Stefan Hupka is oone of the pioneers of BJJ in Slovakia. During his BJJ journey he trained in Ireland where he was living. Upon returning home to Slovakia, he formed his BJJ team sTC BJJ Team. In this interview with BJJ Eastern Europe, Stefan talks about the local scene in his country, his BJJ journey and what’s next in 2014: 

1. Hi Stefan, can you please introduce yourself to the BJJ Community of Eastern Europe?

My name is Stefan Hupka and I am from Slovakia. I live in a small town Puchov which is situated in the west of out county. Here I teach and train with my team – sTC BJJ Team Puchov. Currently I am a brown belt under Andre Monteiro (BJJ Revolution team).

2. Please tell us about your Jiu-Jitsu story.
I started study BJJ when I was 30. That time I got some basics of BJJ by Radek Sefcik ,the first person who brought BJJ to Slovakia.
After moving to Ireland in 2006 I started to train with guys in Limerick city in Ireland led by Fergal Quinlan where I got my blue belt. Fergal is a black belt under Rodrigo Medeiros and a very talented teacher and he visits our team regularly. After being promoted to purple belt by Rodrigo Medeiros I met another man , Andre Monteiro ,who is a very good fighter and one of the most technical bjj teachers I have ever met. Andre and Fergal are two main instructors who help us to improve our BJJ at the moment.
Ten years ago there was no BJJ or grappling tournaments here in Slovakia so my first submission grappling tournament which I took part was in Ireland which i won. Nice medal for me was the bronze from Europeans in Lisbon in 2010 and my favourite medal is the bronze medal from the UK BJJ Premier championship 2011 in England where I fought as a senior among adults in the purple belt division – open.

Stefan with his team after the European No Gi Open

3. What can you tell us about the BJJ scene in Slovakia?

Except of Radek Sefcik´s school in Spiska Nova Ves there were no another BJJ schools in Slovakia 6 years ago. Then was the situation changed and new BJJ groups started to train BJJ in Bratislava (Tibor Repta, Ilja Skondrič..) Nitra (Michal Sobolic), Puchov and other towns and the community of BJJ has started to grow up. Nowadays the main teams here in Slovakia are in Puchov (sTC BJJ Team), Bratislava (BJJ Slovakia led by Lubomir Repasky) and in Nitra( GB Pitbull led by Michal Sobolic) . Another BJJ clubs are in Martin, Topolcany, Zvolen ,Trencín and another towns.
Members of these teams improving their BJJ by inviting coaches from abroad to teach them and visit local and international tournaments to compare their skills. I believe the quality of BJJ has been getting better so the future of BJJ here looks really promising.

4. Please tell us about your BJJ academy and team.

Our academy sTC BJJ Team has mostly young people who are realy nice and love bjj training. We have two separated groups beginners and advanced fighters who take part in local and international tournaments. Under our flag compete guys from another two towns – from Topolcany and Zvolen,which are led by Robert Matusik and Pavel Dang.
Our biggest success as a team were five medals from the the European no gi BJJ championship in Rome 2013 in the blue belt division – adult..We took more medals at Munich open in Germany as well, so we are very happy with the last sport year for our team.

5. What’s next for you and your team in 2013/14?

We would like to improve our bjj training and programs so for this reason we want to organize seminars with our instructors. In February we will host Andre Monteiro here and during the summer Fergal Quinlan again. Guys here would like to also take part in some IBJJF tournaments in Europe and other local tournaments and get some good results. Speaking about myself I hope I will be able to try to compete again after having problems with my shoulder.

3rd place at the 2010 Europeans

6. If you want to thank somebody or sponsors, feel free.

At first I would like to say big thank to our instructors -Andre Monteiro and Fergal Quinlan for their support. And other black belts who made a stop here like Rodrigo Medeiros, Roberto Atalla or Pedro Bessa.. Of course the whole team of the Sport and Training centre here in Puchov for their fantastic facilities which make this centre the best in the region and all friends here around who support us.

7. Thanks Stefan and all the best!