HaHa.
But Zog a mouthguard gives no protection to brain injuries does it?
I will accept that mouth injuries can occur and can be expensive to fix but there is no evidence that it offers any other protection.
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So in 2006 when I was compteting in the Sambo Swiss Open me and my buddy Dom were there repping th US and we stayed in the bunker with the Russian team that was also coached by my coach Igor Yakimov. After a long day of competiting, the Russian team desided we were going out on the town (we fought both Sambo and Combat Sambo that day and still had Submission Grappling the next day). So we head to a bar, and we were there until about 4 am when we finally got kicked out. However that was before some shit almost went down. Some locals took issue with the US/Russian connection macking on all their girls. So right as shit is about to come to blows I look over and all the guys on the Russian team are putting in fucking mouth pieces?!?!?! Luckly I was able to de escalate the situation and we left. All the Russians were cops/military and they explained they keep them with them even when they are on duty in case shit goes down. All of them said they don't leave home without one :)
the lightest weakest person in the gym is often myself at 154-156. I dont get any mercy. When I roll with new guys I use the opportunity to play bottom game and focus on technique.
It takes more than one guy deciding to roll light, so no, thats not at all what i am saying.
Rarely do I wear a mouthguard, and I never wear a cup. It's just my preference.
Kurzy forgot to put in his mouthguard, he got a little hurt, and now is on the road to being ok. I train with him and know he's pretty good for wearing his mouthguard and even his headgear. Regarding wearing cups, all the tournaments out here ban cups so none of us wear them. I appreciate the responses from Zog and some of the more experienced guys regarding the whole discussion of never rolling without a mouthpiece and 'rolling hard'. I personally always wear a mouthguard, and it wasn't a $30 custom fitting one, it was a basic $3 mouthguard that provides enough padding in my mouth to protect me from concussions etc &i've never had an issue.
We train hard. To those people criticizing my club and how we roll, you are criticizing my instructor and I don't appreciate it. Kurzy got hurt in an accident and even said that. Feel free to come down and roll with us. You'll realize that most of the higher level guys and even the higher level, more experienced white belts, know how to roll hard but also how to roll without hurting their training partners. We're not doing ballet here, people will catch elbows and knees and shoulders in the face from time to time. I understand that some people just 'don't let people near their heads'. Roll with Stew for 5 minutes or Tim, one of our purple belts, and let me know how much fun you had keeping them away from putting pressure on your head and neck during a pass or crushing you with a dope choke.
I'm not saying don't take it easy once in a while or kill yourself everytime you train, but if it wasn't for Stew and how he has us train, guys from our club who compete wouldn't do as well as we do. So I appreciate your advice on how you think we should roll, but come talk to me when you compete as often as some of us do and train with Stew to appreciate his jiu jitsu and selfless instruction and coaching. Please don't talk about my club, telling us how to roll if you haven't trained with us. I've never been to HQ or Rochester, but from what I hear (&coach Zog confirmed this), those guys are rolling hard too.