Posted on October 5, 2008 - by Jim Hughes

ct royce gracie brazilian jiu jitsu head coaches complete re-certification in first aid

While we have a low injury rate throughout our ct and mass schools, first aid is an important and fundamental requirement for all Royce Gracie Jiu Jitsu Certified Instructors. We want our members to have the best instruction and the best care, even in the event of being hurt or injured. So, we meet regularly for re-certification in our CPR and first aid skills. Part of our training involves specialized guidance on the more common injuries that could occur in our practice environments. Naturally, the best medicine is always prevention, as coaches, we work hard to pay attention to what we teach, how we teach it, and how students put their skills to use. We don’t allow knee bars or heel hooks during open sparring. We don’t allow neck cranks either. Its just too easy to get hurt. And the truth is, if you can catch the knee bar, then you are good enough to catch an ankle lock where there is less likelihood to get injured. It you can do a neck crank, then you are skilled enough to apply a proper choke. A neck crank is a terrible move for a real self defense situation. The choke is the ideal submission for real life. Plus, a choke, while the most deadly move, is also the safest because your partner will know he is caught and can give up. This is the safest way to train. However, if accidents happen, we are ready thanks to our first aid training. We are fortunate to have Perry Siegel on staff as our Director of Safety. Perry is a Certified First Aid Trainer as well as an experienced health care porfessional managing multiple health care facilities and personel. Perry is a great help to all the coaches and our members in this regard and we are grateful for his important contributions. In addition, we have a lot of medical professionals as members. That really helps when we have many hands and eyes looking after this place we all love. Let’s continue to do a good job working together to keep our Gracie Jiu Jitsu Academy safe, here is Connecticut, Massachusettes, and beyond.

To your success, and to your safe training in Royce Gracie Jiu Jitsu!

Jim Hughes
www.gracie-jiu-jitsu.com