West Coast Jiu-jitsu Gets Its Own Location

This past Wednesday, Louis (my manager and trainer) came to me and told me he found a great location for a new gym and that it was big enough for each of us to have our own individual areas in which we could run our businesses.

When I heard this, I was naturally excited at the prospect of having my own autonomous space for my dojo, but I didn't want to let myself get too excited. There are so many variables that must be considered to make things work. I didn't want expenses to go up so much that I had to raise fees, since I had already done so earlier this year. I wanted my own closed-off area. I wanted to make sure the commute didn't change drastically for my students. The list goes on.

As it turns out, the space is perfect for our needs. Our mat space will be about 25% bigger at the new location and I'll even have a front office to share with Louis. Here is a photo of where our new training area will be:


Over the past 3 years, I've built my dojo up from nothing to make it what it is today. Till now, I've been running my club out of other people's spaces. This is in fact my 5th location. One of my students even made me a joke t-shirt with my dojo logo on the front and "Tour de Richmond" on the back.

I started out sharing a warehouse space in central Richmond. I then relocated to a student's garage for a month before finding a space at a pilates studio in Steveston. Following that, the guys at Next Generation found me and offered me a space at their Boxing/MMA school. Now, Louis and I will be running our businesses out of a split unit just south of the Bridgeport Ikea in Richmond.

It feels good to have come so far and to be in a position that I can run my own dojo with its own space. I have many plans to make the new dojo the best it can be. I'll keep you all posted. Thanks to all who helped and offered to help with our move. :)

Here's a photo of our students doing one last attack before the move: