Farmington Valley Jiu-Jitsu School Arms USJ Students With Self Defense Lessons

Written by Samuel Turgeon

USJ’s students are not to be messed with.

On March 22nd, Gracie Farmington Valley hosted a Jiu-Jitsu seminar for USJ students on campus. Two Jiu-Jitsu practitioners named Joseph and James led the seminar, and about 20 students attended. The event focused on escaping from attackers who might attempt to grab at students’ arms or wrists.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was founded by the Gracie family, the namesake of Gracie Farmington Valley, and was pioneered by Royce Gracie in the very first UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) event.  Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu primarily focuses on grappling and submission techniques, which smaller individuals can easily employ in dangerous encounters.

During the seminar, the instructors provided students with tools to prevent themselves from being controlled against their will. They emphasized leverage and balance, which can give a smaller person a better chance of escape from a larger individual.

Students then broke into pairs and small groups to practice escaping from various wrist grabs. Students received instructions on how to combat an attacker who grabs their arm with either one or two hands. These instructions included crouching down to develop a better sense of balance and working to wrench their arm free at the weakest point of their attacker’s grip. During this segment of the seminar, both Joseph and James were available for questions and further advice about the techniques.

The seminar ended with a more formal series of student questions, in which the instructors elaborated on grappling techniques that could be used to avoid specific kinds of attacks. A major concept established was “red zone – green zone.” Red zones refer to locations in space from where an assailant could successfully control or do damage to a victim. Green zones are safe locations that are located either far away or extremely close to an attacker. In order to avoid red zones, the instructors emphasized the “clinch position”: a kind of hug-like position where the victim stays close to their attacker in order to stay safe from any significant punches or other strikes.

Following the seminar, Joseph was kind enough to stop for a brief interview. When asked about his greatest piece of advice for freshman or young students who are leaving home, he advocated for students to “understand that although the world is dangerous, and there is danger out there, that there are things that they can do in order to mitigate their own exposure to that danger. And to not allow it to put them into a place where they’re unwilling to go places and do things and experience stuff for fear of that danger.” He suggested that although danger will likely be ever-present in the world, all individuals have the power to prevent themselves from being “soft-targets” and to arm themselves with the knowledge and tools to dissuade attackers. He also emphasized that individuals listen to their intuition and avoid areas or people that provoke gut-feeling senses of uneasiness.

When asked about the effectiveness of Jiu-Jitsu in comparison to other martial arts, Joseph elaborated on a number of different advantages. One major aspect of this comparison is the effectiveness of Jiu-Jitsu against attackers of a disproportionate size. “If you have a 120 pound boxer and a 220 pound boxer, even if the 120 pound boxer can strike the 220 pound boxer ten times to his one, that one [strike] may be all he needs.” Joseph then elaborated that many self-defense situations can force victims into grappling situations with their attackers. Assailants who are attempting to kidnap or control their victim will likely grab victims or attempt to pick them up. In situations like these, knowledge of grappling and Jiu-Jitsu is crucial to survival.

Gracie Farmington Valley will be returning to USJ for a women’s self defense seminar on April 25th, which will include grappling with an attacker on the ground and in-depth explanations of how to respond if an attacker succeeds in bringing the fight to the floor.

The Gracie Farmington Valley gym can be found at the following link: https://graciefarmingtonvalley.com/