(15 Questions)
1. Club name/Affiliation:
Jake Mackenzie School of Jiu Jitsu, located at 6430 Lady Hammond Road. Affiliated with GFTeam, one the best teams in the world based out of Rio de Janeiro.
2. Owner name (s):
Jake Mackenzie and Melissa Britez Costa are the owners and head instructors.
3. Instructors:
Professor Jake Mackenzie is the most decorated Canadian gi competitor ever. He has been ranked in the top 10 multiple times in the IBJJF, Flograppling, and the AJP for the adult and masters black belt international Rankings. He was a World Silver Medalist in the Abu Dhabi World Pro, South American Champion (IBJJF), 5x Brazilian National Teams Champion (IBJJF), 2x Brazilian National No Gi Champion, Asian Champion (IBJJF), 3x São Paulo Open Champion, all at the adult black belt level. He was also 2018 IBJJF Black Belt Master World Champion, and 2x World Pro masters medalist. Professor Jake Mackenzie has over 26 year of experience and over 600 matches in international competition.
Professor Melissa Britez Costa has been training jiujitsu for 11 years total and has competed all over the world. Her resume includes IBJJF World Medalist, Abu Dhabi World Pro Medalist, 3x Pan American medalist (IBJJF) , South American Champion (IBJJF), Rio Grand Slam Champion (AJP), London Grand Slam Champion (AJP), Rio Pro Champion (IBJJF), Brazilian National teams Champion (IBJJF), 10x IBJJF Open Champion all at the adult level.
5. What made you decide to open your own club and why did you choose your current location?
We decided to open our own club after years of traveling and competing. We knew that it was the next step for us and thought Halifax would be a great place to open our Gym, to be close to family and friends.
6. What is the main mission for your club?
Our mission is to offer the most authentic Brazilian jiu-jitsu experience in Atlantic Canada. We have a structured curriculum based on creating a strong foundation, and making sure you maximize your training time to get the very most out of the classes. We promote a safe and fun learning experience for people of all ages and levels.
7. Programs available/schedule:
We offer Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced classes in the Gi. We are starting our kids and teens programs May 1st, 2023 which will have classes for 6-9 years olds and 10-14. We will be offering no gi classes in the near future as well.
8. Gi versus no GI split on class offering? Demand changing to one or the other?
All of our classes at the moment are gi classes. That is going to be the main focus at the school. We will be starting out our no gi program very soon.
9. Has your club grown or expanded since opening? Experienced versus beginner ratio?
We have only been opened a couple of months and the club has grown fast in that time. We have a great core group of members which is probably 50% experienced practitioners and 50% brand new beginners.
10. Please describe a typical BJJ class at your school:
We start off with a quick stretch, then go straight to line and partner drills. We review whatever subject we are working on for that block, and pick one technique to drill for 20 minutes. After drilling we do specific sparring or situational training from the position we have been working on. Then students students roll for rounds afterwards
11. Do you ever host or offer seminars? If so, please provide some past examples of participants and future events.
We just had our first seminar with Abu Dhabi World Pro Champion Ademir Araújo. We will be offering many seminars in future
12. Advice to anyone who may be contemplating joining a BJJ club?
I strongly believe jiujitsu is for everyone. Anyone interested in trying jiujitsu out should come try out a class, we have a free trial for anyone looking to start. We love working with people that are brand new and look forward to helping people start their jiujitsu journey.
13. Does your gym offer any other amenities for members?
Our gym has huge main mat space, separate side mat space for drilling, snap and shoot wrestling dummy for drilling wrestling, and multiple crash mats for throws. We also have showers for the students and a nice lounge area. We are in the process of putting a weight area in the gym as well which will be offered for people looking to do one on one personal training with our Strength and Conditioning coach.
14. Your definition or concept as to what is or makes a "BJJ Community"
Our definition of a "BJJ Community" is a group of people sharing the same passion, in a safe, fun and productive atmosphere.
15. Thoughts or opinion on the growth of the sport/art in Atlantic Canada? Anything you would like to see happen in the region for BJJ?
It has been amazing to see the growth of jiujitsu in Atlantic Canada. I started training jiujitsu in 1997 and things have come so far since then. It is amazing to see how the tournament scene has grown here. One thing I would like to see is tournaments in Atlantic using the IBJJF or AJP rule sets, with qualified Referees that have completed referee training in either one of these organizations.
