"Grappling" in Nova Scotia

Well in the last few years grappling and of course B.J.J have become very popular. From only a few styles training in it, to the big boom when the U.F.C first came out and other styles tried to jump on the bandwagon (Black Belt magazine ran an article Taekwondo's hidden grappling techniques). At one time in the late 90's you could also become a Gracie affiliate simply by sending in your money and doing there "at home course" you even got a sticker for your club window (one club did this..but keep reading and you will find out). So I will not talk about the history of Submission grappling/B.J.J, I just want to tell you some stories about the Submission grappling arts here in N.S and more so Halifax.

Having been running a club almost ten years before the U.F.C came out, and still running my club now,I think I have a good idea of the development of grappling in the area.

Lets go back....way back to 1949 when Mr. Ord Inouye of Vancouver was stationed in Halifax and serving on the H.M.C.S Stadacona. A student of Judo he taught a few people around who wanted to learn this "new" art. I am sure it had a lot of grappling, as back then it was taught a lot more then now, as far as learning Judo.

John Bluming of Holland come in 1958 and taught both Judo and Jujitsu at the Halifax Y.M.C A, He would leave a year later to go train at the Kodokan in Japan. Around this time Perry Teale who is called the father of Nova Scotia Judo started teaching as well. There where many local tournaments and of course followed the rules of Judo back then. Readers should note that the rules for Judo have changed over the years, back then there where not as much, as it was called the "ruff and tumble" days of Judo. It would be nothing for a local Karate club to test themselves against Judo back then in Halifax.

Anyway skip forward to 1993 and the U.F.C comes out. I think the next day my students and I where working on striking and sparring. We had some local wrestlers teaching us some moves and some friends from Judo at the time stopping in and working with us as well. In the early 90's a local Kempo Karate club run by Dave Harrison brought the Shootfighting champion Bart Vale to Halifax, he taught basic submission grappling techniques (there was no B.J.J in Halifax at this time). Around the mid 90's I brought in an instructor named Ron Beer who after training both Judo and wrestling for years and Chinese Wrestling in China, he put together a program called Canadian Shootwresting. We had him at our club for a two day course that covered the coaching level one material and from there we added it to our Japanese Jujitsu.

Also around the late 90's and guy opened a club up (I will not use his name) in Lower Sackville in the old Downview mall and started teaching B.J.J (this was the first B.J.J club in the Halifax area). I went to visit him a few times and one day we had a match that lasted an hour long with him getting me at the end. He was a Karate Black Belt and really nice guy who did the "at home B.J.J course" and  was very good at it. He formed his own B.J.J style and tried to teach it but it only lasted a year maybe. He did have a student that started with him that would go on the become a legitimate B.J.J Black Belt under Rickson Gracie.

A funny story: The guy teaching in Sackville one day called me "Ray you are like the godfather of Martial Arts around here, I want you to set up a fight between me and the guy that teaches Shootfighting/Kempo, he said he beat me once in a match but I beat him" I of course called the guy that taught Shootfighting and he said "ya I beat that guy easy, set up the fight I will do it" well I never did set up that fight, I just stayed out of it. Also the guy who taught Shootfighting set up early M.M.A fight at the Halifax form around 1995, sold 2000 tickets and got shut down by the boxing commission. I even went with him to a lawyer and the commission to help get it going but know luck it was shut down..

It was around 1994 that our club put on the first Submission grappling event at our club, it was a fun time with local wrestling and one or two Judo guys plus my students taking part. Around the late 90's Dave Mckenna in Dartmouth put on a grappling event and some video of that can be seen on my u-tube page. It shows a grappling match between to (now) very well know and great B.J.J guys. Also from my understanding two other guys who would later go on to start there own club called Titans if Halifax, where practicing the grappling arts and al;so stopping into local Judo club to train. One of them who I knew from T.K.D came out to our club a few times and did some grappling with us, he was very good back then, and amazing now.

After being certified to teach the Shootwresting program I taught a few seminars down the South Shore, in Sydney C.B and in the Truro area. I helped a number of guys in the the Truro area get certified in Shootwrestling and also helped put on a small grappling event down there as well.

In the late 90's we got very involved in Judo and had at the time, the Senior Provincial coach teaching at our club. Our Jujitsu students entered Judo events and Rhonda McKinnon became the first female Jujitsu student to enter Judo events and win fighting in a number of tournaments, myself and many of my students went into Judo events. We also held the largest and first Kids Judo/ Jujitsu grappling event in Nova Scotia with over 100 kids in it. We also held a few more submission events at my club in Halifax but eventually by 2000 got out of it.

Also in the late 90's where two guys (Titans) who where doing very well with there club teaching B.J.J, they eventually had students leave them and do there own thing as well. (this happens to every club).

Since around 1993 our club always had grappling in it, two good friends or ours who also taught wrestling did a lot of teaching, and also one of my Students (Mark) ran the program for awhile. We had a good friend (Nathan) teach B.J.J at our club for a year or more and of course now it is run by the great Steve Greencorn who started as a student at a few other clubs then started with us, work his way up to be know as the "ambassador for grappling" in Nova Scotia..I think that anyway. Courtney Pratt became the first Renzo Gracie Blue Belt and of course now a Cia Paulista Purple belt be the first lady to start a all ladies grappling class. We have some great students enter and win at many events, and now Nova Scotia has I think 5 B.J.J Black Belts teaching somewhere around the area. So huge steps for the development of the grappling arts and looking forward to seeing what comes next...