Avant Guard

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Last Sunday, the Northern California Jiu Jitsu community united in support of the survivors of the recent Earthquake in Haiti. The event was a great success, raising money, awareness, and the skill level of many enthusiastic students. 10th Planet’s Denny Prokopos, who celebrated his 22nd birthday that day, “couldn’t think of anything better than to be doing what he loves for such a good cause.”

This weekend, February 21st, in San Jose, California, Heroes Academy in San Jose is hosting a “Mega Seminar” to support the relief effort in Haiti. The charity seminar will feature techniques by over a dozen jiu jitsu masters, including:

• Alan “Gumby” Marques (Heroes Martial Arts)
• Sergio Silva (Team Silva)
• Garth Taylor (Kaijin MMA)
• Mike Vann (Claudio Franca BJJ)
• Mike Roberts (Claudio Franca BJJ)
• Stan Kendricks (Triune BJJ)
• Odilion “OJ” Domingues (Triune BJJ)
• Sandro “Batata” Santiago (Sandro Batata BJJ)
• Julio Echeverria (Sandro Batata BJJ)
• Kurt Osiander (Ralph Gracie BJJ)
• Justin “The Machine” Holder (Ralph Gracie BJJ)
• Dave Clahan (Ralph Gracie BJJ)
• Chris Smith (Tiger Martial Arts)
• Mike Prudencio (One World BJJ)
• Mikyo Riggs (Marin MMA)
• Ricardo Barros (Ricardo Barros BJJ)
• Daren Uyenoyama (FTCC Combat Club)
• Marcos “Yesamo” Torregrossa (Cassio Werneck)
• Denny Prokopos (10th Planet)
• Felipe Lattari (Cia Paulista)

100% of the proceeds will go to Red Cross for Haiti Earthquake Relief.

Follow the link for more information. OnTheMat.com

Sean Bollinger, instructor at 10th Planet, Riverside and one of Eddie Bravo’s top students, received his Black Belt this month, making him one of only two people in the world to hold that distinction. Sean is a top competitor, actively representing 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu in the field, and an innovator, responsible for introducing the “double-bagger” to the system.

Congratulations, Sean!

Check out his “surprise” belt awarding ceremony here.

Team USA has selected Denny Prokopos to represent the United States at the upcoming No-Gi Grappling World’s Jiu Jitsu Tournament. The competition is March 26, 2010 in Krakow, Poland.

Denny’s power grows in proportion to his proximity to his homeland, Greece. While he’s been forced to live on the opposite side of the planet as part of a fragile armistice, we expect him to unleash a secret fury on the rest of the world in Europe this Spring.

Check out Denny’s latest interview with OTM, where he discusses his martial arts goals, overcoming adversity and negativity, and how he became Eddie Bravo’s first Black Belt, following a chance meeting at a tournament and a lot of hard-earned private lessons.

Interview at OnTheMat.com

Pete “The Greek” Letsos will be teaching a seminar this Sunday at 10th Planet. Letsos is renown for his highly technically top game and guard passes, as well as his ability to apply a significant amount of pressure in all of his techniques; this will be the focus of his seminar.

Although he has not competed in about four years, due to injury, he has already accumulated an impressive list of accolades – member of the Black Belt Carlson Gracie Team, four-time Arnold Gracie Champion, three-time CBJJ Pan American Medalist, two-time Relson Gracie National Campion. Letsos has also spent years training with top competitors like Andre Galvao, Kenny Florian, Bibiano Fernandes, and Frenando Terere in Brazil, and he trained and taught with BJ Penn in Hawaii.

At $50 per person, this seminar is a great value! Please come by and show your support for 10th Planet, San Francisco and for one of jiu jitsu’s finest. Email Denny at prokopos300@gmail.com to reserve a spot.

Details:
When: Sunday, January 17th @ 12pm – 3pm
Where: 333 Valencia Street
Cost: $50

To All My Nibiru Warriors,

Please note the following changes to our normal class schedule:

• December 24th: there will be an afternoon class (12:30-2:00pm) but no night class.
• December 25th: there will be no class.
• December 31st: there will be an afternoon class
• January 1st: there will be no class.

I would like to wish you and your families Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

- Denny

This weekend, Denny competed at the Grappling Worlds Tournament in Florida.  Denny won his first two matches by submission – a slow triangle from the mount and a Severn choke, losing the final match by one point (and surely only a few seconds), with time expiring as Denny was adjusting a triangle choke on his opponent.  Despite a frustrating final round, Denny was thrilled to test his skills at the international level and to receive instruction from the legendary Ricardo Liborio, head coach of Team USA.

Follow the jump for more pictures and for videos of Denny’s matches.

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We will have Thanksgiving day training on 11/26/09 from 12p.m. – 1:30p.m.
There will be no class that night.

Denny placed third in the black belt division this weekend at the Worlds No-Gi tournament in Long Beach. Sadly, he fell victim to an unexpected headlock while posing for a picture.