A few weeks back I read the Checkmat post regarding a school named A-team part of the Checkmat schools. I plan on having my kids try thier program when we move to Orange County next month. Earlier this year when we where on vacation we stopped at a few other schools in the area and they all seemd pretty good. I will confess I didnt know anything about this program. Does anyone out there know why this school is so successful yet not as well known as some of the others down there? Seems like they have been doing top notch training for many years but dont have the name reconition as the others down there. What little I could find via goolge they seem to be at the top year after year and won the NABJJF last week for the 6th time in a row by a huge margin over the other more well known schools. Any input would be great.
Orange County Kids for Jiu Jitsu and A-Team Jiu Jitsu
- Thread starter Enoy
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I'm in Northern California and a former teammate has a daughter that is really competitive. He raves about ATeam. I think it starts with the coach there.
Thank you for the input. I spoke to my kids instructor tonight and he highly recommended A-team as his first choice in Orange County even if the drive might be a bit further from Costa Mesa then I would like. We had a good laugh because he thought the school was in LA and thats why he didnt include it on our list when we came down prior.
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Isn't Art of Jiu Jitsu in Costa Mesa?
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Why?
HuntingtonBeach
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Ali from A-team taught the kids class at Cleber Jiu-Jitsu back in the day. When opened his school alot of the top kids left Clebers and when to his school. I heard that when AOJ opened alot of his top kids left not sure if thats true or not though. Either way hes very good at getting kids to listen and drill.
deadlizard
The staff there was super great and really friendly. The school is beautiful inside. But goodness the parking was nonexistent. Maybe if I actually trained in BJJ my impression I walked away from there after separate visits might be different. But I can only base it on me as a parent, interacting with some of the “non-staff,” there and will leave it at that.
The staff there was super great and really friendly. The school is beautiful inside. But goodness the parking was nonexistent. Maybe if I actually trained in BJJ my impression I walked away from there after separate visits might be different. But I can only base it on me as a parent, interacting with some of the “non-staff,” there and will leave it at that.
HuntingtonBeach
As a business guy, I think you just swayed me. If he taught the top kids at Cleber, those kids followed him to his own school, some of those then left to AOJ and he is still at or near the top, then that means as a instructor he is more than top notch because that means the prodcut keeps coming out of the factory from scratch reagrdless if people come or go. I would aslo make the leap, that since he is not as well known as some of the big name teachers in So Cal, he isnt in it for the fame versus the love to teach top notch jiu jitsu.
As a business guy, I think you just swayed me. If he taught the top kids at Cleber, those kids followed him to his own school, some of those then left to AOJ and he is still at or near the top, then that means as a instructor he is more than top notch because that means the prodcut keeps coming out of the factory from scratch reagrdless if people come or go. I would aslo make the leap, that since he is not as well known as some of the big name teachers in So Cal, he isnt in it for the fame versus the love to teach top notch jiu jitsu.
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I don't train at AOJ or work there but I am subscribed to their website.
I doubt that a no name guy has a level of jiu jitsu close to the Mendes brothers.
What was your complaint about the non-stuff?
yetanother
Im not sure I can agree with you. If your statement was true, then the same has to be true that only Michael Jordan or Terry Bradshaw types can be successful coaches. But we know that is not true. It would also mean that our politicans in DC are all top notch because they win re-election year after year with name reconition. But we know that anit true either. Yet some not as well know instructor as the Mendes Brothers consistently is at the top or near top year after year it seems with a small school. Bear Bryant, one of the greatest if not greatest college coaches in history zero time in the pros. Pat Riley of your Lakers didnt have a great NBA career either.
Me who knows zero about Jiu Jitsu history and my knowledge is so limited about the top people I think makes it easier for me to peel back the onion looking at a small school with a small amout of kids yet is at the top year after year. How do you explain that?
Im not sure I can agree with you. If your statement was true, then the same has to be true that only Michael Jordan or Terry Bradshaw types can be successful coaches. But we know that is not true. It would also mean that our politicans in DC are all top notch because they win re-election year after year with name reconition. But we know that anit true either. Yet some not as well know instructor as the Mendes Brothers consistently is at the top or near top year after year it seems with a small school. Bear Bryant, one of the greatest if not greatest college coaches in history zero time in the pros. Pat Riley of your Lakers didnt have a great NBA career either.
Me who knows zero about Jiu Jitsu history and my knowledge is so limited about the top people I think makes it easier for me to peel back the onion looking at a small school with a small amout of kids yet is at the top year after year. How do you explain that?
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I don't have any experience with running a kids competition team so I can't really tell what makes a winning kids team.
I For adults the main reason that top level guys like the Mendes Brothers are a league beyond someone like Master Ali (is Master his real name?) as instructors is that they have the technical knowledge.
The reason the Mendes brother have won so many titles isn't because they are freak athletes, it's because they have (re)invented a lot of the modern jiu jitsu.
You can't really teach something you don't know.
How can Master Ali teach me the "knee on belly" position if based on the youtube video I have seen of him rolling he can't do it properly?
In jiu jitsu technique is the most important factor and the top guys have >100x better technique then the average black belt.
When training with my coach (in Europe) who is a decent black belt I often have questions (and so does my coach after training 10+ years) that we don't know the answer too.
Does it matter if your kid is learning inferior jiu jitsu, most likely not if it's done just for fun.
Master Ali could be great at motivation children, teaching them respect for the opponents etc.
Is the Art of Jiu Jitsu the right place for a kid?
I can't tell having never been there.
The hero worship that seems to be done at the AOJ is a bit discouraging (Imagine a kids team being taught by Michael Jordan).
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I trained with Ali (head instructor at A-Team) back in the days. Ali is not an accomplished BJJ competitor, but he is a great coach especially to kids. I would not hesitate to send my kids to study under Ali.
A lot of his kid students (including the Ruotolo twin) jumped ship to study under Mendes Bros when they opened AOJ back in 2012.
A lot of his kid students (including the Ruotolo twin) jumped ship to study under Mendes Bros when they opened AOJ back in 2012.
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This is what I heard as well. For all of the people comparing Mendes Bros knowledge to Ali's, I don't think the Mendes Bros actually teach the kids classes. I love Mendes Bros game(they have the best site on the net IMO), but don't seem to have the personality to be effective with a wide assortment of kids. I used to coach soccer and the skills of coaching young kids was a whole different skillset than coaching motivated,competitive adults.
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huh? i know you like to talk trash on Mendes Bros (for whatever reason), but make sure you get your facts straight.
Both Gui and Rafa teach the Kids Comp class 5 x week. They also teach teen class 2 x week. They are both really good teachers to the kids as evidence on how much the kids love them.
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I talk trash about the Mendes Bros? When? They by far have the best instruction of any of the online sites.I'm a fan of their BJJ. I was obviously mistaken in how many kids classes they teach. I apologize for that.
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Hi Enoy that was actually a post I put up. I have had the pleasure to sit and observe at the Mendes Academy and the Ateam Checkmat Academy. I was only there for one day at Ateam and been to the other twice. The Mendes Academy dwarfs the size of the Checkmat School and maybe 4-1 in child student ratio or more. That was the intriguing part for me. A school with many less students winning over much larger schools consistently or near the top. My humble observation was the Mendes school was much more serious and drive intensive. The other school serious but on a lesser level and the kids
