Hélder Bob Esponja and the Danes: functional training on beach in João Pessoa / Photo: Personal archive
Hélder “Bob Esponja” Medeiros has been keeping a lively training schedule in João Pessoa, in the Brazilian state of Paraíba. First CheckMat hosted the tough Danish competitor Ida Hansson, runner-up at this year’s Worlds, competing in the final against Hannette Staack.
The next to drop by, ten days from now, is current brown belt absolute champ Alexander Trans, who will be riding a wave of success all the way to ADCC 2011.
“We’re doing excellent functional training on the sand with them and practicing a lot in the gi. They are here getting ready for the Rio Open, where they will be competing alongside others from the team here, like Kaká Dutra, Thiago Pessoa, João Norberto and João Luiz,” reported Hélder.
“I really wanted to come to João Pessoa to get to know Professor Hélder Medeiros’s academy,” said Ida, “He was in Denmark last year before the European Open and I got the chance to learn from him and improve my game a lot. I’m happy here, the city is beautiful and training is really technical. I hope to have a great competition at the Rio Open, where I’ll be amid big names of Brazilian and world Jiu-Jitsu.”
