BJJ

About BJJ:

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting with the goal of gaining a dominant position and using joint-locks and chokeholds to force an opponent to submit. It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person using leverage and proper technique can successfully defend themselves against a bigger, stronger assailant. BJJ can be trained for self defense, sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA..Vale Tudo) competition. Sparring (commonly referred to as ‘rolling’) and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition.

About Jason Goyer

I was first introduced to BJJ 5 years ago through a friend who had started taking lessons from a Carlson Gracie black belt. He invited me to join him for a class and I’ve loved it ever since. I found a school closer to home and joined Baltimore Martial Arts in Ellicott City, MD. BMA is a Pedro Sauer affiliate school and follows his curriculum. Pedro Sauer is a 7th degree red-black belt that learned BJJ from the creator of the art, Helio Gracie.

In March 2005, I found out that Royce Gracie was coming to Maryland to conduct a seminar. I decided to go because I knew it would be a rare opportunity to meet a legend in the sport. I was rolling with a blue belt at the seminar and submitted him. Royce happened to be watching and told me to “go get a blue belt”. I have since earned three stripes on my blue belt from Professor Pedro Sauer and hopefully will test soon for purple.

Because I enjoy this sport so much, I wanted to share my learnings with other people that are interested in BJJ. So, I founded Westminster Jiu-Jitsu.

WJJ’s curriculum is influenced by many great BJJ instructors and champions around the country including Pedro Sauer, Royce Gracie, Saulo Ribeiro, Mike Fowler and the founder of BJJ Helio Gracie.

Westminster Jiu-Jitsu students will develop well rounded martial arts skills while having fun and getting in shape at the same time.