Training at NineNine with Eduardo Telles
I went to Brazil again for a couple of weeks, and I just got back about 2 weeks ago. I had an awesome time. I spent my birthday there. I ate some great food, spent time with some wonderful people and learned a few new words in Portuguese. But that’s not what you want to hear about. You want to hear about my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training.
If your in Greater São Paulo for vacation or business and want to take some time to boost your game, then you should definitely visit Eduardo Telles. The NineNine Academy which he teaches at is a short walk from the subway station, about 5 minutes. I had the opportunity to take a couple of private lessons while I was there and it was well worth it.
The first time I scheduled a lesson with him I was a little unsure what to work on. There were a few areas I wanted to focus on, but when I arrived there I thought to myself “If you’re going to get a lesson from the Turtle Guard Master then you should probably ask to work on Turtle Guard.” So that’s what I did. Before that time I had only learned about 2 attacks form bottom Turtle and I really only felt comfortable going to the position against white belts. But after that lesson I was a Turtle Guard fanatic. I had the chance to watch his Turtle Guard DVD months before I went to Sao Paulo, but I didn’t take the time to really learn the techniques. I only browsed through them. I wish that I had so I could have asked better questions. But 5 months later I had my opportunity and I was determined to make the most of it.
About a week before I left for Brazil I found out that Telles was in town and would be available the day after I arrived. So I grabbed my copy of this Turtle Guard DVD series and studied it like crazy. I practiced and trained with my roommate for about 7 hours over a period of 3 days. I went into the academy early to try techniques against my instructor and I practiced Turtle Guard against students while sparring. I felt that Turtle Guard cram session really paid off, because I now had a list of thoughtful question to ask.
When I met with Eduardo the second time I explained the studying I had done and began asking my question. I asked one question at a time and he would answer each one in great detail, adding in details I couldn’t have thought of. It was funny, because I would ask him about a problem that someone would give me and he would say something like, “I love it when guys do that.” And then he would show me how to turn that negative into a positive and dominate my opponent with it.
Anyways, about 15 minutes into my 1 hour lesson, I was out of questions. He answered my questions too fast. So we sparred. I told him I would try to play a lot of Turtle and asked if he could point out my mistakes as well as my missed opportunities for attacks. It was a lot of fun. He spars so relaxed. Playing the Turtle Guard so much has made him great at defending the back mount and chokes from that position. Rolling with him made me not want to attack the back anymore. It was a really awesome experience that I would recommend to anyone who practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
I’ve been working a lot on the Turtle Guard since I’ve been back. It’s a complex game with a lot of opportunities and it will take a lot of practice to really master it, but I think it is a game well worth it.
