Academy (BJJ)

A BJJ academy, from the Portuguese academia, is the school where Brazilian jiu-jitsu is taught, the BJJ word for a judo dojo or a gym. It is the BJJ word for what judo players call the dojo and everyone else calls the gym.

  • Language: Portuguese academia, a gym or training school.
  • Sourced example: bjjheroes.com records that Carlos Gracie opened the first Gracie Jiu Jitsu academy in Rio de Janeiro in 1925.
  • In judo: the equivalent word is dojo.

What does academy mean?

The word came over with the art. According to the Carlos Gracie page on bjjheroes.com, Carlos saved enough money to launch his own Jiu Jitsu academy, a modest place at Rua Marques de Abrantes 106 in Rio de Janeiro in 1925, and asked his brothers George and Helio to join him. The Helio Gracie page calls it the first Jiu Jitsu Academy in Rio. The team is listed as Academia Gracie.

Modern academies kept the word. A BJJ school's name very often ends in Academy, and students say I train at an academy the way judo players say I train at a club.

What does a BJJ academy include?

  1. The mat space, usually puzzle mats or a rolled vinyl surface, softer than judo tatami.
  2. A head instructor, usually a black belt called professor, and a team of coaches.
  3. A fixed timetable: fundamentals, all-levels, no-gi, kids, competition class and open mat.
  4. An affiliation with a larger team, shown on the patches and the wall.
  5. A belt and stripe system run by the head instructor.

What is the difference between an academy and a dojo?

The two words describe the same thing from two traditions. Dojo is Japanese and carries the idea of studying the way; academy is Brazilian and carries the idea of a school with a timetable and a team. If you walk into a BJJ room and call it a dojo, people will understand you. If you call a judo hall an academy, the same is true.

Whatever yours is called, the people in it are the point. Our BJJ gifts collection is for the training partners who make the academy worth going to.

Sources

  1. Carlos Gracie page on bjjheroes.com, BJJ Heroes
  2. Helio Gracie page, BJJ Heroes

Related terms

Dojo, Professor (BJJ), Open mat, Lineage, Gracie family.

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