News from December 2007 December 27. Just a reminder that we will not have practice on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 28 and 29, for a major high school wrestling tournament. We will return to practice on Sunday, Dec. 30, and will box/strike/spar again. So please bring in hand-wraps, mouth guards and appropriate boxing/MMA gloves and shin/knee guards. December 25. Holiday greetings and Happy New Year to all. We also got some holiday cheers from our friends from all over the world, including former SAMBO World Champion and the master of the best Combat SAMBO school in the US, Victor Tartarkin.   December 22. Several DYNAMO members will be competing at the Tournament of Champions (HighSchool level Folkstyle wrestling) at Cerritos Colleges on Dec. 28/29. This is the largest wrestling tournament in the state (other than the end of season state/regional championships), and all of the best in Southern California high schools will be there. We wish these members the best success. Decmeber 19. A reminder to bring in your hand-wraps (for boxing) this Saturday's practice, if you wish to learn more boxing/jabbing. They are available at BIG5 (nearest one on San Vincente just north of Wilshire) or Sports Chalet (just north of Olympic on Sepulveda). December 19. We will have regular (optional) practices this week of Christmas. YES, regular practices, weekdays from 4-6 pm, and weekends from 10-noon. If you have the urge to stay in shape during the holiday seasons we urge you to come and get a good workout with sensei Brezhnev. There is tentatively no practice on Dec. 28 and 29th, because of high school wrestling matches. December 15. DYNAMO is adding Boxing as one of our cross-training, MMA disciplines, and had our boxing orientation, instructed by our member and a Tae Kwan Do Black-Belt, Mike Cernovich (who learned his boxing at the US Army Officer School). Mike explained the fundamentals (stance, hand positions, jabs), and had members start practicing all three. Thanks Mike for introducing us to boxing. We will do more boxing training on weekends from now on. Here are some photos from our boxing lesson.
December 15. Congratulations to Romeo Soofiani (a DYNAMO heavyweight) for going 3-1 and winning the 2nd place at the Chaminade JV Dual Meet Wrestling Tournament. December 12. We will have regular practice on Thursday, Dec. 13. Our schedule conflict with the high school wrestling team was resolved, so we will have practice at regular time (4-6 pm). Sorry for changing with such late notice. December 11. Due to changes in Beverly Hills High School;s Wrestling match, we will have an optional practice (not a regular practice) on Thursday, Dec. 13. Optional practice means you can warm up, stretch, condition, etc. but no wrestling. Sensei Brezhnev will be back at the practice after 5 or 5:30 pm (he will be coaching the high school wrestling match at the adjacent building until then). December 10. We will have practice this Saturday, Dec. 15th. Part of this Saturday's practice is to focus on MMA and striking. Please come prepare (bring gloves, wraps, shin/knee guards, etc.). Please check out US Army's Manual on Boxing (click here for a pdf file, page 17 is where the meat of the manual starts). Thanks Mike (Cernovich for the link). December 8. DYNAMO welcomes some new members, Mike Cernovich (Black Belt Tae Kwon Do), Bagus Rahadian (student at Beverly Hills High School, BHHS), Arya Soofiani (student at BHHS and older brother of DYNAMO Member Romeo Soofiani), and Joshua Simon (student at BHHS). (upper row, left to right, Vitaliy Staseyev, Justin Brezhnev, Mike Nikiforov, Klar Kuo, Chris Hunter, Romeo Soofiani, Mike Cernovich, Josh SImon, David Achvan) (lower row, left to right, Michael Marinin, Miles Fishman, coach Mead, sensei Brezhnev, Justin Kuo, Bagus Rahadian and Alex Gabbay) December 8. Congratulations to all DYNAMO members who competed at the 2007 US Judo Winter Nationals Championship, and are now qualified for belt promotions. Notable mentions are Coach Mead for winning 2nd in his class and is now being promoted/considered for Judo 1st degree Black Belt. Klar Kuo (also winning 2nd in his class) is being promoted to Brown Belt 2nd Grade. Other notables are David Achvan, shedding his purple belt for a new Brown-Belt, and Justin Brezhnev, advancing to a 2nd grade Brown-Belt. Congratulations to them and all that got their belt promotions.
December 8. Congratulations to 3 of DYNAMO members and freshmen on Beverly Hills High School Wrestling team, Josh Rezvani (140 lb), Kevin Youssian (119 lb) and Matt Yashar (160 lb) for winning 3rd place (in their perspective weight class) at the Peninsula High School Freshman Wrestling Championship on Dec. 8th. December 7. We are finalizing the details of a new, "Novice/Kid Self-Defense, Judo and SAMBO Class", and will be having an open-house/try-out on Dec. 16th (10-11am) and Dec. 18th (4-5am). We welcome all students, age 7-12, and parents, to come and learn more about this class and DYNAMO Club. We hope to see you there. December 6. A special thanks to the Soofiani family (parents of Arya & Romeo Soofiani, DYNAMO team members), who treated the team to a great Italian dinner feast at the Bellagio Ristorante in Culver City, (http://www.cafferoberto.com/), on Sunday evening after the Judo Winter National Championships. Great food, services and atmosphere; a place we definitely recommend and will go back to for future DYNAMO functions and fund raising activities. December 4. For fans of MMA and World Champion Fedor Emelianenko, you can catch some of Fedor's fights and SAMBO practice on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Al_uscLyPI. The videos unfortunately are kind of fuzzy (Youtube not as good as the Blip.tv that DYNAMO Club uses), but still entertaining and impressive. December 4. The latest ranking (in SAMBO and Judo) for all DYNAMO members are posted here. Please note that you still need to register with US Judo Association or American Amateur SAMBO Federation to receive the official ranking/recognition (and to compete in their events). December 3. We are beginning to post 2008 Judo and SAMBO competition dates (major, regional, national and international types) in the Event Calendar section of the website. If you are interested in any of them, please let sensei Brezhnev know. And if you are aware of any notable events (locally or something we overlooked), please let sensei Brezhnev or CJ know. Thanks. December 2. With the 2007 Judo season ending we are starting our SAMBO-focused practice starting this week. Please bring your SAMBO uniform (or get one from sensei Brezhnev) instead of your Judo-gi (uniform). You can still practice in Judo-gi but might impair your SAMBO learning progress. Also, please be at practice on-time (4 pm). December 2. Congratulations to all the DYNAMO members who qualifed and competed at this past weekend's US Judo Association, Winter National Championships. With coach Mead leading off with a 2nd place finish against a very tough and experienced Brazillian Judo and Jujitsu master on Saturday (Dec. 1), the rest of the team all competed successfully, and many winning top 3 places in this national tournament. Considering this is DYNAMO's first year this is a significant feat. Lets look forward to a great 2008 Judo season. 14 DYNAMO coach and members competed, including 9 students and one teacher of Beverly Hills High School (BHHS). The results were. Masters division, Black/Brown belts, age 30-39, 2nd place, lightweight: Coach Mark Mead (Brown-Belt, 1st class) Seniors division, Black/Brown belts, age 17+, 4th place, 90kg under: Chris Hunter (Brown-Belt, 2nd class) 6th place, 73 kg under: Jack Marchiafava (Brown-Belt, 2nd class) 6th place, 66 kg under: Vitaliy Staseyev (Brown-Belt, 3rd class) Seniors division, below Black/Brown belt division, age 17+ 7th place, 73 kg under: Derek Montgomery (Green-Belt, 4th class) Juniors division (under age 17), Black/Brown belt division 3rd place, superheavyweights: Romeo Soofiani (Junior Blue-Belt 8th class) 2nd place, heavyweights: Klar Kuo (Brown-Belt, 3rd class) 3rd place, heavyweights: Joey Schwartz (Junior Brown-Belt, 11th class) 4th place, middleweight: Justin Brezhnev (Brown-Belt, 2nd class) Juniors division (under age 17), below Black/Brown belt division 8th place, middleweight: David Achvan (Junior Purple-Belt, 10th class) 4th place, lightweight: Miles Fishman (Junior Purple-Belt, 10th class) 6th place, lightweight: Josh Rezvani (Junor Blue-Belt, 8th class) Junior division (under age 13) 3rd place, heavyweight: Justin Kuo (Junior Purple-Belt, 10th class) 5th place, lightweight: Mark Ignatov (Junior Purple-Belt, 10th class)
More competition results and photos are posted here at: Results of 2007 US Judo Association Winter Nationals Championship: Some photos of the 2007 Judo Association Winter Nationals Championship are here: December 1. DYNAMO coach and member Boris and Justin Brezhnev were certified by US Judo Association and US Judo Federation as certified Judo coaches. We always know sensei Boris knows Judo (and how to teach it), but now US Judo Association and Federation agree with us too. We will begin a novice Judo class to begin training new members so that we will have a even better 2nd year.
December 1. DYNAMO team is competing today and tomorrow at the US Judo Winter National Championship. 14 DYNAMO members are qualified and competing. We have 5 senior (17 & over)brown-belts competing on Dec. 1st, including coach Mead, Jake Marchiafava, Chris Hunter, Derek Montgomery and Vitaliy Staseyev, who will look to earn a spot onto the US National team (and promotions towards black belts). And we will have 9 juniors competing on Sunday, Dec. 2nd, headed by our brown-belts Justin Brezhnev and Klar Kuo, and our purple belts of David Achvan, Josh Rezvani, Justin Kuo, Miles Fishman, Romeo Soofiani, Joey Schwarts and Mark Ignatov. We congratulate these members for being qualified for this event, and wishing them the best of luck. We also hope more DYNAMO members will qualify and compete in next year's national tournaments. Dec 1. Congratulations to our friend and coach, Oleg Taktarov, for defeating John Marsh at the "Russia vs. USA" fight in Moscow today (by kneebar, one of Oleg's specialty, see how Oleg does it at our video website at www.dynamoclub.blip.tv). Rest of the results were: Andrei Semenov def. Emyr Bussade via Unanimous Decision.
Vladimir Zenin def. Binky Jones via Submission (armbar).
Akhmet Sultanov def. Eric Pele via Unanimous Decision.
Sultan Tikhaev def. Alexander Kokoev via Submission (choke).
Besiki Gerenava def. Ivan Anikanov via Submission (armbar).
Stanislav Shushko def. Telman Sheripov via Unanimous Decision.
Zulu def. Vladimir Kuchenko via Submission (choke).
Dan Evensen def. Konstantine Gluhovs via Unanimous Decision. Here are the weights of all competitors: Oleg Taktarov (220 lbs) vs. John Marsh (220 lbs)
Emyr Bussade (183 lbs) vs. Andrei Semenov (185.5 lbs)
Diego Visotzky (185 lbs) vs. Alexander Shlemenko (185.5 lbs)
Zulu (401 lbs) vs. Vladimir Kuchenko (266 lbs)
Eric Pele (265 lbs) vs. Akhmet Sultanov (235.5 lbs)
Jessica Aguilar (125 lbs) vs. Julia Berezkova (125 lbs)
Dan Evensen (255 lbs) vs. Konstantine Gluhov (214 lbs)
James Jones (155 lbs) vs. Vladimir Zenin (156 lbs)
Stanislav Shushko (208.5 lbs) vs. Telman Sheripov (245.5 lbs)
Ivan Anikanov (202 lbs) vs. Besiki Gerenava (202 lbs)
Alexander Kokoev (184 lbs) vs. Sultan Tikhaev (184.5 lbs)
Rumor has it that Bodog Fight will have these fights on their website or on US TV (syndication or pay-per-view). We will continue to surf the web for footages of Oleg's victory. |