Thelma Polyviou nutritionist (PHD)

A great week to all! Last week we had the luck and honor to welcome on the mat, Thelma Polyviou, a nutritionist (PhD), who stole some time from her vacation from Scotland so she could share with us some tips on BJJ athlete's nutrition. She spoke about the timing of the meals before and after practice, the meals themselves and their properties as well as their specific attributes, and she even gave tips on budgeting! Thelma has printed he presentation, which is larger then her actual speech, so for those who failed to get a copy last Thursday, there are some left at the academy. We will soon upload them on the team's page so they can be downloaded.

New 2013 - 2014 schedule!

Adcc 2013

On 19th of October Beijing China will host the 10th ADCC championship.

As always the categories are full of elite athletes and super stars.

In the -66kg category Raphael Mendes will try to break the record of the great BJJ legend Royler Gracie, who currently holds three titles in the category. It will not come easily for Mendes as he needs to face fighters like Cobrinha and Tancinho. In the last match at the world championships, Tancinho beat Mendes and left the championship with the tittle. 

In the-77kg category Leonardo Lo, Octavio Sousa, Kron Gracie and Lucas Lepri are some of the many names that  will fight to fill in the void of the category's greatest ever, Marcelo Gracia.

The -88kg category, I believe it will be the most interesting category as one of the fighters is the best brown belt in the world. The "phenomenon" Keean Kornelius is one of my favorites to win the category.

Of couse Rumulo Barral, Lucas Leite, Michael Langhi, Claudio Clazanse, Raphael Lovato JR are thirsty for the title as none of these great athletes has an ADCC tittle on their record yet.

In the -99kg category, 2 times ADCC champion Dean Lister, will face the BJJ favorite, Rodolfo Vieira who is in the best shape of his career.

In the +99kg category, Marcus "Buchecha" Almeida is the favourite to crush everyone on his category, but also every one who steps into the absolute division with him.

2013 Annual Grading

On the 19th of July, Aspida Team (Renzo Gracie) had its annual grading ceremony.

It was a chance for many students to be rewarded for their efforts in terms of jiujitsu and the sprit they exhibited during the year! 

Many students were promoted to a higher level belt and some students received intermediary stripes on their way to the next belt level.

The students are graded based on performance, learning and their overall presence in the academy.

Promotions to Blue belt:

Andreas Ketonis

Philip Malik

Simons Galatariotis

Michalis Petrou

Promotions to Purple Belt:

Dimitris Louca

Dakis Kyriakidis

Dino Kouyialis 

It was also a great chance to reflect on the events of the past year regarding the academy  and for its students for their achievements in competitions but also the their level of jiujitsu demonstrated within the academy.

Another important aspect emphasized is the  spirit of brotherhood exhibited on and off the mats! 

Regarding the academy's future plans, the healthy progression of growth was emphasized and it was announced that a second academy will open in Nicosia.

Also in the very near future the cooperation with  another academy will be announced.

Thank you all for attending this ceremony and note that it is important to participate in the academy's activities regardless if you are being promoted to a higher level or not. It is always important to support the academy and your fellow athletes!

Rome open international / European no Gi

Rome open / European no gi  During the last weekend of June , this BJJ event took place in Rome. Itally.  Six members of Aspida team took part at this event and they managed to bring home 1 gold , 1 silver and 2 bronze medals. Konstantinos Mavris . From Aspida team Athens - gold ultra heavy white belt at the Rome open Andreas Ketonis From Aspida team cyprus bronze in the feather white belt division at the Rome open Andreas Achniotis bronze in the brown belt light division at the Rome open  Andreas Achniotis silver at the European no gi brown belt light.  The rest of the team Nicolas Mavromatis , Theodoros Kyriakidou and Filippos Filippou from Aspida team paphos Fought well and were very close to a medal!   The whole team had a chance to attend a seminar with one of the most technical player at a profesional level Caio Terra  the next day.  Andreas Achniotis Also had a chance to visit tribe jiu jitsu Firenze run by Luca Caracciolo and gave a 2 hour lesson ( gi  and no gi)   Overall it was a great experience and a good time for the team to develop and practice jiu jitsu at an international level    We look forward to next tournament 

1st national bjj open training

Group foto

On the 6^th of April the first open training session took place in Cyprus. Around 50 students from different Jiu-Jitsu schools showed up ready to train with new partners and test their techniques. That was the main purpose of this open training, to test the technical and cardiovascular level of each person.
The whole training was contacted by Prof Pantelis Panayides and Head Instructor Argiris Argirides.
The training program started out with a 15 to 20 min warm and the main training followed with Randori (live sparing). Every match had 5min duration with 2min brakes. All athletes had at least 5 to 6 Randori. At the end there was a 5 min cool down. During the whole training there was a positive energy by all athletes.
The reason behind this type of training and the ones to follow is to get the athletes ready for competition. People who follow this training program eventually are going to be ready for real level of competition.
Jiu-Jitsu grows because we share.
Train your mind train Jiu-Jitsu

By professor Pantelis Panayides

How to wash your gi