I just moved to Michigan and have been keeping an eye out for places to train. I posted something similar on here a couple of months ago and got some good leads. I found this place the other day when I was in the Universal Mall in Warren... Macomb Martial Arts Academy. Their BJJ program is run by Quinn Vallely. I was wondering if anyone had any experience at this club. I have no clue as to the BJJ scene out here in MI. I tried looking up Vallely on bjj.org and no dice.
Obviously I'm going to to and watch a couple classes myself before I make my opinion, but I would appreciate any input or info you guys have to offer.
^^^ That is true. Last time I checked Quinn was a purple belt. He's a good guy. I hadn't seen him in like 3 years and at my last tournament he comes out of NOWHERE and starts coaching me mid-match lol.
Dude, Saulo Ribeiro has an academy in Melvindale. Go there, the classes are taught by Saulo or Xande, it is easily the best BJJ in Michigan, possible the entire midwest.
After mapquesting directions, it looks like the Ribeiro school will be closer to work than the other places mentioned. The prices are a little high (but I do understand who the instructors are). The prices are just reminiscent of when I was living in Los Angeles.
I actually made the drive up to warrior way over the weekend. Unfortunately no one was there at the time, so I didn't get to go inside. It must be a quality gym, because I've heard it spoken of highly on here. It might be a bit far for me though. I live in Royal Oak now and will be working downtown, so Walled Lake seems like it's about 20 miles in the wrong direction.
Unfortunately, what fits into the budget will be a big factor for the time being.
"After mapquesting directions, it looks like the Ribeiro school will be closer to work than the other places mentioned. The prices are a little high (but I do understand who the instructors are). The prices are just reminiscent of when I was living in Los Angeles."
Saulo's place is easily the best in the area, but if he's too much money for you, he has a brown belt Sean Bansfield in Ann Arbor. I've trained with Sean and he is a fantastic instructor.
I guess I'll have to see exactly what my schedule is like next week when I start and then see what traffic is like when I leave work so I can figure out which gym will be easiest to get to.
From what I've seen driving around exploring though, you guys out here have it much better than the NYC metro area and Los Angeles... so I guess relatively it's not so bad.
I was talking about traffic and how long it would take to drive from one spot to another... Compared to Garden State Parkway, I-95 thru the Bronx and the 405 thru West LA, Detroit Metro Area looks like a cakewalk.
I know $130 would have been a very reasonable price for Manhattan and from what I remember a roughly average price for west LA (when I was there a few years ago).
Actually when I was living near NYC, the big schools were too pricy for me. Like it or not, I'm a nickle & dimer for the next couple of years, at least. I was at Mike Casey's (Relson Brown belt) gym for a few months... small club, good rates and very solid basics. Maybe not the #1 choice for an advanced player but very good for a beginner/intermediate player IMO.
With all that said, I still have to scrawl out my budget to see what fits.
I don't remember exactly what I paid when I trained at Focus Jiu-Jitsu (Sean Bansfield's place) but it was very reasonable, definitely in the double digits per month. I believe Sean won the Brown Belt Senior Absolute division at the Pan-Ams.