BJJ Academy Visit: Royce Gracie representative Forca Martial Arts in Ormskirk, UK

I've known several of the guys at Ormskirk Martial Arts / Royce Gracie Jiu jitsu Representative Forca Combat Academy up in Ormskirk for some time now and have been meaning to visit them but only got around to it recently. Ross, the man in charge, and I have been nipping down to our mutual friends over at the Stockport Gracie Academy representative (See visit review here) a few Sundays here and there and in the car after one of these visits, we decided that I should go to Ormskirk, teach a jiujitsu private or two then teach the evening class. A date was decided during my Easter break from university / school and it was nothing short of a great day.

The Place To Be In Ormskirk

The massive first mat. There's another one,
equally as impressive, through the doors to the left.

The theme for the evening classes had been attacks from side control so I didn't want to interrupt the flow of the jiujitsu curriculum. I got everyone started from standing with two options to transition to the side control:

1. Close the distance to the safe clinch -> Hip throw -> Knee on belly
2. Establish grips -> Pull Open guard -> Sweep -> come up to knee on belly


We then drilled positional transitions from knee on belly to side control and moving around the person, using the shins to pull their arms away from their body and weakening their frames. We finished the technique portion with three attacks from the side control:

1. Wrist lock on the near arm
2. Straight arm lock (sometimes referred to as an arm crush) on the far arm without losing the position
3. Americana shoulder lock on the far arm

We finally finished with a few rounds of rolling and Q & A around the techniques covered and anything else that might have popped up during the sparring.

If you live in the Ormskirk area or thereabouts, I couldn't recommend this place more. Not only are the guys top notch, the facilities are very clean and spacious, the staff is professional and friendly and, this is important, parents who train there feel happy and safe to bring their children there too. This tells you tons about the place.

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank Ross for driving me there and back home at stupid o'clock at night and for the guys for the fantastic turn-out and the great spirit of hard work and constant smiles they brought to the mat. I look forward to seeing you all in the not too distant future. Thank you for having me.

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ZHOO ZHITSU IS FOR EVERYONE!