Marcel de Groot

About me

At Taus Gym, I lead the grappling sessions and try to help participants in the FIT classes in 45
minutes to the point where they’re tired but satisfied (and not completely knackered) and, ideally, able to push themselves just that bit harder and heavier next time. At FIT, the ‘tools of choice’ are kettlebells, and I follow the hardstyle method (as opposed to kettlebell sport, also known as girevoy) as advocated by the StrongFirst group led by Pavel Tsatsouline: ‘Consistent, technically correct training at high (but appropriate) intensity with sufficient recovery guarantees
’result'.

I hadn’t given any of the above a second thought when I (what feels like only a short while ago) started training at Taus Gym; it all went something like this:

Like many people, I started doing judo at a very young age, more because my parents took me along than because I sought it out myself. Still, I eventually got so into it that later, as a teenager, I wanted more and also started practising (Japanese) Jiu-Jitsu (*ahem* obviously nothing to do with the Ninja/karate films from the 1980s like *American Ninja*…).

Straight after secondary school, I wanted to join the Army, and ended up with the 11th Airmobile Brigade – the Red Berets. Eventually, however, I got a bit fed up with the sand, and because I had a reasonable affinity with the electronics and computers used by the Army (something to do with one eye and blind people), I decided after seven years to end this career and study Technical
To study computer science.

After finishing my studies, I was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. As BJJ was still very much a niche sport at that time (in the Netherlands, at least) and was essentially part of the same scene as MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), I became involved in that too.

In the meantime, I had to do some work as well, but after a few years of working as a software developer, office life started to bore me a bit, so I looked for something more dynamic and found it with the police, in the role of digital forensics specialist with the Regional Criminal Investigation Department.

After a few years, I also left that little world behind to take up a teaching post in Software Engineering at a university of applied sciences, which I continue to enjoy very much to this day.

During my years with the police, I spent very little time on the ‘mat’, but once my daily routine had settled down a bit, I wanted to take up ‘something in martial arts or self-defence’ again: Krav Maga came to mind, though my impression wasn’t particularly positive: from a distance, it looked very similar to traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu (not BJJ!), which ultimately proved of little use to me as soon as someone started resisting.

But as there was a school called Taus Gym just round the corner from me, I decided to go and have a look/give it a go. My opinion of Krav Maga (at least, as it’s taught at Taus Gym) did a complete U-turn.

Meanwhile, Riaz noticed there was interest in the sport of grappling at Taus Gym, and as I’d occasionally demonstrate a few moves, he asked if I’d be interested in setting it up. I seized this opportunity and, ever since, we’ve been training hard with a (growing) group and attending national grappling competitions from time to time as Team Taus Gym.