Sam Kressin (North County BJJ, San Diego)

[TheVandalz]

Hey guys!

Well, I am moving to Fabio (Santos) Jiu Jitsu after the new year and have a good friend of mine that wanted to move over to Fabio's with me. Anywhos, he lives in North country and isn't attracted to the long commute. Well he happens across northcountybjj.com and Sam Kressin. I've seen the man compete before and hes a good grappler, I've seen better but that doesn't mean hes not a good trainer, however I know nothing about teh calabur of his instruction. I want my friend to start grappling so when we hang out on weekends we can roll and he can come with me to competitions (to compete or not, not really concerned).

Other than having seen Sam Kressin go at it in competition, I really know nothing about the guy. Has anyone had any experience with him? Know him or currently train with him? Apparently he does no-gi and bjj training with a slight focus on MMA (there is no muay thai or boxing instruction, Sam says its all BJJ and Wrestling but they do striking mixed in with it but its not a main focus of his instruction). I just want to know if this is a good place for my buddy who has very little training (he did HS wrestling and a few months of Kempo with me several years back, before he left for japan with the military). Should I give Sam Kressin the thumbs up for my friend?

 

[hoppy760]

Nobody ever answered your post. Well, I am 4-1/2 years late but can give you some insight. I've met Sam once. Didn't roll with him but he's trained with some good guys: He used to train with Jeff Clark with North County Fight Club. He also received his black recently from Chris Hauterer. (sp)?

 

[Bruzkee]

Haha, a bit late. TS is probably training somewhere by now.

Anyway, Sam did not train with Jeff Clark at NCFC. He was teaching BJJ at North County Martial Arts, which is a traditional Tang Soo Do and Karate school. At that time he was a brown belt that had trained under Joao Morais in Hawaii. When he moved back to California, he trained at a couple different school, but started training directly under Chris Haueter. Now he has his own martial arts gym in Carlsbad called Martial Arts Life / Rot Iron Sports. He also received his black belt from Chris, a couple of years ago.

I've been training under Sam for about 3.5 years now. Our gym is also the only gym in San Diego county that offers the Crazy Monkey Defense System and authentic Catch Wrestling. He trains under Chris Haueter for jiu-jitsu, Rodney King for CMD, and Billy Robinson for catch wrestling. For more information on our gym, go to Marital Arts Life Coaching - Home, or feel free to PM me. I also help instruct jiu-jitsu and CMD at the gym.

 

[hoppy760]

He may not have trained directly under Jeff Clark, but he did train there at Jeff's place occassionally.

 

[SamKressin]

Hi the information Bruzkee posted is correct. Hoppy760 I think you are confusing me with someone else. I have NEVER TRAINED with Jeff Clark and I have never trained at his place and I've never even met Jeff Clark to my recollection. I'm sure he's an awesome guy and have heard only the best of things about him. There was a Marine named Chris Cichy that trained in my BJJ classes around 05 and 06 who earned a blue belt from me and I believe he trained at the NCFC several times and with Jeff Clark a few times. But I have never been there.

The only Clark I can think of that I ever trained with was the maybe two times I rolled with Clark Gracie at Rodrigo Medeiros's school in Pacific Beach sometime around late 03.

I am good friends with Michio Grubbs (who I think knows Jeff Clark) and have trained with Michio many times at his location off of Shadow Ridge in Vista. In fact I introduced Michio to Chris Haueter who eventually awarded him his Black Belt.