6 BJJ practitioners get promotion

Trench Tech’s BJJ practitioners and Purebred Guam BJJ head professor Stephen Roberto, third left front row, gather for a group photo after a session at the Trench Tech Gym in Garapan last weekend.
(Contributed Photo)

Six Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners from Saipan were promoted from white belt to blue belt during Purebred Guam BJJ head professor Stephen Roberto’s visit to the island last week.

Trench Tech MMA fighter Vince “The Clinch” Masga led Saipan’s new roster of blue belts and was joined by Alverick Alvarez, Jack Kiyoshi, Rey Kim, Ken Tanzawa, and the lone female member of the select group—Josephine Togawa. The blue belt is the second level in belt rankings among adults BJJ practitioners. There are eight levels in the rankings.

Masga and company were promoted after joining the four-day camp of the black belt Roberto and another professor, Eric Sian, at the Trench Tech Gym in Garapan.

“To have 2 BJJ black belts at our academy this past week was an awesome experience to say the least. Their wisdom and knowledge of the game and years and years of training allowed them to show us some very basic and advanced moves in a simplified manner where we were able to execute them with little or no struggle. In other words, their techniques are so sound, they made all the moves look easy and taught us how to be way more efficient in exploiting them,” said Trench Tech founder and owner Cuki Alvarez.

“Since the inception of Trench Tech 12 years ago, we have mainly done MMA and No Gi. As of 2012, we decided to diversify our training and add more traditional form of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to our regimen and training program. This also allows us to get legitimately ‘ranked’ in the sport with the belting system,” added Cuki, who owns a purple belt (third level).

The Trench Tech founder further explained that although MMA competitions are more popular on Saipan than BJJ contests, the latter is better in terms of longevity.

“To be a true ‘martial artist,’ one must indulge himself in all aspects of the game. MMA is a brutal sport and its longevity isn’t very promising. As for BJJ, you can do it till you’re 100. BJJ is known as ‘The Gentle Art’ and one can utilize technique over power. You do not have to be the strongest guy or most athletic to dominate and control your opponent,” Cuki said.

Cuki thanked Roberto and Sian for sharing their knowledge to Saipan BJJ practitioners last week.

“We all want to improve and learn from the best. It is one thing to share moves and techniques with your training partners, but it’s totally a different experience when you are learning from a legitimate black belt. Their attention to details in explaining and executing the moves are unparallel. It makes it more exciting and fun to learn knowing you are getting very quality instructions,” he said.

Meanwhile, three more BJJ practitioners were recognized last week after their notable showing during Roberto’s camp.

Siblings Mark and Mild Thompson and Bong Bong Martinez got stripes on their white belts.

“They were given one white stripe. A stripe signifies a practitioner’s improvement in the level and encourages him/her to continue working hard and learning more in order to eventually get promoted to the next belt—in this case blue. A player can receive anywhere from 1- 4 stripes before getting fully promoted based on their skills set,” said Alvarez, who awarded the stripes to the three while belts.

“They still have long ways to go, but are showing promise on receiving their blue belts in the next year or two,” he added.