A lot of folks are already in the Pan mood, but perhaps you aren’t
Black belt Michelle Nicolini, for example, rushed to her computer in São Paulo to check the brackets, signed out of MSN and took off for the airport.
Photographer Alicia Anthony, our long-time collaborator, arranged her lenses and set about planning for the four days. “It will be a weekend of incredible matches. I know it’ll be hard work and the days will be long,” she thought to herself.
The IBJJF team did a walk-through of the gymnasium, put together the brackets, posted everything on the internet and returned to the gymnasium to add the final touches for the tournament to kick off tomorrow at 10 am (California time), with male blue belts and female white belts.
At Gracie Barra America, Marcio Feitosa brought the team’s final training session specifically for the Pan to a close, and felt satisfied. “It was really cool to have so many competitors and instructors from our GB family here, together,” he wrote via his twitter account.
Black belt Felipe Costa ate some sashimi and had a last roll at Brasa San Diego, before going to battle to win roosterweight gold on Sunday.
Alliance general Fabio Gurgel hopped his flight for the Pan. From Bahrein, where he taught seminars over the weekend. He’ll meet up with Romero Jacare and co. in Irvine.
Featherweight Wellington Megaton had a last walk with his dogs in Pheonix, and set off with his suitcase, drinking vessel and family of fighters for the Pan.
And it goes on and on. But, should you not be in the mood, below there’s a sweet video of the last IBJJF adult tournament, the Houston Open. Watch it with the volume full blast!