Dad Chokes: Reflections of a Middle Aged Grappler

Joseph Campbell, rites of passage, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

I hope you guys enjoy this article from my friend Jim Michael, who trains at Valko Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Chicago. Jim and I trained together quite a bit when I was a senior in college and training at Valko for most of my training.

Since I started this Jiu-Jitsu-focused newsletter, I wanted to do an article focused on Master’s divisions and the experience of being an older competitor.

Unfortunately, at 24, while my joints do quite old sometimes, I don’t exactly have the perspective of what it’s like to be a consistent Master’s division competitor. That’s why I wanted Jim to contribute to this newsletter. I love the idea of creating a platform for grapplers to tell their stories, and that’s what happened with this one. I hope these contributions are just the beginning of a new phase in my newsletter.

I really thought this was a great article, and I think you can get a lot out of it even if you are not a Master’s athlete. It’s not too long, and I would suggest reading through it twice.

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this article from Jim.

Photo of the author, provided by the author.