Greenwich Jiu Jitsu Academy offers training and empowerment for all age
Jeff and Jennifer Morris (then Jennifer Scaglione) knew of each other at Greenwich High School but weren’t close friends. They couldn’t have imagined then that they would one day be raising three daughters here and running a thriving jiu jitsu studio together. Their meet-cute story, in their mid-20s, took place at a doctor’s office, where Jeff was working as a medical technician and drew Jen’s blood!
Greenwich Jiu Jitsu Academy, the town’s only Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school, offers classes in the popular martial arts discipline for kids (from age five) through adults. Students come for the physicality of the sport—whether for self-defense, fitness or the competitive aspect—but stay because they find a community that is deeper than a tousle on the mat.
“Most martial arts are very stringent with discipline and tradition,” says Jeff, during a chat on the cushy matted floor in the immaculately clean studio in Mill Pond Shopping Center in Cos Cob. “This is more real-world application, more of a creative space. It has grown into this amazing community of people.”
Jen, who is a private chef and former restaurateur, adds that it was critical to the couple that the studio offered order “but also felt like a second home. No one is talked down to.”
Training With the Greats
Jeff’s roots in jiu jitsu reach almost to Brazil. After playing football at Iona University, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. “We had a significant amount of martial arts training in the military, and it was right upon jiu jitsu’s arrival in the United States,” Jeff says. “So, I was intertwined with some of the first Brazilians to come over to the U.S. and start teaching.”
Jeff recalls watching VHS tapes from overseas and thinking, “These little guys are so good at neutralizing bigger, stronger fighters who are trained in boxing and kickboxing and striking.” He says, “It became a big part of our daily culture at Camp Lejeune, because it was so fun, interesting and hard.”
When Jeff returned to Greenwich, he was thrilled to discover that Royce Gracie, the top Brazilian fighter, had opened an academy 20 minutes away. “I was training directly under him, the guy I’d been watching on TV,” says Jeff, who was a personal trainer at the time and soon joined the Greenwich Police Department (where he is a forensics officer today).
His jiu jitsu skills came in handy. “They put me into the training department,” he recalls. “I was teaching six or seven different topics that revolved around defensive tactics for the Greenwich Police Department and a lot of satellite academies. That’s when Jen pointed out, ‘This is taking up a lot of your life, and you love it so much. Would you consider opening your own academy?’”
here: A light sparring session with GJJ client Dom Aniscalco
Homegrown Studio
The skills originated in Brazil, but the teamwork and community feel of Greenwich Jiu Jitsu Academy were homegrown right here. Nine years ago, natives Jeff and Jen opened a small studio on Valley Road and soon outgrew the space. At the new location, 130 kids and 55 adults attend classes. The coaches come from education backgrounds. “One is a cello instructor,” says Jeff, illustrating there is no typical jiu jitsu enthusiast.
Traditional jiu jitsu involves a stark hierarchy, with bowing and lining up by rank. “I’ve purged out what I feel is unproductive,” says Jeff, who uses the same coaching modalities employed in Division 1 sports and insists teachers know students’ first names.
The value of jiu jitsu to athletes is becoming widely recognized. Jeff works with Division 1 basketball teams, pro players and the GHS water polo team. He trains pro athletes who live in the area and their kids. “They understand that athletic development needs diversity and that it’s actually pretty detrimental to just specialize and drive these kids into the ground playing one sport,” he says.
Jen chimes in that one class a week works. “This is one hour of jam-packed real-life learning,” she says. “You prep your kids for the SATs and all that, and then send them off. Don’t you also want them to be able to defend themselves? We have teen girls who can control grown men in the adult classes. I don’t know what more peace of mind a parent can have.”
Joel Smernoff, CEO of Black Umbrella, trains at the academy. “I have an emergency preparedness company,” he says, “so being able to defend yourself is important, and jiu jitsu is the most effective way to do so. I also love the problem-solving aspects of being in a live roll with a training partner and the incredible physical and mental challenges of the sport. GJJ has a unique community where the students are very competitive, yet love to help each other get better.”
Kids often come seeking confidence, especially if they are victims of bullying. “About eight kids have used what they learned here to defend themselves in the real world,” says Jeff. One Greenwich dad comments, “First and foremost, my boys have learned from Jeff the importance of de-escalation and avoiding physical altercations if possible. However, they are well prepared if they have no choice.”
One of his kids encountered a playground bully and calmly challenged him to take it to the mat, where, he warned, “There is no way you will beat me.” His confidence and composure was all that was needed to scare off the bully. Another of his sons was pushed to the ground by an older boy at a sporting event. When he stood and the boy came toward him again, “He took the kid down and immediately moved to the kid’s back, where he had complete control of him,” says his dad.
Guardian Scholarship Program
greenwichjiujitsu.com
219 East Putnam Ave., Cos Cob
(475) 282-6825