Denney Baem Jiu Jitsu

Transcript

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Hi, Denney. I'm glad you can make it. thank you for having me. Thank you for being here. I would like to start off with an introduction to Denney's story, and how I met him. Denney, was, At Team Daruma in Sunnyvale, they're doing a grand opening Denney was, one of the black belts that was present that day he shared a little bit of technique Just his style was so unique I was able to absorb what he was teaching It was so analytical I saw what he was capable of teaching I really did have a good time there That's awesome. Thank you. That's a crazy story by the way like that. You can say that three four more times. I'm like damn That's a crazy story. How many black folks were there that day? I think we had 30 black belts there I think a handful of you shared. You were so unique on your teaching. ever since then, I would go to visit your school Baem in Fremont. to take photos and pick up more of your technique and share a little bit about you. On Instagram let everybody know to pay you a visit. let's start off with your story. Denney's story is a powerful story of resilience, breaking cycles and building something meaningful out of hardship. It's about a high school dropout with no direction who turned his life around to become a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. A UC Berkeley graduate and professional in finance. Denney, give me some background, where you grew up. If you are one of many siblings, tell me about your parents and your time at home. For sure. And then just with the story you said Daruma, that's like so good validation for me, because we'll get into it, but I do everything like separate, like just in my own head about it. I'm so happy to hear that I made an impact that way, particularly in the context of like that, you absorbed it. That's like music to my ears. So thank you for that. Thank you for telling me that. Cause now I'm like, okay, that's a flex. I was born in, I was actually born in South Korea, in 89. I have one older brother. He's three years older. but my pop, he fought in Vietnam war as a Korean. For the U. S. Army. So that's I guess that kicked off the process to become an American citizen. So even though I was born in Korea, I was born a U. S. Citizen. And so we came over here. I grew up in L. A. All different parts of L. A. Compton, Hawthorne, Gardena, Torrance, we just moving all the way around. We never had a really solid spot. So just renting different places, living different areas. But the whole time, It was just like, no money, an immigrant person, immigrant problems. You know what I mean? So they just know hard work, like just blue collar. I think my, they did all bunch of stuff. My dad ran like a radio shop where he would install radios in cars and my mom would, work at the swap meet selling t shirts. So it was super just like basic stuff. So yeah, like we were talking about before, I didn't know what, I just had a reflection she sold clothing and I never had a new clothes, you know that's some immigrant shit, Yeah, so that's like the starting block, And how many siblings did you have? I have one older brother like three years older. Okay. Yeah, he's the complete opposite of me He's the complete opposite He's actually the first guy to put me in a cradle when I was a little kid, you know He's did wrestling first, but like he didn't stick with it. I went in and I stayed with it Yeah, that's good. Okay. you and your family struggled in a low income life. Yeah. since your family was busy, working all the time, what did you do on your spare time? I remember being really young, like before I learned to skateboard. Like I realized that was the key to becoming mobile, but before then I was like playing PlayStation and shit, just playing video games with my brother. But something about skateboarding, spoke to me at the time of their DVDs, Rodney Mullen, day one song, all that stuff. So then I just started skating. When you skate around, you meet people who skate, there's skate spots, people congregate. And then, that was it. That was my crew. I would just leave the house or as soon as I wake up. Hop on my board, go somewhere, meet up with friends before you know it. All my entire network was other kids that were out all day and night skating and stuff like that. There are definitely times when you're young, you don't know the rules. You just stay out all night. And then my mom would come home from work and I'm not there. She's bugging out. She has no idea where I am. And then but after all, she just got used to it. Yeah. So yeah, I was definitely raised by like the people around me. And it was just all grimy skater kids. I realized. I learned that I hated authority right away because they were the first people to kick us off our skate spot. They were just having fun. We're not messing with nobody, but get out of here. So at that point I was like, Oh, I don't that feeling. And then, so that was, there was no supervision and they're Korean. They're like super Korean. So I can't even communicate with them that well, different culture, different everything. So it was actually pretty easy to just be like completely on my own. not saying that's a good thing. Actually, it wasn't a good thing, but that's sort of what led me to just being Super connected to all this other shit that I got into. Yeah, right. What age did you start getting into trouble? Just gotta be like well trouble like legally probably 13 14 But I was a menace at 9 10 8 like the second I got my board it was over game over, What kind of things would you get into? I think when you're young and you and there's kids in class and then they get like new shoes and like they don't even skate like I skate. My shoes are worn down. The toe boxes are broken. The souls are you can see I'm duct taping them, and it literally next to me is like someone's fresh skateboard shoes, expensive skateboard shoes. You know, they don't even skate. Yeah, right. So there's a definitely like an animosity that gets built up. You look at your parents, but you can't be mad at them because you know how hard they work. So you like insulate your parent from being like all the shit that's going on, you know? And then so I was like, okay, that's where the independence came. They're like, okay, I gotta get some shoes. And then, I didn't graduate at that moment to like, let me take them shoes. You know what I mean? To me, I was like, okay, how much are they? Oh, a hundred bucks. Oh shit. And then at the time it was the Osiris D 3s are the big chunky. You could stick a gram in the tongue. You know what I mean? And so I was like, I want one of those. And then, that's what kicked off, this quota system that I had in my brain. I was like, okay, I didn't have any money for food every day, so then, and then you add on, I want new wheel bearings, I need, I want new grip tape, I want whatever. I then created, this mentality that I need to make money. I need to make money. And menace shit is like, it started off with me going to, the high schools and the middle schools with the lockers and, jiggling the fucking thing and being like, oh. Textbooks, I don't need that and tossing that and then later on you're finding cool stuff and then Before, you start realize way I could sell this book to the library So shit, I don't know like something like consignment store, So then this turns the scavenging then you're scheming like wait a second What if how do I get how do I get some new shit, you know? And then so I told you the story about like 7 eleven like flippin ramen packs for like store credit and getting the food But I was like, okay, but I need actual cash And then so it did eventually get to the point where I was like stealing from like the mall and shit and like I don't know it got pretty bad Like it got bad where like I regret a lot of stuff like I would start robbing people stuff like that So because I was like, why am I working hard when I can just do this but without a moral compass You're just like this is better roi the return on investment Like i'm gonna spend very little amount of time and I can get exactly what I want So that's where my mind started going down like a bad path, but like the creativity was there, The scheming was there. It was just like what I was willing to do that was like bad, you know To get you to what you wanted. Yeah. Yeah, it was bad do you think that your parents working full time and not having time for you played a huge role in your direction? 100 percent and I think it would have been easier if they were assholes to me But they were always the best like they couldn't they're like Son, we don't, we can't give you advice on your homework because we don't know how to, we don't know it either. So that sort of broke my heart as a kid because I was like, damn, I can't even blame them. You know what I mean? Like I'm really out here solo. So who do I, who do you look for is the people around you? Like, hey, what is that? Like, where'd you get that? what do you have to do to get that? as a kid, it's just black and white. It's I don't have this. I want to, I want food. So I'm gonna get food. And so my mind was very black and white at the time. So my parents, I was like, Hey, what's up? How you doing? It's Hey, what's up? Cool. they're Asian culture is like, how's what you do today, bro. You know, none of that is like, oh, you're alive type shit. Okay, cool. Let me go back to work. You know what I mean? And I didn't want to bother that. So because of that, it actually became double life. And I think a lot of Asian people and maybe people of like immigrant parents, I mean immigrant parents work hard straight up, you know that regardless of what they're doing They're working hard to care about the kids the kids feel that but there's no like explicit shit like that So you just have separate let's protect them from the dirty shit. You're doing, So that was definitely my life for that early stage. Okay. Yeah At age 16 you came to a turning point in your life And you decided to leave LA. Yeah. it's so funny. I just realized, I was trying to protect my parents from the dirt that I was doing. We're talking like at this point I was like selling drugs and I would flip, like I would have stolen credit cards and get them shipped to abandoned houses and collect, you know what I mean? the cards are from, I would make friends with people that I didn't like, and then I would get access to their home and Keep a window cracked open so then I can rob him later on like shit like that like really dirty shit and then the only reason why I had that awakening moment was because my parents didn't know any of this They would never question anything that I had. They're just like, I don't know how you got it I don't even know if they had that conversation but when the cops started calling when the cops started looking for me when They had to bail me out I'm detained right now get me out of here. I have a principal that would specifically look for me and whenever he didn't see me, he would just call the cops. He was just saying, no, if I don't see him, he's just doing some bad shit. So once that started getting to my parents and they're like, the last thing you want to do is see your mom cry. And then, so when I saw her cry, like the 10th time, the 20th time, the 30th time, I was like, yeah, it's because of me. so this was coming off the heels of going through rehab and then going through like court ordered community service. I'm like 13, 14. So they can't put me into like jail and shit. And I wasn't doing any violent crime. So then they were like, okay, what do we do with this kid? So I was going in and out of shit. then, I knew the laws, I'm being creative. It was like, if it's this over a certain amount, I'm not that trouble. You know what I mean? So then I was trying to be smart with it. But, yeah, my parents, after seeing my mom cry, like that, there was like this final straw. I was like, I'm not gonna do that to her anymore. And then, so also being a dumbass, I was just like, I'm just going to leave. I didn't even tell them I'm leaving so they thought I was dead for a couple years. Because I just disappeared and I didn't Where's the cell phone? Where's the Right? That shit's fucked up. I'm fucked up on that one. I'm an asshole for that. And then so what I do is, at the time I was working at a, I was working at a hot rod shop. I was like I don't got money. But one thing I really want is a 64 impala You know growing up in la and shit. Yeah, it's still dre and all that. You know what I mean? Like I want a 64 impala. I want fucking daytons and shit, and so I worked at a hot rod shop thinking like If I work at a hot rod shop, i'll get a hot rod. if I work at mcdonald's i'll eat fries You know the simple dumb ass mentality, you know There's some truth to it. But that's my mind. at the time I worked really hard My Parents didn't even know I worked at this place. then, the guys gave me the keys one day to move the car in the back. And at that time I just got my little backpack and I just tossed it in the car and I drove this car. It was a, it was a 64 Chevelle. Right? And I just drove up the highway. And then, I had some money in my pocket. all the schemas, I swear this is the last fucking, you know, like a movie. And I filled it up like three four times the horrible gas mileage, but it was like it wasn't a chevelle ss It was like a inline 6 or some shit like that, right? So I drove then this I my car is like I got no more money for gas My car's putting you know, i'm just gonna pull off into this like apartment complex Guess where i'm in Davis california now, right? So I drove from la to davis. I'm like, what the fuck is Davis, bro And I was like, what's what is Davis? And I was like i'm just walking around hands in my pocket like let's start exploring. I see my first mountain mikes I was like, a pizza buffet, what the fuck? So I had 18 bucks, I was like, alright, give me that, let me try. And then I was like, okay, where do I live now? And then that was a whole, that's where I was like, now it was pure survival. when I said I'm leaving, I'm changing my life, I'm gonna do better. The second I was actually by myself, had nowhere to live, had nothing to eat, had no money. I started demon mode. I just started like scheming even worse, trying to figure out how like how is a 14 year old gonna get an apartment I got one like I schemed on that like it was like very straightforward. I go to leasing office What you need? I need your parents here. We need to get their id. I need you to get a deposit down Okay, cool. That's what's up. And then I go outside i'm like Okay, i'm gonna go to notary and have them sign my dad's name I don't even know how I got the notary Maybe I bought him a pizza. I don't know I don't remember it was like in a it was like in just a random ass shop and then He wrote his name on the lease. I wrote my name on the lease. I had an id at the time And then I was like, oh, yeah, my parents are just down the street. They're just you know We just moved here. I didn't know Davis is a college town. It is i've never heard of UC Davis in my life as parents might they never talk about college because they never thought I would go to college. I'm like, yeah same, UC Davis So this particular apartment that I just putted into they're like, oh, that's fine. That's cool. That's normal And it was like, yeah, just get the deposit later We got you they're like incentivized to put me in a room type shit, you know That was quick and within an hour. I had my own apartment with no money down My parents wasn't there, you know, so these are the schemes that I was like pulling and then now i'm like what's rent? 1,500 Okay, I got it. I got to go from getting 300 to 1, 500 and then now it just started going like nuts on that. And so that was at 16. I had that big change. But now I'm reflecting on it. It was just a change of scenery, you know, same, same, same asshole, but just different. Okay. but I will say this. Okay. Okay. Now I know. I know. So at the time, I'm a high school dropout. I got out, they kicked me out. You know, I had no chance. It's just not a good environment, so I was not, I didn't have a diploma, none of that. then, in Davis, there's a technical school for cars, and I just came from a car shop. So I was like, let me just join this motherfucker right here, I can be a mechanic, that'd be fun, so I was like, you know what would be cool? Like, one day I wanna I want to own a Ferrari, that's what I just like a little ass kid, I was like, okay, so I'll work at a Ferrari dealership, right? There's gotta be Ferrari dealerships and then dealerships gotta be Ferrari mechanics. And then, so I found a mechanic program that teaches you to be, work at a dealer. It's obviously like Toyota, Honda shit, you know what I mean? Right. But I was like, I'm going to be a Ferrari mechanic, bro. Fuck yeah. So I signed up and this is what I referenced. Loans and debt and stuff. I didn't know anything about that. I was just like, you'd mean I can get that if I just signed this, right? I just did that. And then, Car mechanic school drove over here. I don't even have a driver's license. I have just my ID, but I went through that program. I graduated They defer your loan, so I don't have to pay shit. I was scheming on the side to pay rent on the side, so that was, I was getting into some other shit. Cause then, remember the you vs. Me mentality? I was surrounded by college kids, which was like, times ten, the enemy. You know what I mean? Cause how'd you, how do you go to, I'm their age, I come to party, doors open, hey, what's up? Oh damn, they just let in a menace, I was like, what's going on? what program are you in? Yeah. then I find out Davis is known for agriculture and like veterinarian they all have good backgrounds and stuff. So I was like, okay, cool. So you won't mind if I take your TV. So again, crack open the window, sneak in when they're going to class, understand the schedule. I would eventually have blueprints of the floors, floor plans, every room have a little corner, hidden windows, stuff like that. I would just draw them out. Go to parties case it out draw it up. that's how deep I was. then I graduated I was like time to go back home because then I realized all the best dealers were in SoCal like Ferrari Porsche Lamborghini, whatever And then at the time I was emailing dealers all around the world. I was like, I have no experience, but i'm very passionate I would be the best 16 year old mechanic you ever had in your life, you know what I mean? And then they always call, we usually hire people that have 20 years experience at Mercedes and then we did get a shot at Lamborghini. Ferrari. They're like, you need to be you need to be a Maserati tech before Maserati. You got to be Fiat or whatever. There's like a process. And then I got an email from Lamborghini Beverly Hills. And they said, Oh, yeah, come through. we would love to meet you. we love people that are passionate about mechanics. I was like, okay, I gotta go back home now. So then I just, after I graduated the program, I went back home, knock on the door of my parents, and then they opened the door, they seen ghosts. And it was at that moment I realized they thought I was dead. I didn't even know their phone numbers type shit. You know what I mean? So that was like the biggest, worst move that I've ever done. That's the part that hurt me the most. but I had a plan. I was like, they're crying and everything. I was like, yeah, but I got a job though. They stopped crying. I'm like, good shit. All right, we'll come in. You know what I'm saying? I was like, all right, that's what's up. But I didn't have a job, I but I told myself if they like me, they'll hire me That's what I said, right? And then so I was like pop. I need a suit. I'm gonna make this an interview They're like what you mean? Like I told my mom I had a job. I told my dad like this is what's really happening right now they told me to come through but and I finished I have a I have this fucking credited whatever mechanic shit I'm trying to get a job. He's okay, so you show up on monday and you're good and he's no I need to make this an interview. He's what do you mean? you don't have anything? I don't get shit. And he goes, all right, but, and then, so like he, he pulled out his wedding suit, he had one suit wedding suit. Right. And I'm a little chubby kid at this point. No jujitsu for a while. as I put this shit on, you're going to walk in there and you're going to make magic happen. I've seen him do some magical shit. I'm like, all right, for sure. Cave and button the top, you get this tie off here. This is just, I look like fucking Chris Farley up in this bitch. he drives me from, we're at Gardena at the time all the way to, Beverly Hills. He drops me off down the block so they don't see what I pulled up and they don't see that I didn't drive myself. then I show up and I walk in, he's Hey, my name is Denney. Like we emailed, Oh yeah, cool. Connect. And then he's like giving me a tour. he's like, Oh, that's a cute little kid. Like make a wish. You know what I mean? And then I was like, Oh, cool, cool. And he was like, what's this? I was like, that's a Gallardo. And I was like, okay, what's this? That's a Mercer logo. Okay, cool. How many cylinders is that? Oh, it's 12 cylinders. And he's can you describe how an engine works? I'm explaining it. He's like, how the fuck do you know all this shit? Oh, I used to work at a, I used to work at a hot rod shop. I just finished this technical school for whatever. And I love Lamborghini. I didn't know shit about Lamborghini. I want a Ferrari. I was like looking at a poster, Gallardo. Oh, that's a Gallardo. You know, I was like, and he was like, what, how big is the engine? It's like 12 cylinders. Like actually it's eight cylinder, but it's all right. People think it's, that's normal people. So he brings me back into his office. This was a service manager of the mechanic shop. And it was like, buddy, like nice to meet you. when you like, get older and you have more experience, we'll get you in here. And I closed the door behind me. And then I was like, I'm not leaving here until I get a job. And he was like, what do you mean? He's my dad is waiting down the street for me. And I ruined his life and I need a job right now, and he's what? mind you, I don't have a driver's license. So even if he gave me the job, it wouldn't have worked out. But at this point I'm like, I got to get creative. I can't say no, I can't take no for an answer. I just destroy all the norms and be like, I'm gonna be a completely honest with you. I'm super passionate about this and I will be the best fucking janitor you've ever had. Just let me in the door, bro. Like I need to make my mom proud for a second, And he had a heart. He was like, God damn. All right, shit. So then he actually, yo, Mike, and which is the head mechanic. And he walked in, he's yo, Denney, you still here? He's yeah, I'm still here. And I ain't leaving. And then he was like, what the fuck? We got to call cops, But then Mike is also like a blue collar guy. He was like, okay, so just where do you see yourself in five years? I was like, I see myself being the best fucking mechanic you've ever seen, you know? And he's I don't know much right now, but I promise you, I'm hungry and I'm going to, I'm passionate. And then he was like, I could see that. And then, they gave me the job. They gave me an apprentice job that they didn't have an opening for. They just created a role for me right then and there. And it was like this pays this much per hour. You're gonna get insurance first time ever had insurance I was like, fuck. Yeah, my teeth hurt. They set you up. Yeah, they felt you. Yeah So that was your passion. That was a friday, right? huh. You start monday. All right, cool. Thank you so much I'm crying and shit. then I go to my dad. It's a big it's a disney movie, you know Yeah, and then he goes wait, you're gonna they're gonna make you drive the cars. I was like I hope not because I don't have a driver's license and I was like, wait a second. And then he gave me like a packet right to sign this up and it says you, you must get drug tested before Monday and provide proof of a driver's license. then so my scheming, mine's okay. I'm going to use my schemes for good. So 16, back then you could get a driver's license, a permit, but to work on cars to drive. 300, 000 cars around and a permit. I'm sorry. No clients can be like, you'll get that Asian dude out of there, bro. Like the same fast and furious, you know what I mean? Yeah. So then I, and then this is where my mom came in. Koreans have this like yellow book with like with contacts. And then in the yellow book is it's a driving lessons and DMV services for Koreans. imagine a grandma coming to America for the first time. They need a driver's license. There's a whole service set up to be like, this is the route they drive. Yeah, it's a hustle, you know? So then, I tell her, she made gets on the phone. This is Friday night, Saturday morning. We drive to Bakersfield because Bakersfield DMV is the only one apparently that like you can walk in and do a driving test. So I fuckin, I get in the driving test, I'm the youngest guy, everyone's old, like grandmas and shit, right? They're just like, waiting to get their, they're just waiting for their turn. I get in there, and then the guy come in, he's like a high school PE coach, right? He's my driving instructor. Or not instructor, but he's the one doing the test. And then like we go around the corner, he's okay, I want you to parallel park here. I'm like whipping it like this and then my hands are wrong, and then we're going around the block. We go, and then we're sitting at the, he's I want you to pull over there. And I'm cool. I'm looking, I know what's up. And it's you failed this shit long time ago. Like you didn't even look over your shoulder. what's going on. And I see you're young. Everyone here is old. Like, why are you here? And I just told him the whole story. I'm like, I fucked up. Like my parents are like, Oh my God, they fucking hate me. They thought I was dead, but I promised him I have a job and it's going to be at Lamborghini and at the least, like I have to like the agreement here. Like I just need driver's license. And he was like, all right, follow me. And then he he took over the car. He pulled into the DMV thing. He's come over. He actually brought me inside the DMV, like behind the counter type shit. And he had me sit next to the printer. He's I'm printing your driver's license right now. And he, so he passed me and gave me that driver's license. He's like, Here, I don't ever want to see you again. Don't fucking kill anybody on the road. Good luck to you. And then we drove home in silence. Even my mom was like, I don't know what the fuck. Why did he bring you there? I don't know what you did. I saw you peel out of here, bro. Like I was like, I know I don't know what happened I think it's the honesty you being honest and up front with them these people just have a lot of Empathy towards you they did And monday morning I started working And no one knew. And that was the start of my life turning around being like, I'm gonna do this shit. Legit. like I'm like, yeah. So using creativity for good. You know what I mean? Yeah. So that's, that's the story on that one. That's great. Denny. So, let's take a little break here and then, we'll get started on the next half. So you left off at Lamborghini. So let's go from there. Okay. there's a, I'll tell you what I, my favorite movie ever is, I mentioned it is like pursuit of happiness. And then first of all, I love Will Smith, Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Like that's the, that's the shit on WB every day, you know? I watched that movie and I'm like, I I already see myself as Will Smith. You know what I mean? Fucking around and all that. And then there's this one scene, super important scene. There's a scene where a guy pulls up in a Ferrari, red Ferrari. You know, we're talking about, my love for Ferraris. Will Smith has two questions. what do you do and how do you do it? Straight to the point, straight up. And I was like, holy fuck, I should be doing that because at this point I'm working on cars and the customers and the clientele are exactly the person that he asked. And Will Smith in that movie was like who I felt I related to that, you know? that changed my whole game. Cause at this point I was working there for a year and a half, two years, something like that. Just grinding and like doing, becoming a mechanic best I can. And I realized I want more, the simple idea of I will align myself with these with this being a mechanic for these dealers or whatever because maybe I can get one and the Reality is like you're not gonna there's a such thing as like income and like expenses and you can learn that So as I got exposed more to the world, I was like, okay, wait a second like more reality, right more information and then Information was key. So at that point I started just asking more everything. Why did we do this? Who's that? How did they do that stuff like that? I started talking to clients and there's one guy like his name is Mads And, I was like, what, that's a crazy ass name. But what's crazy about him was good looking guy, young, tall, athletic. I was like, what do you do? you do something, dude. It's I used to do kickboxing in like Holland. I was like, Oh, Dutch kickboxers. That's really big. Cause jujitsu, MMA, all that stuff. I know about that. But it's you're not making money from kickboxing. It's Oh no, I work in LA, downtown LA. I work at a hedge fund. I was like, what's a hedge fund? It's like finance. Okay, what's finance bro, it's like, okay, I'm wasting my time Like he was like a big hotshot, and then I was like, okay If I want to do with what you do, what do I need to do? He was like, you didn't did you go to college? I was like, no, I didn't go to it He's okay, then you should go to college. And then being in the LA area. I said, okay, what's a good college UCLA? And he started laughing at me. He's no, what are you talking about to do what I do? You have to go to Harvard. You have to go to Wharton UPenn. I was like, okay what are the chances you think I can get in there? He looked at me. It was probably zero So he was like very honest. immigrant mentality, I want honesty, you know and then so I was okay What do you think I can get into and he this is him not knowing anything about me He just knows like i've never went to school and he was like, I think berkeley's a good school And I think you can probably transfer in so you should probably shoot for that. It's okay. It's all right You can get where i'm at with berkeley. I'm like, okay, cool I right after that, I was like, okay, I just joined community college right there. you can sign up online. So that night I signed up, they, I didn't finish high school. So they're like, so where's your diploma? I don't got one. So they do like placement tests and all that. they set you up with a counselor and the counselor was like, okay, what do you want to do? I want to transfer to a school called Berkeley. That's what I want to go. And he's like. Probably not. I was like, what are you talking about? He's like, you don't have a diploma, you don't have all this, like we don't even know what you're capable of and Berkeley is a pretty good school. And I got a guy I met at work and he said, it's alright, it can't be that hard to get it right. And he pulled up the says like, this year is 5 percent chance that you're going to, anyone can get in. You have to have a perfect GPA and all that. And you still got like less than 5%. I was like, okay, cool. I'll be that guy. Yeah. Just what do I have to do point and shoot? I'll do it. This is where i'm like, i'm so hungry, Just as hungry as it was to get that job as a mechanic. It was like, okay This is another level now like I got to do this, correct and then from that point on I just Did my best I remember a situation where I thought I was gonna get a b And then I it wasn't good enough. So I I spoke to it was like a b plus a minus like right in the middle And I spoke to my teacher. It was like a math class. I stuck at math And I was like, I want you to drop me from your class. And he's like, what are you talking about? You're about to get a B plus. I want to make my family proud. Like I want to go to Berkeley and I can't do that with a B plus on my record. this was like the day before the final or some shit, you know? And he was like, I'm not going to drop you from my class. If you want to leave, you can, but I'm not going to drop you. And it's And then I came into the final, if I get a B in this class, my, it's over, I need an A, I need, I had a perfect GPA at that point, it was like my final class, to transfer, or to be qualified to transfer, and I did it, and the test was, I didn't do well, I got like a B or something like that, but then when I got my transcript that said A, And then so I realized like, Oh, that was another, like that PE teacher, DMV scenario where the guy saw how hungry I was. he understood the story and what I was trying to accomplish. And he was like, this kid's trying to change his family's life. You know what I mean? And it says, so he just, I think he nudged it for me. And then given all that, I started applying and I was like, I don't care if I don't get in, I'm just going to apply next year. And I'm going to keep doing it every year until I get into Berkeley because. When it comes to finance prestige is really important like the college you go to Not even the program just like the name of the school. So knowing that I was like I'm gonna just apply every year until they let me in and then along the way I decided to just, I didn't realize Berkeley and Davis was in the same like area. It's Bay area, right? From SoCal. We don't know shit about Bay area. So then I got into the car that I had at the time. on a, Thursday night, I drove to Berkeley just randomly. And then I went to Berkeley campus I walked around and I looked for administration. I was like, this is where they let people in. And then I went back to my car, I slept in my car, I woke up early in the morning, I went back and the office was open. And then I said, I want to get into this school, how do I do it? And they're like, they gave me like papers, like you can do this, you can do this, blah, blah, blah. Like, when, are you in high school or are you currently a student at Berkeley? Because to get into the business program, you have to transfer in. even Berkeley students have to compete against each other to get into the business program. And then, I didn't know that. And then, they thought I was like a Berkeley student. And then I was like, okay, no, I'm going to community college. She's like, oh, which one? I was like, This one, El Camino, then they're like, uh, we've never, we've, we don't really have anyone from that school come here. They're like, why are you here? I was like, I just drove up. I just want to meet everybody, And then this is again to me like hustle mentality. Like if they know me and then they know my face and they know my intention, when they see my application, they're going to connect it to me. it's going to be harder for them to say no. And they're like, okay, damn. And at that point they knew I was serious. I was supposed to be back at work. Friday morning, but, I was just like, I'm just going to stay here. Fuck it.. And then, Friday morning I stayed, I came back in the office and I was like, can I just hang out with you guys? They're like, what? Yeah. There's a seat right there. You can read the pamphlets and stuff. I was like, cool. And then on Saturday morning, I showed up and they have like limited time scheduled during the semester. And I said, can I just hang out with you guys? Like, so how do I get in? You're like, what GPA? I have a 4. 0. Do you guys take 4. 0s? just trying to create conversation, selling yourself. Yeah. then I just, I called, I quit being a mechanic, called in, I'm not going to make it. I'm going to, I'm going to try to go to school and take this shit serious. Cause at the time I was doing part time and I was looking at the credits I needed. And I was like, I need to do this for real. So then, but at the time I was paying rent for my parents. And so it was a really hard decision, but I called my parents. I'm like, I don't know if I can afford rent anymore. I'm here in Berkeley. They're like, Oh, that's where you are. It was like, yeah, I'm here in Berkeley right now trying to get in. And then, I think I take this college thing serious because this is a beautiful campus It's like serious like I felt mad intimidated and then so I just stayed there for a few more days and then like I just walked into the office and like Shouldn't she be going home now? I was like, no, this is my home, just fucking around And then it was like a monday and I was gonna leave and then this woman she came up to me I forgot her name. She was like one of the the older ladies in the office She said my name is this here's my card You I want you to email me. I can't talk to you right now, but, if you email me, and she's in the back was her personal email. I can, I'm going to tell you about something that, is more mostly for upper grad people, but I think you would be a good fit for this program. Okay, cool. I drove home. I emailed her. She's, and then she sent me this like secret program that they have at Berkeley for the I house is international house. It's four foreign people, like foreigners and Diplomats, kids and whatever, they will actually sign up to be a Berkeley student for the summer and then take Berkeley courses But they live in this like foreign specific dorm area, right? we're talking like PhD students like just general grad students coming in from Switzerland for the summer and stuff like that So she sent it to me. She said I want you to apply and then like I told the team about you So give us your best shot on your application Give us everything you have. And I want you to apply and maybe we can get you in here. And then she was like, if you have a Berkeley transcript with Berkeley credits, you're going to get into Berkeley. I was like, wow. So then I was like, holy shit, she's fucking looking out for me. This is another angel situation. I applied, I got in. And then, but it's like a general, it's not for the business program. I was just, I have credits and I'm taking judo as a PE, like I'm taking like earth sciences and shit. And then when I'm not going to class, I hung out at the business admin office and made friends with everybody. I got to see everyone's office. I would hang out with them as a, can we get lunch? It's like, I'm not allowed to talk to you. Right. It's like, why is it? Cause if you're going to apply, then this is this is conflict of interest. I can't talk to you. Okay, cool. Can you just, can you, can I sit here though? He's I can't kick you out. And then, so I just did that for the entire summer. I had 3. 5 credits, two classes, one half credit and one three credit class. Nothing to do with business, but every day I would sit in that office. Hey, what's up? Hey, what's up? Noreen. Hey, what's up Kayla? What's up? and then, and then the summer ended and then I went back to community college, I applied. And then like I got in and I got into the business program. The one I wanted. It was like, I could have applied to the economics program, which was like 20 percent interest. But I chose to do the business one because Mads in my ear was like business or nothing. you can't fuck around. You're all in. Yeah. I've got to do it. Yeah. I was like, okay. So then that's how I got into that. And I got in and then I'm transferred in as a junior. now the stakes are on because you have. Berkeley students that was their freshman, sophomore year, they earned their way into junior. I'm coming in as a community college student, older than them, work experience. I have a driver's license now. Yeah, I got a car and shit. Yeah, I got like, you know, and I'm coming in. I'm like, holy fuck. These little kids are like running circles around me. And then I realized like, how am I supposed to compete with these guys? So like in the, you know, for jiu jitsu, I was thinking, how do I win against someone I can't win? Yeah. Okay, then I can't play his game, right? so I'd stopped studying. I just stopped studying. I stopped showing up to class I was like if I'm gonna if we're competing for work Like they're working their ass off to do little like case studies and group projects and like presenting and being having nice suits and shit And for what to get a job, okay, then I'll get a job while I'm in school Cuz as a Berkeley student you are you look valuable, right? You don't know I didn't even have a single like I have 3. 5 credits from PE I'm not even a student for real, but I can say I am because I got it so at that point I would take the Bart to SF and I would walk down downtown SF and be like, Oh, Deloitte, PwC, you know, McKinsey, all these things. I'm like, okay, there's consulting. I was trying to figure out what's going on, accounting, banking. I was trying to do it all. And then, that's, that was my study. I would just go down the street and stop people and be like, what do you do? How do you do it? You know, Will Smith, And then I work here in this building. What do you do? I was like, I'm an auditor. Okay, cool. What does that look like? Is it? I gotta go. Okay. Bye What do you guys do here? It's oh we do wealth management. What's that? And then so then that was that's how I would study. then before you know it I get cards. They're like, you're a Berkeley student. wow I've never had anyone walk into the lobby and just ask people we've never seen that Okay. Yeah, you've never seen me, then so get that contact with And then that's how I like finessed my way into an internship that I had zero right being in. You know what I mean? my first internship was with General Motors in Detroit and, that's not Bay Area. No, they do not recruit out of Bay Area. They recruit out of University of Michigan. Michigan state, stuff like that. It's because I got a scholarship during that time. Being a former mechanic going to school, I applied for every scholarship and I got one from Buick and then they were actually giving a big chunk of change. then part of that was I got to do a little photo op, put a little shirt on, And then, I went to the macy's and I got a shirt and I take a photo on the wall and put the shirt back i had no money And then so They put me on the thing. They gave me the money. Hell. Yeah, and then I the marketing coordinator for the scholarship Goes like here's your money. That's how I can do that. Thanks for the photos. Okay. Bye we might contact you for a testimony. Okay, cool And I said, whoa before you leave Who's your boss? They're like, why do you want to know? It's cause your boss probably knows the boss of someone in finance. I'm trying to get a finance job, bro. You know, you already know I'm smart. can I get, think about it. One email turns into two, two emails turn into 20. And then before you know it, I'm linked up with the head of finance for General Motors corporate, like global. Like she's a bad person. She's she's a beast. Harvard grad, whatever. She gets all the folks like, I heard your bet. You're like. You're, mad annoying. I heard you're super annoying. Berkeley kids, you guys, you think you're so smart, whatever. And I was like, I'm not smart, I'm stupid. And this is an opportunity, I want a scholarship with you guys, but I figured out maybe I can work for you guys. Like, when I graduate, I want to work in finance. they have a corporate finance department. Every company has a finance department. But she was the head of mergers and acquisitions and stuff like that. So she would buy companies, sell companies. This is like really hard to get into. I was like, I want to work for you. Can I work for you? Like a dumbass, like people don't even know. Like that was a crazy question to ask. She's like, you can't work for me. No one works for me. Like I do my own thing. But there is a team that you might like. Hey, you're in Bay Area, right? You do tech stuff. I'm like, yeah, I know all about tech. Yeah. I don't have a shit, the fuck. And then, so she was like, there's a company called OnStar at GM and they have a, like a strategic finance team. it's like a lot of bankers and stuff like that. Like you'd be perfect for that. It's what you want. I'm like, that is what I want. okay, so let me interview you right now. what is okay. And then, so she's so high level. She asked me like case questions, okay, if we came out with a new SUV and we came up with a brand new infotainment system, if you walked into the dealer, how much should we charge for that add on at the dealer? And then I would, and me as a mechanic, she was like, you fucked up. Cause I can give you price ranges for like random options, So I came up really smart. When I gave her the answer and then she was like, she hired me. She sent me the packet, the sign to be flown out to Detroit to work. I went and met everybody at, I'm walking around the freaking Renaissance center and all that. I'm like, Holy fuck. There's a show room there. I'm like, Whoa. They let the interns like rent cars. So I was renting Cadillacs every week and stuff like this is amazing, but I had way too much fun. I had way too much fun. I fucked up. I didn't know I was supposed to do a summer project, but what I also didn't know is this like CFO lady, she forced them to hire me, right? Similar to getting forced to hire at the mechanic shop, but the mechanic shop, like 10 people in it, in this company. She forced me in everyone on the team. I didn't realize hated my ass. because I took the job from some kid from University Michigan could have been someone's son or someone's nephew Whatever and I just got slipped in and i'm the only kid from california in the entire internship program and so it was like stacked up against me and I was like, this was my first failure because I didn't read the room, right? And I was just like, they told me what to do and I did it. But I didn't think about like winning the game. this is a big ass interview. This is not just finish this presentation and you're going to be presented at the end. it was, it should have been like prove to them that you're ready to be hired. Not like just show up and enjoy the, this isn't vacation. And I fucked that up, So that was a big bomb. And they didn't ask me to come back. Usually at the end of the internship, they're like, you, we love it. We'd like to hire you when you graduate. Join our team. Didn't work out and then so from that point on I was like that failure really Leveled me up and then from there. I got internship at eBay now We're talking tech right and then old tech and then from there I was right getting ready to graduate and I interviewed for a company called survey monkey that was like a I was like, okay, if I want to win the game I'm gonna work for a company pre IPO. So when they go public I can make money You Also stupid because if you're a junior, you get no stock anyway. Or I was like, Oh, I don't get rich, bro. I interview. And then, yeah, that was a whole other side. There's a whole story to that. Me like finessing that opportunity because they actually in the middle of the interview, the recruiter was like, but it's I'm reading your resume. You're not, you're still a college student. I'm like, yeah, I'm a college student. I didn't lie. I didn't say nothing. yeah, I'm a college student. It's yeah, but you have eBay of General Motors. I just looked at the timelines just for the summer. So you were, these are internships. It's Yeah, internships. Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought you worked for them. And then you're like seven years into your career. Like we have a very small team. We want to hire the best. And then I was like, you're not hanging up on me. And that's when I went back to the mechanic day. I'm not leaving this conversation until like you hear my story. and then by the end of it, I think she was crying a little bit. She was also from an immigrant family and her name was Gabby. And then she actually like immediately sent me to the hiring manager on the same call and be like, you got to hear this fucking thing, you know, right? And then I got on a call with him. His name is Karium,. And then I told him, I'm hungry, I'm going through this finance program right now. And then they actually created a role for me to get hired. And I worked that from when I graduated, I got into it. That's, and that's how I broke into like, you know, Tech and finance and tech and finding my place in that and having a career, I was like, damn, this is what's up. I get to still have insurance. That's fire, So yeah, so that's how I transitioned over to like full-time work and what I do like full-time. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Very cool man. let's go into another section now, which is discovering, And evolving through BJJ. let's start at the beginning. Yeah, I can say, my history with Jiu Jitsu is that, Growing up where I grew up, neighborhood, I was like the only Asian kid, And like a lot of Mexicans, in my neighborhood. And, It's nothing. It's nothing. It's just if you're the only guy looking different, you're gonna get picked on, and I was like, I was tired of getting my ass whooped. So I was like, okay, I gotta do some jiu jitsu and growing up in the LA area, like Gracie Academy and stuff, but that was it was too expensive. So I actually found like this guy teaching in a Ninjutsu Academy, like on the side, like once a week and then I actually showed up for a trial and I was like the only guy and then so him and I hit it off and I started training jiu jitsu. So I was like This is when I was like 13, 14, when I was still getting in trouble, and then, so that's how it started. I came into a very old school scenario and I didn't know, I didn't know, there's different types of Jiu Jitsu. There's like different types of instruction. I was like, arm bars and triangles. that's all arm bar, guard pass, close guard. That's it. Right. but I didn't realize my coach was super old school, straight from Brazil, accent, all that stuff. Hardcore. And that sort of set the tone for, how I was brought up in Jiu Jitsu. And ultimately the rejection of all the stuff that I came up in, I came up in the early two thousands where it was like old school in SoCal where it's like the major Brazilians having all this, all the like schools in that area. you're learning directly from like Rigan Machado or like these other major, like Jean Jacques and stuff like that. It was a hub, but it wasn't, there was no cohesiveness. nowadays you can visit any school you want and it's no problem. Right. But back in the day, if you did a leg lock, you'll get stomped out. And if you like talk, if you even drop in on another school, you'll get chewed out, that's not good. Creonte, you know? And, there's no open mats anywhere. You just train at your school. That's it. I had a friend that trained Jiu Jitsu that I met, and he was like, yeah, come to my school, come train, whatever. Like what? No way. If my coach finds out I'm going to get wrecked. You know what I mean? And then I didn't have money. he actually, I actually owed him a lot because he let me train if by cleaning the gym and stuff like that. which I think is one of the few things that I definitely love. like I still do with my school, there's definitely, I have a few students that like just laid off or whatever. Just, just keep training, just keep training. It doesn't help us for you to be gone, So, there was a lot of good and bad with that. And then, So then I got into Berkeley. And I was gonna leave L. A. to go there and train there. At this time I was brown belt, so white to brown with my coach. Never having stepped foot in another school. Like, just never. Listening to everything, whatever. And, on the way out, This is where the old school comes in like he's on the good side He was awesome to me. Like he treated me. he gave me a place to train and like he would like We would go get eat food sometimes, whatever he would coach me We compete he'd be in my ear But then other times I was like, oh, I'm gonna go to Berkeley like I'm gonna improve my life He hated the idea of doing that He's like, why would you leave? Think about it your brown belt if you get black belt, you can run my school I can open up another location and then blah blah blah i'm like and get what paid 50 Like not even 50k 35k a year like it's not feasible so had a falling out on that. but being so constrained when I got to berkeley there's a few things that I did. I opened I started with some friends the Cal jiu jitsu program And I got linked up with Ralph Gracie, Berkeley in that area and then I studied abroad in brazil You So like from nothing one thing to holy fuck doing it all your world busted wide open Yeah, so I went from one side to all the way to the other side and then with those experiences I was able to find out what like what I loved right and then the number one thing is like no person's getting to Hold me down anymore. I didn't even realize it was being held down like It's like, you didn't know you had bad vision until you get the glasses. You know what I mean? Your first pair, you're like, what the fuck? Right. So when I got exposed to other juice, I'm like, I didn't even know what I was missing. Yeah. And then, so I realized the old school mentality, a lot of the time it's a cover up. And that's just, and that's not probably not nice to say, but I think it's a cover up to gain control of the students. And just like, I don't know, I have family members, super old school Asian, don't do this. Don't do that. Don't do that. The first time I remember my dad saying, don't stick your hand out the window of the car. I was like, why is that? You're gonna lose your hand. Really? I'm like, that doesn't make sense. So that's essentially the, that essentially feels like old school to me when someone tells me to do something, but they can't give me a why, right? I was just like, I'm sorry, that doesn't make any sense. But at the time I had no power. But now I realize that the world Jiu Jitsu community so much bigger. I'm like, all right, I don't like that. I'll just do something else. You know what I mean? And so with all those experiences, I was just like, holy fuck. It's all about taking control, being creative, finding my way. And within Jiu Jitsu, I realized that's what I had to do. And, what you said at the very beginning of the podcast really makes a, hits a tone for me because, I'm in a room full of black belts and they're all just teaching something, showing something to the, it was a great event and it's like they're teaching everyone's their favorite technique, whatever, right? And for me to stand out, it says a lot because, I know a few things. I don't teach the way I was taught. I don't teach things that I like. I don't teach things. That are, I'm a master in, you know what I mean? But I also don't teach things that are just random. Like I really think about everything that I teach, how I teach, how I communicate to the students, the intention I give, the context provided, the options you have a lot of times. I'm not even talking about technique. I'm talking about the thought behind why this technique works and why you can use that to do this, this and that, So. that whole experience of white to brown. And then all of a sudden this explosion of options and the color of jiu jitsu I loved jiu jitsu before, but after moving to like living in Brazil, I was like, holy fuck, this is so cool. It is like such a lifestyle. And then even the Brazilians cross-trained, I was like, okay, that's cool. obviously they a lot stuck together, but a lot, cross-train. So even the coaches that were telling me this is how it is when I went to the homeland. I see that. Is it not? So I was like, okay, there's some manipulation going on. Absolutely. Yeah. And so I think everyone in jiu jitsu at our phase, purple belt is a good amount of time into where you sort of see that, in other schools, other students, some students like, Hey, can I train with you guys? But like on the low, I don't put me in a picture. You ran into that, right? Couple. Yes. Okay, good. So it still exists today. And, I just rechecked all that. I'm like, okay, this doesn't. If it makes sense, it makes sense. If it doesn't make sense, then why? Like, ask why? You know what I mean? I know that you have a very unique style the last time I was in your dojo, you had A backtake that you were showing us. Yeah. And can you explain to the people how you displayed it and how you presented it to us? Backtake. was that the video study? The video study. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then we went to, you showing us how it was used. Yes. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. So I will, I'll talk about the specific class and then I'll share like my mentality behind that. There's a lot of opinions that I've, I have that has been concluded from training, from teaching, from seeing people grow to all of and not being held by tradition and just standard stuff. Even the idea of found fundamentals and stuff, like I'm not too certain about. drilling, for instance, warmups. When I started my school, I, Very quickly, we stopped doing warm ups because I was like, this is not relevant to Jiu Jitsu. If you want to do burpees, you can do it outside. I had such a limited amount of time to get as much information in. I'm like, I'm not gonna make these guys do fucking, How many four rolls do you have to do before you get the value out of them? Like maybe just a handful of times even with shrimping it's a skill that goes super deep Whatever is like yeah, but diminishing returns is a real thing so I can give you nuanced details about the shrimping that I've developed over 20 years, But you don't know how to defend an armbar like we're gonna talk about different things, right? So at my school, we don't we've very recently stopped Drilling to a most degree because I was questioning like what is drilling like why what is the if we're talking about skill acquisition? And how does drilling work in that like I don't know if it's helpful because I can tell you right now if we had a conversation Renee about jiu jitsu. Oh We can't I can't Provide any value to you unless we okay. Let me just show you on the mat here Let's come down here with me in it. How many times have you seen that conversation? Yes I But I'm telling you the most I've ever grown was having a very clear conversation with people that were thoughtful and be like, okay, so why would you approach guard this way was like, in this phase, these are available to you. So why wouldn't you do this? It's oh, yeah, that's true. Why don't I? So having these like conversations with certain people open my mind to being like, okay. The way you get better is having those types of questions and not necessarily it's that or nothing that in as a supplement to everything else. So it was just more about like, traditional just didn't make sense to me at a certain point. You know what I mean? You just come in, there's, here's the warmup, here's the technique we drill, and then we're going to spar, So to get into the class on, on the day you came in, it's a fairly unique class. And one of the things about being coaches, I'm like, Addicted to Jiu Jitsu obviously, but I I can't spar And so and I can't I'm not at the gym as much as I used to be. So what I do is, I just watch people's train. I personally think that seminars are a scam because you pay all that money and then that you get taught ten different techniques and you Walk away with what how many in your pocket? Probably zero, maybe one. Maybe if you're lucky, thank God I got one, right? And then to be able to actually hit it in class the next day or whatever, it's probably close. It's like a single digit percent chance, right? And that's with a lot of effort. And so to me, seminars are more of like a photo op. It's fun. Like you get to pick, you get to see the way you get exposed to different ways of thinking. My biggest takeaway of seminars was being exposed to how they explain or how they think about technique, not necessarily what they showed. And that points to a bigger thing where it's like the concept of Jiu Jitsu, like things, why they work is more important. So that Thursday, class was a result of me watching Mica Galvao, I was 2024, grand slam run, which is Pan Am's euros worlds in the gi. And it's just hours of footage. I'm just watching and I'm just watching. I have my own personal goals of how I want to improve my jiu jitsu So I do a lot of mental jiu jitsu in my head. then, I discovered something because for the longest time, I have some objectively effective positions that I tell my students about. Obviously, is it better to be taking someone's back or is it better to be mounted? It's a clear, it's clear in that sense, right? Right. But the real thinking has to come in the transitions of this position vs. This position or whatever. And so the value system dictates your prioritization and the choices that you make. So I look at Mica and it's not necessarily a seminar, it's just matches and I'm like, okay, show me what you want to teach me. And then I'll look at the footage and say, wow, Mica finishes a lot of people from the back. But how does he get the back? He gets it from full guard. He gets it from open guard passing. But when I open guard pass, I always end up in side control because I think that's safe and then mount and maybe we can work on a back take. But I recognize that he actually hates side control. Every time, even when he's in side control, he just like rather let it go to create movement for the back. But here's the thing. I've been in that scenario where I just let people go in side control and they always face forward. But for some reason, Mica has an ability to make them turn away from him. Right. these are the observations I'm having when I'm watching the footage and then the whole time I'm writing. I'm writing notes. I have time stamps. I have what's the mechanism here? Like what am I seeing? And the way I say is what is he teaching me? Right? Because ultimately I want to send give this to my students. And then so I recognize that he actually the way he modifies everything upstream. He modifies the way he passes and has certain grips. That's conducive for them to prevent them from turning in. So the first they're forced to turn away, right? And so once you recognize that, and I've never watched a seminar from him or him teaching this or anyone teaching this mentality, but I recognize it was that mentality that made him so successful. It's not the technique because the grips kept changing, the passes kept changing, the sequences kept changing. he was able to get the back from many other positions. And so if we stuck to technique and I showed 10 techniques from those videos, 10 out of a hundred that I saw, We're not getting anywhere. We're not gonna get anywhere. You have to come to my class Every single day and I have to be there every single day to work through the techniques and at the end of it What do we have to show for it? I didn't talk we didn't talk about the mentality We didn't talk about recreating that we didn't talk about the things that never change and the things that do change We're just showing technique. And so I have the timestamps. I Download the data. I'm parsing it in my head. Okay. What is the most important things? What has to happen? How do I And what can I say in a way where the students can replicate this like phenomena, right? So it's not the result is this phenomenon that keeps happening where he goes from passing to back taking. I don't care about the finish because if you have the back, you can work out the finish. It's about setting up that back acquisition. And so I have notes. I have everything ready of the matches queued up. I have it projected on my TV class starts. I have it every, everything loaded. I have the, I'm ready to toggle through, pause it, explain it. And then, start the class, we gather on a TV, you were there thankfully to witness that, and then we go through that. We go through the timestamp, we go, and then watch Mica, when he does this, he does this. Even when they turn in, he will still do this, but you can tell that he doesn't prefer this. And by the way I'm looking at it, he's teaching me the whole time, saying, I do this, in this situation, I do this, but the fact that 9 times out of 10 he does this, and 2 times out of 10 he does this. Is he speaking to me like he prefers to do this way So he does that by this setup. He does that by shifting the weight here. He does that by modifying the path this way Okay, cool. Now, how do I teach that I explained it you guys are all on the same page How do we make it actionable? And then the process I use called CLA constraints let approach And this is a pretty recent, development in my Jiu Jitsu. when you saw me at Daruma, I was not doing CLA. I was not doing ecological dynamics. I wasn't doing any of that. I was doing more positional sparring. And then, I got a buddy, Josh Beam, and him and I started doing, ecological dynamics around the same time. I was, like, really not into it. Cause I researched it in the past, and I was just, not into it. And then he started doing it. And so around the time I started doing it, and then I have a, I have another coach, Al Laguerra. He's part of JG. And he talked to me about, ecological dynamics. And then they all, he actually came in and taught the process in our school. From there, I was just like, okay, if this means that this could help my students, I don't care if this means everything I was doing in the past was wrong. Like I'm okay with that because my number one goal when I opened my school was like, 100 percent the benefit of the student in a rejection of the old school. If it means the best thing for the students to leave my school and find the quote unquote better school for them, 100 percent like support that. I'll reach out to that coach and let him know you're coming. You know what I mean? Yeah. In the past, but don't do that. That's the enemy. You're like, whatever. I don't do any of that. So I just asked myself when I was, 16 years old when I was 18 years old when I was 20 when I was 22 when I was 24 What would I wanted my coach to do if he really cared about me, the white belt to brown belt coach I thought he cared about me the whole time, right? But then at the end I realized that he was just using me for tournaments or helping him out Whatever when he was able to tell me don't chase your dreams And stay here and live below poverty line. I knew he didn't care about me, So that took made a big impact on me So when I have my school, I said look i'm never gonna let myself do that and like I don't actually I actually don't like teaching I say I like teaching what I really like is seeing people grow and like if I could help them do that's just crazy. I love that So when you say it made an impact on you i'm like fuck. Yeah, that's what i'm talking about I don't give a fuck if it was a back take or a knee shield pass, whatever You But if it, if you felt improved from hearing what I'm saying, I'm like, that feels so good. Right? So when I opened up my school, I said, number 100 percent priority is the student. I don't think there's a school that there's schools. I like to think they do that, but not to the degree that I do it. Like at the detriment of my school, like I make sure my school doesn't get too big. Like I don't want it to be big. Like I want it to be small, mainly because it's more manageable for me. But like. I have a particular way of teaching and i'm so glad it rang a chord with you because i've definitely talked to people the way I talk to you right now and they're like you lost me at what's up? You lost me bro. Can you just show me what to do? It's like I don't speak in technique I speak in like how can I help you, Yes, and then so i'm not going to attract everyone You know, I do think that my teaching methodology can be very helpful But I don't I'm not looking for a gigantic school. I think if you're, you think that there's a gigantic school and that gives it value, there are valuable aspects of it, but, there's more to your personal growth than going to a school that's really big. Has the big name or whatever. cause I've trained at schools with big names, like literally on the, as you enter the gym is a big name and you walk out, where are they at? It was, Oh, he's doing a seminar in Copenhagen. Oh, okay, cool. You're hoping to see him. Yeah, I was hoping to see him. So, it's, you just have to find that space. And so I tell everybody like, Give yourself a really good chance to find your family and go every school. You can't then make a decision, so I Started doing a CLA because of this if it this focus I started developing my training to be more aligned with CLA, which is Constraints led approach and so essentially what CLA is it is similar to positional sparring, but it's distinctly different in the fact that the practice of CLA is you constrain the environment to like almost in an infinite degree And you can manipulate the environment of the athlete to make them do what you want them to do, or work on a skill that you specifically want them to work on. No longer is it, I'm going to, I want you to improve your triangle, Renee. How do you do that? Well, here's five different triangle techniques and then we'll have you spar. Okay, what was the problem? Well, they, I couldn't keep their head down. Okay, here's how to deal with that. Okay, let's go back and train, whatever. That makes sense. But, with CLA, we can actually constrain the environment to where I'm going to limit the top person and the bottom person of what they can and can't do. So we can work on the specific skill in a live scenario. So there is no more dead drilling is just more so like we're gonna run you through a live experiment right now And I want you to be creative. It's not about winning It's about completing the task and your task is this and this person's task is that? And then with the cla approach you can add variables and the game grows and more things can happen. And so To me, that's the difference between that and positional sparring, right? Yeah, and the way I would sell this style of training to other coaches a lot of coaches hate doing this and I personally think is because It puts into question the methods that they've developed over decades. You know what I mean? what do you mean drilling doesn't work? No, fuck that, I'm not saying drilling to work. I think drilling is amazing tool, but it shouldn't be the main focus of skill acquisition. I think, being in a live scenario is more important, but constraining it so you can almost, it's a proxy for a drill essentially, but it's better. And so have you ever done, have you ever went to a class and taught something like, let's say, a reverse half. Pass passing side a half guard by doing a reverse half guard something like that and then they go at that when it's time for okay sparring time and it's like open and How many seconds were you even in a reverse half guard to even pass that from what you were taught that day? Sometimes it's zero right, right. So then you do positional sparring. Okay, you have to start in the reverse half Okay At least the coach can control that environment right and then now at least you have time to work on that environment and we can Go from there And then if you do open sparring where you start there, you pass or get swept and you're just never back. There's no incentive to go back there. We just had a lesson on that. Why are we going to? So with CLA, it's the same thing. The benefit of a positional sparring is that it's a constrained environment, except you're constraining it even further to manipulate the environment, to completely control the environment for the athlete. So it feels like I'm having a hard time passing reverse half. Okay. What is it about it? That's a problem for you. And then it's Oh, it's actually not the passing portion. It is the fact that I can't feel my base. I feel like I'm not in control. Okay. Let's constrain the environment. We're going to have a game. We're going to design a game where you're in that position. The other person's in bottom position. Person on top school is not the pass or do anything like that is to maintain this posture. And then the name of the game is to. The control of the frames and the connections between your hands and their hips or something like that, Person on bottom your job is to recover guard And with this completely constrained environment, you can actively pursue the acquisition the skill acquisition You need to improve that aspect of that guard So then when we grow the game and add more variables, you can now start passing from there Very cool. That's like I said, that's my spiel on How we do that shit. So with the Mica thing is just okay, what's with the context of CLA, how do I constrain the environment where we're going to replicate passing to backtake passing to backtake? So we'll start in a fully past position. And then the task of the person on top is to go straight to a backtake position. Essentially the task is prevented from turning in, If you're there and they have to defend the past, but they are prevented from turning in, then you're good. So we're going to, we're going to manipulate different grip scenarios. That's going to yield. which grip is going to be more effective or which connections are going to be more effective in preventing them from coming in. And as we progress through that class that day, I changed the connections and you're like, at the end of it, you're like, holy fuck, this is the grip, So I'm actually creating games where I want you to fail. And then we find the truth once we adjust closer to what I actually want you to do, And then so yeah, so that would be the outcome of this type of thinking into that environment genius I don't think so. I'm pretty dumb, dude No, it's very effective. We're gonna start, let's talk about your family. Wife, kids? Yeah. Yeah, so I have a wife, Steph. And, I have a little boy, Ellis. He's two years old. before that, I had my gym, right? And I would teach every single class. And then when Ellis was born, obviously my support group is that immediate family, her sister, her mom, her dad, their other sister, like that side, my family is in Korea, so they're doing their own thing, But I have that. And then I have the school and the school really helps. It was the school that allowed me to have the school, which is I'll explain in a second, but Shortly after Ellis was born, around five months old, he was diagnosed with a condition. It's a mitochondrial condition, and so he has a really hard time like moving and basic functions, his eyes, his ability to eat. So he's on a pump feed and stuff like that. he requires 24 7 medical care. And so it went from six days a week to just once a week. But honestly, before that transition, I was really close to losing Baem. I was gonna, I was gonna walk away from Baem. I was actually talking to Javier from JG. About do you want to make this like a JG Fremont and stuff like that? Like, cause I, with Ellis condition, I can't teach anymore. I'm not gonna have the opportunity. To be here And so we were having some serious thoughts and javier is the man because he's like I will it sounds good I mean from a business perspective, we would like another location But we would like you to stay Baem. Like what do we have to do that? And he's actually the one that asked me like ask your team and then so Immigrant mentality is going to be like I don't want to ask anyone for help So if this is the decision i've made decision i've thought everything that's possible Like I cannot keep this school, But then Javier was like, ask your team. And so one day I just, we all got like lunch, brought all the coaches together, sitting at the restaurant. I told them the news. then I was like, we're not going to lose a school. I think we can make this into another school. I just won't be a part of it. And then they were like, if you're not a part of it, we don't want to train here. So even though it was a part of our bigger association, JG, a lot of them have so much love for me and so much, they love the way I teach. They love the way I support them. They love the, all this other stuff. It came back tenfold to me because they're like, if this is not Baem, we're not training. A lot of them was like, I'm not going to do Jiu Jitsu if you're not teaching. Like they, they just was like, Jiu Jistu is you like without you, I'm not going. And that was like, Holy fuck. I can see that. support from your team. Thank you. Well, I didn't know. Cause then I thought they were gonna be like, yeah, it's probably the right decision. Thanks for letting us know type shit. I was not prepared to walk into that meeting. Being like, we're going to keep Baem, I was informing them that I was going to get rid of the school, you know? And from that point on, I went from six days once a week, my nights are Monday, that's like CLA night. And then all my other coaches really stepped in and be like, okay, for Tuesday, we'll do this for Wednesday. We'll do this Thursday. We'll do this. And so the support system is my family, but also my Jiu Jitsu family for real. one of the things that are what I love about rejecting old school Jiu Jitsu and rejecting it sounds harsh, but it's. I just reflect on my own experience and be like, okay, the things that I went through that I didn't like, I'm just rejecting that. And, I see the Instagram, meme post about old school coach would say this to their student. A new school coach would be smoking, hitting bomb grips on the sidewalk with their, you know what I mean? And I was like, that's not true because, when I give them so much freedom and they stay and they're dedicated to me, It's just proof. There it is. There is no more self esteem issue, you know what I mean? My coach, when I was coming up, he had a lot of self esteem issue because if I trained somewhere else and they were better, he would lose me, type shit. So then I'm like, I actually encourage people, train elsewhere. Find where you want to go. When I have a trial, I tell them all the schools that are in my area, I say, please, before you sign up, please take a trial here, take a trial here, take a trial here. You are gonna we're so different that you're gonna have a preference and when you have that preference and you come That's perfect. If you came back to me now, we're gonna be on the same side. You know what I mean? Absolutely yeah, don't just come here because i'm like you heard about the way I teach or whatever and you like that like you don't Train that guy, train, come back, this is the mentality I have. And it, and I don't have the biggest school. I don't really want that. but the team that I have, they're like, they're really for me, then not just me, but the other coaches, we have Andrew, we have Mike, we have Edsel. These are all really good coaches too, because we talk a lot, Like Edsel and I, we have like hour long conversations about how to talk about certain topics. I don't think a lot of coaches do that, but him and I, he has like a formal teaching background too. there's concepts and stuff like that. Like, how do I talk about it in this way without, alluding to this or like influencing them and doing this stuff. And we have just hours long conversations about just how to say certain things and how to like. Share our jiu jitsu, And so yeah, that's my support group and that's what happened to me in our lives personally. And then the current state of jiu jitsu at Baem is this is what it's looking like right now. It's just the team coming together and allowing me to take care of Ellis, but still have this special environment. And what's cool is when I stepped away, I didn't have the luxury of worrying about it because like I was already like, this is like a. This is like a second chance. So I already lost it. I already lost my school a while ago So my only thing was like I hope people's the culture the school maintains, and i'm so happy that it is because everyone that came up with me are They visit other schools too and they're like no we like it here for this So they push it back out, you know what I mean? So, um, i'm really happy about that. Yeah, good. I just want to thank you for your time again. Thank you. Thank you for having me Yes, so I think we're gonna end with that. Yeah, I want to come back. You will come back I skipped some shit, we can go back to and then more jiu jitsu. I can't stop talking about jiu jitsu I'm, just so fucking Excited about It was awesome. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Okay. Bye