Interview with Verontino | Flow BJJ Indoenesia
Verontino “Veron” Giovanni is one of Indonesia’s rising forces in grappling. A brown belt under Prof. Hardian Kristiady and coach at Flow BJJ Indonesia, he’s already turning heads with standout runs at ADCC Southeast Asia and other elite stages. Hungry, competitive, and relentless, Veron talks with Grapple Asia about his journey, the growth of Jiu-Jitsu in Indonesia, and his drive to put his country on the global map.
Grapple Asia: Can you kindly introduce yourself?
Veron: I’m Verontino Fernando Giovanni, known as Veron. I’m a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu under Prof. Hardian Kristiady and also a fitness influencer.
Grapple Asia: How did you start training in BJJ?
Veron: I started doing Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in 2016. And my dad, Sofian Librawan is the one who introduce me to this grappling world. He’s also a purple belt in BJJ. And I can say that I’m obsessed with BJJ since then.
Grapple Asia: What drew you to the gentle art?
Veron: I’m actually a very competitive guy. I’ve done a lot of team based competition in my school years, and it always turned out with a bad result because the lack of teamwork from my team. Until, I finally competed in Jiu-jitsu that requires me to depends on myself. But of course the support from my team is also important.
Grapple Asia: Mateusz Sczczenski commented that he liked the problem solving aspect of Jiu-Jitsu, with the sport being as physically demanding as it is, what draws you to it?
Veron: I totally agree with Sczczenski, for me BJJ isn’t just a normal sport. It demands critical thinking, discipline, toughness and carefulness at the same time yet it’s enjoyable. I always believe that most of the time the hard work you put on your training can beat the talent itself. The more critical you are on how to be a better self or better than others, the faster you develop as well. The harder you work on you physiques, skills and mindset, the easier the fight will be.
Grapple Asia: What is the Jiu Jitsu scene in Indonesia like?
Veron: I think Jiu Jitsu in Indonesia started to develop since the pandemic has ended. We, Indonesians are starting to produce more and more young and talented athletes.
Competition wise, it’s kinda hard for us to really develop our skills in the national competition scene since the politics in this industry is quite toxic, what I mean by toxic is most of the athletes prefer not to compete in the event that they’re at a disadvantage.
I wish that we, can one day start to build a healthy competition environment so that the future athletes can be better than us.
Grapple Asia: In terms of competing Submission Grappling and Jiu Jitsu, what rules set do you favor the most?
Veron: In terms of rule set, I prefer ADCC rules most. Intense rules makes intense fights. So it’s more satisfying to compete in it or as a spectator. But I can do ADCC or IBJJF rulesets, whatever is necessary.
Grapple Asia: You could argue that the ADCC ruleset doesn’t incentivize action in the first half of the match as no points are counted. What do you think about submission only rulesets like ONE Grappling?
Veron: It’s all love for me, when it comes to submission. That’s what grappling is all about isn’t it? So yeah submission ruleset such as ONE Grappling, Who’s Number One or EBI rules is definitely in my favor.
Grapple Asia: How do you find the training environment in Indonesia compared to other regions in Asia?
Veron: To be honest, I never trained in any other camp except Prof. Hardian’s camp and Flow BJJ (camp that I’m teaching at). And so far, I enjoyed my everyday training.
Grapple Asia: If you could train at any gym for a prolonged period of time, where would it be and why would you choose that gym above all others?
Veron: If I get to choose, New Wave is an absolute must. The work ethics they put on every training, the amount of experience each person had truly amaze me. B-Team is also the second absolute must, love the environment. By looking at them from the social media I think I can get along with them easily and Craig Jones is definitely my all time role model.
Grapple Asia: What is the most influential or biggest achievement in your career so far?
Veron: For me, each medals that I’ve achieved had its own meaning and influence to my Jiu-jitsu career. But the most recent, which I think is the biggest achievements in my career is Gold Medal in Absolute Class at ADCC SEA 2023, Silver Medal in ADCC Phuket Open 2024 and the most recent one is, Ranked 5th in ADCC Asia & Oceania Trials 2024 Bangkok out of 74 Elite Competitors. And being the first Indonesian that ever reached the quarter finals in Trials.
Grapple Asia: Do you have a personal preference over Gi or No-gi?
Veron: Me, personally like No-gi more. But I did compete in Gi a few times.
Grapple Asia: What’s the reason for the preference for No-gi?
Veron: I guess we can all agree that No-gi is a lot more interesting than Gi, pure action all the time. Since there’s no clothing that you can grab so it’s more relevant to the real life situation.
Grapple Asia: How would you evaluate the current trends in Jiu Jitsu? What do you think of the future of Jiu Jitsu in Indonesia?
Veron: Jiu-jitsu nowadays are evolving really fast, many young athletes starting to show up from around the world and they’re really great. I think it’s too soon to say about the future of Indonesia’s Jiu-jitsu, but I really hope that me and my team can bring a great impact on Indonesia’s Jiu-jitsu Community.
Grapple Asia: Which country do you think is the fastest growing in terms of grappling in Asia right now?
Veron: Kazakhstan, no doubt.
Grapple Asia: That is actually a pretty common answer, could you elaborate why you think Kazakhstan is the fastest growing?
Veron: They really showed up out of nowhere and suddenly did very great in competitions. And AIGA, man that’s a really great event.
Grapple Asia: What is a typical training schedule for you? Weekly, daily.
Veron: I trained Jiu-jitsu 6 times a week (2 hours every session), Strength and Conditioning 4 times a week.
Grapple Asia: How do you approach your coaching?
Veron: We do a lot of conditional and free sparring session.
Grapple Asia: In your own experience coaching at Flow, do you think this is the fastest way to develop students in terms of progression?
Veron: Surely, I’ve seen them grow from nothing. And honestly speaking, they continue to amaze me with their progress. So yeah, conditional, free spar sesh and giving them the freedom to determine their own game definitely makes this system one the best way for fast progression.
Grapple Asia: Who do you draw inspiration from in terms of coaches and competitors?
Veron: In terms of coaches, I look up to Prof. Hardian and my dad. But outside of my gym, I really like New Wave and B-team.
Grapple Asia: What are your future plans?
Veron: My main goal is still, be an ADCC World Champion. But beside that, I wish to compete more in many other event such as WNO, AIGA or any other world class event.
Grapple Asia: Lastly, who would you like to thank?
Veron: First of all, I would like to thank Prof. Hardian Kristiady and all of my teammates especially Prof. Randolf and Prof. Leo Krishna as 2 of my best training partners. Also thanks to Mr. Juna as the owner of Flow BJJ Indonesia as one of my sponsor and the one who gave me the chance to channel my passion to others. And last but not least, to my family including my girlfriend for the never ending support.
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