Oliver Schaudt
October 25, 2017 11:01
've trained several places and this gym is my favorite due to a great mix of socialability & flow in training.
The gym leader, James, most always teaches classes, which isn't the case at a lot of other schools which put that responsibility on the highest ranking student.
James' instruction is seriously well thought-out. The path to the next stripe/belt clear. It's difficult to explain coherently, but James' lessons flow well into one another. At some schools, training is all over the place in terms of techniques or drills, but James focuses on specific things for a couple weeks at a time, as well as their appendages.
For instance, James would announce that we're going to be working on takedowns for a couple of weeks. In that, we'd training take-downs every day, but in a single class we'd train one specific takedown (lets say starting from t-stance (perhaps not the correct term:P)), but then train what to do in several instances. The next day, you might pick up slightly from that, but a tweak on it.
Another very cool thing which can't be understanded is the sociability. Savannah Gracie Jiujitsu attracts people of all kind, big & small, old and young. Your classmates are friends and everyone wants to see one another succeed.
I also especially enjoyed the 'games' we'd play, like "sweep or submit", weapons practice, or sparring with tennis balls in our hands to remove grip from the equation.
A lot of smiles, laughter, serious training and comradre.
The gym trains for combat BJJ more so than sport (IE, no dropping to your knees and ensuring you protect your head at all times) but it's also heavily involved in the sport side, with the team traveling together to tournaments and other events.