A Day to Remember
On Saturday, December 5th, 2020, we held our first event at Ronin Training Center to showcase Bijonari's first capsule release, The Beginning, and spend time with everyone who has supported us. To give back to our supporters, we teamed up with world-renowned Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and competitor, Vitor Oliveira. We provided a one-hour seminar open to all local practitioners in the surrounding Columbus, Ohio region and beyond.
Our goal was to create a memorable experience for everyone in attendance by bringing in a local DJ and providing snacks and refreshments (donated by Alchemy Café, a local restaurant owned by a fellow martial arts enthusiast).
The doors opened at 1:30 PM, and participants slowly began to trickle in. DJ Helker filled the room with early 90s east and west coast hip hop to set the vibe. It was great to see so many familiar and new faces come out to participate and join the fun.
The plan was to wait until 1:45 PM to kick off the event, giving people extra time to arrive and prepare for the seminar. As the clock approached 1:45 PM, I could feel my nerves start to kick in. My heart rate was slowly beginning to escalate, as it was almost time for me to address the crowd. I've never been a huge fan of public speaking, but then again, who is? It is an acquired skill, and I know firsthand that I am well overdue for some extra practice.
As I stood in front of the 40 attendees, I could hear my voice begin to shake, and I hadn't even started to speak yet. Then the words began to spill out like an overstuffed trash can littering the floor. At various points throughout the speech, I had to pause and remind myself to slow down. Luckily, the crowd was very supportive, which helped to ease my nerves.
Once I was finished stumbling through my speech, I passed the baton to Vitor for him to begin the seminar portion of our event. Over the next hour, everyone on the mats would switch back and forth from huddling around Vitor to listening to the fine details he shared from a lifetime of skill acquisition, in hopes of integrating as much as they could into their repertoires. At various points throughout the seminar, I paused and looked around the mats. It brought a small piece of mind knowing that we played a small part in bringing everyone together to share this experience—even if only for a short amount of time.
For that, we'd like to say Thank You to everyone who made this day possible. It's one that will stick with us for many years to come. We hope to see you at the next event!