Two Seminars in One Day

Classes Attended: 1 Regular, 2 Seminars (Tom DeBlass and Lucas Lepri)

Neither seminar allowed recording, which I understand due to legal reasons and all that, but it definitely sucks for someone like me with a less than stellar memory. Being that previous seminars I've been to did allow recording, I did not think to bring a notebook to jot down little details. Lesson learned. That being said, here's how I felt about the various seminars.

The Tom DeBlass Seminar

Me and Tom DeBlass

The Good: Covered a lot of technique that I felt I could apply to my game. Jiu Jitsu is all about efficiency and using the least amount of energy to get the most results and I think DeBlass takes that to a whole new level. He also went over techniques from top and bottom which is not the norm in my limited experience (most other seminars I've been to focused on one position, which has its merits, but I definitely enjoyed the variety in this one).
The Bad: He jumped from technique to technique fairly quickly, not giving much time to drill what was just gone over. I'm sure for the more advanced guys it wasn't an issue, but for someone like me I felt like I barely had time to drill the technique twice before we moved on to the next technique, leaving little time to commit it to memory.
The Ugly: I had to leave a little early to get to the next seminar and that little early was right in the middle of a Q&A with DeBlass, which I would have liked to hear more of.
All that being said, I'm glad I went and would definitely go again given the chance. The seminar also got me excited for DeBlass's half-guard DVD, which should be out before too much longer (a couple of the techniques from it are already up on YouTube).

The Lucas Lepri Seminar

Me and Lucas Lepri

The Good: Lepri left no detail unmentioned when showing a technique. While we only went over a handful of techniques, they were explained and demonstrated perfectly. Lepri also left the class a lot time to drill the technique, making sure everyone got it down. From the white belts to the brown, he walked around and made sure everyone was able to execute the technique properly.
The Bad: The technique seemed a bit advanced for the likes of me. Anyone that knows much about the world of professional BJJ knows Lepri is well known for his guard passing and that was the focus of the seminar. However, his primary focus de la riva passing with an x-guard and single x-guard pass thrown in as well. While I know of these guards, they're a bit above my pay grade at the moment and by the time they become a regular guard I deal with, I'm pretty sure I'll have forgotten just about everything from this seminar. Of course I'm still going to try and remember at least some concepts and see what I can apply to how I currently roll, just wish there was something that felt a little more familiar (but then again, it's hard to grow without experiencing new things).
The Ugly: Due to this being the second seminar of the day and me having no time between the two seminars, by the end of this one I was feeling incredibly fatigued just due to lack of food and it was becoming very hard to focus. Fortunately there was pizza made available to us at the end of the seminar, but that last hour sure felt like an eternity.
Overall, still glad I went to this one and would definitely go again. To be honest, I enjoyed Lepri's teaching so much I'm a little jealous of his students at his home gym in Charlotte, NC. (Don't read that as I don't enjoy my own instructor's method of teaching; I'd probably have quit long ago if I didn't).

It was a long, but fulfilling day. Thanks to Legacy Jiu Jitsu for bringing Tom DeBlass up here and Anchorage Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for bring Lucas Lepri up here. And thanks to my drilling partner at both seminars, Mark, whom was much smaller than me, but put up with me crushing him nonetheless without a word of complaint.