Cornerstone BJJ - Delavan

Cornerstone BJJ - Delavan We are the premier martial arts academy in Walworth County, WI, welcoming all members of our community to join us and learn the art of Jiu-Jitsu.

With adult's, kids' and women's only classes we have options for the whole family.

We know it's not always easy, but don't let your kids quit if you want to instill the martial artist values like discipl...
09/15/2026

We know it's not always easy, but don't let your kids quit if you want to instill the martial artist values like discipline, persistence and fortitude and quaities like confidence and kindness.

This past Saturday we sent 3 fighters to the Combat Corner competiton in Milwaukee.Andrew Trace beat 2 extremely tough B...
09/14/2026

This past Saturday we sent 3 fighters to the Combat Corner competiton in Milwaukee.

Andrew Trace beat 2 extremely tough BJJ black belts to take Gold, with the 2nd match being extremely hard fought against a former pro fighter. Andrew works as hard as anyone we know so its not a surprise to us to see him beat people higher ranked than he.

Tony Picozzi performed very well in his first competition, losing both matches mostly because he was the person to take the risk when the matches were stuck in stalemate. The risks didnt pan out that day, but the learning required to sharpen those techniques will in the long run undoubtedly.

Dominic Smith took bronze in his Gi division winning winning one and losing one. Dominic has developed ALOT of skill and be on the watch out for his developing triangle proficiency, a pattern he continues to recognize but not quite able to secure submissions with yet. But will very soon!

Very proud of this team!!!

After settling in back at home, we've now a moment to reflect on the events of last week. Cornerstone brought 4 athletes...
09/09/2026

After settling in back at home, we've now a moment to reflect on the events of last week. Cornerstone brought 4 athletes to the IBJJF World Master Championship in Las Vegas. We came back with 4 medals in 6 brackets, an accomplishment we're extremely proud of.

Just over 3 years ago, as a husband and wife team, we took over running our jiu-jitsu academy in the small town of Delavan, Wisconsin. Even before that, wrestling taught many of the adult classes ourselves since 2021, as blue belts.

We joined the Lovato Association in the fall of 2023 as a purple and newly minted brown belt and are extremely fortunate to have Professor Rafael Lovato Jr. guiding and supporting us from Oklahoma City. However, we have not had a black belt coaching us on the mats and helping our competition development day in and day out for most of our jiu-jitsu career. We are rarely just students. Rather, we spend most of our mat time developing our own students...white belts in their first few months learning how to move their bodies, blue belts feeling stuck in their progression after attaining the coveted colored belt, getting purple belts in on time for warmups! The evolution of our skill and body of knowledge comes largely from studying instructionals and testing new techniques in live sparring alongside the hours of dinnertime conversation we have dissecting our rounds, competition matches and talking through moves we want to work on.

Of course we both wanted the gold for ourselves, but we couldn't be happier to see our student, Jim, claiming the first in history for the Cornerstone Team.

While he didn't make the podium, our longtime teammate, Jacob, competed in Master 1 Brown Belt. Any M1 division is going to be a challenge and his was no exception. He won his first but lost the second to the number 2 seed. Seeing the obstacles he overcame last year and his relentless dedication to training, we know his trajectory is limitless.

We're both happy with our bronzes as we know this is just the beginning for ourselves and our students.

Our small crew from a small town showed that we can dream big and that we have the skills to support those dreams.

Most important part in the comments 😁

We made it to Vegas for Master Worlds!Being "old people" competitors, we fly in 2 days early to acclimate. We started th...
09/02/2026

We made it to Vegas for Master Worlds!

Being "old people" competitors, we fly in 2 days early to acclimate. We started the morning off right with some espresso and a 3 mile walk.

Next up is a sauna and ice bath session to finish up recovery from travel and then a light mobility session.

Steak dinner, another 8 hours of sleep, and we'll be ready to roll tomorrow!

Check out the Cornerstone Master competitors on FloGrappling, Thomas Schmitzer Rachel Llanas Jacob Poulicakos and Jim Peltier , as we storm the convention center and put on display all that we've been working towards over the last several months.

First scheduled match for each of us is on the 2nd slide. Updates to come over the next few days!

Competitive sports offer an obvious outlet for challenges and reaching the flow state. Csíkszentmihályi comments: “The r...
08/27/2026

Competitive sports offer an obvious outlet for challenges and reaching the flow state. Csíkszentmihályi comments: “The roots of the word ‘compete’ are the Latin con petire, which meant ‘to seek together.’ What each person seeks is to actualize her potential, and this task is made easier when others force us to do our best.”

Tsatsouline, Pavel. Kettlebell Axe: High Speed, Low Drag Alternative to HIIT (p. 133). Kindle Edition.

It was an eventful weekend for the Cornerstone Comp Team. We had 7 competitors attend the IBJJF Chicago Summer Open and ...
08/09/2026

It was an eventful weekend for the Cornerstone Comp Team. We had 7 competitors attend the IBJJF Chicago Summer Open and compete across 10 brackets.

Alex McNall in his first IBJJF comp took 🥉 in the Adult Blue Ultra Heavy. He then won his qualifier in the Open Class but lost in the quarterfinals.

Jacob Poulicakos took 🥉🥉 in both the Master 1 Brown Belt Heavy Weight and Open Class.

Andrew Trace went 1-1 to take 🥈 in the Master 2 Brown Belt Heavy Weight.

Joe Pelnar also had his IBJJF debut going down to Master 3 White Belt Medium Heavy and won both his matches to take 🥇.

Rachel Llanas won her Master 3 Brown Belt Light Weight match by submission to take 🥇.

Thomas Schmitzer went 1-1 to take 🥈 in the Master 4 Brown Belt Medium Heavy bracket.

Jim Peltier was the third to make his IBJJF debut and took double 🥇🥇 in the Master 5 Blue Belt Super Heavy Weight and Open Class. He finished all his opponents by submission with 3 in less than a minute.

As always, thanks Justin Lemke for the coaching and support. 🙏

No one likes the losses but they are fuel for the 🔥 as we get ready for the next.

Thomas Schmitzer Rachel Llanas and Jacob Poulicakos have 3 more weeks of prep before Master Worlds in Vegas! LET'S GO!!!!!!

05/18/2026

Sensei makes it look easy.

class on Saturday was 🔥 , chaining osoto gari with ouchi gari and more.

Join us for judo every Saturday and level up your takedown game.

Address

117 Park Place
Delavan, WI
53115

Opening Hours

Monday 5:15pm - 8:30pm
Tuesday 11:45am - 1:30pm
5:15pm - 8:30pm
Wednesday 11:45am - 1:30pm
5:15pm - 8:35pm
Thursday 11:45am - 1:30pm
5:15pm - 8:30pm
Friday 11:45am - 1:30pm
Saturday 9am - 1pm

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