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Team Yemaso of West Idaho BJJ officially opened for business on June 2019. They’re located in the small rural town of Star, Idaho. Prior to COVID-19, their academy was growing steadily as they were the only martial arts academy in town. They felt as though they introduced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to so many people and a lot of their members have been waiting to train for years, but have just been waiting for an academy to open up nearby.Tom Steele, the owner of West Idaho BJJ, closed the academy’s do …

Crazy 88 Mixed Martial Arts and I, Julius Park, renewed our lease at our existing location in Elkridge, Maryland at the end of 2019. We were in serious negotiations to relocate, but we ended up staying in the same building. In hindsight, this was a huge blessing. If we moved, we would have been in serious financial trouble with the added construction and moving costs.Maryland shut down gyms on March 16, 2020. We were able to pivot quickly to online classes for different martial arts styles. The …

The last day we had a large group class was on March 16, 2020. It was my birthday and after class, the students had a cake for me and sang me Happy Birthday. With a heavy heart, we decided to close down our facility the very next day on March 17. In the beginning of all this, we knew very little about COVID-19. I think everyone panicked at some point. We lost about 20% of our students during the first week, mostly the new students and white belts. As people lost their jobs, they immediately cont …

May 22, 2020, the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) officially announced the suspension of all their events for the remainder of this year “until conditions are safe to resume competitions.” The federation reassures the Jiu-Jitsu community that they are continuing to work alongside the government, world health authorities and local communities for updates on hospitals, health networks, travel restrictions, and public transportation. Before they decide on resuming the tournamen …