It’s been just a few hours ago that John Danaher has announced, much to everyone’s surprise and sadness, that the notorious Danaher Death Squad – comprised out of athletes such as Gordon Ryan, Garry Tonon, Craig Jones, Nick Rodriguez, Nicky Ryan – is breaking up.
The reason? It isn’t known for sure, other than the fact that there were some “personal differences” between the Death Squad’s members.
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE DANAHER DEATH SQUAD?
Here’s what Danaher had to say:
End of an era: It is with great sadness that I have to announce the break up of the squad as a unified training and competition team. A combination of factors revolving around disagreements in physical location of a future school, personality conflicts, conflicting values and an inevitable tension between the team brand and the growing individual brands of members were the main factors.
I am immensely proud of the tremendous effect the squad had upon the development and direction of our beloved sport over the years. I am extremely confident that all the various team members have risen in competitive ability, teaching skill and independent creativity that they will be highly successful wherever they choose to go – whatever happens their legacy is assured and their future very bright indeed.
As for the future, it is still uncertain. Most of us still get along very well. I expect some will still train together and we will work together in future projects in accordance with our team philosophy, but no longer as a single unified room. I believe the split will have the positive effect of creating a larger footprint for the team as they spread out and develop a wider influence.I always believed that the technical development of the team was best created by a tight, unified room, but at the end of the day human happiness outweighs medals and martial skill and it has become clear that some individual members would be happier in different locations.
I would like to thank all the members of the squad for the tremendous effort and myriad sacrifices they made to build a team and legacy that will be remembered, in particular, Garry Tonon, Gordon Ryan, Craig Jones, Eddie Cummings, Nicky Ryan and Nick Rodriguez. I would also like to thank the many students who formed the room in which the squad developed and honed their skills; and thank you so much to all our faithful followers for your interest and support over the years – I hope and trust we can keep the project of refining our art going despite the changes – Thank you.
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Gordon Ryan also shared the news about the Death Squad break-up, but wasn’t specific about what happened either:
As many of you have heard, the DDS is now retired. First and foremost, I want to issue an apology to our fans. I know I promised you all information on the school and affiliate program, but before we could make our announcements the team decided to split, which obviously changed plans. I will have an update, at some point, eventually, on those concerns😂.
More than anything, I am happy that I got to share the mats all these years with such intuitive and interesting grapplers. I enjoyed helping them pursue their goals and an grateful they helped me pursue mine. I’m sure that no matter what happens, and no matter where we all end up, this team has changed jiu jitsu forever, and that’s something no one can deny. On to a new start, and always looking to be the best me I can be.
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