Ill call this post Family. So the CSA Highlight Video drops now. Im very proud of this video...for MANY Reasons. Not limited to the fact, that in 5 short years ...this team has won over 70 Muaythai, MMA and Boxing Titles. Including 10 World Championships and is the only gym in North America with WBC, WMC, LionFight, IFMA and Bellator World Champions under one roof. But beyond these obvious achievements... Im proud of this team and this gym for reasons much deeper than these. Let me explain .... Its hard to imagine my life without the people in it and so much of my identity / time these last 10 years has been filtered through them, their achievements but most of all their happiness. Im blinded to a degree, by my love for them all ...so much so that its hard to even be neutral about the video, as I love it, because James Blair is amazing at what he does, but most of all because I love them ...I love my team lol... Its long... almost 10 Mins, Ill do a shorter version in the future ...but today if you love fighting and you have 10 Mins to spare and watch this video ....hopefully it inspires you in some way. If youre not a fan of me, CSA or our fighters...its simple just dont watch, because if youre not a fan...this is only going to bore you or bother you . To be honest, I labored over if I was even going to put this together at all, because in reality with success comes contempt. There comes a tipping point where you are no longer viewed as one of the people, the good guys and you become the target or the bad guys. This where your success is no longer appreciated but actually resented. I see it here in the Bay Area it goes with the territory, Im ok with it... Its a shame, its human nature I suppose. What I will say is that CSA is not a gym to be envied, idolized, or hated because of our success. Its simply a model, a story and a system that has worked for me....Create a gym that supports family and fosters love. Miriam once said; CSA is like an Island of Misfit Toys and I agree. A place where people who might not fit in ...lost there way and have now found a place where they are accepted, free of judgement, supported and most all where they are loved. This simple concept has lead to a great many things.....to understand it you have to go back a bit.... 10 years ago when I came back to Coaching, I started a gym called ASD in San Jose, I had no Fight Team, no Stars, no Champions and I started from scratch; I identified people who wanted to fight who and trained them from the ground up; Amber Pope, Jesse Gillespie, Gaston Bolanos, Bryan Petro, Naline Sar, John Hurney, Katie Toliao, Brooks Hurd, Eric Faria, Anthony Gonzalez, and Steve Tomayo they all came up through smokers and then Ammies and they all became Champions most of them multiple time Champions and World Champions. Fighters like Felicia Valdez, Jessica Fitzgibbons (my incredible wife), Idres Rahmani, Eric Luprecerio, Jai Rodrequez, Pete Young, Garth Robins, Mujeeb Hamid (my awesome partner), were all important parts of this flag ship team. I only wish I had more video of these amazing fighters to include in this video...my original Art of War Fight Team, because they built this House of Champions... but social media wasnt really as prevalent at that time and I was never one to video tape fights I was more concerned about the fighters. Im happy to say that these people will always be my family and their achievements line my walls and thankfully most ...to this day still train at CSA. But without them, my founding team...CSA would not be what it is and most likely would not even be in existence, when I opened CSA the core fight team ... the people listed above... were the only members we had here and it grew from there to what we are today with almost 900 members. Those early days of ASD and Starting CSA...is when I met Miriam, Kevin, Chaz and Jason. These people of course became part of the team and helped usher in a whole new era for CSA in high profile fights on the international stage. Once CSA started growing people like Val Ignatov (our awesome Sambo Coach) Elaina Maxwell, Taylor Mccorriston, Ronnie Carillo, Joey Silva, Shantel Quinones, Jess Bouscal, Carl Henderson, Jackie Marr, Elizabeth Delacruz, Obi McLean, Will Smith, Joel Lester and of course Eddie Abasolo, Sarah Dalieo, and Alexis Davis joined the family. This past year has seen the team grow even more with Zoila Frausto, Stephanie Frausto, Zach Bunnel, Daniela Haas, Diego and Mariana Llamas...people literally traveling the world to join us. even my son Case has started to fight, I couldnt be prouder of him Through this journey I have been very fortunate to Coach the U.S. Muaythai Team for many years and work with some of the amazing fighters on the Cesar Gracie Fight Team as well. Nick, Nate, Jake, Gil, Yancy always welcome in this extended Family. Ive made dear friends in the Cant Stop Crazy Crew like Joe, Ky, Romie and Tiffany. But through it all; I have fostered one theme in this gym...Family... I dont take sole credit for this teams success, lots of people have contributed to the success of this team and these fighters. With out my partner MJ believing in my dream there would be no CSA... he deserves as much credit for this gym as I do. Same can be said for my incredible wife Jessica who has traveled the world, sacrificed and supported my dreams for 20 years...these two people are the positive influences in my life that pick me up when Im down or question why I do what I do. My dear friend Jongsenon has always been there to help me, from Arizona to SF to Thailand to today. He helped Miriam get ready for multiple fights and helped Kevin in his comeback from ACL Surgery hes never asked me for anything in return. Friend, Mentor, Hero, Idol...Jongsenon has been all those things to me. Mark Beecher has been as much a part of Kevin and Chazs successful journey as I have, in reality probably more. Without him and the brotherhood of those three amazing men....none would be where they are today. While Ive known/coached Jason far longer, Kru Jong has truly mentored Jason and taken him to the top of his game. The man is an incredible coach. And with that said, would any of them be who they are with Master Toddy? Love him, hate him ...doesnt really matter does it... he bred champions. Kru Jasper made the striking twins...the Frausto Monsters...Im fortunate to work with them and build on what he started. Again another amazing Coach. Rudi Ott and Anthony Lin gave me their gyms when I was kicked out of the one I built for someone else and asked for nothing in return. Without them, my team wouldnt have been able to stay to together ...we won 8 Championships (including 2 World Titles) over that 6 month period between my old gym and CSA ...with out those two men, who knows what would have become of us. And none of this would have happened with out a man most of you dont know, Herb Cody, to this day one of the absolute best fight coaches Ive ever learned from, he taught me how to teach. Im forever grateful. The point of all this is that, while I built this team from nothing, I certainly didnt do it alone...there has been a lot of help along the way. To the fans, teams and fighters, promoters and sponsors that follow us and support our journeys, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Just know it all starts with a dream and if you do good things and surround yourself with good people good things will happen. Enjoy the video. We are just getting started here at CSA; we will continue to win, we will celebrate, we will lose, we will learn and then regroup. Because thats what a Family does....we live, we laugh, we cry, we love and we grow TOGETHER! youtu.be/WtMFb6O0n3A?list=UUf0--wlHovJb_pX6R4QIJ2g
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 05:26:38 +0000
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