Our BJJ Style/Philosophy:
APPLICABILITY: Our BJJ style is based on fundamental BJJ, Judo and Wrestling skills that have a wide range of applicability in sport and self defense (and by extension for mma). Our focus of training and our technique base is carefully chosen to work as much as possible in all of these areas, and with or without the gi. So you can expect that the vast majority of what you learn in our class, will work in most or all of these areas, and in gi and no-gi.
LEARNING: Simplicity and overlap are used as much as possible in the white to blue belt curriculum, to facilitate fast and easy learning and progression. The curriculum is highly structured using game plan organization to bring your jiu-jitsu game to high level as quickly as possible at the white belt level, but allows for a high amount of individual variation at the higher belt levels. The overwhelming majority of our technique base can be (and is) trained live in sparring, as this is where true skill development occurs.
SAFETY is of primary concern at our club. We have strict sparring rules and blood policy, to minimize injuries and illness. We cultivate a learning/team attitude and environment, where the emphasis is improving your jiu-jitsu and helping your teammates. We value strongly the tenets of Judo, mutual benefit and welfare, and maximum efficiency (in technique and learning). We train and spar hard, but always with a mindfulness about the safety of our training partners. We stress cultivation of mental calmness, which will speed your learning, keep the training safe, and will be an asset to you in every aspect of your life. The club is for learning, not to prove yourself. You can prove yourself in competition, which we very strongly recommend for all of our students.
STANDUP: We have a very strong grounding in standup Judo and Wrestling, and not only drill standup throws and takedowns in every class, but also do live standup sparring in every class. We have many judo blackbelts, and experienced wrestlers who regularly train in our club to keep this training safe, and at a high level.
GI AND NO-GI: Although we train primarily in the gi, our technique base is designed to transfer seamlessly to no-gi, and we do at least a round or two of no-gi sparring in every class. Our students have performed very well in no-gi competition, which strongly supports this methodology.
TECHNIQUE BASE: Our technique base strives to be well rounded and balanced between standup, top game, guard passing, attacks from guard, and inferior position escapes. Techniques are chosen based on proven success in high level competition (bjj, judo, wrestling, and mma). The white belt to blue belt curriculum has a slightly stronger emphasis on guard passing, dominant position, and closed guard. Once blue belt is reached, more sophisticated open guard strategies are introduced and practiced. We try to limit the use of techniques that are applicable to a single arena (such as spider guard, which is really only good for sport gi bjj competition). We do cover these sorts of areas, but only to the extent necessary to be successful in competition, with the focus on how to defeat these sorts of positions when used by your opponent. Strictly sport specific attack systems will be studied in detail by higher belts however, if they are interested in pursuit of these strategies.
COMPETITION: We VERY strongly recommend competition for all of our students. Competition increases your confidence in your jiu-jitsu skills, and will help you learn to deal with anxiety and stressful situations. If you cannot deal with the stress of competing, how will you be able to cope with a self defense situation? Competition is a main driver in the evolution of Jiu-Jitsu, and our participation in competition keeps our club jiu-jitsu strong and our technique base current and effective.
MMA: The intent and purpose of our club is NOT to train mma fighters (although we do have a few students who occasionally fight mma, and our technique base will work for this purpose). Further, we do not train striking, which is essential for mma. Thus, if your main goal is to fight in the cage, there are several other schools in the area that focus on this, and would be a much better choice for your training.
