This week Peter Carroll caught up with Gracie Barra Dublin head coach and Braulio Estima black belt, Chris Bowe, weeks after he took gold at the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials in Lisbon. The Dundrum based grappler spoke about the development of jiu jitsu in Ireland, his triumphs in 2013, his goals for next year and his club that celebrated its first year anniversary this month.
Although he only opened the doors of his gym, Gracie Barra, on Dundrum’s Main Street in the last month of 2012, Chris Bowe had long been a name that was synonymous with Brazilian jiu jitsu in Ireland. Having lived in England for a spell, when he returned to the Emerald Isle Bowe was given an opportunity by John Kavanagh to teach in the infamous Long Mile Road premises, Straight Blast Gym.
“I had been training and teaching in SBGi, John gave me somewhere to train until I got my own place sorted,” explained Bowe. “I was always going to start my own gym when I figured out where I was going to live. Even though I was teaching there I was always affiliated with Braulio Estima, I went through all the grades with him.
“I had only taken a couple of classes in Ireland before I arrived over in Birmingham and over there I trained from 2007 to 2011. Braulio had suggested opening a place to me – there was no Gracie Barra in Ireland and it just made sense. When I settled with down in Dundrum it seemed like an obvious choice and we’ve been going from strength to strength since we’ve opened.”
Bowe outlined his philosophy on teaching his beloved sport, highlighting the pros and cons of being an instructor while still competing.
“There are definitely advantages and disadvantages. When you’re teaching it’s very hard to focus on conditioning and things of a physical nature, but it makes you go over your technique with a fine tooth comb.
“It certainly improves your technique and every question you’re asked forces you to revaluate things – we’ve come up with dozens of new techniques since the gym has opened,” he said.
As a full time teacher and with the arrival of a new born baby this year, the Gracie Barra man also described the hectic schedule that comes with his lifestyle.
“I’m always motivated to work with guys who are at the beginning of their training. The people who started off in our place are improving rapidly and that keeps it very interesting.
“It can be tiring though. A lot of the time I get in at half five from teaching and I’ll have to be out the door again by a quarter to six to take a BJJ class. It can wear you down mentally, but now being injured, all I want to do is get back on the mats. I do love my Sundays, it’s the only day I take off and it’s a much needed break at the end of the week,” said Bowe.
In his last outing as a brown belt, Bowe showcased his ability among the best grapplers in his division, taking a silver and gold at the world championships.
“My silver and bronze from the worlds are probably the medals that I’m most proud of. The guys I fought alongside in the absolute division – Keenan Cornelius, the Miyao brothers, Jackson Souza – it really proved to me I could compete with these guys.
“I went out to Paulo Miyao in the absolute that time but I wasn’t happy with the referee’s decision, I felt I had launched the only legitimate attack.”
Earning his black belt on the back of his dominant world championship outing, Bowe showed he was well able for the step up when he took gold at the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials last month. The top podium won the Irish grappler a free trip to the Abu Dhabi Combat Club world championships which will take place in April.
“It was brilliant to get the gold medal in my own weight division, this will be the third time I head over and my first time at black belt. I have competed along with the black belts when I was at brown but this year they’re going to separate them.
“It was unfortunate that I picked up an injury, I couldn’t bend my knee inwards so I was fairly limited in the absolute class,” he said.
Due to injury sustained on route to his gold in Lisbon, Bowe revealed that the European championships will have a different function for him this year having had many successes over the years at the tournament.
“I’m still really in the rehab stages at the moment. I’ll be back on the mats in early January, but that still only gives me about two weeks to get ready for the Europeans. It’s not ideal, that competition has been very good to me in the past, but I’ll be using more for preparation for the world championships this time around.
“With only two and a half weeks training I won’t be in the physical shape I’d like to be in, so I’ll be using it to feel out the competition and I’m sure it will give me a few things to work on before April. It’s a bit of a setback there’s no doubt about that,” admitted the black belt.
With the first gold in Lisbon announcing the Irishman’s arrival to the black belt division, he is excited for further appearances and has an eye on particular opponents he would love to meet in competition.
“If I’ve learned anything it’s that anyone can be beaten on any given day. I can remember guys I began training with and thinking ‘I’m never going to reach that level’. As a brown belt, I’d often be pitted against black belts so I’m used to it really.
“The likes of Keenan, the Miyaos and Jackson have proved that you can come up from brown belt and win the big competitions and that’s what I’ll be hoping to do.
“Looking at my weight division you’ve got guys like Rodolfo Viera and Rafael Lovato Jr and I can’t believe I’ll be getting a chance to compete with them. That’s really exciting for me and I suppose the dangerous part is competing against brown belts. It was fine when I was the brown belt beating the black belts, but now I have to watch out!”
Bowe isn’t the only man flying the tricolour at international jiu jitsu events and he has noticed big changes in the scene in his country. From his beginnings in 2007 Bowe has noticed one big difference in the Irish approach to the sport.
“When I left in 2007, jiu jitsu in Ireland was pretty much non-existent. There were a lot of guys training no gi, but now the gi has surpassed that. It really has exploded now, we have a lot of guys doing big things on the international circuit and I’d put that down to people training in the gi.
“I remember at the beginning I wasn’t really comfortable with it either, I just thought it was some Brazilian guy trying to sell me some dodgy pyjamas. It didn’t take me long to see the advantages though.
“As well as training in the gi, there’s just so much more competitions. Competition gives you that experience and it has raised the level of the sport in Ireland,” he said.
The Pro Trails gold medallist finished by outlining his goals for 2014:
“As I said, I’m focused on the ADCC worlds at the moment. Hopefully I’ll be able to put a few good results together in the Euros and my knee will be fully recovered for April so I can give it a good go.
“I want to continue to see all the guys at Gracie Barra Dublin improving and hopefully we’ll get more numbers down next year too. I teach down there every day, I don’t travel around an awful lot and I really believe it’s the best place to be training BJJ in Ireland. Anyone that comes down is guaranteed to learn a lot and we’re always looking to take people in.”
By Peter Carroll – @PetesyCarroll
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