new SBGi BJJ blackbelt staff!

[smartmonkey]

We are proud to announce the addition of another Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt to our Coaching staff with the SBGi BJJ Association. John Frankl is the founder of NorCal Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and a proud representative of the Straight Blast Gym in Chico, CA .

Although John began with and gained high rank in traditional martial arts, he considers his exposure to alive training as beginning in 1989, the year he began training in Muay Thai and Eskrima in Berkeley, CA. By 1993 John was ready to take his martial arts to the next level. He secured a position as an English and Korean language teacher at a private bilingual high school and moved to Los Angeles. John had two goals: to study with Dan Inosanto and Rickson Gracie. He spent a year in Los Angeles, at the end of which he had permission from Dan Inosanto to begin teaching Jun Fan/JKD, Muay Thai, and the Filipino martial arts, and a blue belt from Rickson.
John moved from Los Angeles to Boston in order to pursue his doctoral studies at Harvard University. In Boston, John trained another eight years with Roberto Maia, founder of Boston Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a black belt under Carlos Gracie, Jr., and the cousin of Renzo Gracie and the Machado Brothers. Under Roberto, John received his purple, brown, and black belts. John was also fortunate to have the opportunity to train extensively with Claudio Franca whenever he visited his hometown of Santa Cruz, CA. After more than nine years of continuous and dedicated study, John is among the elite group of American black belts.

John’s academic and martial arts careers have long overlapped. His travels allowed him to train and fight not only all over the U.S., but also in Brazil, Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan. John also founded Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Korea, where he has often lived for extended periods of study and research. His academy, Seoul Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, has now grown into the nationwide organization, Korea Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. John returns to Korea twice a year to teach seminars and assure that training remains true to his exacting standards.

John represents a rare combination of fighter and teacher. Throughout his stay in Boston, John studied and taught at Boston Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He served not only as a Jiu Jitsu instructor but also as head instructor and coach of the Vale Tudo team. He also competed in and won both Sport Jiu Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts contests. When not on the mat or in the ring, John was studying and teaching at Harvard University, where he received awards for excellence in teaching and, most recently, a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations.

Although over the last eight years John has devoted most of his attention to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, he did stay active in his stand-up game by training and teaching Vale Tudo, as well as fighting in mixed martial arts and even an amateur Muay Thai bout in Thailand. Through this combination, his Vale Tudo classes naturally began to fit very well with what Matt Thornton and the SBGI coaches were doing. During his last months in Boston, John was fortunate enough to meet Matt at a seminar put on by Steve Whittier.

Most recently, a Postdoctoral Fellowship at U.C. Berkeley brought John back to his native Northern California. Having kept in touch with Matt, and having very much appreciated Matt’s intelligent and honest approach to martial arts, John made plans to attend the SBGI training camp in October 2003. It was at the camp that John got to meet—and train with—many of the other SBGI coaches. And it was there, through their help and encouragement, that he made his decision to ask to join the SBGI team.

John’s academy in Chico, CA will offer both Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (gi-no gi- vale tudo) and SBG/Kickboxing classes, as well as serving as headquarters for a Capoeira club and CrossFit NorCal (www.crossfit.com). The academy should be open by the first week of December. John can be reached at (530) 828-6706 or john@norcalbjj.com.

You can meet John at the Spring Camp in Portland OR on the weekend of March 27th. here he will be teaching along with the other SBGi BJJ Coaches Chris Haueter, Matt Thornton, and other SBG Instructors. We hope to see you there.

[MDVaughn]

Congrat John,

Sounds like you have been a great pioneer in the martial arts. Hope to see you in March i plan on coming to the camp.

Great job,

Mike Vaughn