Our “Soft Launch” Re-Opening Plan For Oct. 1

Jiu-jitsu is about adaptation. We’ve all had to adapt to change in the past six months, and personally, I consider that a test of jiu-jitsu: Finding efficient, effective ways to do important things. 

Everyone wants to get back to regular training. We hope that will happen sooner rather than later. Just like in jiu-jitsu, though, it’s important to have a best-case scenario plan … and then a check-down list with plans for every contingency. So that’s what we’re doing! 

As you know, we’ve committed to getting back to regular indoor classes ONLY when Whatcom County hits Phase 3. (We’re currently hosting outdoor classes, weekly streams, and other events that have been deemed safe or relatively low-risk by the Health Department.)

We’ve been able to do outdoor classes in summer, and we’ll continue to do this, but we need a plan for fall and winter, too. It’s really important to me that we provide value to our hardworking jiu-jitsu students, so we’ve come up with a plan where, even if we’re not in Phase 3 by Oct. 1, we can return to training both legally AND safely. We will pilot some of these changes in September to work out the kinks.

We will get to the schedule in a bit. Here are some of the upgrades to the academy and changes in procedure that we’ll be doing no matter what once we re-open:

• All classes live-streamed for students who can’t make it or do not feel comfortable returning to training just yet (with online participation for these students);
• Medical-grade HEPA air filters in each mat room;
• Professionally cleaning the entire academy before we return to training, and enhanced cleaning procedures after every class;
• All doors and windows open with fans circulating air during all classes;
• No-touch temperature check for all students attending class, with hand sanitizing stations throughout the academy;
• Instructors and students in masks at all times — you can get a free (and stylish!) Bellingham BJJ from us;
• Outdoor classes where possible, with taped-off, socially distant mat areas. 

There’s more, of course, but those are some highlights. We will do those things even if we DO get to Phase 3 by October 1. 

The major issue, though, with getting back to regular training: Group classes indoors have strict limits. It’s neither legal nor safe during a pandemic to have large group classes inside. How, then, can we run a full schedule with effective training while — as we’ve pledged — meeting or exceeding legal health and safety requirements? 

We’ve given this a lot of thought, and we’ve met with medical experts, the county health department, and folks with the city (as well as a bunch of smart jiu-jitsu folks to get creative ideas). As I’m writing this, it’s Aug. 27, and the health guidance for fitness facilities was just updated again yesterday, so this could change. Of course once we beat this pandemic, we’ll return to our regular training schedule, which you can see here (this is what we’ll do once the pandemic is over). That’s Plan A … and we WILL get back to that, eventually. 

We should be prepared for the possibility that we won’t reach Phase 3 by Oct. 1, though. Here is our plan for how to serve our community if we’re unable to open for full indoor classes on Oct. 1.

Let’s start with our Intro to BJJ folks.

In September, we’re running an outdoor Intro to BJJ session on Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends in September. These have limited slots, and we’re reaching out to folks in the order they signed up to see if they want to take part. After that, we’ll reach out to folks on the waiting list. After that, if we’re overwhelmed with demand, we may add another session of this.

IN OCTOBER, WE’LL RUN AN ONLINE VIRTUAL INTRO TO BJJ WITH GRAPPLING DUMMIES THAT WE WILL SUPPLY

Intro students: You’ve been super-patient, and we have a waiting list almost 50 folks long. We want to get you training! 

To do this, we’ll be offering Virtual Intro to BJJ classes. Jeff will teach this class from the academy, and it will be live-streamed directly to you. Students will have the choice of whether to proceed with this virtual class or whether to wait until our full re-opening. Either option is fine! 

If you’re in for the Virtual Intro classes, you’ll have another choice: You can take the class with a drilling partner within your quarantine bubble — a spouse, sibling, child or roommate — or we will issue you a custom Bellingham BJJ grappling dummy to use for free and return after Intro. (This will be in addition to the free gi and belt you get for the class). Jeff will show the moves both on a training partner and on a dummy for ease of practice. You’ll be able to train along with us at home via Zoom and YouTube. If you need a home mat, we have some (limited!) supplies to lend. But even without mats, you’ll be able to learn along with us.

We will adapt this to interest, and to emerging trends, so it’s possible we will also be able to have three drilling pairs of Intro students in the academy with us while Jeff teaches this class, so let us know if you’d like to volunteer for these slots. We have three mat rooms, and after a conversation with the Whatcom County Health Department, we’ve confirmed that we can host classes with one drilling pair in each room. If we get a lot of interest in these spots, we will rotate them. 

We’ll be offering two sessions per week on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6-7 p.m. There are eight total classes during this series, so we will do the curriculum for four weeks and then repeat it. Classes will be streamed and archived on YouTube, but that way if you miss a live class (and the chance to ask questions as they come up!), you can catch it the next time around. 

We know some of you had signed up for the Monday-Wednesday sessions or the Saturday-Sunday sessions we had planned before Coronavirus. If you’re unable to do the Tuesday and Thursday night sessions, but could do Monday-Wednesday or weekend sessions, please let us know. We want to accommodate as many folks as we can, as soon as we can!

How do you get ready to participate? 

If you’d like to participate and have already paid for Intro, you’re almost set! Just let us know whether you would prefer to train with a quarantine partner or a loaner grappling dummy. Also, feel free to reach out to Jeff with any questions, needs, or concerns. 

If you’d like to participate and need to register and pay, please sign up at this link in our ZenPlanner system. If you have any questions, please reach out to eric@bellinghambjj.com and he’ll help set you up. 

If you’d prefer to wait until we’re able to open the physical location, no problem AT ALL. We’ll hold your spot for you.

If you’ve paid and would prefer a refund, just let us know: We know times are tough for some folks, and we’re happy to refund you if you need the cash back, no questions asked. 

Intro folks, you’ll get some specific emails just for you in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

REGULAR ONLINE CLASSES IN THE ACADEMY

While we’ve been closed, we’ve been doing regular online classes. Every Wednesday, we do live Zoom classes at 6 p.m. You can join us in the Zoom room at bit.ly/BellinghamBJJ. We’ve been doing this for a while, and will continue but there’s something new we have planned …

We will have a new class schedule on Oct. 1. It’s down below in this email.

Every class will be livestreamed and archived for members moving forward. Plus, we will be able to respond to YouTube comments — meaning you can interact with us and ask questions to be sure you get what you need from the classes. We may experiment with having Zoom and YouTube going at the same time, so we can see drilling pairs at home and help y’all solve technical problems.

OUTDOOR CLASSES AND DEMONSTRATIONS ON WEEKENDS, WEATHER PERMITTING

We will continue to host outdoor classes on Saturdays at Holly Street Plaza as long as the weather holds out. You can volunteer to participate in these! We’ve been rolling out our new mats in the Holly Street Plaza. We limited it to five students at first, and then 5 pairs of students, while respecting social distancing protocols — we tape off the mats so every pair has social distancing space. 

Now, the new state guidance for outdoor fitness limits these classes to 12 people, plus instructor. So up to 12 students can participate in these classes. Because interest in this has been robust, we will do TWO classes on Saturday, one from noon-1, one from 1:30-2:30. That way we can accommodate more folks. 

Whether we do one or two outdoor classes, we will also be adding a demonstration portion prior to these classes, starting in two weeks. I know many of you are working toward your blue and purple belts. So for the hour before the class starts, I’ll be demonstrating techniques from the curriculum with a single uke (demonstration partner) — but answering questions from folks who come out. It’s like a virtual private lesson. Even if you’re not comfortable getting on the mat and TRAINING at these classes, you can come watch me demonstrate and ask questions. Plus, it’ll be fun for passersby who miss peering in our windows en route to Black Sheep.

But let’s talk about the classes. You will be able to register online for these outdoor classes through ZenPlanner, too. Note: There are conditions.

• First, we will be sticking to one and only one quarantine training partner from within your quarantine bubble — ideally someone from your own household. We want to encourage people to keep their quarantine bubbles as small as possible, and so we’re going to keep it limited to this for the foreseeable future. (If your household includes more than one training partner, lucky you!)
  
• Second, we’re going to be respecting social distancing during this time, meaning we’ll be marking off the mats so that your pair keeps to your own area. And … hey, this area is in the middle of Holly Street, so please be realistic if this kind of public jiu-jitsu is in your comfort zone. If it’s not, that’s totally fine too. We will have three rooms available for indoor drilling once we re-open.
  
• Third, these classes are just drilling, no rolling for now. It’s possible that, as we continue, some folks who are comfortable rolling in public can do so if we don’t fill the mats for a class.  We’re going to play it as safe as we can during this time, but we will re-evaluate including rolling in the outdoor classes in October. 

Outdoor classes are safer, because studies show that outdoor transmission is much less likely.  What if you’d love to take part in one of these larger group classes, but a) don’t want to contribute to the pandemic, and b) aren’t comfortable training out in public? 

Here’s what we have planned.

HYBRID INDOOR-OUTDOOR CLASSES

We can only have 6 students inside the building at one time. We’ll still adhere to all the safety protocols no matter HOW many people attend, but here’s how we plan to accommodate folks who want to train but don’t want to be out in public. 

During Phase Two, we’re only able to accommodate 6 students in the academy — meaning three drilling pairs, one in each room. We have three mat rooms, and after a conversation with the Whatcom County Health Department, we’ve confirmed that we can host classes with one drilling group in each room. 

When we re-open, if we are still in Phase Two, we will have one drilling pair in each room live, but have the classes streamed so that everyone can participate. You will be able to register for the in-person classes online to reserve your spots, and will be placed in partnership with one other training partner (at least at first). 

What we’re going for here is making sure as many people get to train as possible, while ensuring we keep everyone safe.

Some of y’all have training partners within your quarantine bubble already. If you don’t have a home training partner and for some reason don’t have anyone at home you can train with, let me know, and I’ll get you one of our custom grappling dummies to drill on. That way you can participate in the online classes with this additional resource.

We’re putting in some extra effort and rolling out some outdoor mats, where possible, for each class — as well as investing in some technology that will allow us to teach both inside and outside.

We’re fortunate to have access to Holly St. Plaza through Oct. 31 at least, so for the Fundamentals and Advanced classes listed below, we’ll roll out mats outside for all of those classes. That way you can come train (weather permitting) even if you can’t fit one of the inside slots. 

This will, of course, require us to have quarantine training partners. We’ll start with one training partner each.

Let me say more about picking quarantine partners, and why we’re doing that now, and how that might look moving forward.

QUARANTINE TRAINING PARTNERS, VIDEO-CRITIQUED ROLLS, AND “JIU-JITSU OFFICE HOURS” — OPEN ACADEMY TIME FOR UPPER BELTS

Many of you already have people in your bubble that you are training with. That’s great! This way, you can drill at home with someone and — if  you like — attend the outdoor classes. 

Even if you’re not into the outdoor classes, having a home drilling partner can be great: That way, the online classes will enable you to drill along with the online instruction.

This isn’t ideal, of course: One of the things that gives me the greatest joy is watching someone roll (and/or rolling with them) and giving them one or two tips for the future. Of course I’ll still be watching and giving advice for people who are able to make it into the academy … but fewer people will be doing so. How are we going to adapt? 

Two new solutions. 

First, HOME FOOTAGE VIDEO CRITIQUES: If you’re doing drilling or rolling at home, you can send me video of yourself either demonstrating the techniques from that week’s class, or doing a sparring round. I will commit to doing a full critique of one of these videos for enrolled students every month — and, with your  permission, I may post the critique to the internal Facebook group, the way I do the fight breakdowns.

This will be a way to get your questions answered while you get your remote training in.

Second, we will be opening TIME BLOCKS TO TRAIN AT THE ACADEMY for blue belts and up with dedicated training partners. Not everyone has mats at home (although I’ve lent out a bunch of mats, and if you let me know you need some, I might have recommendations for how to get them). What if you have a partner but no mats?

We will be opening time blocks for open training that I call “BJJ Office Hours” that can accommodate three different pairs at a time — one for each mat room. There will be no instruction during this time, just someone sitting at the desk to let you in. You’ll be responsible for cleaning, mopping and sanitizing the mats after you train, but other than that, you and your partner can use the space to your heart’s content. We will provide a clear set of cleaning protocol instructions, and our staff will do a re-clean at the end of every day.

You’ll be able to sign up in ZenPlanner for these slots. Sometimes, it will be me sitting at the desk, and sometimes it will be another academy key holder — and hey, if you’re a student who doesn’t mind sitting at the desk, checking temperatures, and using the WiFi, hit me up and we can work something out.

As I mentioned, this will be for blue belts and up at first, but as we move forward, we will likely expand that. You can see the time we have allocated for this on the schedule below. 

WATCH-ALONG EVENTS

I’ve been doing fight breakdowns, and I hope y’all have enjoyed them, but I’d really like to try to do a real-time watch-along of an event. That way, we can capture the value of breaking down fights, while also giving us the feel of a team watch-along.

We can watch the matches as a team, with commentary and questions if you want. For our first attempt, we watched ADCC 2005 — featuring MANY of the greatest competitors ever, including Roger Gracie, Marcelo Garcia, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Leka Vieira, Kyra Gracie and many more. I think this went great!

We will continue doing this on Zoom, at bit.ly/BellinghamBJJ

Those are our live events. Don’t forget what else your membership gets you …

NEW VIDEO RESOURCES

This is the value we’ve really worked on adding. We’ve expanded our video resources for members, and will continue to do so. I’m very excited about the materials we’ve put together during the down time. 

Our whole fundamentals curriculum is now online. We filmed ALL of our Fundamentals curriculum, from white to blue belt. Only folks with the link can access it. It’s more than 6 hours of technique, broken up into videos with every technique on our white to blue belt curriculum. 

You can see our updated 36-class fundamentals curriculum here (we update it quarterly to keep it fresh). As we change it, we’ll update the videos. Feel free to make video suggestions! 

Also, as part of your membership, you’ll get video for each lesson — not just of me teaching the technique, but examples of the techniques being used in MMA fights, jiu-jitsu matches and self defense situations. Here’s an example.

You also get Omoplatapalooza, my Omoplata DVD, with nearly three hours of deep diving into that move.

Finally, remember that we’ll be archiving all of our classes on YouTube, and you’ll have access to that too.

WHAT ABOUT THE ECONOMICS OF ALL THIS?

Last thing I’ll mention, because we always get questions about this.

We are determined to keep the academy open in whatever ways assure public safety, and thanks to a number of folks who contributed during our closure, we were able to keep the downtown space, which we love. We stopped charging cards Aug. 1, and won’t charge cards again until Oct. 1. It just doesn’t feel right to take advantage of your generosity without providing value in return. 

I’m confident that the plan we have put together for a Phase 2 soft opening will do just that. If you’d like to join us for that, we’ll be re-starting memberships at the regular rate — $125 a month regular members, $99 discounted rate for students, teachers, veterans and first responders — then. If you’re an existing member, this is the same rate we were charging before.

Two requests of you, if you please. 

Request one: In order to make this viable so that we can pay the rent at our space, we need to get to 60 folks who are paying monthly dues. If you would be willing to commit to re-joining on Oct. 1, and having us charge your card that day, would you please let me know? You can email me at jeff at bellinghambjj.com. 

I can’t tell you how much we’d appreciate it. Details: We will not be doing contracts, so strictly month to month. And if you’re not comfortable being back in the space then, we will also have an online-only membership option at $50 per month — that will get you access to the online classes and the video options.

Request two: Please have a look at the proposed schedule for Oct. 1 and let me know what you think. Do the class times work? Do the descriptions of classes make sense? We really want to hear from you about how we can best provide you jiu-jitsu.

If you were in an Intro to BJJ session that was interrupted, but you weren’t able to train in September at the Outdoor Intro sessions, we’ll give you the month of October for free. Please feel free to come to any of the classes you want — including but not limited to Intro to BJJ classes. 

If for whatever reason you’re unable to train right now — due to health concerns, or financial concerns, or anything, really — don’t worry. The mats will be here. Come back when you’re ready. Your card won’t be charged unless you sign up.

Some generous folks have wanted to contribute funds between now and Oct. 1. That’s incredibly touching: not necessary, but much appreciated and a huge element of how we’ve been able to do things like provide masks, get mats for outdoor training, and maintain our space, insurance coverage and other overhead costs. (Again, no owners are drawing a paycheck until things normalize again, although we are proud to be able to pay our non-owner instructors.) If you’d like to contribute between now and then, please Paypal jeff.shaw@gmail.com or Venmo Jeff-Shaw-7. 

Or just join back up when we re-open and buy some cool gear! 

Please check out the Phase 2 Re-Opening Schedule for classes and events below. Hopefully, we get back to the academy in a full-fledged fashion in Phase 3 ASAP! To whet your appetite, here is the schedule we have planned for that, once we’re able to do it. It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: We have to be prepared for this to change based on new health department guidance as well. 

We’ll never compromise health and safety, though. We’ll get through this pandemic, and we’ll do it together. Best,

Jeff

P.S. Here’s the full Phase 2 Re-Opening Schedule as of Oct. 1! I welcome your comments and feedback on this. Please let me know what would work best for you. 

PHASE TWO RE-OPENING SCHEDULE AS OF OCT. 1

MONDAY 

6 a.m-7:00 a.m.: Dawn Patrol Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (Gi) 

11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Time blocks: Jiu-Jitsu Office Hours

6-7: Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (Gi)
7-8 p.m. Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (Gi) 

TUESDAY 

Noon-1 p.m. Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (Gi) 

1:15 p.m-2:15 p.m.: Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (Gi)

6-7: Intro to BJJ

7-8 p.m. Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (NoGi) 

WEDNESDAY 

6 a.m-7:00 a.m.: Dawn Patrol Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (No- Gi)

11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Time blocks: Jiu-Jitsu Office Hours

6-7: Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (Gi) 

7-8 p.m. Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (Gi) 

THURSDAY

Noon-1 p.m. Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (Gi) 

1:15 p.m-2:15 p.m.: Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (Gi)

6-7: Intro to BJJ

7-8 p.m. Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (Gi) 

FRIDAY 

6 a.m-7:00 a.m.: Dawn Patrol Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals (No-Gi)

11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Time blocks: Jiu-Jitsu Office Hours

6-7 p.m.:Advanced Jiu-Jitsu (Gi)

7-8 p.m. Advanced Jiu-Jitsu Technique (No-Gi)

SATURDAY 

11-noon: Outdoor demonstration, blue belt requirements (by invite)

Noon: Outdoor Intro to BJJ OR Outdoor Fundamentals (Gi)

1 p.m.-2 p.m.: Outdoor Fundamentals

IF WEATHER PREVENTS OUTDOOR TRAINING

11-noon: Online demonstration
Noon-1 p.m.: Online Intro to BJJ

SUNDAY 

11-noon: Outdoor demonstration, purple belt requirements (by invite)

Noon: Outdoor Intro to BJJ OR Outdoor Fundamentals (Nogi)

1 p.m.-2 p.m.: Outdoor Fundamentals

IF WEATHER PREVENTS OUTDOOR TRAINING

11-noon: Online demonstration
Noon-1 p.m.: Online Intro to BJJ