Reap Invitational 3
Is nearly upon us
Hey gang, it’s nearly that time again. Reap Invitational 3 is upon us. We didn’t do an event last year because of all kinds of things going on.
Reap Invitational
Really, there were so many events happening that we just couldn’t figure out a time or a place to do it where we wouldn’t be clashing with another three grappling events. That seems to have calmed down a little bit, but is still definitely something that’s going on. I mean, our event currently clashes with Polaris, which is in Dublin, so it’s not really affecting us, and there’s another event in Leicester, I do believe, on the same date. We picked our date, we staked our claim, and we are nearly there. I have 90% of the matches made. I’d like to find another couple of opponents for some really exciting guys, but I can’t believe I’m almost past the post with a full card, which is super exciting. I’ve been to the venue today to size up where we’re putting the mats. They’ve come on leaps and bounds since we last did an event there, and all credit to the new owners that have kind of taken that on.
We’ve gone from having the production beamed in the room on a big screen to that also happening on four other screens within the space. There’s a ton more space where they used to brew, and now it’s full of arcade games and just a general big house space. We’ve effectively doubled the capacity of what we can normally do, which is great, but also means there’s just a ton more breathing space for everybody to come down and have a look, which is awesome. I’m bizarrely relaxed for how close I am to the event. It’s in two and a half weeks, and I’m no doubt that the stress will come, but we’re almost at the finishing point. I do like to have a month of purely just promoting the event, and that never happens. I’m probably going to have two weeks of just focusing on marketing, getting some digital ads out there, and making some cool stuff, but it’s all coming together quite nicely.
We’ve got black belts on the card, we’ve got purple belts on the card, and we’ve got blue belts on the card. We are sticking to that sort of 10 to 11 quality over quantity matches. If you are in the local area and you can make it, then that would be fantastic. If you aren’t in the local area, it is going to be streamed on our YouTube channel and it’ll be up there forever as well, which is super nice. Obviously nothing beats being in that room and being a part of the event and feeling that excitement, but we’re going to try our best to get that across in the live stream as well. Since the last Reap Invitational event, we’ve live streamed Grapple Max broadcast and the Grapple Max Fight Club broadcast, and each time I like to think we’ve leveled up our game in terms of the digital product and what’s going out there. Obviously all of that is going into the Reap Invitational 3, so I’m a little excited about things like:
the round timer will be on there
the fighters names will be on the screen for the entirety of their match
the commentator camera, which I think is going to be really cool
post-match interviews
announcements
I just think it’s going to be a vibe, and for us to be able to do this in Middlesbrough, in arguably one of the coolest event spaces in the country, is just testament to how cool the northeast of England is and can be. I’ve not been its biggest champion in the past, but stuff like this coming together does make me happy, and I’m glad that I can share it with you guys. If you are interested and tickets are on sale now.
I’d be a bad businessman if I didn’t mention that we’ve got a new nogi rash guard and short set out now as well, which you can check out on our website. If you aren’t in the area and you can’t make it, it will be live streamed for free on our YouTube channel. I’ll set up the link soon, so you can click a bell to be notified when it goes live so you don’t miss it. It’s on Saturday the 6th of June, and the broadcast doors are at 3 p.m., so the broadcast will start at 3:30 p.m., and away we go. I’m super excited, and I hope you’ll all be on board and join in however which way you can. That is kind of what’s just been going on with Reap.
We’ve obviously been busy making clothing and putting stuff out there, but the invitational has been a big sole focus for us for the last sort of six weeks and will continue to be for the next two and a half weeks. After that, I’m looking forward to taking a break and just making cool stuff instead of DMing athletes on Instagram every day of my life.
See you on the mats, Rick.