(15 Questions)
1. Club name/location:
Our club name is Maritime Jiu Jitsu. We are located at 6310 Hood St in the North end of Halifax. We are affiliated with the MXT Fight Academy in Brazil. Although we opened up as Maritime Jiu Jitsu just over two years ago, our core group of members have been around for 10+ years training as the MXT BJJ team out of Bushido Kai. When Bushido Kai closed down during COVID, we decided to start up our own gym.
Our club lineage is as follows: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Rickson Gracie > Marcelo Bering > Waldomiro Junior > Max Trombini/Edgard Lucke
2. Owner name (s):
Jesse Allen - Black Belt
Jesse has been training for over 15 years now and has been teaching for at least 7 years. He constantly studies the art and has a lot of competition experience to call upon.
Mike Gouthro - Brown Belt
Mike has been training for over 10 years, is one of the owners and runs the kids program.
3. Instructors
Instructors @ Maritime Jiu Jitsu
4. When did you open your club?
We opened our club in the Fall of 2020.
5. What made you decide to open your own club and why did you choose your current location?
The club we were training out of shut down during COVID and we decided to start our own club because we had all been training together for years and didn't want to splinter off into different clubs. It was important to us to keep that camaraderie going. We opened in the same building we used to train out of so it was a very familiar space for everyone involved.
6. What is the main purpose/focus for your club?
The main purpose of our club is to provide a fun and supportive atmosphere for those who want to train in martial arts. We are honestly one big family. We are a non-profit martial arts gym offering classes for all age ranges and skill levels from kids to adults; from beginners to advanced competitors. We believe in having fun but also training hard and pushing yourself to improve. We also believe that martial arts should be accessible to everyone which is why we have made it our mission to offer the lowest monthly rate in the city at $69+HST per month. Every single dollar we make goes back into improving our club for our members.
7. Programs available/Style of BJJ:
Our BJJ is more focused within a sport context but we believe the way we train makes it very suitable for self defense as well. We have a heavy emphasis on wrestling for BJJ and being able to fight from all positions. We have a healthy mix of competitors and hobbyists. We offer unlimited all-access training for $69+HST per month. That lets you train BJJ, Wrestling, and Kickboxing! We also have Kids BJJ for $39+HST per month - an absolutely unreal deal.
Schedule/Programs
Specials/Promotions
(Subject to Change)
8. Gi versus no GI split on class offering? Demand changing to one or the other?
We offer both Gi & No Gi. There is definitely more demand for No Gi at the moment and I think that is perhaps the future of the sport but we still have awesome gi classes!
9. Has your club grown or expanded since opening? Experienced versus beginner ratio?
Yes, our club has definitely grown since we opened. The majority of our members have been training together since before we opened so it's a lot of experienced folks but we are working on adding a 2nd beginner class to our schedule and can't wait to see our program grow!
10. Describe a typical BJJ class at your school:
A typical class is usually split into three sections: warmup, technique, rolling. Sometimes the warmup is a game or something fun, other times it's light exercise to get the body ready for more intensity. The technique portion will be partner or group drills going over certain positions or situations. Then the fun part, live rolling! Sometimes the rolling starts with positional sparring but it always ends with live rounds. We pride ourselves on running great classes that are high tempo, fun, and a great workout!
11. Do you ever host or offer seminars?
We haven't hosted any seminars yet but we certainly have the space and are planning some for the future!
12. Advice to anyone who may be contemplating joining a BJJ club?
My advice is to just start. I know it can be intimidating but you have to just go try a class. I would also offer the following advice: don't try to learn too fast. I know it can be exciting but you can quickly get overwhelmed with knowledge; go slowly and build techniques/concepts up one at a time. Lastly, I would recommend trying different clubs and see which one you like best to be honest.
13. Does your gym offer any other amenities for members?
Yes, we have showers, changerooms, a small weight rack, heavy bags, grappling dummies, striking pads, etc... We are always looking at ways to improve our facility.
14. Your definition or concept as to what is or makes a "BJJ Community"
I think a common interest and camaraderie is what makes a community. You can definitely see it when you go to tournaments and events throughout the region. So many of us are friends and colleagues across different clubs from different walks of life but we all share one thing in common by training BJJ.
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?
The sport/art has exploded over the past little while. I remember starting training in 2007 and there were barely any clubs around. Now there are many high quality clubs around with high level instruction. I would love to see the sport continue to grow!
