School Policies
Our school values openness, inclusion and a positive attitude. We believe you should train with everyone, and that everyone is welcome on the mat. Jiu-jitsu is about helping the student achieve their goals, and we’ll never let student development take a back seat to anything.
What You Need To Know About Class Expectations
Come to class willing to learn, train hard and respect everyone. The great Dave Camarillo has said that he has just one rule in the gym: respect. We want to have a fun, welcoming environment that emphasizes learning and mutual improvement. Here are few specifics:
Come with a clean gi — it’s important that you wash your gi & belt after every class. There is no requirement for gi color or style. If you do not have a gi, you may be able to borrow one for your first class or two.
Come with a clean body with trimmed fingernails and toenails. It’s grappling, so we don’t want to scratch each other up.
Currently, we are routing all prospective new students through our Intro to BJJ program. If you’re a white belt, whether you have experience or not, your journey at Bellingham BJJ will start with our Intro series.
If you are a blue belt or higher, you’re welcome to join the academy for regular classes without joining our Intro series.
What You Need To Know About Team Affiliation and Promotions For Bellingham BJJ Students
We believe affiliation is a personal choice, and an important one. Loyalty develops with time and trust, and everyone should respect the relationship a student has with their instructor. This means two things to us at Bellingham BJJ regarding students who come to us with previous training experience.
- Whoever you are and whatever your affiliation and instructor, you are welcome to train with us. You don’t have to remove patches from your gi (or buy ours), you don’t have to switch affiliations, and you certainly don’t have to give up your instructor relationship – we wouldn’t want you to! We want you to learn and progress! – we just want you to train, and we want you to know you’re welcome to train here regardless of school or team affiliation. You can train here temporarily or permanently if you choose.
- We want the person you consider your instructor to promote you. That means if you’re here temporarily (say, for college), but consider someone back home your instructor, that’s cool – we won’t try to promote you, at least not without your instructor’s explicit knowledge and consent. That also means if you train here and start to consider us your instructors, we will happily welcome you into our lineage. Our head instructor, Jeff Shaw, has a Jiu-Jitsu lineage through Seth Shamp (owner of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Vermont) who received his black belt from Royce Gracie.
Speaking of Belts …
Our belt requirements are re-evaluated every season, as we develop our understanding of how best to structure the curriculum. Here are the most recent versions of:
Frequently Asked Questions:
Should I Come Train?: Yes.
What if I’m Out of Shape? Should I Get in Shape First?: No, just come train.
What if I’m Brand New, With No Athletic or Martial Arts Background?: Come train.
What if I’m a Black Belt World Champion?: Please come train.
What if I Have a Different Affiliation?: Come train.
What if I Have a Team Patch on My Gi From A Different Team?: Come train.
What if I Have This Thing on My Skin That Looks Infected?: Don’t come train. Go to the doctor.