A
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP THANK YOU
Hey Everybody,
After winning the 2005 World Championships and after coming off a
three-year retirement I must say that I didn’t do it by
myself. I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who
helped
this dream become a reality.
First I would like
to thank GOD, without him nothing
would be possible. I would like to thank my wife and my
parents
for their belief in me. I would like to thank the entire Team
Lloyd Irvin family for their support. I would like to thank
my
instructor Leo Dalla for training with me even when he was injured, I
would like to thank all of Leo Dalla’s students for helping
me
prepare for this event when I came to train with Dalla. I
would
like to thank Rhadi Ferguson for giving me the wonderful gift of Judo
and grip fighting. I would like to thank Ervin Brandon for
being
my gripping partner in preparation for this tournament. I
would
like to thank Mike Moses for coming in outside of their normal schedule to help me
train. I would like to thank Ryan Villagram for
always
asking me if I’m going to ever compete again and I would like
to
thank all of my children students who go on the mat and give it their
all. I would like to thank all of the wonderful parents I
have at
LIMAA. I would like to thank Master Donnie and Tom Zurita for
believing in me even more than I did. I would like to thank
Nyjah
Easton for the email the morning of my tournament. I would
like
to thank Jeff Ruth and Ryan Hall for their emails of support.
I
would like to thank everyone who loves Jiu Jitsu as much as I do, just
for loving Jiu Jitsu. I would like to thank all of the
competitors who had the guts to put it on the line in Brazil with me. I
want to thank Ta Ta for taking care or everything in Brazil for me and
to Guigo for the support at the tournament. I would also like to thank
Fabio Gurgel for the kind words at the event that he gave to me.
I would also like to thank David Jacobs for helping me warm
up
for my matches. And finally I would like to thank Mike
Fowler, if
it wasn’t for
Mike I would’ve never had competed in the 2005 World
Championships.
PS. Please forgive me if I left anyone specific
out. There
are so many people that helped me along the way I’m bound to
forget someone.
Regards,
Lloyd Irvin
|