2014-08-08

What is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? It’s combat based martial art that focuses on grappling and ground fighting where technique, leverage, and control are use to defeat larger and stronger opponents. It originated in Brazil and holds a rich history any BJJ nerd can go into explicit detail about so in short summary BJJ took over the world when it’s founders challenged every martial art known to prove it’s effective fighting system.

When one practices Martial Arts, there’s a slight misconception that we’re all the same.  We all strive to defeat our opponents and be the best, or that we live in strict discipline embody eastern philosophies. That isn’t the case, and the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is that anyone from any walk of life can practice and train.

Michelle Massicotte is a full time teacher who’s been training martial arts for a long time. She took up BJJ a year and a half ago hoping to push herself as an athlete and as a person. Currently she’s a white belt under Gracie Barra Calgary’s Josh Russell. With a busy schedule, make decisions to cut out the things that don’t matter and make compromises, but for Michelle; she always found a time to train BJJ. “Training Jiu-Jitsu will always fit into my schedule no matter how busy my week gets, even if it means going to the morning class at 6am. It’s my down time, my social time, my stress relief, and my fitness all rolled into one. That hour that I’m on the mats nothing else matters. Even when I’m having an otherwise terrible day I can completely forget about it once I put my Gi on.” Michelle explained. Michelle can easily point out the positive effects of training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. “BJJ has affected my life in so many positive ways. The biggest positive is without a doubt the fact that’s it’s opened my mind to learning again. As adults in a hectic society I feel many of us somewhere along the way start going through the motions more so than actually living. I was certainly guilty of this. The growth I’ve achieved in other areas of my life as well as BJJ in the past year and a half has amazed me. I look at things much more openly now and retain more information then I used to. It’s made me want to learn more.” She proudly pointed out.



To Michelle, the self-defense aspect is another major aspect of why she trains. “As a female who lives alone, and has been mugged/attacked in the past [training] is very important to me. I used to get anxious every time I had to walk my dog at night or heard noises by my window. Since learning Jiu-Jitsu the anxiety is gone. Instead of cowering away from my window or crossing the street when I see someone coming, I run towards the window to see what’s going on and walk right by people with my head up high.” Michelle explains. “One of my dreams once I develop my Jiu-Jitsu more over the years is to be able to speak to women who have been attacked or abused in the past and tell them my story on how martial arts changed my life in hopes to inspire them to learn themselves.” Michelle proclaimed.

Michelle finds herself belonging to a small but growing group of women who train in a martial art that was easily perceived as male dominated. It’s intimidating having to jump into the unknown, especially when it’s 200+ pounds of muscle, beard, and Gi, but to Michelle the experience was rewarding since she’s starting to witness more women taking women’s only classes. “Most females are reluctant to enter a new gym setting and are often quite nervous when they first start out. To watch the nerves turn into excitement as their confidence and skills grow is a process I can’t put into words. Jiu-Jitsu has a way of giving shy girls a confidence they’ve never had before, and the transformation is amazing to watch.” Michelle boasted. “I believe the female BJJ community is going to double over the next year. It’s a bold statement, but I stand by it. The way women build each other up and work together in this sport is infectious to say the least. Since we’ve all been there when we first started out, it creates an immediate bond.” She rejoiced.



Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a Martial Art that grew into a sport, with it’s own set of competition rules. It’s a natural style to train for Mixed Martial Arts fighters and there are hundreds of BJJ tournaments and competition held worldwide. Competition is a way to test one’s skills and mental toughness and a way to fast-track growth. Being a BJJ competitor is a commitment that demands dedication that’s above the occasional hobbyist. Gracie Barra Calgary’s BJ Baldonado, is a purple belt who has been training since 2009 when he saw the Gracie Barra Calgary academy sign after driving home one day. After his first free drop in class, he was instantly hooked and had been committed to training since then. “I was going through a difficult time in my life because I was going through a separation with my wife. BJJ gave me something positive to focus on and provided me with a distraction from all the negativity. Over time, training and competing became much more than a hobby, it became my passion.” And it’s this common passion that many of Bj’s training partners and students share. “ Many of the lessons I have learned on the mats have crossed over into other areas of my life and helped me become a better person. It allowed me to reconcile with my wife and we got back together after nearly 3 years of separation.” BJ said.



On the verge of becoming a brown belt, BJ trains diligently and as many times as he can in a week which is a challenge for a family man with a full time job. Still he trains an average of 15-20 hours a week and teaches morning classes and assists in coaching the kids in the afternoon. It’s a marvel that BJ walks around living life with 8% bodyfat, but even more is his consistent appearance in every grappling tournament held in Western Canada. He’s been top of his division numerous times and he’ll find his next challenge when he participates in a Reality TV show called Last to Tap (which airs on the Fight Network). “Last to Tap will have 16 competitors divided into two weight classes that will have 8 guys from Western and Eastern Canada competing in a tournament. The show aims to educate people on submission grappling and expose the arts to a wider audience.” He excitedly explained. “I’m looking forward to being a part of the show. It’s the first of its kind in Canada. I’m proud to represent Gracie Barra Calgary. BJJ has given me so much in my life and I see at this show as an opportunity to give back to the community and sport. If one person sees the show and by seeing how passionate I am and decides to try Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I will be very happy and will consider the experience a success.” BJ optimistically said.

With Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, once can reach high levels but there is never the highest level. For Paul Joseph, who earned his brown belt, a belt second to the rank of Black Belt, teaching is learning. He began training in 2008, “I’ve tried some martial arts, but most of them I learned from watching TV and movies. It was something I first saw and tried in 1996 with another club in Calgary that taught at S.A.I.T. When I tried the classes, I found that many of the moves were something that my body did naturally. The sad part was that I only had two months to train before I left the city.” Paul explained. When he came back to Calgary, he discovered Gracie Barra Calgary and began training there.

Paul eventually returned to Calgary, where he began training at Gracie Barra Calgary. He wanted to become a teacher right when he began as a white belt. At first, teaching appealed to him because it appeared very little work was required and it provided more time to train. “I thought I get to train and teach when I want without the feeling the feeling of doing work.” Paul laughed.

Yet his journey was anything but easy. Years later, Paul began teaching in two locations, one of which was at a Mixed Martial Arts school in Okotoks. But the school lacked in membership and planned to close in late 2012 and it was then that Paul took over in January 2013 andOkotoks Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu began. “I wasn’t ready to take it over, because I wasn’t sure if the school would survive given the number of students enrolled at the time. But I took on the risk and stress. Luckily within the first month, there weren’t any losses, so I pushed to survive the first three months. Unfortunately I was also on a 14 month lease, so I also had to figure out how the school could survive.” Paul explained.

But Paul wasn’t making any profit from his school and on top of it, he was working a full time job that added to his stress, so in 2013 he decided to quit his job and made a full time commitment into teaching and running the school. It was then that he realized there was more to teaching BJJ than just business. “I realized that the first few months, I disliked teaching, only because I worked 8 hours at a job I didn’t enjoy and came to a place where I didn’t’ feel like being in the same in environment as children and adults. I had some other people come in to teach most of the time. But Christa [another instructor at Paul’s school] said that if I wanted this place, the kids, and the program to flourish, I’d had to really commit myself into teaching, so I quit my day job..and instantly, teaching the kids became a lot more fun and much more rewarding.” Paul said.

To Paul, teaching is learning. “The biggest thing every kid has gained just from starting is self- confidence. A lot of kids we’ve actually gotten are the mousey, quiet kids who look down at the ground and don’t look at you when you talk to them and are very timid when they talk to their teammates. And now they stand up tall, and become leaders, instead of following what they’re told, they start to lead their teammates and encourage them to meet the expectations of this school.  The biggest thing our students have to follow here is discipline, because we have zero tolerance for misbehavior.” Paul points out. Now as a brown belt, he has both the challenge of keeping a high level of skill to stay sharp. “I find that teaching helps the mental game because you can break down a move and regurgitate it as a lesson to a class. The challenge with teaching is that you start to slack off on the training and your physical abilities suffer, so as a teacher, we have to find the balance so that we still get better, because our students chase us on the mats.” He laughs.

Calgary is home to a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community that’s growing in size every year. There is almost a school nearby to accommodate any potential student. For information on Gracie Barra Calgary, visit graciebarracalgary.com and for Okotoks Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu visit okotoksbjj.com

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