January will mark the 16th anniversary of opening the doors to Heroes Martial Arts.

One thing that has remained true was my original mission statement for Heroes:  In that I wanted it to be a place where I myself would want to be a student and make it part of my life. A Third Space, if you will, or in some cases even a Second Space.

In 16 years it’s fair to say that Heroes has evolved quite a bit and it’s also true to say that I have personally evolved quite a bit as well in the 28 years I’ve made Jiu Jitsu a significant part of my life.

When I had opened up Heroes, I was early into my black belt phase at a time where (American born and trained) black belts were still relatively rare.  I was still training hard multiple times per day and although my competitive career was always on the back burner I was still in the Adult Black Belt division.  I came up in an era where the lines between sport, “Vale Tudo” (literally translated into Anything Goes, the precursor to modern Mixed Martial Arts) and Self Defense was far less defined and much of our training involved striking to the point when I had actually signed up for my very first tournament I though that punches were going to be allowed.

I started in the 90’s in what was at the time one of the toughest and most respected gyms in the world (the Ralph Gracie Mountain View gym) which produced some legendary fighters and figures but also probably had a 90%+ drop out rate in the first few months.  I say that last point not out of pride but as a matter of fact, while I look at those days as some of the best times of my life and consider the people that I came up with as close as family, Ralph and I have had discussions where we both agree that era is long gone and you couldn’t run a gym business that way, and I do wish more people got to come along for the ride.

For me now being in my 50’s my needs certainly have changed and I am no longer capable to doing some of the things I could do in my 20’s or 30’s.  I still believe in a “tough” form of Jiu Jitsu, and even if that doesn’t mean competition or “self-defense” it’s important to me that those elements don’t disappear completely. Jiu Jitsu is still an inherently dangerous activity but it is important to acknowledge the risks and mitigate them whenever possible.  I still believe where Jiu Jitsu is a social activity by necessity, but also by necessity it is also about a very personal growth curve and perhaps I’ve learned to be a bit more nuanced in this as I have grown more experienced.

I think the most important gifts that Jiu Jitsu has given me are Challenges and Opportunities and I realize that both my wants and needs have evolved over the years.  What I always wanted out of Heroes Martial Arts was the ability to provide those Challenges and Opportunities to other people.  In some cases people have grown up and their challenges and opportunities are now to provide those challenges and opportunities to the next generation.  Rather than a trickle down effect, I see this as a multiplier of good, and Heroes has grown exponentially in terms of the locations, instructors, and student body.

I’m actually not one that like to dwell on the past too much but I do think it’s important to know your history if you are to know your future.  I think the future is very bright at Heroes Martial Arts because there are now so many new stories to tell and I can’t wait to see how they all unfold.  

I’m really proud of the team WE have built up, how everyone contributes to everyone’s growth. As the proverb says, Iron sharpens Iron.  We’ve made an academy of well….Heroes.  

I’m not usually one for resolutions as I believe in trying to improve yourself every day, but I one thing I’m looking forward to is writing more in the new year, so by putting that out there I’m having you hold me accountable.  Any questions or suggestions please let me know!

-Gumby

Category
Tags

No responses yet

Leave a Reply