Students and instructors from the Comox Valley DMA Royce Gracie Jiu Jitsu Club recently attended a two-day seminar with legendary MMA Hall of Famer Royce Gracie at the Port Alberni DMA Gracie Jiu-Jitsu headquarters.
Returning home with promotions directly from Royce Gracie himself were Rick Gaiga, Landon Rose and Conner Glowach
In the early years, DMA Port Alberni head instructor Warren Lee had met Royce Gracie in L.A. at a function and in conversation invited Royce to visit his family and martial arts school in Canada.
Royce quickly accepted his invite even though he had a rigorous travel schedule of seminars and classes around the world (which he continues today).
In 2003 Royce was so impressed with what he saw that he made it his only Royce Gracie Jiu Jitsu affiliated network in Canada. It has since branched out with two more DMA schools on Vancouver Island – one in West Shore and the other in the Comox Valley.
To this day, Royce continues to hold seminars in Port Alberni every year, where he has the privilege of spreading the techniques perfected by his father Helio Gracie by teaching a variety of stand-up and ground self-defence techniques that are easily learned by people of all levels of fitness and ages.
The Gracie system allows the much smaller opponent to defend themselves from the much larger person, which has become the number one choice for anyone wanting to defend themselves or just to stay in shape and active.
Anyone interested in learning more about Gracie Jiu-Jitsu can contact us directly at dmacomoxvalley@hotmail.com or register through the Comox Recreation Centre fall guide.
– Comox Valley DMA Royce Gracie Jiu Jitsu Club