(20 Questions)
1. Brief Bio
a. Where are you from? Where is home now?
I was born and raised in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. That will always be truly home to me but I’m currently living in Stellarton in Pictou County.
b. When not doing BJJ, what do you do?
(Hobbies/Passions/Interests)
I’ve always played competitive video games. It’s by far my single biggest time sink and I’ve met a lot of my best friends through gaming and specifically the Counter-Strike series.
I think that the teamwork and strategy of that game and the constant game-planning required to do well has probably lent itself well to learning to strategize in Jiu-Jitsu.
2. When and why did you start training BJJ/Jiu Jitsu?
I started training in November of 2017. Like almost everyone else that started “late” (I was 27 when I first stepped on the mats), I wish I started sooner.
My brother has been training since 2012 or 2013 I believe and he’s the reason I started training. Even though he’s younger, I’ve still always looked up to him in this sport. I’ll tell anyone that will listen that he’s better than me to this day and I mean it.
3. Do you or have you trained in any other martial arts?
I did exactly one MMA class at Pictou County Jiu-Jitsu and that was more than enough for me to realize that I have no desire to do anything other than grappling.
I’d love to work on some actual wrestling and hopefully I’ll get the chance to with a good friend that’s coming home to Nova Scotia soon (shout out to Dave Gillis).
4. Where do you train? Other past locations?
I split my time between Woodshop Jiu-Jitsu and Pictou County Jiu-Jitsu.
I started at PCJJ under Jaret MacIntosh and Jason Rorison. Now that Dylan and Hayley have Woodshop Jiu-Jitsu, I try my best to head down for as many sessions as I can.
5. When did you receive your black belt, and can you describe how you felt when you received it? Did you face any hurdles or setbacks? If so, how did you overcome the obstacles?
February 10th, 2025. I felt… well it’s cliché but humbled. I had moved quite quickly though the first few belts, but I always felt ready for them. It was never something that I really thought about; I really had an attitude of “when Jaret thinks I’m ready then I’ll be ready” and I didn’t “go for” any of the belts.
Something a good friend, teammate, and my main training partner, Keegan MacKenzie said was “Most people get the belts and grow into them. You grew into the belts before you ever got them”. This one is definitely one that I feel I’ll have to grow in to.
The biggest hurdle was probably the same for most people around this time which was COVID. Not being able to train or having to train in secret was very difficult. Luckily when we started the bubbles, I was able to train with the best of the best at PCJJ nearly every day. That was probably the fastest development I could have ever gotten.
6. Belt lineage?
Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie Sr. > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Junior > Renzo Gracie > Kevin Taylor/Peter Martell > Jaret MacIntosh > Ken Beaton
Cool side note: John Danaher promoted Jaret to purple belt when he went for some training at Renzo’s club in NYC!
7. Competition history – Past comps/Upcoming comps/dream or bucket list competition/Most memorable event.
I think the best thing would be to check my SmoothComp for this.
The most notable ones for me have definitely been 3 of the 6 FLA Grappling Kumites (of which I won the 6th), the FLA Grappling Tap or Tag 3, and Montreal Quintet 2 and 3.
My favourite event for sure was the FLA Tap or Tag because not only was it an amazing show (shout out to Derek Clarke and Jon Foster) but I got to compete side-by-side with my brother, and we took the title.
The Montreal Quintets are also super memorable because I got to share the mats with guys like Keiran Kichuk, Micah Brakefield, Brandon Reed, and so many other world-class grapplers.
I’m hoping to try to make a run at ADCC trials before I get entirely too old (which may be too late anyway). I’d also love to take on PGF qualifying.
As far as (pipe)dream competitions, EBI, WNO, really any of the big PPV shows. I’d love to show them what our little province can do.
8. Do you teach/coach and what does a good teacher/coach mean to you?
I do teach quite a bit, both at the club and doing seminars (hit me up), and I try to help coach any time I’m available to make it out to competitions.
For teaching, I think that being able to break the techniques out step-by-step and using common themes to help translate the new movements into something familiar can be very effective. Combining this with repetition and deliberate training is important. It’s going to be very hard for someone to pick up a new technique if they do it 10 times on one day and then not see it again for a month. Try reading 5 pages of a book and then setting it down for 2 months. There’s no way you don’t have to read those 5 pages over again. I also think it’s important to know your audience but also understand how people learn. Running a class in the club, I’ll sometimes change the lesson up or break the class into separate groups so that everyone can learn at their own pace.
For seminars, people are generally there to see something they may not get somewhere else and there isn’t often time (or enough attention) to do what you would do at the club. For me, I know that not everyone is going to get everything I show in a 2–3-hour seminar but if each person can learn just ONE new thing and start to implement it, then it’s a success.
Coaching is probably more difficult. I always feel just as stressed as when I’m competing myself. The best coaches not only know their competitors’ games, but also how they like to be coached. Some people like to be talked through every second of the match whereas others don’t want to be told anything that isn’t immediately important. I try to keep it simple as much as possible and only provide complicated instructions when absolutely necessary. Outside of that, it’s all about giving the competitor confidence and gentle reminders. “Play your game, not theirs”, “Take your grips”, “Frame, don’t pull” etc.
Another thing that will help both coaching and teaching is to study. If you’re going to teach jiu-jitsu and you aren’t taking some time to study technique or matches to see what the best of the best are doing, then it’s my opinion that you’re doing your students a disservice. Even great athletes and coaches like Marcelo Garcia, John Danaher, Dima, Keenan Cornelius, all study jiu-jitsu so that they can bring new and effective techniques to their students to help them perform at the highest level. If your students are doing high level competition, even at the local level, you must be ready to help them adopt or defend against the newest, highest percentage techniques or they’re going to be limited in their success.
9. Preference GI or NO GI? Why? Do you train both?
No surprise here; NO GI.
That being said, I’m absolutely not afraid of throwing on the gi. I think I have a pretty good gi game and it’s definitely a tricky one.
NO GI will always be my number one choice here.
As technical as the gi is, I feel that it’s easy to get stuck in a position whereas no gi feels so much more athletic and dynamic to me.
10. How often do you train now versus when you started training Jiu Jitsu?
It’s probably close to the same. There was a stretch in 2019 where I was training 8-10 sessions a week and did 24 or 25 competitions that year, so way less than that now.
If I get the chance to move home to Antigonish, I’m sure I’ll be doing 7+ sessions a week again.
11. Advice you would give to your white belt self.
I’d like to say “don’t just learn leg locks” but then I’m not sure I’d be where I am in the sport.
12. Advice to anyone contemplating joining a BJJ club?
Do it. Try it for a month. Try it for three months. If you can stick to it for 4-12 weeks, you’ll fall in love with it.
If you don’t then at least, you’ll come out of it with a little more confidence and you can say you gave it an honest shake.
I should have started years before I did.
13. Advice to anyone feeling like they are not progressing in their training or become fixated on belts?
Let the belts go. You should trust in yourself and in your coach. If you do, then you’ll feel so much more accomplished when you are finally given a promotion. Just keep working at improving yourself and don’t worry about the fabric around your waist. The belts will come.
If you’re struggling with progression, either talk with your coach or teammates and ask if they’ll develop a specific set of goals or a game for you. Think of your coaches the way you’d think of a personal trainer. They can help you to set a goal and then help you to work towards it. Also, setting smaller goals like “spend two weeks only doing an x-pass sequence” can be a great way to progress while feeling accomplished.
14. Your top go to submission(s)?
I have the submissions I’d love to say because they’re the ones I practice the most, but I seem to have the most success in competition with outside heel hooks from double-outside-ashi.
15. Your favourite guard and pass?
I’ve been playing a lot with tripod passing and inside camping positions. Hopefully I can actually feel comfortable and confident enough to try them in competition.
My favourite guard is by far half-guard/half-butterfly. So versatile for leg entries and sweeps.
16. Who to you is the Greatest of all time BJJ athlete/competitor? If not the same, current fav competitor/practitioner)
Unfortunately, the answer has to be Gordon Ryan with respect to No gi. I don’t like him as a person, but his jiu-jitsu is second to none and I’m not sure it’s even close. I want to see that Nicky Rod rematch.
My favourite competitor to watch right now is definitely Jozef Chen. Thankfully he got his black belt recently because that guy is insanely talented and has such a high jiu-jitsu IQ.
17. Why do you feel BJJ is so addictive?
Speaking for myself, it’s the competition aspect of it. I grew up playing team sports and competitive video games and it’s something that I was missing in my adult life.
18. What has BJJ taught you or done for you personally/development outside of the gym (off the mats)?
Patience. This is one of, if not the only, martial art that takes an average of over 10 years to get a black belt at, so far as I know. You can’t walk into a gym with no experience and expect to be proficient in any aspect of this sport. It will take you years to improve and decades to master jiu-jitsu. This is definitely something that’s important to bring off the mats and into your regular everyday life.
Also, because of years of neglecting physical activity and diet, I was 220+lbs when I started training. I now compete for the most part at below 180lbs so that’s a huge bonus.
19. What keeps you motivated to train once you achieve that milestone of black belt in BJJ and do you foresee a time when you will stop training?
The same thing that motivated me up until this point; I love jiu-jitsu, and I love competing (just don’t ask me that on competition day because I’ll tell you I hate it) so that’s what keeps me coming back. There is so much to this sport and there are so many techniques and somehow, we’re still finding new ones all the time.
I don’t think I’ll ever stop training completely unless I’m physically unable to.
20. Your thoughts on the growth of Jiu Jitsu in Atlantic Canada (Clubs/Comps)? Anything you would like to see in our region for the sport/art?
It’s incredible to see the level of competition that we have here in Atlantic Canada. We have people here that can travel all over North America and over to Europe and compete alongside and give great competition to some of the best athletes in the sport and perform very well. That’s a testament to the quality of clubs we have here.
The competition scene here is also incredible. We have so many great opportunities and excellent organizers that put on incredible events. I’d start naming them, but we have so many that are just amazing and there are so many opportunities to compete in Atlantic Canada and advance our skill sets.
We also have phenomenal organizers that are running super high quality PPV or PPV-style (free) shows which gather amazing audiences and really give a professional feel and even professional quality competition and entertainment. FLA running the grappling in the cage. Guillotine putting on awesome shows and making great matchups that local fans and competitors want to see. Breakthrough being one of the most professional quality event organizers not only in Atlantic Canada, but in the country as a whole. I’ve competed at FLA and I’ve competed at the Montreal Quintet, and Breakthrough is every bit as professional as either of those events.
