These past few weeks I have reflected on my time spent training with Jorge and Pablo Popovitch when I lived in Florida. Jorge continues to be hospitalized after his home in Brazil was demolished by landslides caused by heavy rains earlier this month. Jorge's wife, Soraya perished in the accident.
I went back and pulled out some photos and documents and decided to share a series of stories of what it was like to train with Jorge and Pablo.
HOW I MET JORGE AND PABLO POPOVITCH
In 1996, I was approached by my employers to relocate from Pittsburgh, where I had worked for three years, to Ft Lauderdale FL. The insurance market (my business is Auto Claims) was booming in South Florida and they needed an office to control the local claims coming in. When I was approached with the position, I immediately began to search for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academies because I had seen the UFC, or more importantly, Royce Gracie, and I wanted to learn.
Now in 1996, the internet was still foreign to me. The only way to access is was through a dial up modem. And when you connected via AOL, you paid by the minute. So, my search was extremely short. I found a Gracie Jiu Jistu academy in South Beach and figured I would visit and join when I arrived.
I had been allowed only one trip to FL to meet with my new boss. At that time, I had no idea where to live and did not have time enough to go searching. So, before I moved, I found an appartment, via a renter's guide, that was close enough to the office. I rented it over the phone without even looking at it. I didn't really care about any ammenities since the plan really was to live and breath work until I had the opportunity to sell my house in PA and move my stuff.
I drove down and arrived in Pembroke Pines FL on 3/2/1997. It was a Sunday. After I unpacked my car, I quickly checked the yellow pages for any advertisement of the Gracie School in Miami. Instead, I saw this:
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 9117 Taft St PemPines (954) 437-0091
It was two blocks from my apartment. Call it an accident, coincidence, or fate, but I knew I had found the place to train without going to the school ( I later learned that South Beach, where the other academy was, was about an hour commute because of traffic. That sealed my fate of being one of Jorge's students)
On Monday 3/3/97, I called the school and talked to Pablo. I asked if I could come in that evening to try a class and he extended the invitation. I came in that evening and Pablo was sitting at the desk. He was young and had a heavy accent (to me at least, since being from the midwest) and showed me the dressing room and gave me a school gi to use. I met Jorge, who had limited english at that time, and joined the class. I can't remember how many participated, I just remember the atmosphere as being very alive and energetic. It was much different than all the other traditional martial arts schools I had attended.
We began with a traditional bow in and then started the warm up. After about 20 minutes, I thought I was going to die. The combination of the FL humidity, the heavy uniform, and the exercises that I had never done before, just about did me in. I recall many people laughing, especially Jorge who spoke in very animated portuguese as to the difficulties I was having. What I remember most about that first day was my first training experience. Jorge pulled me aside and I got in his guard. The instruction, in the best english he could muster, was "pass my guarda." I had no idea what to do, so I just went bezerk trying to break his legs to get around them. What resulted was my neck, shoulders, and arms being bent and manipulated in ways they should never be. After what seemed like an eternity, I was allowed to rest. I remember him looking at me and he began waving his arms fanatically saying "you crazy, you move too much."
That was the first and ultimately the most important lesson: In order to fight appropriately, I needed to be calm and relaxed.
After the class, I bought a Gi (a Tiger Claw Judo Uniform is all they had) and I signed up immediately. I knew I had finally found what I was looking for.
