Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Tarieven Braziliaans Jiu Jitsu

What is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu about at Team UCT?

The benefits of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are far reaching and mostly have a positive impact on the practitioner. At Team UCT Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, technically improving yourself every day (week) in an enjoyable way is paramount. We at Team UCT help our students to get as much out of their potential as possible and in doing so help them to achieve their personal goals.

Through the type of training given at the Team UCT Schools you will learn more about yourself. You will automatically push your limits and learn to push them. Our team of instructors understand that everyone has their own personal goals and will assist the student in achieving them whenever possible. These training sessions have extra value because they offer solutions to issues such as obesity, stress in daily life, low self-esteem, etc. By training regularly you will be able to come up with more constructive solutions, both on and off the mat.

At Team UCT there is a family atmosphere that ensures that we all try to improve each other and grow to a higher technical level. The training sessions are experienced in a pleasant harmonious way by the students. By training you will always keep making steps in not only your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu development but also in the personal development, something that is the case in many martial arts.

About Team UCT

Years ago we decided to build a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Team and implement the vision of the UCT, with these two building blocks (BJJ and Combat related Concepts) Team UCT was started.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training was started by Sifu Benno Wai years ago in 2005 under the guidance of Francis Cadu. Since that time the journey has taken us past several well-known Brazilian Jiu Jitsu teachers from the Netherlands, Brazil and America. In the Netherlands it was Remco Van Baardewijk and Mathieu Peters who taught Benno the finer points of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Vagner Boca provided him (through Remco van Baardewijk) finally in 2014 the Black Belt. Over the years, Sifu Benno Wai and his training partner Pele Nguyen also trained with several other well-known Black Belts including: Marcello Garcia, Joao Miyao, Tiago Barros, Saulo Ribeiro, Marco Barbosa, Vagner Boca, Mauricio Christo, Augusto Ferrari, Cadu Francis, Jeremy Fields (10th Planet), Eduardo de Lima.

Pele Nguyen is now one of the most technical Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters in the Netherlands and the goal is to pass on this knowledge and skills to members of Team UCT.

Sifu Benno Wai and Sifu Pele Nguyen are both convinced that lifelong growth is the ultimate goal. Improvement through innovation and motivation.

Benefits of training in Brazilians Jiu Jitsu

Besides being an effective contact sport and a practical way of defending oneself, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is also a physically and mentally very intensive way of moving. The practitioner grows together with his training buddies in the areas of discipline, self-confidence, physical and mental strength. The art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a wonderful way to get to know yourself. Your strengths and shortcomings emerge naturally during the sometimes tough training sessions. Discovering yourself is partly an emotional journey and partly a physical process. The link with daily life is often obvious, the knowledge and skills you gain during training are of great value in other aspects of life.

Better stamina

What will first strike you during the workouts is that you are continuously engaged from the first minute to the last. This ensures an increased stamina, better endurance and balanced functional strength. The more often you train, the better you learn to use your cardio, you learn to dose and use your cardio effectively.

Meer strength

Because the training is in 80% of the cases with a partner, you will be pulling and pushing a lot, this alone will increase your strength. In addition, most of the exercises done during the warm-up are focused on calisthenic training where your own body weight is leading.

Better memory function

There are countless techniques, positions and transitions in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Of course you cannot remember all of them but just the fact that you have to remember different technical aspects makes the ‘overall’ memory function of your brain work better.

Patience and perseverance

Being patient with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a must. To master this art, as with Practical Wing Chun, requires a lifelong journey from the practitioner. The serious practitioner will be able to grow to great heights, unfortunately most will drop out, especially in the spineless society we live in today.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as Self Defense

Although the art of BJJ is such that it is designed for a smaller and weaker person to win against a larger and stronger opponent, most Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is taught as a competitive sport or as part of professional MMA training.

At the UCT schools, BJJ and Submission Grappling is taught as a sporting challenge where the self-defense aspect is of less importance. For standing conflict, at UCT we teach Practical Wing Chun.

Brazilians Jiu Jitsu grading system

The grading system of Brazilian Ju-Jutsu is a way to indicate the level of technical knowledge and practical skills of the Brazilian Ju-Jutsu practitioner. The structure of the grading system is very similar to that of other martial arts such as Karate and Judo, but in Brazilian Ju-Jutsu there are unique aspects and specific themes to each belt. In general, the criteria for obtaining a belt is loosely interpreted by most Brazilian Jiu Jitsu schools. Within UCT International there are specific criteria for the belts that have been fine-tuned by the instructors in charge of Team UCT.

White belt

The white belt is the belt that every student begins with during their journey to black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. During the period that the student wears his white belt, the main focus is on defending and escaping from inferior positions during sparring matches.

Before the student receives his blue belt, he should also recognize different positions. Both defensive and offensive positions. The duration that a student must wear his white belt depends on the time spent attending classes and how talented the student is. On average, this white belt period lasts about three years.

Purple belt

During the purple belt period, the key is to refine the techniques learned up to that point. A purple belt is also expected, as part of self-improvement, to assist in teaching. A purple belt is also qualified to teach independently. During the purple belt period the student will also see his strong (favorite) side and consequently recognize his weaknesses. On average this period lasts two years, as indicated, taking into account the invested training time.

Brown belt

For the minimum period of 1 year (according to IBJJF regulations) the student should wear his brown belt, the last hurdle to the final black belt. This period is used to improve the weak links in your ‘game’ and to refine your strong points of your ‘game’. According to the rules of the IBJJF a student must be at least 18 years old to obtain his brown belt.

Black belt

To achieve your black belt you need to have a high technical knowledge of the Jiu Jitsu system and outstanding practical skills. A black bander must have spent hundreds of hours on the mat. It must be clear to an outsider that the black belt is an expert in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Within IBJJF rules, a black bander must have had his belt for at least three years before receiving his first dan degree. This requires additional qualifications such as a referee certificate from the IBJJF.

Black | Red belt

When a black bander reaches the seventh dan he or she receives the ‘Coral’band. This is black | red. To get this band you have been black belt for years and at an exceptionally high level in terms of knowledge and skills.

White | Red belt

When the ‘Master’ (Black | Red belt) has given at least 10 years of Jiu Jitsu as a bearer of the ‘Coral’ belt then he / she is eligible for the white | red belt. This coincides with the 8th dan degree in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Red belt

When this degree is awarded the ‘Grand-Master’ has had his black belt for over 50 years and has had an undeniable influence on the development of contemporary Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. On the photo one of the few still living ‘Grand-Masters’ Flavio Behring.

Exam criteria

During the exam days the students who are going to practice for their new belt are asked to demonstrate a number of techniques whereby attention is paid to the execution, the understanding of the techniques and the execution of knowledge during the sparring part of the exam.

Each candidate is assessed individually, taking into account the possible limitations of the student. The final criteria are based on the personal growth of knowledge and skills and not on how often the student wins or knocks down other students.

Brazilians Jiu Jitsu matches

Is it a “must” to participate in contests to get a next belt? Although we do advise students to participate a number of times in BJJ competitions, it is not a requirement with regard to obtaining a new belt. Technical knowledge and passion in the perception of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are important.

Stripes | Slips | Exam set-up

During the exam days, a topic is always covered. This can be conceptual, this can be a specific guard or just focused on submissions. But it is always instructive and another learning moment in the BJJ process of the student. Before the seminar (topic etc.) part begins, those going for a belt are tested on their technical knowledge. After the entire process, not only are the bands then awarded but also ‘slips'(stripes on the band) are awarded. These are based on ‘attendance’, ‘technical skills’, ‘race result’ and ‘talent’ during previous periods.

UCT Pasport

At UCT International, all students receive what is called a UCT Passport. In this passport the student can keep track of his or her progress in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Membership at UCT International means that you get discounts on seminars and in some cases also on clothing.

The history of Brazilia Jiu Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has its origins in Kodokan Judo (Kosen Judo) ground fighting (the Newaza). From Japan transferred to Brazil by Mitsuyo Maeda and Soshihiro Satake.

Maeda is said to have won more than 2000 fights during his time as a professional fighter. Because of this he was called in Brazil “the toughest man who ever lived” and was generally referred to as the father of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

With the knowledge of Maeda’s Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was developed from this Judo by its founders, Carlos and Helio Gracie. Through challenge fights the Gracie family continuously searched for the ultimate techniques to win against bigger and stronger opponents. Technique overcomes power and size. The concept was: make contact with the opponent, bring him to the ground and force him to surrender. Largely focused on arm clamps and strangles.

Maeda arrived in Brazil around 1914 and as a result of one of his demonstrations he came into contact with Carlos Gracie and accepted his request to teach him Kosen Judo. After years of training under Maeda, he then passed on his knowledge to Helio Gracie, among others. Helio Gracie’s translation of Judo was a softer and pragmatic variant, largely because he himself was not one of the strongest at the time he sought solutions that would allow someone of weaker build to win over someone stronger. “Technique Overcomes Strength.”

In addition to the Gracie family, Maeda naturally taught others including Luiz Franca. This branch is perhaps best known for Oswaldo Fadda, he and his team were known in those years for their foot and leg clamps.