Andy Chapman interview

Ringkasan

Andy Chapman head coach of Team Ryano Limavady, speaks to me about his upcoming BJJ retreat, how the idea came about, what's involved in the weekend and how you can purchase extremely affordable retreat away. We also speak about his upcoming match up against John Fleming at…

Transkrip (youtube_captions)

[Music] okay so I'm here with Mr Andy Chapman um showrunner for chaos Grappling Championships uh he also has a retreat going on very very soon he's also an ambassador for fighting for autism so uh the main reason why I brought you here today was to talk about this Retreat that you have coming up because I came across it and it seems it seems really cool where did the idea come from and and can you tell people what's involved in it yeah so I moved out to the countryside at at the beginning of April and at that time I was like really busy with uh like planning for the chaos show in May so I my head down for that uh planning matches putting posters together all all the sorts of things that promot promoters will know all about um then suddenly chaos was over and I was like [ __ ] I have nothing to do now and uh when I was out walking the dog you know like I was always thinking I would love to do something where I could bring people up here lay some mats in one of the farm bars and uh you know do some rules and stuff got was actually one of the gym members Mella says to me she says one day could you camp in those F beside your house and I thought why what have you got planned she said you should run a BJJ camp like a retreat and I was like [ __ ] you know that's actually not a bad idea so we started looking in the insurance for it I like I measured out the barn to see if it would be like an adequate size for laying mats and stuff and everything started to come together so we just sat down with three or four people got a we committed together and thought that we're going to we're going to run with this see how it goes we set up an Instagram page just in the hope that we might see if there's interest in it and like on the first day it just snowball straight away so like look there there are things I guess worldwide so there's like a glob Trotters BJJ group that run camps and nice warm countries and stuff uh and they look brilliant but we were thinking why not just run a we affordable weekend uh where people can come pitch a tent in the field uh do some Jiu-Jitsu eat some nice barbecue food have a few beers in the evening have a bit of crack it's so easy like the the event almost plans itself yeah it does sound very and like you said the thing that really got me was the affordability of it because it's a Friday night a Saturday night and then a Sunday breakfast as well and and you get your food included with all that and I believe is it just1 pound is that what it is1 pound for weekend the purse will have to bring their own tent and and uh you know they'll need their own sleeping bag and stuff like that but like the food that'll be like good barbecued food nice salad and stuff uh and then in terms of like running classes and open mats and stuff like that the BJJ Community is so brilliant in the sense that they don't need much to make them happy you know like if you have some some mats later in a literally in a barn if you some mats laid you some people to rule with well that's from first day people right through the season black belts on a m they people are happy so the the niche market isn't uh such a difficult Market to place so with that in mind you can run these things relatively cost effectively and uh cheap for people because there's not much to it no it's like that it's it's such a simple idea it's such a good idea as well because like there's obviously living out where you live is quite Scenic quite beautiful as well uh like that you've got people coming in uh to te who would you have coming in to teach the classes because i' seen that you said there was some black belts coming in was it yeah well all the people that have offered to you know take a class all black Bel so William tum from H Gracie Carl Casey from stealth na um Peter doy uh from Sub City down L um who else with with loads of people there's like some of Da Weston's crew over in Black Country in England have offered to come over um there's there's a lot of there's a lot of good good level people and there's good level people coming just to do the black belts as well that at the drop of a hat I could say you f of taking a class forner here and and they would do it so we're really lucky that way um that's the people I have confirmed so far I'm training with garvon on Friday I think he's coming down so I'm gonna Bend his ear when he's D see a feeli mie do something hopefully this doesn't go out before that's my plan well in any case we'll get uh you know we'll get we'll get good people John flam that a better very ography uh for me to promote the thing a couple of days ago I asked him if he would uh if he would take a session he says no I'll take some photographs but I'll keep at him and he probably give them at some stage we'll see that could be that could be a w you're on your your upcoming matchup if you beat him he has to take the class I don't want to put any more pressure on myself for that match shave myself off as it is uh so I hey um I was weird he was out doing about videography like uh the other day and it's like in a couple weeks we trying to strangle the [ __ ] each other and doubling but that's the Mad thing about this sport like it's you've got your competition matches that's too many minutes on a mat and then it just seems to be a really good vibe in the community outside that you know everybody everybody wants the same thing they're very supportive for each other so and that's why running these sort of things is so easy in Brazilian jit say I've been in so many sports growing up and uh for me like hands down the community in this sport is by far the best I would tend to agree with you between uh BJJ and then obviously I'm involved heavily in MMA I've never come across you're always going to get one arle but like it's very few and far between as opposed to different sports circles to likes the ga Ruby soccer you can have multiple ones in h in the community but um like that which I seen I thought that was a really good idea and have you got loads of people signed up already like do you have a cap on the amount of people that can come yeah so like speaking to my the insurance company that insures me for the gym they said it would be you know that we could run it for up to 40 people which is probably a nice number you wouldn't want any more than that uh maybe get a we bit out of hand everybody wouldn't get the best out of the weekend then so we probably about half those spots gone now and we've only had it up for a couple of weeks so like i' be pretty confident that we'll get 40 people here um and uh we've had people actually just before I come on to you there there was a guy from Rogers to Jitsu down in gosport in South England he's booking his flight today uh three or four people coming from as far as cork in Ireland is probably the furthest P you could come from right up to the the north of Ireland um so that it's really all over people from England um possibly someone from Scotland and then all over Ireland so like it it has attracted people with a far bigger rates than I thought it would like I literally had this idea for my members and a few people from local clubs and the next thing people are messaging from all over so it has taken off we weren't sure whether you know we weren't sure whether the sort of thing would work because usually things that work have already been done before and nobody's done this so so we were sort of wondering why has nobody planned this before but I just think the the satin and the venue where we're looking to have it is very uh is a big pulling Factor as well I mean John did that like drawing video showing sort of the views it's absolutely gorgeous honestly so long as and I I guess this might be one of the main reasons why people don't run these events in Ireland so long as it doesn't [ __ ] pish all weekend we rain um that's the one thing that would like really put a damper on it but even with that we've got a big huge Marquee like a 12 meter B meter Marquee like a big wedding Marquee and a worst case scenario we can start firing tense into that or anything just to like you know like if it is a real wash out weekend but I can't see it being bad all weekend start of August I've just [ __ ] tou I've just rained that night it's going to rain all weekend isn't it we'll see no I can't well to be fair I don't know what it's like up nor at the minute but the weather isn't too bad here there has for about two weeks it was nice H we've had a showers on and off of rain but it's relatively nice now like that I think with the weekend in itself like you said you've got the Marquee you've got the barn you can still all go ahead and it it seems like more of a like obviously you're going there for BJJ but you've got like there so much like just the Tranquility the peacefulness of it being out being around like-minded people Jo that's really like I said i' like that's something I'd enjoy to go to even if you didn't know BJJ so is that open to people from White bels up or are you looking for a certain uh level of experience to to be no not I'm not looking for any certain level experience with people here who are coming who are bringing their wives and kids and maybe the wife doesn't do jiujitsu I will 100% be down in the tent asking the wife to come on the mats give it a go it's for everybody it's not going to be some sort of a high level uh coaching sessions that will be out of people's understanding if they don't really do a lot of BJJ that's not what I want what I want is a chill weekend that's very family friendly um it's a bit of crack it's very late back um few beers in the evening for people that might want to have we drink after training it's not some Elite training camp for big high level competition players at all now that's not to say that a high level competition player can't come and get good rounds when they're here because there's going to be people of all levels but it's definitely not it's definitely not for I don't know if purple belts up or competition players or anything like that it's very open to everyone yeah hence the name BJJ Retreat rather than any other name you would have put on it cuz it seems like that like a small nice holiday and like I said the the price the price tag on it is is what makes it really really attractive as well because even if you had like that you said your own tent and all down here I couldn't get two days camping definitely not in the Republic for a 100 euro yeah no way yeah most like there there's not that the overheads is mainly in the food and so like we uh tried to book or we tried to get prices for Porter shars because of course 40 people the one sh in my house won't do everybody um and like the prices were coming back astronomical for that was like nearly ,000 for four bay shows for two days so what I did was I message the local GA club which is like a mile down the road and uh all being well they're going to allow us to use their facilities for sharing and stuff as well so like people can go down throughout the day to the ga club and take the sh take the sh in there um if if we didn't have the the Goodwill of the ga club we might have been in trouble for pricing them because the shes are as I couldn't believe how expensive they were but that that that if we get that sorted that's fine and as I say in terms of like running something for BJJ people if they have mats and a shelter over the mats they're happy usually so um they're they're not a difficult uh Community to play at all so so as long with all the planning and everything that you have for this obviously would be a little bit stressful or it would take some of your time how much you think you're going to enjoy it when it actually comes because it it does sound a very very good very very cool very a nice relaxed weekend how much do you think you're enjoy it oh absolutely I'm going to enjoy like I've uh I've like brought in the right people that'll uh that do really good work around my gym and stuff um so I know that everybody will be pulling their weight like to make it happen my parents have already promised me they come and do the barbecuing and stuff in the evening so I'm just going to be jumping into these open mats and classes as well just just like everybody else and I'm actually going to have a nice warm house with a warm roof over my head in the evening while everybody else is camping out so like I'm gonna I'm gonna have as good a time as anybody well you're gonna have the best time if you're going into a nice warm house turn and watching everyone go to sleep in their tents if anybody wants to go obviously they can get in contact with yourself you put them through what is the name of the Instagram page is BJJ Rural Retreat um and it's BJJ and caps I believe Rural Retreat you you'll see it up in the search engine as soon as you search for it um and then if anybody wants to they come they can lay a deposit down um I think it's like the second or third post there's not that many posts on the page so you can see where you can leave your deposit to think it's like uh revet or payal I see I stress so much over stuff like that so I just let say to somebody else go you handle the money like people give off to me at my gym because I'm so lazy around um payments and stuff like that there so I just like I just let uh someone else do with that stuff I'm lucky like I'm I'm like a we spoiled child people run after me all the time I don't know why they do it but uh I'm really I'm really blessed to have like some really really good people around me and uh for some reason it's always been like that um so yeah they they they do a lot of hard work around that sort of stuff so they probably know what I'm a we stress had they probably I'd say that's exactly it but no the camp The Retreat sounds fantastic obviously this will be coming out I can't bring it out before Friday now anyways so Garrett doesn't he but um once this comes out I'll do a flips and then uh we'll just do a little bit more advertising on it and it kind of brings to my what's my next question obviously you've got to fight with who you mentioned a fight or a grappling competition against Sean fenman how excited are you for that fight that's a very intriguing fight yeah I've been on grapple Kings like a few times now and I've been on a lot of invitationals and it's by far my favorite Invitational they compete it um they've always been really really good to me Adrian and the team are are brilliant um so it it is exciting to get to get to get on and have a title match as well I was in like a fourman for the under 70 title on the last show this is under this is the weight class below and that was a fourman so I won the semi and I lost by ref decision the final so it's nice to get straight back again on the because the lower weight would be my more natural weight um it's nice to get back on but I mean like I'm not going to you have to like John's High Level guy like um he's somebody that I've always had a lot of respect for right from when it started so it's it's a difficult match but but I mean at the same time like I'm in the early 40s now I'm not going to be able to do this forever have to take these chances when they come up um and if nothing else uh it's showing the younger guys and girls at the gym that you know it's all right to threw yourself out there and you aim high and and you know like push yourself and it helps you and motivate yourself for training and stuff like that so no I'm absolutely looking forward to it um I'm realistic about it but like I mean it's a jiujitsu match of course either player can want it John's John's very very good like not gonna not gonna lie yeah well it's it's an exciting matchup as well and John I would know John from around the scene from his photography does a lot of Photography he does it at chaos I believe as well doesn't he yeah oh he's he's all he's he's actually our under 65 noi Champion as well so is um so like he's competed on chaos he's actually competed MMA on chaos years ago did you know that no I didn't know that he finished his fight he's high level Grappler he finished his fight in about 15 or 20 seconds was about [ __ ] punches to the head so so he's not just a BJJ guy when it comes down to it either I well he's like if you can go back I'm sure spes on YouTube um you can see like it was it was mentally he just rushed the boy against the cage and he just battered him for the shortest time and he won his fight fight there so I know he's a very very good martial artist he like he was a world master champion at blue belt and M1 as well which is like the best the best age bracket you could wi that Masters whenever I was just basically starting like so I mean he was already a high high level high level Grappler and it's one of the first things I heard about after I started training was this guy from there had won the world master and it was John like and he's done it at every belt like he's one majors at every belt up through like purple and brown belt as well and like now he's out what like he's he's a high level of black belt competing in Majors as well so ah hey we'll see what happens it'll be good laugh he recently competed against uh Mighty Mouse as well didn't he he did man he he gave he gave Demitrius a hard match too like I mean he's potentially one of the best grappling MMA fighters in history yeah and uh don't give it to him like I mean M just W and and won the bracket but imagine having that to tell your grandchildren and years to come you know that you've had a competitive combat match with Med Mouse and you've been competitive on it you know John John's John's very very high level like yeah because some people would consider Mighty Mouse their pound per pound number one fighter and him and I probably would I probably would he's probably he probably the most intelligent uh fight IQ MMA fighter ever like if you even listen to the way he talks now on his Instagram when he's breaking down fights and stuff his knowledge is just ridiculous um I don't know if you seen that that there was a really going around Instagram where he was competing in the absolute and he submitted looked like a b and arrow or something submitted this guy who was definitely twice his size oh yeah I did see it the massive guy and he's he literally throlls DJ at the start doesn't he I yeah he does but then like M Mouse like he he runs the single leg on him like he knows how to he knows how to engage in combat against people from all different sizes they suit him in any range whether it's striking or he's just he's a phenomenal athlete yeah no he is and then he had the suplex to the armar as well against was it rayor was it rayor one probably like that would be some people's most exciting finish in an MMA fight he's got that I I think that's probably one of the most technical unbelievable finishes that yeah absolutely like obviously Knockouts are good and Knockouts are Knockouts but have the ability to be able to move your opponent and manipulate your body in in transition of a super Su it land in an armar just seems like something that would be made up on a computer game not something that a regular human being could do like oh he's somebody where he's classic and as I say John's got that now he can carry that with for the rest of his life and tell people about it it's like one of those weird things that you some people are luing enough to get an opportunity like that and he's he's had it yeah no 100% so for anyone interested obviously in watching your grappling match where is it when is it and will there be a pay-per-view link it's usually the Civic Center in tala I believe it's the same again still yes yeah yeah it's it's on the same venue um they normally run a pay-per-view for it um but that'll be on the link to that will be on the bio on on the grapple Kings page it always is um and it's Sunday two weeks is it the 23rd of June I think is that am I right 23rd I think so I could check here but yeah cuz we've got the Irish open the week before so that's next week next weekend of the Irish open and then the following week's that match so that's two weeks from this weekend okay cool yeah so that's and I've never been to one I've seen them like that obviously I've seen there was people in tournaments uh you were in the tournament and then there's there's an open weight tournament I think in this one as well is there where oh it's a brilliant open tournament it's a Bel will flurry I only know mostly the MMA guys that in it yeah there's guy Mark McQueen in it who's like a big Scottish guy who's he's fighting on ADCC now made it through to the finals um like he's in that 16 round braet so that's a huge name straight away get any anybody that's anybody that beats Mark McQueen I think will wion that bracket is there anybody that can do it I don't know but I think that him and well furry is on the same side of the draw I think if they both won their I could be wrong but I think if they both won their first match they might meet each other so there's definitely some exciting exciting matches on the card Adrian has this ability man just pull it out of the Hardway as matches he always has really good matches and he he's he's he definitely runs a good a good show like so no I'm looking forward to it I'm looking forward to it even aside from my own match one of my other students don't know if it's been announced yet it hasn't been announc it Leon's just got a match on the card as well Leon would be one of like he' be one of my exciting teenagers at the club like he's got a match so it's good that someone else from the clubs on the card as well I think I'll not say any more about it until it gets announced but it's a it's a very good match for him yeah Leon's fantastic he's like a double a double champion in MMA and yeah and BJJ and obviously I know of Leon through you and he done that thing with the strength versus size or skill versus size wasn't it against which he done something of recently as well H up in the gym and how did that go I a thing at the gym where was like athletes and adults who haven't done BJJ but maybe compete in other sports they they take a match with one of our teenagers they raise a we bit of money for charity and if they catch the teenager we'll give we would have give them 50 pound thank God nobody caught any of the teenagers because it was a charity event I didn't want to give money out of the charity pot well luckily enough nobody did get caught and then if our guy won then I put 20 pound into the charity bucket and then there was a bucket going around the G raised over 400 pound for Arc F it's a that's an or ganization in da who take people on who are suffering from addiction and they put them through like fitness programs and get them qualified to become coaches in in the fitness industry so it's a really really good organization a guy that runs it was actually my school he was my class at school so it was nice to it was nice to do something small for them yeah know it sounds like a a very very wordy cause and fair place to you're always doing stuff like that as well H you're always busy every time I talk to you there's a couple of subjects to talk talk about and they're always good ones but one of the other things I noticed was recently you became an ambassador for H fighting for autism speak to us about uh your relationship with the subject and and how that came about it's a it's a running joke in our gy because like for years people have been like joking about me being autistic i' I've never been diagnosed with anything on the Spectrum by the way but uh people joke about my personality being very artistic so I didn't tell anybody about this then there was a booster up saying I was an ambassador for like fighting for autism and like like I got such a slag in the gym for it but uh so like a guy who works for the organization would would keep in touch with me he my friend on Facebook and we like we run programs there's a group in da called uh C support uh like it's a autism support group so it had a six week program in there for young people and it was really really uh you know it was such such a good program the kids got a lot out of it and we actually got a couple of the kids uh joining our gym in lovar which is like 20 miles away from there uh after the program had finished that they enjoyed it that much so we were around that last year it was uh Sam Logan and I the last shoski bers and and I run a a thing there and then um I've run the rosar special school in lovati I've run like a movement courses there as well um and then like we we would have a few people in our program at the gym that that would be on the Spectrum so like I would occasionally post up a b those sort of programs and stuff and the guy who's my friend contact him and saying look you do a b bit of work for for uh people with Autism um would you like to become an ambassador and I just said thanks very much that would be great and then the next thing the poster up that was it uh but no it's definitely like it's definitely something really good to be involved with um it's nice like I was talking earlier on about BJJ being the best community in the world I believe like or that I've been involved with and it's a very welcoming an open community that is has got something for everybody and it has there's really good benefits to doing it and there are definitely benefits for everyone and that's whether you've been diagnosed with something on the autism spectrum as well um like we have some people in my gy who have had some really good outcomes uh that would have been uh on the Spectrum just from doing BJJ and they would tell you that themselves so I think sometimes I think sometimes people would talk themselves out of going to their combat Club to do grappling without even really knowing how welcoming it is and how open and diverse it is and its uh ability to draw anybody in so that's one of the reasons why I'm sort of passionate about uh putting the sport in the situations where it would reach out to people like that that that that maybe think that it wouldn't be for them when it definitely is yeah yeah and like that it's the I always ask that question to to athletes uh competitors of BJJ or MMA fighters how do what were you expecting for your first time going to a gym and what were your expectations to try and show the contrast of what people expect going into a gym is usually big Meat Heads beating the [ __ ] out of um and compared to what you actually go into like you said it's probably one of the most welcom in communities ever most supportive and usually when people join some sort of Combat Sports they usually keep that circle with them for a long long time it's I think it's like that it's it's good that you're able to show that it is welcome and it is for everybody like said there's people from all walks of life do BJJ or MMA yeah and I think that that that's done as well do the do the coach to ensure that a new star will have a good experience I'm sure they're probably are people that have horror stories as well but and that's not to say that there aren't times in our gym where there there might be two very competitive people going against each other and having a very competitive aggressive hard R but it's a coach's job to make sure that a new start's not exposed to that that they have a positive experience like when they come to the gym so it's all about the environment isn't it um and I think that's a good thing about BJJ is that most most coaches that I would know recognize that um they have a bit of empathy for new starts because everybody was a new start themselves including the coaches so um I think that I think that the sports blessed with that and I think I honestly think it's the same with MMA as well like a lot of the gyms that that train in BJJ or crossover gyms that train in MMA as well and striking arts and any any uh crossover gym that I've ever trained and I've definitely seen and witness those same experiences as well where people are nurtured properly um and that's important I'm sure there are gyms that have Meatheads knocking the [ __ ] out of new starts and stuff as well but hope hopefully that's very few and far between I have never heard any experience of it thank goodness yeah no in my experience no I haven't heard anything like that either but that would just be people's perceptions on the outside going in most of uh like that any first when people did speak to me and they talked about the first time in the gym it was always quite positive and a complete contrast what they were expecting um comfort like you said if you create create the environment and I can't remember who said that to me recently I want to say it was Danny McCormack but what she does with the kids the youth she creates an environment for them to drive because she said obviously all their training is done at their respective gyms so she just has to create this environment but no it's been it's been very good talking to you so we have all the information in there is there anything you want to say before you go yeah so just like if if you uh if you're interested in the camp just get get in touch we'll get you some information um f as well it's probably important to say again that it's definitely open for everyone I mean it's not just for elite athletes and things like that although they will they will be able to get something out of the weekend as well I will be pastoring people that are coming with their Partners you train to try it and there's other things happening as well so we've got a plates instructor coming up to take a class there's going to be a we bit of hiking up around the mountain we're going to take our H drive down the Beach so there's lots of stuff happening there's a fitness class down at BR Beach it's not just going to be Jiu-Jitsu um so there going to be something for everybody um and if you're interested by it reach out because I know a lot of people now um aren't really doing the summer holiday abroad thing just because everything's there's been such a squeeze on everything so like this might be a nice fun weekend uh for you up here and you're more than welcome yeah no problem like that it is like I said the affordability of it then just the different things you're doing like you said going on a hike the beach uh pilates class Fitness classes uh food uh and a weekend of just good fun is what it sounds like and like you said a lot of people aren't going away and it is a relatively inexpensive weekend to have especially in today's economy so I wish you all the best with it h thank you so much for joining me again it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you that's great CH there thank you so much perfect