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← GALLERY

ONGOING

The Mat.

The one room where nobody takes my word for it.

Every round is a test, and the answer comes back in seconds: the pass lands or it does not, the position holds or it does not.

Most of this is ordinary training: no-gi rounds with one partner and a gi class, filmed from the floor. The step-over, the knee cut, the head-and-arm, the tap, and back to the knees for the next one. Then two promotion days, blue and purple, and last the competition floor under stage lights.

Purple belt. Competition medallist. Youth instructor. None of that matters once the round starts, which is the point.

Black-and-white low-angle photograph of Param in a dark gi with his belt tied, looking up and to the left under the hall lights
Before the match, at the edge of the competition floor.
EXHIBIT A — PAST THE LEGS, ON TOP. A gi class: I clear his legs and settle my weight on his chest.
EXHIBIT B — HANDS ON THE LEGS, STEP OVER, CHEST DOWN. Both legs pinned, one long step over them, and I land on top.
EXHIBIT C — LEG PIN, KNEE CUT, CHEST TO CHEST. The same night, the same partner, a different way past the legs.
EXHIBIT D — HEAD-AND-ARM, TAP, RESET. He taps, I let go, and we start again.
Black-and-white action photograph of Param in a dark gi standing as his opponent in a white gi holds his collar and jumps guard, one leg already up around him
He jumps guard on the collar grip. I am the one standing.
EXHIBIT E — BLUE BELT, JUNE 2023. Called up, belt tied, and the walk back to my place on the mat with the white one over my shoulder.
Param, in a blue gi and a new blue belt, smiles between two black-belt coaches in white gis against a padded blue wall
EXHIBIT F — THE SAME AFTERNOON. The new belt on, between two black belts.
Param, in a blue gi with a purple belt, stands on the mat holding his grading certificate while the rest of the class sits behind him
EXHIBIT G — PURPLE BELT, JUNE 2025. Certificate in hand, the class still sitting behind me.
Param, in a blue gi and a new purple belt, stands beside his coach in a white gi and black belt, both grinning, the coach giving a thumbs up
EXHIBIT H — WITH THE COACH. Two years after the blue.
EXHIBIT I — THE ARENA. The super fight from On the Arena: grips, then he jumps, turns upside down and takes us both to the mat.