Great Britain basketball star Andrew Sullivan has competed for the first time in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the British Open last weekend. Sullivan, 30, has played close 100 times for Great Britain.
Sullivan plays basketball for the Newcastle Eagles, and started training BJJ under Dave Elliot back in 2010 but took a four year break. He now trains under Roger Gracie, Henrique Junior and Bruno Zancaner at RGA. He says that BJJ makes him feel stronger.
Sullivan joins a long list of pro basketball players that do BJJ: Kendal Gill, Shaquille O’neal, Serbia’s Igor Rakocevic, Gabriel Muoneke.
Sullivan told The Mirror:
“I started doing it last March and within six weeks there was a noticeable difference,”
“I felt a lot stronger and had more endurance on the court.
“Physically in that first month to six-week time period I put on about between 10-12 pound of muscle without lifting any weights.
“Anytime you can put on some weight and some strength is going to help on the basketball court.
“So I think it has helped me quite a bit.
“When you are carrying a little bit more weight and strength it also makes you more confident.
“Physically I look bigger and am more muscular.
“I got the bug for basketball and that became my life for the next 17 years.
“But now over the past year I have gotten into doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as well.
“I have really got the bug for that too and when I am not doing basketball and I am in the country I pretty much do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.”
Sullivan even tweeted his three matches from the British Open:
My 3 fights from the British Open cheers Tom Match 1 https://t.co/pYY7VrUU7l Match 2 https://t.co/48DAgaDpY2 Match 3 https://t.co/oM0gXt1yFL
— Drew Sullivan (@drewsullivan8) May 18, 2015
