{"id":41,"date":"2020-01-13T03:29:56","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T10:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/myates\/?page_id=41"},"modified":"2020-04-04T04:21:13","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T11:21:13","slug":"about-me","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/myates\/welcome\/about-me\/","title":{"rendered":"About Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

As stated prior my name is Michael Yates.\u00a0 I am married and a proud father of two children (one boy and girl).\u00a0 Given \"\"my professional life has taken me to many countries, my personal life is heavily influenced by the places I have been.\u00a0 My son was born in Abu Dhabi and my daughter was born in Brunei, I am quite happy that my children are experiencing so many different cultures and places at a young age.\u00a0 I would say other than my family, my hobbies have also influenced me greatly.\u00a0 My main hobby is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), which I started in 2006.\u00a0 No matter which country I have travelled to, I have trained BJJ and this has allowed me to meet so many good people.\u00a0 My real journey in BJJ started in Abu Dhabi, where I went from Purple to Black belt.\u00a0 I was fortunate enough to compete, although I really never took a liking to it.\u00a0 My few competitions did produce some good pictures.<\/p>\n

When I was\"\" leaving Abu Dhabi I was fortunate enough to receive my blackbelt, which put me in a position to help the lovely little country of Brunei on its BJJ journey.\u00a0 This turned me from a casual participant into a coach, which was a massive change for me.\u00a0 I did enjoy it, and being a coach I was able to promote students, do seminars in neighboring countries(Kuching, Miri, and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia) and generally help out the BJJ community in the area.\u00a0 It was a great experience and one I will be forever grateful for.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here are some pictures from my journey:<\/p>\n

\"\"

One of my first seminars in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Ended up having over 40 people attend! Was a great experience.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

One of my last seminars, this time in Miri, Malaysia. Great group of people.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

Being a coach allowed me to promote deserving people from other clubs (which do not have access to a blackbelt instructor). Here I am giving the head BJJ instructor at Warmonger’s MMA in Miri, Malaysia his well earned purple belt.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

My final class in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. I watched this club (Khalifa MMA) grow into a powerhouse in the area. They have a strong coaching group and I am sure BJJ will continue to prosper in Brunei.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

Coaching to me was truly an enjoyable experience. It is the epitomy of show, not tell (a philosophy I believe in heavily in teaching).<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hello<\/a>

Hello World<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Course<\/a>

Course List<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As stated prior my name is Michael Yates.\u00a0 I am married and a proud father of two children (one boy and girl).\u00a0 Given my professional life has taken me to many countries, my personal life is heavily influenced by the places I have been.\u00a0 My son was born in Abu Dhabi and my daughter was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58263,"featured_media":0,"parent":29,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-41","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/myates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/myates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/myates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/myates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/myates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/myates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/myates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41\/revisions\/235"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/myates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/myates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}