training in Brazil

A little bit of culture shocks is on my mind since I got back to California from Brazil. How was Brazil is the most common question I am getting now? And my answer is a little wild without telling the person everything that happened. My issues of stresses were of the common traveler and nothing I was not on top of.

When I arrived in Rio de Janeiro, my bag with all my clothes was lost in Miami. The rain was coming down for days and the shower did not have hot water (the first night). Soon my credit card was copied and used. However, this was all normal things. The sun arrived with my bag and the charges to my card were credited. Each time the shower did have hot water and it was the best feeling after training jiu-jitsu in Brazil.

So the next common question was how was training? It was cool. Lots of great training partners, drills and new techniques. I stayed at the Connection Rio house. It is an international jiu-jitsu hostel. At the house there were jiu-jitsu guys and girls from all over the world. Some people were college students and other were professionals on holiday. We had the one thing in common and that was the love for jiu-jitsu. A third question I got was, “How old are you,” after I told them I was training for close to 20 years jiu-jitsu. 34 for with a smile and 2 degrees on my black belt!

Nonetheless, through jiu-jitsu, I have always been able to relate other people. There were nights where we stayed up for hours talking about jiu-jitsu, history, strategies and different fighters. It never got boring. I actually felt like a jiu-jitsu mentor to the guys there. For training, on the roof there was an open area. We were able to train outside over looking the mountains in one direction and the beaches in the other. There were some really nice sunset sessions of jiu-jitsu. Drilling, sparring, sunset and shower (Hot) in Rio! The Best!

Of course there were many things that happened in between training and traveling, but that is another story and few I think I will tell my mother in 10 years. I really want to thank Connection Rio and Dennis Asche for helping me in Brazil as I was down there for business and little bit of relaxation since my father’s passing. Dennis really has his pulse on what is happening in Brazil for Jiu-Jitsu and so much more.

Thinking about heading to Brazil? Thinking about training in Brazil? You should already be there. And the connection rio strategy is the best for what we do!

My best,

Prof. Tony Pacenski
2nd Degree Black Belt
BJJ Revolution Team