Scramblog
We’ve just released our latest jiujitsu gi themed NFT, the Base-K.
This one is special – first owners of the NFT can claim a real-world kimono shipped anywhere in the world via the unlockable content.
Check it out here!
Scramblog
Our first round of NFTs sold out in about three days, and batch 2 is now available. For this release, we have digitised the Athlete 4, one of our best selling jiujitsu gis from 2018 / 2019.
This gi came in three different weights – 375, 450 and 550, with the 550 being the heaviest and most expensive “collectors edition”.
The 375 was a lightweight comp gi and the 450 was an all-rounder.
We also released a “midnight edition” of this – All black with extra special detailing.
The new NFT collection follows exactly this pattern, and you can see the listing below. Perfect for collectors of jiujitsu and grappling based crypto art.
Scramblog
We at Scramble have joined the exploding digital art world with our first NFT release.
Drawing on over a decade of brand building and releases, our first collection of NFTs will be a digitised catalogue of our best-selling gis.
We start with the Athlete 5. The Athlete is our flagship model, a gi that we have refined over the years and has become synonymous with the brand.
For a few years now we have offered the Athlete in multiple weights and colours, from the competition focused and lightweight Athlite to the pro editition, which is a collectors item with an added attention to detail.
The initial price for the Scramble NFTs is approximately what it costs to buy a real kimono from us. We felt that this was a good starting point for collecting digital goods from Scramble. It is likely that subsequent releases will naturally increase in price.
Scramblog
Click or tap here to be taken to Scramble Europe.
We are very excited to finally launch Scramble’s European store. Now you can shop for gis, rashguards, grappling shorts and more, in Euros, with fast, simple flat rate shipping and best of all no extra taxes or duties to pay. We take care of all the tax behind the scenes, meaning you should simply receive your package in the post with no hassle.
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Tom Halpin is a black belt under Fight Sports, since 2017. The Irish grappler made a name for himself with standout performances on Polaris, as well as submitting his way to a spot in the ADCC finals by winning all his matches in the European trials.
We asked Tom about his start in the world of combat sports.
“I discovered MMA while on holidays with some friends in Ireland. We were playing the original UFC video game and I kept losing while striking, which upset me quite a bit. When they all went to the beach, I stayed home and learned how to play the ground fighting parts of the game and never lost again after that. Even back then I realised it was something where skill was the most important component and there was a lot I could learn. When I returned home I started watching the UFC and started training BJJ and MMA the following year in 2011.”
Amazing. Such humble beginnings for a humble athlete.
Tom counts his biggest achievements as his near flawless ADCC European Championship performance, and his winning the EBI Combat Jiujitsu World Championships, which included a lightning fast submission against the legend himself Masakazu Imanari.
“At the moment I do 7-10 nogi sessions a week. Consisting of variations of sparring, specific training, drilling, and lab work. As well of lot’s of study and thinking at home. I also do yoga, weights, and other exercises to keep my body athletic and healthy. Rest is also the most important part of the training, so I never neglect proper sleep and some quality time on the PlayStation.”
As with many professional jiujitsu athletes, ADCC glory remains the goal. ADCC has been around so long, and crowned many great champions, it has cemented itself as the pinnacle of no gi grappling competition.
“ADCC Champion is the ultimate goal, as well as owning my own school and sharing any knowledge I’ve gained throughout the years.”
In terms of heroes or people he looks up to, Tom had the following to say.
“I’ve never had any heroes in the sport, as I always thought of them as friends, training partners, or future opponents. However some of my biggest sporting inspirations from other sports would be Roger Federer and Ronnie O’ Sullivan, as well as many others. I love listening to interviews with other elite athletes as there’s always something to learn from them, especially in some of the more higher paying and competitive sports. I’m always struck by how they balance their competitive nature with a humble and down to earth attitude.”
Many jiujitsu athletes are very vocal about their favourite moves, techniques and positions. We asked Tom what were his favourite techniques.
“The best technique I’ve ever learned is that pressing the ‘J’ key on YouTube rewinds the video 10 seconds, ‘K’ pauses the video (or hold for slow motion), and that ‘L’ fasts forward 10 seconds. I use this every day studying matches and footage, to catch every little detail. It’s helped me improve my game more than anything.”
Indeed! Tape study seems to be used by the best of them.
Tom’s first bit of Scramble kit was the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba t-shirt.
“A friend gave me one of the original Scramble Sakuraba t-shirts that he had and it was the first BJJ related t-shirt I ever got. I wore it religiously and I like to think it improved my game by at least 1%.”
Nowadays, although Tom is on the mats every day head to toe in Scramble lycra, he gets the most mileage from our Scramble bag range.
“The Scramble backpack has been with me around the world to every single training session and competition the past few years and never lets me down. It’s also just big enough to fit everything in, while still being small enough to bring on every plane for free. Great success!”
When Tom is not on the mat ripping people’s leg bones apart, you can find him on Instagram or putting together his actually brilliant podcast, Inside Position.
Inside Position Podcast or search ‘inside position’ on any podcast app. Thanks!
Tom also has a jiujitsu instructional hosted over at our friends Techniqly.
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Jeremy Skinner is a black belt under Lachlan Giles (and Craig Jones I guess) of Absolute MMA in Australia. He has appeared in a number of domestic competitions in Australia and also flown to the UK twice, where he has picked up two submission wins in Polaris.
Jeremy took a few minutes to talk to us about his career in jiujitsu, and Scramble.
Jeremy’s jiujitsu career started unexpectedly – initially he was on the side of light, doing karate like a good boy, but he soon spotted the dark side, shrimping in the corner:
“While attending a karate class as a teenager, there was a Jiu Jitsu class happening on the other matspace and I thought “That looks cool” 😅
In terms of his BJJ competition record, Jeremy is most proud of his submission wins in Polaris so far. It’s not surprising – Polaris is the biggest and best jiujitsu stage in Europe, possibly the world, with a consistently high calibre of athletes invited to compete on its mats. Jeremy has two submissions on the show, wins that were watched by tens out thousands of people wordwide.
We asked Jeremy what his week looks like, in terms of jiujitsu.
Currently I spend more days teaching now! Typically I’ll train or teach class twice a day with technique study inbetween. I find a large amount of my development comes from study: reviewing footage, taking notes and testing.
With the Polaris wins under his belt, we wondered what the goals would be in jiujitsu and grappling moving forwards.
Competitively my primary goal is ADCC (both qualifying and winning) with the secondary goal of submitting high level competitors. Personally I want to develop all aspects of my Jiu Jitsu continuously and constantly push for my skills to be at the cutting edge of the sport. Long term I intend to focus more on my role as a coach in the sport: looking to build up and support aspiring competitors.
Many of us grew up in the sport with heroes, or people we aspire to be like.
I don’t believe in heroes in Jiu Jitsu. Maybe a cynical answer but I think it’s important to remember everyone is human.
It’s a fair point. I have lost count of the number of heroes I have met so far doing the sport, and almost all of them turn out to be very human indeed 😉
Jeremy Skinner’s Top 5 Jiujitsu Techniques are:
1. Rear strangle
2. Inside heelhook
3. Kata gatame
4. K guard
5. Bodylock pass
We have been supporting Jeremy for a while, but I could not remember what the first Scramble item was that Jeremy bought or owned. “Semi-custom gi and purple ranked V2 rashguard,” he says. The Scramble Standard Issue semi-custom is not surprising – it’s one of our best-selling gis, and one we try to keep in stock year round. The ranked rashguard is also a popular staple. Speaking of which, it’s probably time for a new one.
As to Jeremy’s favourite current bit of Scramble kit in rotation?
Combination shorts. Perfect for both training and day-to-day. I always wear compression shorts underneath other shorts so to have it all in one is just right for me.
Not a massive surprise there – the Combination shorts are one of our best-selling items. They took many months to perfect with a lot of samples discarded.
If you want to check out more from Jeremy Skinner, have a look at his Youtube Channel, his Instagram, or consider buying his heel hook / leglock / positional instructional at Techniqly.
