Dear friends:
First, and always most important, thank you. It’s been an enormous comfort (and often a relief!) to hear your gracious and generous reactions to the choices we’ve had to make to keep everyone safe and #flattenthecurve in Whatcom County.
The newest reporting suggests that this might be a longer haul than any of us planned. Although we will be — literally — governed by the state’s decisions about when it is safe to open, we will also be guided by the best public health practices as we learn more about the novel coronavirus.
As ever, we are utterly committed to a safe training environment, and that includes things that can’t be resolved with an armbar. (And who knew that armbars couldn’t solve every problem? We’re all learning all the time.)
Here’s the latest news:
We expect the academy to be closed until May 1 at the earliest.
Coincidentally, May 1 will be our first anniversary. If we can reopen then (which we hope to), expect some wild celebration.
What that means for you and the future of the academy:
Thanks to you all (and your referrals to friends, and the speed of our growth in the past year), Betsy, Dave and I have the financial reserves to keep our space open for the foreseeable future without collecting dues.
We want to be totally transparent, so forgive a little TMI about what this means for us and our community:
Although we are committed to ongoing digital classes, Jeff and Dave will not draw their teaching pay until we reopen the doors. In order to support our corps of instructors, we will continue to pay non-owner instructors if/when they step in to teach our digital classes.
The financial reserves we’ll use to keep the academy open have been part of our plan for the future, which includes buying a building to permanently house the academy (with shower and laundry facilities!), expanding class offerings, and subsidizing the cost of bringing world champions and brilliant practitioners to town while keeping seminar fees affordable.
Until the academy reopens for training, we will NOT automatically charge cards or collect dues. Your memberships will be there when you get back. And we will be back.
We know this is an uncertain time for everyone..
We would rather train with you in the long term — and know that the people in our academy feel seen, respected and taken care of — than take your money in the short term. Our good fortune in being able to cover these costs is, after all, thanks to you and your investment in our community over the past 10 and a half months. We want to honor that. Current Intro to BJJ Folks: Our Intro to BJJ curriculum will continue live as soon as the academy re-opens. This means you’ll get the full 8 weeks of your membership and don’t need to worry about any additional costs or charges at all. As for Incoming Intro to BJJ folks signed up for April, we currently plan to run that class in May. Your registration will be automatically transferred to that session, unless you’re no longer able to take the class and would like a refund. If so, let Jeff know.
But several of our regulars have already offered to keep paying dues, or some portion of dues, while we’re closed. Thank you.
For everyone who has offered, via email or on Facebook, Jeff has you on the list. If you would like to join these folks in supporting the academy by continuing to pay dues during the closure, please fill out this form.
We’re grateful for the support, and especially for the reasons y’all have given for offering it:
From Tori James: Whatcom County has waited a long time for a place like Bellingham BJJ. We are fortunate to have amazing coaches, seminars, and training partners. It’s been exciting to see the exponential growth of Bellingham BJJ in less than a year.
Who knows how long we will need to have safety restrictions in place. But I know I’m not the only one who would be truly disappointed to not have Bellingham BJJ waiting for us on the other end.
From Euphrates Green: As someone who has been doing Jiu-Jitsu in this area for 14 years (and have seen the highs and lows of it in this area), you are getting much more than just a membership. You are getting a community and culture that is, bar none, the most enjoyable I’ve ever been a part of. Again, this isn’t just about paying for a product but investing in your art, culture, and community.
Hell, Bellingham BJJ is probably responsible for Black Sheep being in the (pun intended) “black” financially…🤣
Whether or not you’re able to help us out financially in this difficult time, we will continue doing the following for everyone:
- We will continue teaching two virtual classes EVERY DAY and putting all of those videos online for members. We’ve had some lively discussion in the comments, too, where people ask questions and We troubleshoot moves in real time! The classes will be streamed at 11:30 and 6 p.m. each weekday and posted at youtube.com/dirtywhitebelt.
- Omoplatapalooza: Jeff is joining forces with Josh Murdock, Jake Whitfield and Chris Garcia (on video production) to produce a full-length, 3.5 hour instructional on the omoplata. It’s going to be a righteous exploration of the position that will be provided for free to you, our members and community.
- Jeff will also be posting videos by request. If there’s something you’ve always wanted to learn, or aren’t clear on, consider this the chance for a free private lesson, albeit a remote one. Whatever the topic you want to cover — rule sets, solo drills, lineage, academy etiquette — you name it, you got it.
But what if you want to support the academy in intangible ways?
- Keep training.
Pick one person (max. two) and make them your regular training partner at this time. Join us to drill on the live streams, and/or train on your own time. Keep your circles of exposure small until the medical and scientific communities can do their work and come up with effective treatments and a vaccine so that our whole community is protected. Practice solo drills. Practice your stand-up. Grapple your dog or kid (our basset hounds are getting really good at shrimping). Go through your notes! If you don’t have home mats and are interested in some, here is an inexpensive option from a family-owned business we know. - Keep your good habits and contribute to our community.
Please keep tuning in for the daily livestream and participating in order to keep the habit of dedicating part of your day to your jiu-jitsu practice.
Keep in touch with your training partners (AT A DISTANCE, please; that’s the whole point of all of this sacrifice). This is a hard time; we have to check in on each other. On that note: If you’re struggling, lonely or just bored, please reach out to us or to your regular partners. We’re going to have to get through this together. - Keep believing in the future.
Add to our academy’s Spotify playlists! We can all look forward to new jams for training when we get back.
Betsy asked people on FB to “imagine your best-case scenario of what post-COVID daily life could be like in four years.”
We really like Jesse Johns’ vision: I’m standing at parade rest on the mats with my fellow Bellingham BJJ students.
Jeff Shaw is making announcements about the new gym space we’ve moved to so we can accommodate 500 active students.
He turns to Dave Porter and asks if he has anything to add. Dave stands in silent consideration for a moment with his arms crossed and posture flag pole straight.
He shakes his head no and replies “let’s get some training in”.
We partner up and train, happy that we get to do that thing called jiu jitsu.
We are committed to re-opening Bellingham BJJ as soon as it is safe to do so. We hope that’s May 1, but we’re preparing a PACE (Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency) plan for our operations in case this situation drags out in the epidemiologists’ worst-case scenarios.
We’ll be honest: We have some concerns about how dynamic this situation may be, and the level of sacrifice and change that it will require before it’s safe to resume normal activities.
Having so many of you reach out, to us and to each other, makes it all less worrying.
So thank you. Again. And again. We’re lucky to have each other.
Best,
Jeff, Dave and Betsy