Mass BJJ

Schedule starting Monday, May 3rd.
We are making some changes to the schedule to get it pretty close to how it was before the shutdown! We still have a few more classes to add at some point but it feels good to get things back to this point. See you on the mat!

Schedule starting Monday, May 3rd.
We are making some changes to the schedule to get it pretty close to how it was before the shutdown! We still have a few more classes to add at some point but it feels good to get things back to this point. See you on the mat!

Lord of the Flies Mass BJJ Kids

One year ago today we were running kids classes on Zoom. One year ago today I realized the kids were smarter than me...

We’ll be working self-defense techniques this week!

Which means:
• Gis are optional (up to you if you want to wear gi or no-go attire to class)
• If you have gloves you are welcome to wear them
• And, at least according to Dr. Greg, punching Robb in the face is encouraged

We’ll be working self-defense techniques this week!

Which means:
• Gis are optional (up to you if you want to wear gi or no-go attire to class)
• If you have gloves you are welcome to wear them
• And, at least according to Dr. Greg, punching Robb in the face is encouraged

Natalie and Ed met at Mass BJJ many years ago. They got married and started a family. Ed continued training and is now a black belt. Today they brought E.J. in for his first Jiu-Jitsu class. It means the world to me when people that have been training with us bring their kids in to start them on their Jiu-Jitsu journey!

Natalie and Ed met at Mass BJJ many years ago. They got married and started a family. Ed continued training and is now a black belt. Today they brought E.J. in for his first Jiu-Jitsu class. It means the world to me when people that have been training with us bring their kids in to start them on their Jiu-Jitsu journey!

We are all both students and mentors. Never lose the humility of a beginner, but carry the belief in yourself to guide those that you have the ability to help. I love looking over and seeing the upper belts helping out the newer students. They took it to another level tonight breaking out notes for game planning!

We are all both students and mentors. Never lose the humility of a beginner, but carry the belief in yourself to guide those that you have the ability to help. I love looking over and seeing the upper belts helping out the newer students. They took it to another level tonight breaking out notes for game planning!

So nice to have the garage door open again!

So nice to have the garage door open again!

www.mass.gov

Starting on Monday we will offer some more options for the adult BJJ and Kickboxing classes. (The changes we have made to the kids classes are posted in the closed Facebook group "Mass BJJ Kids!" you can ask to join if you have a kid in the program.)

BJJ

Option 1. Reserve a spot for your pod just as we have been doing the past few months. Pods will train on the big mat and cage for now.

Option 2. Just show up. You can train on the back mat and train with whomever you like. Some people may still come in on the back mat without reserving a spot and stay with their pod, some may come in and just want to train with any person but just stay with one partner for that day, and some people may come in and roll with whomever they like. Its entirely up to you and what your comfortable with.

Kickboxing.

Option 1. Reserve a spot for yourself and stay on a heavy bag to train solo.

Option 2. Reserve a spot for yourself but partner up with someone and do pad-work with them. We will start with pad-work, then do some live partner drilling and eventually get back to sparring in time.

If you have any other questions about how things will work shoot me an email at [email protected]

See you on the mat!

www.mass.gov

Pinky and the Stain. The Pinky part is pretty obvious, the Stain... I don’t want to know...

Pinky and the Stain. The Pinky part is pretty obvious, the Stain... I don’t want to know...

It’s been a full year since I’ve been able to choke her with her hair and have her elbow me in the face!

It’s been a full year since I’ve been able to choke her with her hair and have her elbow me in the face!

“Jolly Mean Giants” - These are the big guys and they roll hard but all we hear coming out of their corner is constant laughing.

“Jolly Mean Giants” - These are the big guys and they roll hard but all we hear coming out of their corner is constant laughing.

“The Tippy Tops” (Say it with a cockney accent)
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I have no idea how this name stuck but it did... so here we are. Bollocks!

“The Tippy Tops” (Say it with a cockney accent)
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I have no idea how this name stuck but it did... so here we are. Bollocks!

Getting ready!

Timeline Photos

Brute Pod -
“Beat it or I’ll call the Brute pod.”
“I’m on the Brute Pod.”
“You ARE the Brute pod!”

Brute Pod -
“Beat it or I’ll call the Brute pod.”
“I’m on the Brute Pod.”
“You ARE the Brute pod!”

Onna-bugeisha - This name fits as these ladies are FIERCE! Many times I watch them wrestling and think we’re all lucky we have 50+ pounds on them. @ Mass BJJ

This group was very indecisive about a name and sent me a list. We will let the internet decide. Anyone have any favorites?
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Purple Reign
Grapple Cider
Nerd Immunity
The Gi-ah-team
Cranial Ischemia
Knee-on-prostate
'Oh-No' Plata
Darce Vader
Lost-collar choke
Flop seoi nage
Six-point chill
Look Mom no stripes!

This group was very indecisive about a name and sent me a list. We will let the internet decide. Anyone have any favorites?
.
Purple Reign
Grapple Cider
Nerd Immunity
The Gi-ah-team
Cranial Ischemia
Knee-on-prostate
'Oh-No' Plata
Darce Vader
Lost-collar choke
Flop seoi nage
Six-point chill
Look Mom no stripes!

I looked over to the corner of the mat while teaching a technique yesterday and this pod was watching like this. I whispered for Scott to take a picture real quick.
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I love being able to pass on the art of Jiu-Jitsu to a new generation, but I think that is equally important that as these kids grow up, they know that they are a part of something. That there is a team of kids that have their back regardless of what is going on at school in the neighborhood etc.
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It was also just a really cute picture!

I looked over to the corner of the mat while teaching a technique yesterday and this pod was watching like this. I whispered for Scott to take a picture real quick.
.
I love being able to pass on the art of Jiu-Jitsu to a new generation, but I think that is equally important that as these kids grow up, they know that they are a part of something. That there is a team of kids that have their back regardless of what is going on at school in the neighborhood etc.
.
It was also just a really cute picture!

We are trying to get pictures of each pod to document the time you’ve all been stuck with one another... to celebrate the deep bonding experience you’ve all had with one another...

We are starting with “Eds with Benefits.” This group is known for its absolutely average musical taste... While one member is a talented musician, another one has graced us with some of the worst musical playlists we will never be able to un-hear!

We are trying to get pictures of each pod to document the time you’ve all been stuck with one another... to celebrate the deep bonding experience you’ve all had with one another...

We are starting with “Eds with Benefits.” This group is known for its absolutely average musical taste... While one member is a talented musician, another one has graced us with some of the worst musical playlists we will never be able to un-hear!

5 Reasons Youth Wrestling Makes for Better Kids – Tiger Wrestling

A good article by one of our purple belts and self proclaimed best looking students.

5 Reasons Youth Wrestling Makes for Better Kids – Tiger Wrestling 5 Reasons Youth Wrestling Makes for Better Kids Wrestling is one of the world’s oldest sports for good reason, yet despite its benefits, many parents hesitate to have their kids participate in youth programs. You often hear that wrestling is either too dangerous, or that it will make kids violent....

This week will be No-Gi in the adult classes. Dress appropriately!

This week will be No-Gi in the adult classes. Dress appropriately!

One year ago today we closed the doors for what we thought would be maybe 6 weeks and then things would be back to normal. Well… things went a little differently. I love that Sarah took pictures of the kid’s class that day. It was a small group of kids as that showed up as people were starting to get nervous about what was coming.

These pictures showed up on my Facebook feed as a memory today, I had forgotten that there were any pictures of this day. Looking at them, I was struck at how much we took for granted with the physical contact we had back then. High fiving each kid as they go around the room during warmups, grabbing them to drill and wrestle with them when there was an odd kid out and just picking them up and laughing with them.

It’s been a tough year. I know many people at Mass BJJ that have lost someone close to them. I know many people suffering financially due to the shutdown and many people having trouble with the isolation that has come with this past year. The tough times that this past year have brought on us have also presented us with so many positive stories and silver linings. I have had many members of our community that have not been financially impacted by this past year reach out to me to find other members that were in need of assistance. We have had people help find jobs, living situations or just be a supportive shoulder to lean on for so many of our other members. Our students, past and present, have been so supportive of Mass BJJ to help make sure that we remained strong over this past year.

These pictures make me a little sad for the time that we lost together on the mat, but at the same time they give me hope that we are nearing the end of this. Even now, so many of the groups are feeling more comfortable to add people to their pod. Many people are coming back to train that felt the need to step away for a bit.

Thank you for your continued support. Your support of one another and your support of Mass BJJ.

See you on the mats! @ Mass BJJ

Always great to have @tsmiley17 back on the mats helping people hit stuff!

Always great to have @tsmiley17 back on the mats helping people hit stuff!

Going through pictures of the week and these really stood out to me.

During this past year I’ve been amazed at the lengths and creative ways so many people were willing to go to get on the mat and keep training. We have kids continuing to join us on zoom from home each week, parents figuring out creative ways to keep the kids occupied so they can train. And, there is an amazing community of people that are so helpful and supportive of the families trying to maintain a sense of normalcy through all this. It has been a crazy year but there have been very inspiring moments. @ Mass BJJ

Mass BJJ

Timeline Photos

We will be closed for the remainder of Monday. 1:15 kickboxing, 4:00 kids BJJ, 5:00 kids BJJ, 6:00 BJJ, 7:15 BJJ.

Shovel your neighbors out if you need a workout!

[01/21/21]   I know its not the 1st of the month but we are doing no gi tonight. Thank you Bill

[01/17/21]   All classes will return to their normal schedule this week. We had canceled the kids classes last week after Scott had tested positive for Covid.

I (Nate) had a negative result on my rapid test earlier in the week and a negative result on the PCR test that came back today. So I will be teaching all the regular Adult and Kids classes that I normally teach.

Scott is still sick but feeling much better. He will be off the mat for at least this week.

[01/12/21]   Hi Guys,

I wanted to let you know that Scott tested positive this morning for covid. He found out he was exposed over the weekend. Scott wasn't feeling symptomatic on Monday (Jan 11th) and he had his mask on the whole time he was in the school.

This is what we are going to do with the schedule this week:

Adult Classes - I rolled with Scott all day so I am going to take the week off of teaching. I will have people sub in to teach my classes for me for the remainder of the week. I will get tested later in the week and if I remain asymptotic and my tests come back negative I will start teaching again next week. But all of the Adult BJJ and Kickboxing classes are still going on.

Kids classes - Because Claudine, Tom and I all had some degree of contact with Scott on Monday we are going to cancel the kids BJJ and Kickboxing classes for the remainder of this week. If we remain symptom free, we will run classes as usual starting next Monday.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns you can reach me at [email protected].

[01/07/21]   Its No Gi tonight dont forget. 715-815 don't be late. New years resolution submit more people. Thanks Bill

Thank you.

As we begin a new year, I have been thinking over the last one. Each year, I like to stop and reflect on where Mass BJJ is, the direction it is going and the path it has been on. This year, it has obviously been quite a different experience.

We closed out doors on March 13th without any idea of what was going to happen moving forward. After months of being closed we were able to start outdoor solo classes. We were then able to slowly move inside. And then in the fall we were able to set up training groups so we could get back to wrestling.

It’s been a tough year for so many members of our community. We’ve had people lose family members, lose their jobs, struggle to keep their business going and so much more than I could write here. Throughout all of this, I have been amazed and inspired by how the community has rallied around one another. There are so many times that I hear of a hardship that someone is going through and then I find out that people at the school are already helping that person out.
We have been able to keep our doors open because so many of you have asked to keep your accounts going while our doors were closed.

Although we are still in a tough spot, I am inspired and hopeful that this next year will not be just a good one but a great one. I’ve watched the students within the training groups bond in such a way that would probably not have happened if we weren’t forced in this situation. I’ve seen the kids develop a sense of empathy for one another that was not there before. Perhaps they know that they are isolated much of the time and that is sucks but they are all in the same boat together.

We’re going to keep on moving forward because as a great fighter once said, “It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward” (Sorry, I had to throw a movie reference in there.)

I really just wanted to write this out to say thank you. Thank you for the support you’ve given and continue to give to Mass BJJ and to one another.

Happy New Year from the Mass BJJ Team!
✨
Thanks for your support throughout 2020.

Congrats to Scott on earning his black belt! Scott walked into Mass BJJ as a 16 year old kid asking if he could take every class. I said that he could only attend the beginners classes until he earned his blue belt. He took the beginners class, asked a million questions and then asked if he could stay and watch the intermediate class. I replied, that would be fine and he sat on the side of the mat to watch. I taught a technique and asked if anyone had any questions, from off the side of the mat, Scott started asking more questions. I told him that if he stayed to watch, he wasn’t allowed to talk… He hasn’t stopped talking since then.

Scott has been a staple at Mass BJJ since that point. He has been quick to help out and jump in to do rounds with every one of our MMA fighters getting ready for a fight, every competitor preparing for a BJJ tournament. He stepped up and put together a very successful MMA career of his own going 8-1.

He has taken the kids BJJ/kickboxing classes and grown it into a large and successful program where he has personally had such a positive impact on so many kid’s lives over the years.

Patric and I talk a lot, over a long period of time about when we are thinking of giving a black belt to someone. They obviously need to have the technical knowledge and skill to be promoted, but we think a lot of how that person will represent us in wearing that belt. Do they have the humility, the patience and the character that we want to see in one of our black belts. For anyone that knows Scott, you would know that this was an easy part of the conversation. Scott has been training hard for over a decade. He is a complete martial artist. His Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Striking and the combination of those arts are at a very high level. But just as importantly, he has always been a great training partner. He can go hard with people needing a tough roll and he can slow down and ease a new person that is nervously stepping on the mat for the first time. When we are rolling and I hear him laugh, I never know if he is laughing because he just hit a great move or his opponent hit him with a great move. He genuinely finds the joy in the art and the people that he is training with.

Scott truly represents what it means to be a black belt in BJJ and I am very proud to be able to put the belt around his waist. Congrats!

(I know there are a lot of people that would have liked to have been there for Scott. Unfortunately, we had a limit to how many people could be there. We just picked a day and made sure Hannah and several of his close friends and family to be there.)