Foundry Jiu Jitsu Academy

Big congrats to our competitors ranked in the IBJJF World Top 10 with several at #1. A major testament to your dedication, work ethic, technical skill, and the quality of the team. Well done all!

If YOU live in DC Metro or beyond and want to reach your full potential, please stop by and check us out.
⚒️+🔥=⚔️

Congrats to everyone on their promotions today! Beyond proud of each and everyone of our students every day for their commitment to bettering themselves and those around them. Long time coming for a lot of these guys and so much blood, sweat, and tears soaked into these belts. We all have a different journey but what is important is that we all help each other along the way. Love this team ❤️

Congratulations to our kids that were promoted/awarded this weekend! The demos were outstanding and the vibes were great 🎊 let’s keep up the hard work!

Kids belt promotions and awards are this Friday at 5pm! Make sure to be there! (Even if your child is not testing!) (Friday evening classes ✨canceled ✨)

Our summer adult belt promotions are this Saturday at 11am! Promotions will be followed by open mat! See you there!

Growing up I had a smart mouth and it seemed I always had to back it up against bigger and older kids. I was always fighting in and out of school. I was suspended multiple times and was always getting into trouble. I even had teachers say I would end up in prison.
Fortunately, getting into sports and then martial arts kept me busy, taught me respect and discipline and eventually I managed to stay out of trouble.
I began training in boxing back in 1983. I ended up with a pretty bad eye injury and terrible headaches in 1987 so I stopped and began doing judo and Japanese jiu jitsu at the age of 17. I trained and competed in that through high school, college, and graduate school.
I finally decided to try BJJ when I turned 30. I would drive 3.5 hours each way to train. I would train at Boston Brazilian in Watertown when I could afford the mat fee or I would train at MSA outside of Worcester which was an MMA gym that put out ufc fighters Keith Rockel, Mike Brown and Jorge Rivera to name a few. It was a small Intimate group and a great experience and worth the drive. I committed to this while juggling a full time job, 2 young kids, wife, house payment, and college debt.
Eventually, I met Jon Lamarche who had moved back from Southern California and had a blue belt. Nobody, and I mean *nobody* knew bjj back then and if you were a blue belt you were a deity. It was like playing with a toddler. Jon and I began training together and attracted a handful of others. We had to beg people to try jiu jitsu and most of them refused. So out of frustration and the challenge of driving 3.5 hours to train in Boston, Jon and I opened The Foundry in 2001. Jon started a family shortly after and kind of disappeared, so I was left to run things. I would save up to travel to seminars, go to California, do private lessons with Brazilians or my friend Aaron Blake, whenever possible, and compete every chance I’d get at local tournaments up to Pans and Worlds. The gym in Maine grew (we were the 2nd gym in the state- Boothbay was the first) and we had people coming from all over the state and beyond to train… (cont. in comments)

🚨 SCHEDULE FOR AUG 3-7 🚨
🚨 WEEKDAY KIDS CLASSES CANCELED 🚨

Monday/Friday: 12PM CLASS (All Levels)
Tuesday/Thursday: 7AM CLASS, 6PM CLASS (All Levels)
Wednesday: CLOSED
Saturday: Regular Schedule Resumes 🍾🎊

Big congrats to Dean, Mike, and Jason on their promotion to Blue Belt today. All have been grinding and fighting the good fight for a long time. Excellent work with the technique, gloves, and matches. Congrats!
⚒️+🔥=⚔️

Marshall Airways ✈️

Not sure where this kid learned to wrestle but it definitely wasn’t coach Ty 😅

📸: shadedblonde ❤️

Congratulations to Caelyn Huon and Mia Sierra-Price on taking silver and bronze at Kid Pans this past weekend! They battled through some tough matches into the medal rounds and both lost razor close matches in the finals and semis. Caelyn rounds off her time in the kids division as a Pan Kids 1x Champion and 4 time medalist. Mia makes her mark with a medal at her very first time competing at Pan Kids. Congrats girls!