Congrats Rick Marshall! That purple belt was way too worn out.

[Justin W.]

Just saw the news on facebook. Great skills and especially great attitude. Well deserved, dude!

[Luciano]

I saw it happen, wish I would have known before hand to film it. Congrats Slick Rick!

[Bill Keeling]

Congrats Rick!

[Josh Passini]

Congrats Rick

[Dustin C.]

Congrats Slick Rick!! Very well deserved!!!

[Matthias Sieber]

I still remember last year when we fought our match at Grappling X when you just got your purple and I was still a white belt at that time. Man, I gotta catch up!

Congratulations!

[JoeyOGgomez]

Well deserved. Keep it up Slick Rick.

[Anthony Herrera]

Congrats Rick thats awesome!!! Nasty Nate got his purp the last nite as well, congrats to him too he's a good friend of mine i wish i was there to see it.

[Enrique "Kiko"]

Big congratulations good sir.

[Slick Rick]

Hi guys, I appreciate the props. Nate getting that purple was awesome as well. Yes it seemed like just yesterday I had that purple and being that Christian was the only other brown belt under Sean, I had a lot of work to do (Christian: NCAA D1 wrestler).

On the road to brown and even purple, I knew the only thing I had complete control over was the effort I put into training:
-Training 5-6 days a week, sometimes 7
-Watching DVDs on the way to work
-Teaching classes
-mixing and sharing technique with/from those at 10th planet Riverside, Joker's MMA, Gokor's gym, Reign, Sub Tech MMA and 10th planet Vista, FSA(South SF), Maui Martial Arts, Cobra Kai JJ, Arena MMA, Stronghold SD, Johnny Ho from 10th SF, the guys from 10th Springfield... now that I think of it, all the 10th guys from everywhere(youtube, MTS, la, van nuys)... damn the list goes on and on.
-going to seminars
-dreaming of techniques - see "triangle city"

The effort pays off. I must give props to those I collaborate with, but most of all to Sean Bollinger. It wasn't til I started working with him that I noticed all the techniques I knew prior to 10th, start to come together. He has a special way of teaching and all I could do is watch, learn, and mimic. Somewhere along the way I started to have my own style and so one day he said, "You're Slick Rick for now on." So I ran with it.

Moving forward, I will change nothing but the color of my clothing.
Thanks again everyone. The props much appreciated. I hope to visit you all soon to get some rounds in.

Rick