The Old Grappler
The Old Grappler
Bryant Pangelinan: Fusing Jiu-Jitsu and Policing for a Safer Community
Ever wondered how martial arts can enhance the efficiency and safety in law enforcement? That's the thought-provoking question at the heart of our discussion with Bryant Pangelinan, a man whose life has been shaped by wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, and law enforcement. As the owner of Saber Jiu-Jitsu in Concord, California, Bryant’s journey has led him from high school wrestling mats to global Jiu-Jitsu competitions and, ultimately, to a role in law enforcement. He's leveraged this unique blend of experiences to offer free martial arts classes to fellow officers and first responders, advocating for continuous training beyond the academy.
Our chat with Bryant takes us down the winding road of his martial arts journey, shedding light on the essential role of training and skill development for law enforcement officers. We delve into the potential dangers faced by officers who haven't supplemented their academy training, and explore the potential integration of different martial arts like Judo, Sambo, and Sumo into law enforcement training. Bryant’s refreshing perspective on running a Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling school, the freedom he gives his students to choose their training path, and the value of having experienced practitioners to learn from are insights you won’t want to miss.
The conversation doesn't end there. We touch on Bryant’s memorable experiences in Jiu-Jitsu, from mentoring white belts to earn their black belts to competing worldwide. Bryant emphasizes how vital community involvement is, with his contributions to organizations like Black Belts for Butterflies and the We Defy Foundation serving as inspiring examples. And finally, we discuss the incredible importance of finding the right gym - one that offers a sense of family and community. Tune in for a fascinating exploration of martial arts, law enforcement, and community involvement with Bryant Pangelinan.
What? What if you do a podcast about you? Just, you will call it the old grappler, cuz I'm fucking old, right I.
Speaker 2:Got a.
Speaker 1:We're back with the old grappler. Today I have Bryant. Yes, sir, I'll let you introduce yourself, okay, what school, what rank you are, and we'll get going from there.
Speaker 2:All right, my name is a Bryant Pangalina. I'm the owner of Saber Jujitsu here in Concord, california, my third degree by boat.
Speaker 1:Nice, yeah. So what? When did you Decide? Or like, when did your journey start?
Speaker 2:so I started wrestling as a young kid. I wrestled high school and through college and well into adulthood and and then I got my first taste of Jujitsu. I should say in like the early UFC's, at UFC one, two and three, mm-hmm, I was still in high school and I was still wrestling, so I was like yeah it's just a silly, seem pretty cool.
Speaker 2:I didn't pick it up. I'm like whatever, I was still wrestling. And then my first couple years of college I was in Hawaii and it was huge out there already and things were really like you know, people were picking up. But because Helsing Gracie had already asserted himself as one of the pioneers of bringing Jujitsu to the US and he was doing classes in the the big gym at UH and my buddy's like hey, you're doing that USC stuff down in the gym, like All right, you know, yeah right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man. So I went down there. Yeah, cool, you know, I was still wrestling for the club team at the time, so I just thought it was like sloppy wrestling and guys wearing karate geese and stuff. I'm like it's ain't really for me, you know. But I kind of like picked up a little bit and then I started doing private lessons With one of Helsing's students just to keep me active and keep training and, you know, find something new to do. And it was fun. You know, I did it for a little while and then after that I was like I came back to California after two years and Was heavily back into wrestling and started competing again, doing more, and, and my best friend at the time, he just started MMA and this was 2003.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 2003, and just started MMA. He was a wrestler at SF State and he's a hey man. Come down to the Gracie Academy. You know he's always looking for for wrestlers to train with his fighters. I was like sure, you know, mm-hmm, we were coaches at the local club team that we were wrestling at too. So I was like sure it went down there and Jumped right into a first class. I didn't know nothing, you know, other than wrestling primarily, and I Was in a room with a bunch of MMA guys that had no idea where they were. I was taking them down but I was getting choked out left and right. So I gotta figure this stuff out. So right, and it's funny when I think back and I always tell people like you know how, just through these days, it's like you come in for the first class. It's very user-friendly, you know.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah, on tire belts, brickfall, hip escape, right. So my first class ever was with the Diaz brothers. Gilbert Melendez, jake Shields, all these guys the older, I didn't know who they were and then you know the time you know they're just like alright, go take them down. Look cool, take them down. Getting choked out. I was like this that's cool, I want to figure this out. So did my last wrestling tournaments in 2003, and then about a month later, I started juicing.
Speaker 1:so so when, when you were wrestling, you were just club wrestling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was supposed to go wrestling college and that didn't work out. So I did a lot of club, club, team stuff, so freestyling Greco, right, that was my thing. And then After that it was just like, alright, you know I was helping out with my own all the monitor, I was Dailes out high school wrestled there, okay, and I was coaching for them. And you know I was like I'm just gonna Keep doing it as a hobby, you know, and mm-hmm but it was like you know, sometimes hobbies last a long.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and unfortunately wrestling is a harsh hobby. Yeah, you know, and it's like you know, it's the age-old story of any wrestler, you know, if they don't make it, you know, and it's double a level or the Olympic level, it's just kind of fizzles out and they, where do you go from there? And at the time you know, most wrestlers I was seeing they were going towards martial arts and jitsu in the mail. I was like I like this jitsu stuff, let's give it a try.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's where it went. That's cool, yeah, so I, I wrote to the high school Mm-hmm, I Went military, okay, then that didn't work out. Yeah and then, like life happens, sure, yeah, and, and fast forward 20 years, mm-hmm, my oldest son Ends up on the wrestling team. Yeah, and it just lit that fire again, right, so I was hovering, hovering around the. Hover, like I had the tournaments with my kid. You know, as a freshman didn't know anything about wrestling.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I didn't really. When life happened, I didn't really have time, mm-hmm, or I didn't make time. Sure, right, sure. And then they got into sports and I started making a little bit more time but, wrestling at the youth level in our town wasn't readily available. Yeah, like you had to know people that yeah, did it, and. Where, who knows? I just never figured it out. And then he got into high school and then that turned into okay, I'm coaching wrestling right and fast forward. You know 15 years. This is year 15 on the.
Speaker 2:Good one, it never goes away, yeah.
Speaker 1:Then I jumped into jiu-jitsu and now it's just like I wish I would have Scratch that surface way sooner sure you know it's.
Speaker 2:It's funny because I too I guess you consider me I was a late starter. I think it was 26 when I started using you know what I mean. I was a cop and At the time I was like you know, I'm gonna do this for my Well being if my safety it wasn't. And I always tell people when I first started to do, especially in those early days, it wasn't about scoring points, it was, wasn't about you know, learning little things. It's how to compete or what. It was nothing about that. It was all the so they alive, it's right, you know, especially those man.
Speaker 2:So I would never change anything about how I started because I learned the other side of it, right, how to use jitsu in a self-defense manner and in fighting.
Speaker 2:You know a scenario type base Mm-hmm the MMA guys where I was training with everybody goes hard, everything is hard. So me that was relatable because I came from wrestling like, oh, this is like another wrestling room, right. Oh, you take that grind and you just apply it in a different way, learn some new techniques and survive. So that, to me, was the big attraction and you know thinking about All right, cool, you know I'm really picking up this, just stuff. Well, and then my teammates were saying, hey, you know you're doing good and go compete. Sure you know, and even I did a bunch of tournaments, you know, at the white and blue belt level and and I always tell people, even going into my first world championship at a blue belt, I didn't know the points, I didn't know anything about the rules, I was just like, just kill everybody, you know, and I won my first world at blue and I'm like I guess that worked out pretty good.
Speaker 2:And then you know, you start to learn how to become a better competitor. You're like, all right, I, I, I got to learn this stuff even more, you know. And it really that that rabbit hole of a light really took its turn and I just jumped right in.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah. What year was that when you won the?
Speaker 2:world, no, you world's 2008. That's dope, yeah, yeah, that's how it cool, yeah. So you know it's. It's pretty cool to think back and and that was the second rendition of the no-gi world championships and it was at Cal State, dominguez Hills, and you know it was the middle of summer, it was hot, and then I was actually a training officer in the police academy at the time. So you know, as a training officer, you work Monday through Friday, sometimes Saturdays, and it's early morning, sometimes late nights, and I remember I got off on a Friday afternoon like at 4 pm.
Speaker 2:My dad, my parents, are like, hey, we'll just come pick you up from police academy and we'll just gunshot you know, shot gun right down to LA and you can just sleep in the car. I was like cool, my dad was like my, my, my guy in all, the biggest man on it, yeah, especially my wrestling, wrestling life. He was, he was the driver, he was the guy, he was the food guy. You know he was always there for everything. So he was like, hey, we'll pick you up, we'll do it like old times and we'll just go. That's so cool. So I remember they picked me up at the police academy and we drove to LA and I slept the whole time in the car, got to the hotel and I woke up the next morning, went to the local 24-hour fitness to check my weight and we went to the venue and I killed everybody that day. So that was fun. And then we drove right back that night because I had to be back at work at the police academy. So yeah, it was, it was fun, man.
Speaker 1:Those are brutal turnarounds like that. Yeah, I, one of one of my high school coaches, competed at the US Open in the Masters division, not this past season, but season before. Yeah, and I told him, if you sign up, I'll go coach you. Yeah, and he signed up and I was like, all right, he's only competing one day, I'll fly out. Yeah, because it was in Vegas, right. So I drove down to Fresno, gone on plane, flew out there, they picked me up from the airport, went and had lunch, went back to the venue.
Speaker 1:He competed, went, had dinner. They dropped me off at the airport. Mm-hmm, I got home like at 1 15. I was like I'll never do that. Like that was so stupid. But I mean, it's the things that we do, right yeah?
Speaker 2:And as like not only on the coaching side, but as a competitor you're like that's just normal, right? You know we're gonna go do it. Yeah, you know, If the no-geep pan Ams is going on right now in Texas and my black belt's just competed, though, she took the bronze amazing competitor and we I was just talking about it, one of my guys yesterday I won the no-geep pan Ams in New York City in 2014 as a black belt and I remember I Took a red eye. I'm like I'm gonna take the cheapest flight.
Speaker 2:And I took the red eye to out of SFO. I woke up in New York City. My buddy picked me up at the airport. We dropped my stuff off at stuff off at his house that morning, drove to the venue at it was like the city college in New York or something like that Mm-hmm, I won everything. We got dinner. He took me back to the airport and I came right back.
Speaker 1:The people don't realize, like, how much that is aware on your body, right Like it. Yeah, yeah, okay, you competed. That's completely different than me.
Speaker 2:I just went and coached, right but Like I was just so exhausted for a day or two after you know honestly, and I tell us some of my guys like I, I enjoy the process for myself as far as like preparation for a tournament and like that kind of grinds, fine. But it's like I Always tell them, I get way more nervous, I have way more anxiety and I have way more physical stress when I'm out there coaching them.
Speaker 2:You know, and it's like you feel for them and you want to do it for them, but you know you can't right. And you see them out there in certain situations You're like you know, like you want to make it right but you can't. And I I'll walk away from a tournament just spent like Physically and a mesh mentally, emotionally, just dream and big dude, I want to go in bed for like forever. Right now I'm so tired from your and and to me like it's just more taxing on the coaching side sometimes and I Think to myself like that, then hundreds of tournaments for these guys and I still wouldn't change it for nothing. Though you know, sorry, tom, there's only gray hairs. Come from there. You look way young. Thanks man. We 47 in in November, so in time of us.
Speaker 1:You're trying to catch up. I just, I literally just turned 50 a week ago, so thank you All right so you touched on you being in law enforcement. How, how did you make that decision to go into law enforcement?
Speaker 2:Well, my dad served in the military two tours of Vietnam and Kind of raised us in that lifestyle of you know Structure, yes, you know that type of thing with my brother and I and I had always wanted to be a soldier, I actually wanted to join the military. And, you know, having he raises us and and you know my brother and I, and Looking at how he went through this the whole thing with you know Vietnam and saw war and went through war, he told us at an early age like I never want you guys to go through that. You know I want you to go to college, I want you to do other things, but I don't want you to go. You know I just I don't think I could stomach that. We respected his wishes and right, and I went to college and and I thought to myself well, you know I'm a little beyond a military type, age and date, so I'm gonna go be a cop, you know.
Speaker 2:But you know that I was working for the federal government as an IT guy for several years and you know it was all like nah, you know, desk and chair tight, bill, can't do this. Like I gotta do something right and put myself into the police academy and just went full board and got hired on at like week six or something like that and Went there. So you know, it's it. I was an officer out here in the west side of Contra Costa, where it's really busy, you know, and crime is high, crime rates are high and different type of clientele out there. I guess you can say then versus you know some other areas out here in the Bay Area, especially like in Contra Costa. But I learned a lot real quick and had my hand in a lot of different things as far as, like you know, doing stuff for the community, the departments, and and still, you know, maintaining that balance for myself as far as training and always staying up and taking care of myself.
Speaker 1:So, but it was more like all right, I can't be a soldier, I'm gonna go be a cop, so yeah, so so today when we walked in, we're here at your school and you have a first responders class, which is pretty cool. Like we talked a little bit ago, we're actually starting one at our gym for first responders, but how would you say? Jiu-jitsu kind of helped you with being a police officer, first responder, like through your journey.
Speaker 2:Well, you know it's. It's crazy because you know every department out there is lacking on a training and services side as far as providing for officers. I saw that firsthand when I was, when I was a patrol cop, like you know, they would send us to defensive tactics training like once a month, and if you don't train, it's all perishable skills. You know anything you learn on a, you know in one day don't think you're going to retain that Like it doesn't work that way, right, you know the day to dayer doesn't know and understand that and unfortunately, you know I, the attitude of a police officer sometimes is terrible in regards to wanting to seek extra If they're not getting paid for it. They don't want to do it. I don't want to get hurt, whatever. You know all these different types of types of excuses as to stay away from doing stuff like that.
Speaker 2:You know, whereas I was always the first to encourage my coworkers hey, you got to come try this, you got to come do this, and it didn't bite on. And it's crazy now because the former department that I was with, they're heavily into it now. It's like they have a training room, they have their own mat room. They even have I believe they have an octagon or like you know. There's like they want to their officers to go through the full gamut of understanding, hand to hand combat. It's great. You know, some, some agencies are doing it, some are not doing a thing.
Speaker 2:So the best I could do, yeah, and the best I could do was offer to the law enforcement and self uh first responder community, um, a free class. You know like there's no excuse, you know like it's free and it's right here, accessible to all. So right now we have our, our free law enforcement, self uh first responder class that we've been doing for like three, four years now. Um, and it's every Saturday at 10 am.
Speaker 1:Um, I have you don't have a good turnout.
Speaker 2:Oh, right now there's probably 20 heads out there right now, absolutely, and there's like probably three or four different agencies out there, guys from CHP, sfpd, um, sheriff's departments, uh, emts and firefighters are all out there right now because at all levels and just not just law enforcement, it's first responders. Yeah, I've been on calls with EMTs and firefighters and those who's getting the fights too. You know from people they're trying to help, right, and it's it's rather unfortunate to see that, but it's like they're also at risk and you know, um, it's, it's good to learn any kind of anything. That's what I tell people. It's like, if it's just you, that's great, that's obviously I'm a bias and that's my thing. But if the best you can do is go learn boxing, great Muay Thai, krav Magat, whatever go learn something and be consistent with it, because the best you can do is understand how to like, respond to certain things and how to handle yourself physically, but, as we all know, it goes to the ground or ends up in a clinch. It ends up in some sort of wrestling type situation or grappling situation on the ground and I hate to say it, but the standup guys they're, they don't know what to do. So why not learn how to do something without even throwing a punch and I always tell guys like I've been in so many you know incidents as a patrol officer in fights, and 90 times out of 10, it went to the ground and I dealt with people trying to grab my gun, dealt with people with guns and all kinds of hairy situations, so I didn't have to throw a single punch. Sometimes I didn't have to do anything other than restraining, holding control and put them in cuffs. You know it was like Nijitsu definitely saved my life on many occasions when I was on patrol.
Speaker 2:So if I can offer that to the public, you know, to other officers, have them here, great, and I won't charge a dime for that, you know, and it's cool too. So over the past two years I want to say I've offered my academy up to all law enforcement agencies that sometimes these agencies don't have the budget to provide a space or an actual training day. So I've reached out to every agency around say, do you need a facility? I have space for you. Now your defensive tactics team can take its teams, bring them here and then you have a place to train for a couple hours. So there's really again. No, no, and I don't even charge those guys, you know.
Speaker 2:So if you're looking at it from a cost perspective, the department and the agencies aren't spending a dime. It's just a matter of time and no excuses, and you know, getting all these officers together say, hey, we're going to do it on this day. So I have hosted Bart PD, chp, berkeley PD, god across the board. They've been here just to use my facility and I had no problem with that. So any agency out there that want to find a place to train as far as using it, or your own department's training, please feel free to hit me up. I'd love to have you guys. So that's nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I need more like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, and it I just I see things that happen. You know, social media kind of puts a bad rap on a lot of stuff but at the same token, the stuff because I follow so much Jiu Jitsu stuff now, like most of the stuff, it's not out there. It's not getting pushed out there as something. It's bad to a certain extent, but it's more like, hey, you guys need to train. It's promoting training, right, but it's not promoting that they're not trained. It's like, hey, we're here for you, there's these places that you can go, like this and like Tom DeBlauze is like always giving out freebies yeah.
Speaker 2:The guys you boys down in Florence. They're always offering hey, you know this person, send them our way, like I've always been that way too, and I think it's great. You know the more that these academies want to help people do it. We have, as academy owners, we have the resource right, we have the skill set, we have the ability to teach people, we have the room and space. There's got to find some middle ground between us and these agencies that need the training to want to like okay, now we know where to go, or we know what to do. And, man, how many times I've come across officers that their last training was the police academy and they've, like, been on the job for a couple of years. Oh my God, like it just makes me cringe.
Speaker 2:And I feel bad for that person. You know, and it's like a liability, in my opinion, to the public himself, the officer, whatever, and even the suspects. It's like, you know, and we see these videos that pop up in social media in regards to like bad situations and you and I, the person that comes from the wrestling, grappling and the digitized rule, like why doesn't he just do this? You know, like you can eyeball it real quick of the deficiency and what's wrong and how easy it can be fixed right, how it could have been avoided on all levels. Like no reason to go to any kind of less than lethal or even lethal. Sometimes it's like man, certain situations definitely that I've been in, I could have gone to my firearm, I could have gone to my taser or gas or whatever. Didn't have to. Didn't have to because I didn't do it.
Speaker 1:So it's amazing, it's good there are good stories out there too. Yeah, and like the couple of the other guests that I've had in law enforcement have had say the same thing like it makes them feel good that they don't have to be violent. Yeah, absolutely, and subdue someone you know, like they don't have to pull their weapon or pull the taser. It. Just because of the training they're able to go home at night.
Speaker 2:And that's really. You know what I mean and you know it's like when you train and you learn these skillsets, like me, walking around. I don't want to go and choke somebody out. I don't want to go and break somebody's arm. You know what I'm saying, right? But if I have to, I will, and I know how. Right, because why? I want to go home at the end of the day? Ok, I don't want to take anybody to jail, I don't want to hurt anybody. I don't want to have to use my weapons or anything I don't even want to have to use just to, if I don't have to, mm-hmm. But it will, and I know I can trust in it because I know how to do it safely and correctly. Right. So it it. It humbles a person in a way to understand they have a skill set. Now Use it when it's needed, right, whether you're walking down the street, day-to-day person, or you're in that line of work that requires it so, yeah, going back to Training.
Speaker 1:Besides wrestling, was there any other martial art that you know?
Speaker 2:Just wrestling. You know I did freestyled Greco and collegiate style. You know, all all through those years and then when I got into you too, it was like cool, like I've trained with a bunch of judo guys before man, and you know I love studying and watching, you know, judo matches and see how that little nuances of how their grip fighting is their footwork and Seeing how those pieces like it maybe apply to it. You know, mm-hmm, I like to watch and study like different types of grappling. I'll watch Sambo, I'll watch sumo, mm-hmm, those guys can fight like no other. You know I'm saying like it's seeing how aggressively can be.
Speaker 2:I still actively watch. You know I see a wrestling college. You know, in a wrestling as much as possible, yeah, and when the Olympics are around, of course we're all watching. That right it's. That's never changed. But Seeing how the zoo has changed so much because of these other styles, you know, and they're, they're adapting little things and making things work better and and the level of attack has grown. You know Fundamentals are always have to be the core of everything, whether whatever grappling you're getting into and I Unfortunately see too many shying away from that they want to learn the new fancy stuff first.
Speaker 1:Okay, oh do the buggy yeah.
Speaker 2:But I don't know how to get out of the mount that's, that's that's like my pet peeve of all time. But you know, yeah, it was always. It was always wrestling and straight to do too. So I saw you know Little things with others arts and and I did a lot of MMA training you know my early years, because all my teammates were MMA fighters. So I think I had to go. All right, we're doing a Muay Thai class break.
Speaker 2:It wasn't my favorite, but it had to go do it or go do it or you know. But I did a ton of like MMA sparring rounds and stuff like that, and Once in a while I'll do like grappling with strikes with some of the MMA fighters that we have on the team. I'll do grappling strikes with the law enforcement class, just so they can understand like it's all fun to sit here and for us to roll and have a good time, but it's all different when someone slugs you, you know, in the face or the trying to, and you're thinking about trying to do An arm bar or something. I just don't work there, you know. Like everything changes, you know. So I had a dose of reality.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did so coming from the wrestling and like we were doing wrestling in the MMA class and and the coach was like all right, go ahead and start using your hands. And I had a guy that was quite a bit younger on top and Like I felt fine, I was doing fine wrestling wise, and then he started striking and then like it just went blank. I was like Wait a minute. You know, now I can't wrestle up to this thing. Go, I'm getting hit. Like what's going on?
Speaker 2:It.
Speaker 1:It was a dose of reality like what you see on TV, quite as easy as they make it look.
Speaker 2:There's hours of training like I always said earlier, it's like that's why I wouldn't trade how I started in this stuff for anything, because I was learning how to defend getting hit and the the wrestle up. I was learning how to take somebody down to avoid taking damage and you know and then apply your own.
Speaker 2:It's like it was all For that purpose of fighting, right, you know so, and people I had always said over the years, like your style is so aggressive, I'm like, well, because I come from wrestling and All of that was very, yeah, forward, forward, forward. But then when you jump in the jiu-jitsu and learn that MMA side of it, it remains aggressive but it learns how to manage and control, go to zero to a hundred and back down to zero, like in a second Right, and all the little things that you need to learn when it comes to, obviously, someone trying to hit you in your own bottom and you're, you know, trying to grapple your way through. So I just I always encourage my students to go out and learn something new. You know, at my school here we do gino g and wrestling. I like being well rounded, it just. If all you do is pull guard all day. If that works for you, that's great, but life don't work that way.
Speaker 1:You know I'm saying yeah you compete, you start standing.
Speaker 2:We're out there in the street self-defense situation, we're standing, you know, like we're not gonna go butt-scooting in the things when on the pavement, just that doesn't happen.
Speaker 2:You know so and that's why I'm huge and I stress the takedown game, you know, here at my school and I want my, my students to be fully aware of it, not to mention it's, like you know, I've always been this way because I've networked all over the country and all of the world. You know friends that I've made in seminars and competing, and it's like if I show up and I go Vacation somewhere or whatever and I meet somebody hey, you know nice to meet you. Hey, you trying cool me too. Hey, you want to go train? Cool, let's go train.
Speaker 2:And if the question comes out, hey, you're no geek. My answer is always whatever you want, you know, because I know how to do both, I'm comfortable doing both and I love both. So why not be okay and saying oh, I can do whatever you want to do, you know. So I, I seriously it creaches me when I hear people say, oh, I don't know how to do no key, and like, how does that make sense? Like, you need the geek 24-7 and know how to do it too. Like, come on, man, you know. Like. Or on the flip side of it, it's like the no geek, the strictly no you guys. Oh, I don't do that you. So I'm like I'm sorry for you. You know you should learn these things. Yeah, because I just again, I see well-roundedness as being More enjoyable, you know.
Speaker 1:Or if you know, we're out there training and like someone Pops up and stands up, oh, let's do this, let's do some takedowns, like I want myself and my students to be very versed, everything so that's funny that you say that, because lot we have open mat or Jim alone Open mat live rounds on Friday nights and I have this young guy, the high school kid, we start on the ground, right, but he don't want anything to do with that. He wants to pop up and a couple weeks back he was just giving me fit. He was no ghee that day, right, and Like it was already few rounds, everybody was sweaty. He had done it the Muay Thai class before, so he was just the body, was just letting the sweat out, right, I couldn't grab ahold of him and Like I had a harder time. You know he's young whippersnapper.
Speaker 1:He's got the spunk right. It last night that he wore the key. I'm my old buddy, you want to stand?
Speaker 2:up.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's stand up like grab the grip you don't have, you put your gear on today. I know like you got me the grips.
Speaker 2:You learn it right, yeah, and that's just it. That's just it. You know, like, if you're getting into this for the first time and I always tell students this and then I always get asked the question what was your advice to any student just starting out Try everything we can try. You try no ghee, try wrestling, learn judo, all these little things that are all involved in Every aspect of the game. You know, like, why am I not gonna learn? You know all the pieces to this puzzle, right, or try to figure it out. You know you're just gonna be lost.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, the fortune for us. Like we have Wrestling jujitsu, muay Thai boxing at our school, nice, and then like some fitness, not just to like strengthening conditioning, yeah, like a one-stop shop. Yeah, we don't have the MMA class anymore, but that's the only one. I mean we don't really have any MMA fighters anymore in there so yeah, it's kind of the coach.
Speaker 1:I had other life things to do, so life comes at you, but so we did. We did have one fighter that was still trying to fight MMA and like between the group of coaches, like make it happen, but yeah, the fight felt through or something, and now that fighters not even been training that much, so in my school again, it's strictly Jitsu and wrestling and I've wanted it that way.
Speaker 2:Having come from like fighter gyms, you know I see how those dynamics can work and I was like I don't want that. You know, you, you pick and choose and what you want. When you start your school and like, okay, this is how I want to make it, mm-hmm. But within my affiliation I have seven schools under me and Two of them have fight teams. I think it's great, you know.
Speaker 2:I think it's great you know, and and a lot of our guys that are into the stand-up thing or want to go do some more MMA stuff, they go cross train with the affiliates and it works out really, really good. And they know like, hey, you want pure jitsu, let's go to saber H2. And you know, yeah, roll there. So you know, if, if it works for this school, by all means go for it.
Speaker 2:I think it's great, but I guess I'm a bit of a grappling purist so I wanted to keep that. Another way, it was here. So people always ask me oh, do you have, you know, uh, um, stand-up class? Like no, we don't. We have a few students that do it on a private training level, you know. So, yeah, I was just. You know, um, I just wanted to be a strict league. It's a school.
Speaker 1:That's what we have. So, but I like how I mean I guess You're Coming from the wrestling background, you understand that part of it to that it it's. It's still important for the jiu-jitsu. Yeah, absolutely, because, like you said, it starts on the feet and, like, not all schools believe in that, yeah, yeah, you know like, oh, we'll pull guard or we'll butt scoot or what have you, but there's got to be another means to get the right to the ground. All right, like so, how are they accomplishing that? And, by all means, a lot of people are successful, sure, but at the same time, for as many that are successful, there's thousands that are yeah still trying to figure it out Exactly.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and you know it's crazy. Like you see so much wrestling going on with schools, especially, you know, with like the popularity of ADCC and all that type of stuff that has grown on to the mainstream as far as the Vitsu community and you know it's the huge spectacle, and then you watch like a lot of the wrestling that's going on. Like I knew after ADCC, like the popularity of wrestling is just gonna go skyrocket. Everybody's gonna want to start wrestling more. And like we have Nogi Worlds coming up in December and here at my school that's like the biggest tournament for us and myself. So we do a ton of wrestling a month and a half out and it's just, it's a grind, you know. But I want all my students again to be ready for that grind when we get to the tournament and be okay with it, because it's almost like automatic. You go to the the Nogi World Championship. You see there's less guard pulling and way more wrestling and I don't want nobody getting beat up on their feet.
Speaker 1:Like. What you see too now is a lot of these D1, d2, d3 wrestling guys, they become a Vitsu guy. Because, like you said earlier, it once NCAAs is over. If you're not, you know we'll just say top five in the United States or you're not pulling one of those transfer rules to go to another country and wrestle you know, then what do they have?
Speaker 2:What are you gonna?
Speaker 1:do. Yeah, you know we, we have a pretty legit United States wrestling team right now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:You know. So there's really like two or three guys maybe at each weight class that are at that level that could possibly beat each other, but then we have some of those guys that are at that level and they're not being beat, not anytime soon, right? So if you're, if your whole goal is to make those world teams and make the Olympic teams, and wrestle there, but you like, sit back and look at reality.
Speaker 1:Reality says that may not happen. So what's your next option? A lot of these guys are jumping into the Jiu-Jitsu world and. I'm like holy cow.
Speaker 2:That was pretty cool. I saw a video clip of Jordan Burroughs doing some. Jiu-jitsu it was like, oh man, yeah, yeah, if only you know he like truly jumps into it and see how well he could do, and that you know. But it's like you know again these guys coming out of wrestling that that I probably see the end of the light. As far as that, you know, career goes. I think it's a great transition, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, you look at like Jason Knowles, he's monster in the wrestling community, but I've seen him roll with some of the yeah, like he's gone with the B team guys and I'm like, yeah, just he's just holding his own like there's no skip of the beat, you know.
Speaker 2:He's also. You watch him do that and it's like he's pure funk and he's just he's just scrapping through and causing scrambles and that's keeping him alive, yeah, and you know, I think it's great, I think it causes for great exchanges in regards to learning new stuff and all this new era type of Jiu-Jitsu that's out there. It's like man techniques are just gonna keep expanding and getting there so Well, like Bo Nickel too, oh my god, like as a monster, just an animal.
Speaker 1:I'm like holy cow I. I knew he had seen the end of the tunnel on the wrestling, like, okay, he's gonna move into MMA, right. But I didn't realize his Jiu-Jitsu grappling was where it is right, you know, he can step very fast. Yeah, I think it's great, oh my Jesus.
Speaker 2:He's gonna be top two pretty soon, man, he's gonna probably get a shot at some point and we'll see where he's really at yeah.
Speaker 1:He's a monster, so I love it. I love it. Yeah, that's so cool. So what's something outside the Jiu-Jitsu world that people may not know about you?
Speaker 2:Oh man, I'm a nerd man, as you can see from my, from my, my office here. I'm a toy collector. I've got a few hobbies. I'm a toy collector. I love the little Funko Pop dolls. I collect all my favorite ones, all these ones around here. I was a big-time BMX guy growing up, really yeah. So I started dirt jumping when I was young, like because of my older brother, and we didn't have much. You know, my parents bought us old Paymart cheap bikes but then we would save our money and put premium parts on it. You know, it's not like a huffy with GT parts on it and so some years back I really got back into it. Now I just build the I mean build the BMX cruisers. So like that's my thing. I got a bunch of them at home. I got parts everywhere. It's like a you know, it's real man garage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's an expensive hobby, but at the same time it's like it brings me back to childhood, like mm-hmm things they love to do, and it's like now that I have adult money, it makes it more fun but it's crazy that you say that, because one of one of the guys that, like our kids, grew up together and I don't know maybe like six, seven, eight years ago, he always talked about BMX. Mm-hmm, always talked about it and like how he did it as a kid and he wouldn't. His kids were wrestlers, yeah, but he would have, rather than have, done BMX, right. Well, he had a son I think he's five now and he got back into it, yeah, and he was competing. I'm like that's pretty cool. And now his little son does it, yeah, and like he moved out to Oklahoma and like, wherever they are I don't know exactly where they are they're like close enough to it's like BMX heaven yeah, oh yeah, I can imagine on there too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're probably tracks everywhere, so some of the places that he's like shown my on his social media. I'm like holy cow.
Speaker 2:That's pretty dope. Yeah, and you know it's funny because like I started out as like a kind of a dirt jumper and like that racing scene type stuff and then when I got a little older I started to do freestyle, so I was doing like grigs on the ground and then I started writing half pipe. So you know, I I space fizzled out of it when I got to like middle school. This is not cool anymore, you know, like I just got away from it and then was that like during the X Games times?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, but that's also the time where I got heavily into wrestling. So the transition of one one hobby going in and one coming in, like my parents kind of like liked it because they're like cool, we just have to buy a pair of $30 wrestling shoes now, not like all these bike parts. So you know, we came a lot cheaper hobby for them to take care of and help me out with.
Speaker 2:But you know I'm, I'm, yeah, definitely into that. And then I'm a car guy. I like, I love Toyotas. I used to be a Mustang guy. I was building fast Mustangs for a long time and then I got out of that and had a bunch of lifted things. I've lifted a bunch of things lifted Nissan XTERRA had a lifted Hummer H2 and now I have a lifted Toyota FJ Cruiser and a lifted Toyota Tundra and at the same time I also like, lowered the thing. So you know, it means modifying a car. I'm all about it, I love it. You know, again, that's another hobby. Like God, rest his soul. My brother passed away in December from cancer but he got me into all my stuff wrestling, because he wrestled in middle school, bmx, because he was a BMX, and modifying cars.
Speaker 2:So I owe it all to my brother so yeah, man, those are things that if I'm not tinkering around with something at the house, whether it be the bikes or my cars, I'm probably out there like going flying, finding a new place to eat. So, foodie too, I'm a foodie man big time foodie. You know, I think that's every wrestler becomes a foodie because we're starved of all the good things for so long and then, when we can finally eat something, higher but that's a cycle that seems I've never ended my whole life.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm always preparing for a tournament, I'm always doing something. Or I told myself two years ago that I was gonna walk away and retire, which I did kind of. I placed bronze the last no-deal world championships and that was like my 11th medal at the Worlds and I was like I am done, I'm good, you know, I'm happy and satisfied. And then I guess you can say I enjoyed that non-competitor life. But then it it got sparked back up earlier this year. I'm like I had something.
Speaker 2:You know I can I don't know how to train, just to train sometimes I have to have a purpose, I have to have like a goal at the end of the tunnel, you know, and you know it's not getting easier as I get older.
Speaker 2:But the same time I'm like okay, I'll keep training, like I am gonna compete. And then I started to do that and I even got so bored of it. I was like doing like marathons and like all these running like you look behind you, this is all the races I've ran like just because I got bored and it's like I can't keep still. You know, I want to go try something new and keep myself going and keep myself in shape and I started to do like 5k, 10k and half marathon is just to stay in shape and do more. I lift a lot, I work out like five times a week and I thought to myself you know what, it's time to come back. So I Did the American nationals this year Picks over there and I'm like you know what, screw it, I'm gonna go full-born, I'm gonna do the no-gurls one more time.
Speaker 1:Let's see what about you competition?
Speaker 2:you know, I Look on his face like I've done really, really, really well in the gear over the. Some of my medals are down there from all in the geek. I've competed all over the world in the yee and and no gee as well, but my wrestling roots come back out in the end because After winning a no-gee worlds in 2008, and I won it 2010 and 11 it was just like all right, this is my tournament.
Speaker 2:You know, this is my state, this is my, this is my, you know this is my thing and after opening up my academy I that kind of brushed off on to my students and they're like all this, good, you know new worlds coach, because we see you doing it, I was like you got it. So we started to bring themes there and you know, making world champs and it's been great. You know we're going on your 10 next year and ten years you've been open.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh.
Speaker 2:Thank you, sir. And within that, like I've raised from white to black a good handful of my own created world champs, pan am champs, and you know some really high-level competitors and like solid, solid students and even better human beings. You know nothing's all about, but I just I think you know you, they, you become as a student, you kind of become alright I'm seeing what my coach does and try some of that and like I think these guys have seen me compete so much. You're like I want to do that too, like and they do really well. You know, and I tell them all the time like you guys are better at the level you're at than when I was there. You know, like doing all these things and learning because I, you know, like we talked about it before, it's like when I started versus how they started to totally different ball generator yeah the access of information and and the ability to learn, and the environment and atmosphere.
Speaker 2:It's different. It's different, it's better. I guess you could say it's better, but you know, I and on my team here I have like 30 of my own black belts and it's really, really great because in every class you'll probably have at least five of them out there training with you and just hammers like people you don't want to train with.
Speaker 1:But it's fun, you know, and For the day that we came for the Maui thing, I didn't get to roll with any black belt. I just I rolled with two of your brown belt, right, and I was just like, oh my god, I was. I was Talking to some of the students and one of my nephew came with me. Yeah, I Didn't realize that they. I knew they had done the class earlier. Mm-hmm, right that in the morning, oh yeah, yeah, they were prepping for master worlds and judo sukkha. And then that next week I seen One of them on the metal stand, like it was a picture of them. I was like, oh, that's how look like I got to roll with yeah he put it to me, but I got.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, that's the beauty of it here. It's like you'll be out here in the math with my students and like we have again world champs, pan am champs, and you'll roll with them. You don't even know, but that's where they are. Yeah, and they'll put it on you when they want. And trust me, like I have to scrap with some of these guys and gals like so hard. You're like hi, but you know I feel like you know my students catch me and do my job. So that's the so.
Speaker 1:I haven't asked this question to anybody. Yeah, but you, you brought up homegrown black belts. How does that make you feel to see From the beginning to Accomplishing that level for your student?
Speaker 2:Oh, it's amazing. It's just been probably more Rewarding than winning worlds. Sometimes, like, just like to see how somebody can come in here at day zero, put the key on for the first time and be a hot mess for a little while and Then next thing you know they're, like, they're whooping up on you like whoa, what the heck is going on? Like I think it's great. I mean, it's just amazing.
Speaker 2:And I have some extremely talented students on my team, some that don't even compete, but if, like they wanted to, they would wreck a lot of shop if they did, you know. And but again, to have some of them I probably have, I want to say maybe eight to ten that I've taken from white to black and it's just amazing, you know. And again, I saw these people develop Much faster than I did because, again, the access of information, the ability to train with people of a higher caliber all the time, right, right, like way back in a day, like you were like a blue or purple, you were like God, somewhere you know, and People are like wow. And then, if you had a brown or a black belt and I was like, oh my god, you got to train with a black belt.
Speaker 2:That's cool, you know now it's just a norm, the normal thing, you know, and I think that's that just creates for better training environments. Like here at my team we don't have beginner classes, we don't have all white belt classes. I don't, I'm not a big fan of that, because I didn't, I wasn't raised that way in jiu-jitsu. I Believe the newer student can learn a ton with cross training with the more advanced and vice versa. You know, because it helps the the more advanced student also become, learn how to become a teacher. You know, because, hey, no, try it like this, do it. Yeah, you know, they talk about the movements with this new person and help develop them because they also remember at some point they were that person too right. So I keep my classes mixed like that a lot and it calls for a great training. But again, it forces that white belt or that blue belt to develop so quick. It's like growing up fast like a sinker swim.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have no choice.
Speaker 2:Because out there it's a bunch of sharks and you not need to learn how to tread water really well.
Speaker 1:So I like the that you have so many black belts out there. Like Our schools new, we have our instructor, who's a black belt, you know, craig. And then I'm the next belt, now a blue belt, mm-hmm, and then it's all whites.
Speaker 1:No we had another blue belt, but he's moved on, so Then it's all whites. I'm like, so I go to, yeah, like to open mats as much as I can to cross train with People above me, yeah, but to have that it's an advantage, totally, you know, like we don't have that. So, like open mat, like last night, the the first few rounds, like I do okay, like I don't think they they'll tell you different. Right, the guys that I train with they'll tell you different because they look at, they look at it different than.
Speaker 1:I do. They look at, I didn't submit you, so I didn't win right.
Speaker 1:Right, or I look at did you get good position? Did I get good? Yeah, right. So when, like the first few rounds of last night, we did just start on our button go and then, like halfway through the rounds I was like, okay, what position do you want? Like, pick whatever position you want and you're starting there. Yeah, like, and it was good for me because mount, side control, backtake, you know, another side control, half guard, like I got to work those situations where maybe Because they, they don't want to engage, yeah, yeah, they, they play the outside game on me, you know. So it gives me a way of getting them on me, yeah, and then working.
Speaker 2:Yeah right.
Speaker 1:I've been working like really trying to work on sweeps lately, so any situation where we end up I'm like, okay, how do I get them? How do I get them right over.
Speaker 2:You know it's funny, like on my team we have a private member forum just for my Sabre members and it was the only way I could talk to the entire team including all the affiliates. You know I'm over 300 members here and seven affiliates and like it's easiest to talk on a social media type level, right, mm-hmm. And I have this thing we put out weekly called ask coach, anything, right, and a student asked like what do you? What do you See is the biggest you know Error or thing that you notice? As far as white belts getting started, I'm like exactly what you just said. They play that avoiding game.
Speaker 2:So I'm the outside and not engaging, and you know it's like if you're gonna do that for half the round, you just wasted your time. You know. You just learn how to like Stay away stay, hey, nothing can happen.
Speaker 2:And, and I think that's, you know, that's people's ego, a sight from ego. That's also obviously lack of technique and understanding, but it's also like they don't want to lose Versus what the DCT, since you, you ought to get out there and take some L's. You know, you got to get out there and get you know, tap and scroll, yeah, all the things that that, this stuff will teach you. So, even like when my students are like training right and no one, they're like both sitting on their knees and they're just on their knees and I call it I hate to say a midget wrestling and they're just like you know they're doing this type of deal like bro, just stand up. Yeah, You're just gonna do that. No one wants to pull? Okay, then just stand up, then you might as well. Yeah, you're just wasting your time.
Speaker 2:And and Again, it's like it's understanding how the objectives and nuances of the game work. And that new student that plays the avoid game, they're gonna Keep themselves back in that type of approach. Yeah, I don't know, you know, everybody will kind of Get fully immersed in their own way at some point. But I always tell my new people like, dive right in man.
Speaker 1:Man, I'm down the rabbit hole I was like, I watch videos. I'm like, okay, how can I incorporate that into what we're doing? Sure, like, and then it. You know, the only way to find out is Find out. Yeah, like, absolutely try it. Yeah, if it didn't work.
Speaker 2:All right, yeah work right.
Speaker 1:move on to something else that you can't stay stuck on stupid, absolutely so. Oh, so you touched on Jiu-Jitsu's allowed you to travel and Compete around the world. Yeah, what? What places have you competed outside of the United States?
Speaker 2:All right let's see yeah, japan, portugal, dubai when else have I been? Mexico, guam we're also a pen. It's sometimes it's fuzzy because I've competed and I've done seminars to all over the world.
Speaker 1:Compete so many times.
Speaker 2:No, I have like in the in the US, I've competed everywhere, every open you can imagine, every you know sub only events that I've been invited to. All these things I've always done and that was it like during my heavy comp years like 2012, to like 2018, like I was doing like 20 tournaments a year. You know and then get now and yeah, and competing a lot, and then I'm like happy to do four tournaments a year.
Speaker 2:But you know, it was like it was tough, because, especially when I got to 2014 and that's when we opened the Academy, that's when the real juggle became. You know like, alright, how can I do this? I opened my business. I only had one person who was a black belt on the team at the time and I want to go compete everywhere.
Speaker 1:You know and I, like man, I need to put my head in it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, and it became better through a time of learning how to juggle that, but it worked out really well. But again, going back to your question, like, yeah, that's a good handful of places I've been to compete, and Again all over the US. But what was your favorite? Japan, yeah, japan 2014. I went and I did the Asian Open in Tokyo. Oh yeah yeah, and I won gold there and it was great. It was great.
Speaker 2:First match I had was against some some Brazilian guy. It was a tough one Beat him, I think, like two zero, something like that, to make it to the make, to the finals. And then I never forget this and I always tell people when I was in the finals I fought this dude, brazilian, japanese guy, and the place was packed and it was just amazing, like the vibe of the energy there. You know, to go there and compete on the land of the samurai, that's everybody, everybody's dream if you do martial arts right. And so when I was there, I'm like man, I really want to, I want to obviously go out there and win, and I'm I was like by myself, with just a couple people, you know. But really I'm like literally, you're literally by yourself and I'm Hearing the roar of the crowd. I'm like, oh yeah, are they cheering for me? This is kind of cool.
Speaker 2:Little did I know they were cheering for him because he was the hometown guy.
Speaker 1:Oh, I ended up submitting him in the finals.
Speaker 2:So that was really cool. But just to be out in Japan and compete I've been to Japan so many times growing up and I've been all over all over Europe and Asia, been to 49 states. So as far as like traveling wise, I've been to a lot of places. But to compete in Japan, that was amazing. That was amazing.
Speaker 1:So wow, yeah, that's pretty cool yeah. Yeah so so we're talking about you traveling and Japan being your most favorite. What was your least favorite place?
Speaker 2:I competed not to say that it wasn't like Like a great opportunity and I'm so grateful that it happened. But I did a super fight in Minnesota once and it was in a brewery oh, in the middle of winter time in Minnesota, so it's probably like 20 out 20 degrees outside and in the brewery it was probably like 10 degrees Because they got to keep the beer cold, you know Put it outside.
Speaker 2:But I'll never forget this Um, I'm I'm sponsored by showy roll and this uh company had hired, I guess you say the showy roll athletes to come and be competitors Versus a lot of their local guys, their local black belts in minnesota. It was cool, I took the fight, I'll do it, I don't hear. And it was a huge like Like a vent, kind of like, you know, fight to win, ish, you know. Okay, there was tables and chairs and bleachers and you know it was a really, really nice setup and again, it was right in the dead center of this nice, really nice brewery.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:And we get there I'm already freezing you know my kind of cold, you know and they're like all right, here's lineup for tonight. But I think it was like somewhere towards the end and there was nowhere to really get warmed up. Oh, that was gonna. Oh yeah, and I'll never forget that. I was like Totally like huddled up with one of my friends, like dude, and I remember we were in this little corner area and we could feel a tiny little here come down from the ceiling. You know, and I never forget, I think my fight was like 10, 15 minutes long and I was pawing like the first several minutes because I couldn't catch a grip. My hands were that like tight and cold and the G itself was cold. So I was like, yeah, that was terrible. It was fun. I ended up winning. It was fun, but it was just like, oh my god, another fun but yet really tough experience.
Speaker 2:I won the Chicago Open in 2014. I went triple gold there and I went out there, flew out there by myself, like I just do this. You know, we'll go out there and scrap Again. No winter time and Chicago is like next level cold too and snow out. I Remember I'm thinking it's gonna be cold in that Chicago State University venue for sure. I Sat out in my rental car with the heater on, with my G on, taping my fingers for like as long as I could, until about maybe 15 minutes before my fight time and I was just sitting in the car like this All right time to go. I jetted, went to inside the. The bullpen to the bullpen. They're all, brian. I was like here warmed up wrecked.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a cool story and I you know it's funny.
Speaker 2:I had dinner the other night and somebody asked me about my first time, my first black belt competition, and I was Doing referee service for what we call s7. It's five grappling now and we were in Oklahoma and I Was refereeing all day and I just took my lunch break and I had a nice fat, you know Oklahoma brisket sandwich. Hmm, I was like, oh, that was great. And then, right after I get done, they're all hey, black belts can compete for free. I was all man, this is a great opportunity first time to compete as a black belt. Yeah, I just ain't that fucking sandwich. Though I Said screw it. And I went out there and I won the Adult expert nogi division. I was. I had three fights. I was burping barbecue the whole time.
Speaker 2:And I still won this fat championship belt that I still have. So it's like you know that's sweet. You know I can't, I can't complain, but you know, you know. Again, right back to those stories of competing right.
Speaker 1:It's the adventure.
Speaker 2:It's the little stories that you can pull out because, you know, as a wrestler too, I can remember so many things growing up, like oh, you remember this trip, this tournament trip, we're such and such happened to somebody or we did this funny folly or whatever you know, those are the stories, right, and so, yeah, the the barbecue brisket was a good memory for my very first time as competing as a black belt. Well so no, honestly, nothing ever bad, nothing, ever bad, just those little funny things that happened there.
Speaker 1:So so a couple more questions, yeah, um, what's your most memorable moment that you've had through your journey? Wow.
Speaker 2:It's hard to say because I've done so many things on different levels as a coach, gym owner, as a, as a competitor, and then I love to get back. You know I've done so many as you. You know that's how we met. You know it came to our Maui fundraiser. Like we've done things for cancer aides, autism, people with fire victims, even prior. We know we did the flooding victims, we did a, we did a fundraiser for when there was fires in Australia for those animals that were. You know they had that needed help, like we did one for that.
Speaker 2:Like any time I had an opportunity to give back to the community, whether it's here or far, those are probably the most rewarding ones I've done. I'm part of this organization called black belts for butterflies. It's founded by my good friend and black belt, rich McKegan, who was out in the Connecticut, and it's to bring Awareness for children with autism, mm-hmm, and I've been a part of that since 2015 and have done seminars for them all across the board and it's just been Probably one of the most rewarding things ever. You know you were raising awareness and funds for any local Organization and normally those were nonprofit to them much and they're just trying to help kids with autism, and so you know that's been great. And then just recently, my academy and I were part of the we defy foundation, which is another nonprofit. They are an organization founded by another couple of good friends of mine, alan Shabara and Brian Marvin, who were disabled, that's coming from the military, and guys that suffer from PTSD and other injuries and whatnot.
Speaker 2:So, as we know, like here in the States, like it's not the greatest for our veterans. No, my dad was one, my dad was disabled, that, and he had to fight for so many things just to get help, right, oh. And so when these guys asked me to be part of it and we were the first gym here in California to be part of it and it's a, it's certified through the VA, which is really, oh, really, yeah. So what it is is we are considered a safe haven for disabled veterans, right, and what happens is these disabled vets that want training or help or whatever, some sort of fitness level typing Pardon, my dog, she's chewing yeah, get an after.
Speaker 2:Okay, these vets will go and apply with the foundation to try and get help, and what we defy does is they'll seek out these Vems like myself that are, are certified and they'll pay for a disabled vets membership to go train. Really, yeah, so that's definitely been one of the most rewarding things. I just came back from an awards banquet in Dallas for the we defy foundation and just Seeing all the people that I've been working with and been a part of it for so many years.
Speaker 2:It's just been wonderful. You know the amount of schools to that have been certified through we defy has been been certified through we defy has grown like outrageously, I think, when we first started. And you know there's only a handful of schools, maybe less than 20 In the US, and now there's, I think, just under a thousand. Really, yeah, so you know just this how many in California. There's a lot now. There's a lot.
Speaker 2:So, like, so many schools are now part of this and and you obviously know it's either on a A academy website or you ask the gym owner are you guys part of the we defy foundation? I think if there's not something listed there in a website, they'll probably let you know. So you know those are the things to me that mean a lot. You know, if I'm able to give back and help people in any kind of way, which is no sweat off my back, no dime out of my pocket, it's, it's great. You know, you know. So you know it's not just about winning titles, it's not about winning you know anything really. But if you can help people, that's what it's all about. That's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, I have that same thought process like I. I really like that there's opportunities for the people that Veterans, sure you know, and like the, the Would you say the black belts for black belts or butterflies, yeah, yeah, like it just gives opportunity where you know maybe Maybe they wouldn't have had that opportunity.
Speaker 1:Or and just to to go somewhere and like step on a mat and have someone like have interest in you. Sure, you know, like that helps those people. Like it's the little things sometimes that mean the most you know it's crazy man.
Speaker 2:It's like all these years, having been Doing these events and and and things for, for the community, you want, you want to help everybody. Like you, want to do everything for everybody and you just can't. It's like you, I hate to say it, but you pick and choose what you can do. Um, I see things sometimes come across my desk. I'm like I wish I could do that.
Speaker 2:I can't right now, though you know, um, and then there's somewhere I've just like I'm full bore, I'm on it, let's do it like the Maui thing, like we had a bunch of hands and that was done so quick. Behind the scenes we're like, all right, we're gonna do this, you know. Yeah, um, but thinking back to, like my good friend rich McKeegan's deal with black belts for butterflies Like he was a purple belt at the time he loves to tell the story and I loved hearing about it whenever he talks about it. Um, there was that school shooting in Connecticut some years back, um, and you know multiple victims. You know the person went crazy and shot up the school.
Speaker 2:One of the victims was a young boy named Dylan who had autism, and that was the same day rich says that his son was born.
Speaker 2:So here he was, you know, enjoying the, the, the happiness of his child being born for the first time.
Speaker 2:But here now some other father is just grieving the loss of his son and and when he found out that, you know who the child was and all the little stories behind it, all Like he wanted to meet the dad and he wanted to go out there and see if he can do something for the school, whatever he could do, you know, and it all came down to just autism awareness and he started to get some of his local friends that do do to like the black belt, said he knew, say, hey, you want to maybe do a seminar or we could do something, we can help raise some funds for these guys, and blah, blah, blah. It started out as a real small pocket of black belts and then, boom Exploded and he has done multiple events throughout the years. We've done a couple here and they're normally two-day events and they they draw, like Pop tier level black belts from all over the world, you know, and people just want to lend their time and.
Speaker 2:Again, between the amount of money raised from people just signing up to go to the, to the event, to the raffles, that we've done, like thousands and thousands of dollars that we've helped to raise to help these foundations, and and again this, to me that's like the most rewarding thing and I've just been so happy to be part of those things. And one thing I'm sorry to go off, a more tangent but um.
Speaker 2:Really good friend of mine, um Hanata Tavares. Professor Hanata Tavares, like old school Carson Gracie black but world champ, like an amazing, legendary guy, like I remember he said it Like get on one time at one of those seminars. He's like you know, you don't have to be a black belt to do these things, you just have to care. Yeah, you know, and I was like blew my mind. Yeah, there it is. You just have to actually care about something, a cause, a person, a this or that or whatever, and jump on it, give it your all. And Again, I wish I could do it all. I wish I could had all the money in the world to spread around and help everything. I just can't I, but I do what I can.
Speaker 2:So, um, every so often and it just kind of comes in waves in regards to things that we do for the community, whether it's tragedy or something else that comes up in my own personal life we're like you know what I'm gonna go do this? You know I mentioned my brother, um, he passed away from cancer, um, in december. You know he retired from united airlines and Didn't have a lot and was just like hey man, you know he's three but 50 years old at the time and you know that was like the first Big, big, huge thing as far as, like permanently ill someone in my family passed away. I'm like this is all brand new to you. I lost my dad three years ago and he died of natural causes, but it was just like, wow, you know, like my brother's so young, right, I went on a rampage and went and doing seminars across the country to help raise money for my brother.
Speaker 2:You know. So it was like one of those things where, like, if you have something you're so passionate about, what you care about, you're gonna do everything you can and I did. You know I did what I could. Obviously I can't cure cancer, but, damn, I can try and help him. I can throw out his kids, you know, and do whatever I could.
Speaker 1:That's all it takes.
Speaker 2:That's all it takes. And so, between the autism thing, black belts for butterflies, the weedify foundation, all these little, other little parts of the music community that I've been a part of, I hope, I hope it inspires people to do more and then want to create more, you know, because that just started again from somebody that had a thought and cared to want to help. That's all it takes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right, thank you for that. Thanks, yeah, yeah, that's good. Um, I know you touched on advice a little bit earlier, but for people I mean newbies, old, young like, what kind of Good mojo can you send Besides stepping in like Coming through the doors half the battle, right?
Speaker 2:right and that can be sometimes, you know, a lengthy process for some. Um like we get people that come and visit my cat any for the first time.
Speaker 2:They've never trained you know, and I'll always ask how'd you find us? Oh, you found you on google. That's great, cool, and you know, and I'll always ask have you trained before? And if their answer is no, cool, have you visited any other gyms? Oh yeah, I'm actually gonna go here tomorrow, here on Friday, whatever. Cool, I want you to go try them all. I encourage you, come try my class. I'll give you my class for free, you know. And then If you didn't like it or you would still want to go try those other ones, cool, hopefully I see you again. Right, and half the time they come back, cool, what'd you think? I like the vibe here. I want to come here and train. Yeah, and you know, it's like Like testing out a new car or dating somebody for the first time. You're gonna be like I need to go try this out Because if it's not the right fit, something's not gonna work. Well, right, you know, or I'm not gonna be happy with it and.
Speaker 2:I didn't, I want I hit your. I hit year 20. Um, this year, as far as you did too, and I Found that people will come and go Not normally because of the gym but because of personal life. That stuff that happens, you know, that happens right. But those ones that stick around and keep coming around, there's a reason. And you ask him why? Like man, I just love the family sense of community. It's what I feel, like myself, you know, and and those are the pieces that I think all of us, as martial artists, we were wanting to get more out of ourselves, you know, as we go and join these gyms. So it's like, if you're joining it for Whatever reason to learn self-defense and you know something, to stop being bullied or whatever. We all have our own reasons, but make sure it's a good fit for you, right, and do it as much as you possibly can. You know, and you know I'm sure you've heard it too oh, I want to go get in shape first before I started jiu-jitsu. Like bro, what workout are you doing?
Speaker 1:Because I don't know that one.
Speaker 2:And it's always a common thing that you hear. But again for the new person, go find a gym that you feel comfortable at. You know, maybe if your friends train there, there's probably a good reason why. Um, and just do it as much as possible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cool. What size rash guard are you? I'm a large, perfect, so this is A gift from me and thank you the podcast. Awesome for coming on. Everybody has a day. Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm old and I got my journey too, Thank you. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, man, I appreciate it honor.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, for sure yeah.