One of our goals when we opened the dojo last year was to bring back our grappling focussed BJJ classes with coach Bruno Yamamoto. We were really happy when Bruno returned in October to pick up where he left off with weekly classes in our new dojo.
For those of you that don’t know, Bruno is a black belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu (BJJ) and teaches our students every Tuesday supported on the mats by Sensei Simon and Sensei James. While this class is a separate art to our traditional classes the benefits of training in both are huge.
Grappling is the aspect of our training that focusses on taking your partner to the ground, securing dominant positions as well as using submission techniques to get your partner to tap. There are lots of similarities with what we teach in our traditional classes but a heavier focus on competitive application in the dojo.
Last year we decided to introduce a separate grading path for students who train on a Tuesday. This means students who wish to formally progress can be graded by Bruno in Brazilian Jiujutsu (BJJ). This path is completely optional. All of our Junior, Teen and Adult students are welcome to come along just for the fun, education and experience but those that wish to formally progress will need to pick up a BJJ white belt.
BJJ Grades
Any grades students achieve in their Tuesday training will run along side their traditional grade. This means you will hold 2 separate grades, one for traditional Ninjutsu and one for BJJ.
In BJJ, the grading system consists of a series of coloured belts, starting with white and progressing through blue, purple, brown, and finally black.
For our Juniors students, the grading criteria is slightly different with students progressing through white, grey, yellow, orange and green.
As they learn and grow, students are also awarded stripes on their belts to acknowledge their progress.
Grades in BJJ are earned through a combination of technical proficiency and competitive performance. You are assessed on your ability to apply techniques in live sparring as well as your ability to execute them during partner drills and practice.
In our grappling class there is also no fixed time frame for achieving each belt. Promotions are based on a student’s individual progress and aptitude. This means that some students may progress through grades quickly, while others may take longer.
Start Your Grappling Journey
We’ve seen some incredible progress from students training with Bruno over the past few months. We can proudly say that many have already earned their first stripe. These classes provide a step-up in intensity, which is building confidence and skills on the mats and benefits all their training.
We hope to see these sessions grow over the coming months as more students discover the benefits and fun of BJJ training. All you need to do is turn up, work hard and we’ll do the rest.