Question about NJ BJJ acadamies.

[MJM676]

First, I just need to point out how lucky I am in my area. Within 5-10 minutes of my house in Toms River, NJ, I have a Serra Brown Belt and 2 Ricardo Almeida Black belts with seperate schools teaching BJJ. If I wanted to drive 20 more minutes I have Kurt Pelligrino's new school and Jason Scully"s Grappler's Guide Academy. Stand up? In my town there is a boxing gym run by a former IBC Middleweight Champ. And a few other schools to boot.
My question for all you hardcore grapplers is, what school or instructor is most impressive to you? I know the first thing people will say is "Go take an introductory class and see what works for you". I know this and will be taking the intro at all the schools. In the meantime I am curious as to which you might think is the most attractive choice. If you know who the instructors are or the schools in question, which are turning out the better BJJ players in competition? Which have the better reputation in the BJJ community? Does a Serra/Almeida BB teach a more progressive form of BJJ than the other?
I don't really know anyone in the BJJ community so any kind of info would be helpful.Thanks.

www.ocbjj.com Tom DeBlass, Ricardo Almeida Black Belt

Welcome to Madama Jiu-Jitsu - Home Of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Training - Toms River Ocean County New Jersey 08753 Josh Madama, Serra Brown Belt

NJ BJJ - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Center - Ocean County New Jersey 08753 - BillScottBJJ.com Bill Scott< Ricardo Almeida Black Belt

[grdstorm11]

Originally Posted by MJM676

First, I just need to point out how lucky I am in my area. Within 5-10 minutes of my house in Toms River, NJ, I have a Serra Brown Belt and 2 Ricardo Almeida Black belts with seperate schools teaching BJJ. If I wanted to drive 20 more minutes I have Kurt Pelligrino's new school and Jason Scully"s Grappler's Guide Academy. Stand up? In my town there is a boxing gym run by a former IBC Middleweight Champ. And a few other schools to boot.
My question for all you hardcore grapplers is, what school or instructor is most impressive to you? I know the first thing people will say is "Go take an introductory class and see what works for you". I know this and will be taking the intro at all the schools. In the meantime I am curious as to which you might think is the most attractive choice. If you know who the instructors are or the schools in question, which are turning out the better BJJ players in competition? Which have the better reputation in the BJJ community? Does a Serra/Almeida BB teach a more progressive form of BJJ than the other?
I don't really know anyone in the BJJ community so any kind of info would be helpful.Thanks.

www.ocbjj.com Tom DeBlass, Ricardo Almeida Black Belt

Welcome to Madama Jiu-Jitsu - Home Of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Training - Toms River Ocean County New Jersey 08753 Josh Madama, Serra Brown Belt

NJ BJJ - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Center - Ocean County New Jersey 08753 - BillScottBJJ.com Bill Scott< Ricardo Almeida Black Belt

Honestly i don't think you can compare a BJJ instructor by looking at who their instructor is. Obviously there will be a heavy influence but the beauty of BJJ is that people develop their own fighting and teaching style as they grow in the art.

[EternalRag3]

wow Tom's River is a mini mecca.

Good to know.

[Glen Sonnabend]

I train at Madama Jiu Jitsu, I am a purple belt under Josh, promoted by Nick Serra a couple months ago.

I promise that you will be very satisfied if you check out our academy. There isn't anything else even comparable in the area and not many other schools in the entire state that have the quality instruction that Josh provides.

Also, you wont find an instructor as dedicated and commited as Josh. Jiu Jitsu is his passion and he is working dilligently on achieving his black belt under Matt Serra. He still travels up to NYC 2x per week to train with Matt and the guys up in Long Island. The Serras have a very strict belt system, and being a brown (or even a blue) belt under the Serras or Josh is huge, and something to be very proud of. Not many schools hold up to those standards nowadays in the 'mainstream era.'

Jiu jitsu is our main focus. It always has and always will be. We compete in BJJ tournaments as a team regularly, and we train MMA as well. Im actually going to be fighting tomorrow with a teammate of mine in Atlantic City. Madama really does offer everything you could ask for. We have top quality jiu jitsu instructors, outstanding wrestlers, some accomplished muay thai guys, but most importantly: we are a family.

Also, we have class 6x per week, 2x per day on most days.

Come in and check the place out. I could go on for days talking about how proud I am of our school but nothing does it justice like coming in to watch class or talking to Josh himself. Also, there are several other guys who train with us lurking on these forums who can testify for Josh and our school.

732-597-1917 to contact Josh about setting up an intro.

[SuperSuperRambo]

Serra and Almeida are both black belts under Renzo in the first place, so the style of bjj taught at each school probably won't be radically different from the other. The main difference would probably be the instructor's teaching style, not what he teaches. As far as reputation, I've never heard of any of the three, but then again I doubt anyone knows my instructors either and they are both black belts.

Competition record, I don't know. But if you're interested in training for competition, that would be something to get info on. Some schools emphasize competition more than others.

[MJM676]

Thanks for the feedback everybody.

Good luck, Sonnabend.

[mikishman]

I was on vacation this weekend near Toms River NJ (LBI) and was looking for a place to train. I had an opportunity to train at Madama Jiu Jitsu. I can say that the school is top knotch and the environment is friendly and Josh Madama (Serra BB) is a very capable and knowledgeable instructor. I was able to stop by for Friday and Saturday classes. Before I went in I figured everyone would try to take my head off because I am a purple belt and was just visiting for the weekend. That was not the case at all. As soon as I walked in the door I was greeted by Josh and felt right at home. I rolled with as many students as I could on both days that I was there and they are very skilled and also friendly. At the end of both classes (after open mats and most people had left) I rolled with Josh for at least 30mins. Also he knows BJJ extremely well and his instruction was excellent. He was able to answer any and all questions that I had in an easy to understand way. Now I have some good new moves to add to my repertoire. Next time I visit the area I will definitely come back to Madama Jiu Jitsu. Also he has a very good Muay Thai class which I also took. I am a purple belt under Mike Wacker/Steve Kardian (Team Balance).

[JitsuGene]

OCBJJ for sure! Tom competed in the ADCC this year.

[Kimuralex]

Many times a student of a teacher will have a completely different style from the instructor, different ideas and philosophies and etc. so its hard to gauge "which belt under X instructor has Y style".

However, Jason Scully posts here and on other forums and is a really cool guy and always competes, Personally I would check out his school even if its a little further then the couple others. Hes also under LI branch and LI is killing it all over right now.

[Brad Boulton]

I train under a Prof Ricardo black belt and at Prof Ricardos gym too in NJ. Both are exceptional places.

But for OCBJJ I have also met Prof Tom Deblass and he is an outstanding fighter, competitor, and teacher. Def recommend his place.