Date and charity chosen! The GrappleThon will be taking place on Saturday 12th April 2014 at Origin MMA Academy. We will be raising funds for an excellent charity called Kidscape. Kidscape is committed to keeping children safe from abuse. It is the first national charity dedicated to preventing bullying and child sexual abuse. Kidscape believes that protecting children from harm is key.

Donations can be made here, at our JustGiving page...

http://www.justgiving.com/originmmaacademy

Please share with team mates, friends, family and work colleagues.

Also if anyone wants to get involved and grapple please let me know.

Thanks,
Mike

Thank you to all my team mates, the positive response to the GrappleThon has been overwhelming. I also really want to say thank you to those who have already said yes to taking part. If anyone else wants to do the GrappleThon please let me or Spence know. Anyone of any experience/level is welcome. I really want to make this fund raising event a team thing so the more the merrier. And don't worry, no one has to roll for 12 hours straight, if people just turned up for an hour to roll that would be great (as long as there's two people  rolling over the period it counts)!

I will post the date and kids charity later on.

Venue confirmed! The 12 hour long Grapplethon will be held at the Origin MMA Academy in Rainham, Essex. With a provisional early April date.

Massive thanks to my BJJ instructor Spencer Hewitt for his support and use of his gym for this event. Spencer holds the rank of black belt in BJJ and is also a successful MMA fighter; showcasing his skills on some of the largest shows in the UK and Europe.

For more information about Spencer's gym and the large range of classes on offer see below:

http://www.originmmaacademy.com/

I recommend the classes for anyone of any age.  Spencer also runs successful BJJ and MMA classes for kids.  Spencer's BJJ arm of the academy is part of UK pioneer Marc Walder's Mauricio Gomes Origin BJJ Team. Marc has been pivotal in helping raise the profile of BJJ in the UK and was one of the first people to be awarded the rank of black belt in this country.

Next stage is get all my team mates involved and decide on a children's charity for the event.  I'm looking for a charity which specifically helps with child neglect and anti-bullying.

The concept of a Grapplethon is relatively simple;  a group of grapplers (be it from BJJ, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Judo, Wrestling, Sambo etc) come together and roll for a set time period, for a selected charity. There aren't many rules other than that there must be at least two people grappling at any one point over the allotted time slot.

But first let me give you a little bit of background about myself.  My name is Mike, I'm married, have a wonderful wife and two smashing kids who keep me on my toes. I train in a number of combat sports/martial arts, but my real passion is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I've been training BJJ for some years now and hold the rank of purple belt. I train with a great team based at the Origin MMA Academy in Rainham, Essex.

I've always wanted to create a fund raiser, but seeing I'm scared of heights (so no skydiving!) and no marathon runner I thought doing something involving BJJ was ideal for me. To be fair Grapplethon's aren't a new thing and many BJJ teams both in the UK and abroad hold them on a regular basis. Google Grapplethon and you will find tonnes of successful events held by the BJJ community.

I guess the main question is which charity to chose. For me I have a special place in my heart for charities who specifically deal in helping neglected or bullied children. I'm currently in talks with a couple of charities and hope to make an announcement soon.

The next stage is to find a venue, grapplers, date and predetermined timeslot.

Keep watching this space for more info.

Osss.



Welcome to my BJJ Essex GrappleThon  blog - more to follow soon