Savarese Jiu-Jitsu student Mark Garcia comes back strong

Super proud of this guy right here. My student Mark Garcia at this time last year was one of the top competitors on my competition as a blue belt. Was maybe the most talented of a very talented group of bluebelts on our team at the time. While working takedowns after class on day, he completely tore his ACL. As most of us who have had these types of injuries before know, they can be mentally devastating to some as the rehab process is long. Mark had some pitfalls and setbacks during the recovery process and had to watch as many of the top bluebelts on our team, guys he sweat w every day and traveled to compete with, all got promoted to purplebelt during his rehab process. Then, in his first tournament back, he got beaten pretty soundly at the Toys for Tots tourn a couple of months ago. Instead of pouting and feeling sorry for himself, he worked harder, asked questions and diligently started getting back to where he was. He won 2 tournaments in a row after that. Last Wednesday, I promoted Mark to purplebelt and it was a bit emotional because it represented his struggle through this setback on his BJJ journey. Today, he won his purplebelt division at the Fuji BJJ tournament, winning both his matches by submission after being a purplebelt for 3 days. Brother, I am proud of you for your perseverance. See you in the lab tomorrow. OSS