feature a few surprises, so be ready for everything!
More classes in Copenhagen
We have great news for the members of our main school in Valby: starting from next week, all classes will follow the same schedule. The Blue Belt Program for beginners will go from 18:00 to 19:15 and the Advanced Program will run from 19:15 to 20:30. This means that the training will start one hour earlier on Tuesday nights (at 18:00). Previously Tuesday was the odd night of the week, with classes starting at 19:00.
And it doesn't end there: starting in January 2010 we will offer additional classes on Wednesday nights. We will then total eight classes per week between beginners and advanced, which will allow our students to improve at an even faster pace than they do now. This is all part of Choke Copenhagen's expansion. We still have a couple of projects being worked on right now that we expect to unveil in the coming months. So stay tuned and train hard because there are a lot of good things on the way!
Kyra Gracie seminars: video & pictures
The Kyra Gracie seminars were a great success. We had over 60 students on the mats during the weekend to meet and learn from the top female BJJ fighter in the world. Professor Kyra showed that, besides being an awesome competitor, she is also an accomplished teacher with an eye for details. Everyone left the seminars with a handful of new tricks up their Gi sleeves. Kyra had a good time with us in Scandinavia and we are already discussing her next visit, which will most likely take place around mid-2010.
Click here to see a photo gallery with over 70 pictures of the seminars.
Kyra Gracie visits Choke in October
Yes, you got it right. The world's top female BJJ fighter will be coming to Scandinavia in October to teach exclusive seminars at Choke. Kyra is one of the most decorated fighters in the sport, having won the World/Pan-Am/National Championships multiple times as well as the prestigious ADCC Submission Wrestling event twice. As a matter of fact, she will be defending her ADCC title in Barcelona in the end of the month. Right after the event she will fly to Copenhagen to spend some time here and teach a couple of seminars for Choke students only.
The seminars are scheduled for October 03 & 04. Saturday at Choke Limhamn, Sunday at Choke Odense. More info is available in the Choke Forum. Needless to say that this is a very special opportunity to meet and learn from one of the best Jiu-Jitsu competitors out there today. Kyra is known for her technical and relentless game and she will be teaching some of her favorite moves in the upcoming seminars. We are expecting over 50 students from all our schools to get together for a very fun weekend of training with Kyra Gracie and Professor Joao Pedro Santos. This event is not to be missed, so make sure to sign up and secure your spot today.
Over the past five years, our school has established itself as the home of the Gracie Family in Scandinavia. We have welcomed Roger, Rolles, Igor and now it's Kyra's turn to share her knowledge with our students. In addition to the names above, we must mention our own 6th degree Master Sergio Bolao, Professor Roberto Atalla and Professor Rafael Gordinho, all of them direct desciples of the Gracie Family in Brazil. We like to keep it real, so it's no surprise that the Jiu-Jitsu taught at Choke flows straight from the source.
Jiu-Jitsu roots
The picture below was taken in the year 2000, at Grande Mestre Helio Gracie's ranch in Itaipava, a mountain village about one-hour drive from Rio de Janeiro. Professor Helio had asked his nephew Carlos Gracie Jr. (the head of Gracie Barra) to bring a couple of good guys to spar with his grandson Ryron Gracie, a purple belt at the time.
Standing (L to R): Ryron, Carlinhos, Rolles, Helio, Igor, JP, unknown.
Down: Luca, Sal, Cachorrão, Gordinho.
The chosen ones were Ricardo Almeida, aka Cachorrao, currently a UFC fighter, and Joao Sal, one of the top young prospects from Gracie Barra. But a selected crew went along, including Choke's head instructor Joao Pedro Santos (a purple belt at the time) and friends Luca Atalla, Rafael Gordinho, Rolles Gracie and Igor Gracie. It was an unforgettable day that included training in the Grande Mestre's private dojo, Gracie Diet lunch and açaí smoothies, swim in the lake and a lot of lessons about Jiu-Jitsu and life in general.
This historical picture is a good example of the roots of our organisation, which is based on the Gracie Family's martial art and unique way of life. Not surprisingly, this picture will be featured in the upcoming documentary entitled "The Gracies and the birth of Vale-Tudo", which is currently in post-production and should be released soon. More info here.
Choke Copenhagen expands
After relocating to bigger and better facilities in January, our main school continues the expansion with a number of different projects on the horizon. For starters, we recently got brand new mats for our dojo, which now features 80m2 of matted area.
In addition to this, in September we will start offering two new classes on Monday nights. The Beginners Group will have "Self-Defense & Fundamentals" from 18:00 to 19:00. This class will focus on the application of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in street scenarios. The students will learn how to evade enemy strikes to achieve control of the situation standing and on the floor.
The Advanced Group will have "Nogi Jiu-Jitsu" from 19:00 to 20:30. This class will vary between self-defense and straight grappling. It's important to note that the uniform for both classes is Gi pants + rash guard or t-shirt.
