15 Questions:
with Justin Beattie
1. Club name/location/Affiliation/History:
"True Leverage Alliance BJJ, Josh Presley (https://presleybjj.com/) is our affiliate.
165 Bridge street, Melvern Square, Nova Scotia.
The history of the club is:
.. back in 2016 I started training jiu-jitsu again at what then was called Alba Nuadh, owned by Colin Yeliga. In 2019 I started teaching on my own in Windermere and eventually Millville other side while teaching many of the classes Alba Nuadh until December 2021 where I purchased the Alba Nuadh club. I then took my students from Millville and combined them under the True Leverage Alliance BJJ name at the location where Alba Nuadh was. Rowan Cunningham was the affiliate for Alba Nuadh before I purchased the club. When I expanded the TLA club I was currently going to Halifax fairly often and training with Josh Presley. I switched affiliations because Rowan (great guy) was all the way in Ontario, so it was much harder to have him come down regularly for seminars."
2. Owner name (s):
"I'm the head instructor and owner at TLA, I have been training Jiu-Jitsu sporadically since 2009 roughly. I started at Abhaya, back when purple belts were a rare god haha. Then in 2016 I started training very consistently until present at Alba Nuadh, Halifax BJJ and now TLA, while visiting Presley BJJ when I can. I've competed in around 50 matches locally and have accumulated 6 medals, only one being gold. I am a 3 stripe purple belt. My purple belt was given to me by Rowan Cunningham, my stripes on my purple are all from Josh Presley. "
Justin Beattie
Owner/Head Instructor
True Leverage Alliance BJJ
3. Instructors
"Our club currently has two instructors. Myself and James Langille. James also started at Abhaya in 2011 and he is currently a purple belt under Josh Presley. He is a high school teacher and great guy."
4. When did you open your club?
"True Leverage Alliance BJJ became a club January 2022 but I've been teaching small groups as True Leverage Alliance since July 4, 2019 which would be the established date."
5. What made you decide to open a club/school and why did you choose your current location?
"Ever since I started BJJ at Abhaya I always knew I wanted to teach BJJ and open my own school. I chose the current location we are at for multiple reasons. There are no other BJJ clubs in the area, when I expanded we already had members going to the club and because at the time it wasn't terribly far from my self."
6. What is the main purpose/focus for your club?
"The main purpose of our club is to give people a place they feel they can go to have fun, be part of a great community and learn self defense and learn an art that I'm so passionate about. Our atmosphere is very much, family. Yes we have classes where people get after it but overall our atmosphere is that of a family."
7. Programs available/Is your BJJ focused on a self defense model? Sport only? For hobbyist or perhaps a mix?
"We mainly train sport BJJ but we have recently added classes that are self defense oriented. We believe that if you focus on getting really good at Jiu-Jitsu and sprinkle in strikes and self defense weekly, you will be fine in scenarios where self defense is needed, but also be able to hang with good sport players. Our club is a good place for hobbyist and sport players."
Schedule:
8. Gi versus no GI split on class offering? Demand changing to one or the other?
"During the summer we typically only designate a couple classes a week in the gi, the rest of the classes are usually no-gi. During our open mats we let the students decide what they wear. During the winter we use the gi a lot more due to the temperature haha."
9. Has your club grown or expanded since opening? Experienced versus beginner ratio?
"Our club has been steadily growing since 2022. When I first took over Alba Nuadh and changed t over to True Leverage Alliance BJJ there was a few adults classes a week, 1 kids class and 1 teens class. Maybe 30-40 members if I was to guess. (Don't know exactly). Now we have grow to 7 adult classes (one is women's only), 3 kids classes, 3 junior teens classes, 2 teens classes and approximately 60-70 members."
10. Describe a typical BJJ class at your school:
"A typical adult class at our club would be 5 minutes of warming up either flow roll, stretching, drilling followed by a couple techniques that work in a system. After the techniques have been taught we then do specific sparring in the areas that were taught, followed by regular rolling at the end of class."
11. Do you ever host or offer seminars?
"I have done seminars at high schools, elementary schools and one BJJ club in Cornwallis, Granville Ferry BJJ. We regularly host Josh Presley twice a year at our club as well."
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Justin Beattie (L)/Josh Presley (R)
12. Future plans or goals for the club?
"We are in the works of opening a second location in Kings County (Annapolis valley) that is closer to my home. When opening we will be starting out with 2 classes a week."
13. Advice to anyone who may be contemplating joining a BJJ club?
"My advice to new members thinking about joining BJJ is the following:
1. It's not as weird as it looks hahaha, I regularly get told by people who don't train, how weird the positions look lol.
2. Just go and do it, if you're not in shape that is fine. Just go do it, don't put it off. You'll regret all the time wasted after you do make the jump! For most people it's one of the greatest choices they've ever made. Me being one of those people."
14. Your definition or concept as to what is or makes a BJJ Community?
"I'm not sure I understand the question completely.. a community is a group of people with the same value or interest. If I was to describe what I felt was the perfect bjj community it would be like the community we have at our club. Everyone goes in to the club to have fun and do something they love with people they consider their friends, having a good time and getting better at a great sport/martial art."
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?
"I think the sport/art has significantly grown since I started. In 2009 there was hardly any tournaments a year.. much less gyms and people practicing hardly anyone knew what the martial art was. Now there are a ton of gyms and people training. There are many black belts and purple belts are no longer the gods they once were haha when j first started."
