I'm after info for BJJ, Wrestling or MMA schools in the Safety Harbour/Clearwater/Tampa area.....failing that Thai or boxing gyms too.
I'm going to be in Flroda for pretty much all of December. I was there last june, but was recovering from an injury so didn't train anything but weights.
But this time i'm keen as hell to train as much as I can while there.
I will be staying near the countryside mall in Safety harbour, (hope people know where I mean) so yeah, anything near that would be great, but i'll travel if I have to.
I've been with Eduardo de Lima for almost three years now. He has 18 years experience in Brazilian juijitsu. He was the former head instructor at Gracie Barra in Rio under Carlos Gracie Jr. He is an excellent teacher, coach and mentor and no one has his experience. Definitely check out all the schools and then make your decision. Of course I'm biased to Eduardo but Rob Kahn is a great guy and great instructor too, so whatever decision you make- you'll get great training.
At Gracie Barra you can always take a class for free to try it out. And you are 10 MINUTES away from the Clearwater Academy. I live in Safety Harbor too. My name is Mike Geery and you can call my cell at 727-364-6189 if you want some more info.
Mike how long does it take to get to these academies from safety harbour?? I had kinda ruled travel to tampa, as the girl i'm staying with thought it'd be too far....and I was rellying on her for a lift, but if not then shit! those instructors sound good!
Is there decent public transport? You can get around pretty well here in Aus, but I dunno what it's like in FL.
Also, I have Australian nationals for wrestling in Feb, and if possible, would liek to get some freestyle in down there.....do any of these mentioned schools have wrestling classes, or wrestlers (preferably heavy as i'm 6'5" about 230-240lbs) that would be keen to train?
Thanks for the info people!!!
I may end up moving to Tampa one day.....and it's fucking good to know there is some top notch stuff gowing on there!!! :)
Dennis, JJ Machado was teaching and Eduardo got his blue and Purple from him. When he left GB, Carlos made Eduardo the head instructor I believe until he moved to America, then it was Marcio Feitosa and I'm not sure who it is now.
It takes about 10 minutes from my house in Safety Harbor to get to Eduardo's school in Clearwater- so it's definitely the closest.
Travelling from SH to Eduardo's other school in Tampa is about 25 minutes and Rob's is 30-40 minutes. In Pinellas County the Public Transportation is ok. You could probably get a ride from several of us to the Clearwater school. It shouldn't be a problem.
As far as wrestling goes we definitely have some good wrestlers, and one of our very big boys Miguel (from Hell) is 6'4" or 5" and pushing 260. He's a very good grappler and I'm sure would be open to helping you train for your wrestling nationals. Rob Kahn I think has a very good wrestler at his school too.
Anyways, like I said- I'm biased towards Eduardo but there are a lot of good schools here. Definitely the closest for you will be the Clearwater acadmey. When will you be arriving?
although I am partial to my school, i think Eduardo is also a terrific instructor with good guys to train with. you will be a lot closer to him in saftey harbor so go there but feel free to stop by my place for a day here and there when you have time.
Hey Rob.....Here in Aus I have no worries about travelling far to get to a school....( Every 3 weeks or so I drive 3 hours to sydney to do some classes and have a private with Elvis or Anthony Perosh, stay the night and return home) But i'f i'm rellying on my friend in Florida for a lift, then it will be harder.
I'm sure I will stop by to check you guys out here and there though, especially If I can get some sort of puplic transport firgured out....
i know that eduardo de lima has a great purple belt (may be brown now). name is luke ezell. i met him in brazil in march training at gracie barra. apparently he took out the pan ams for his div this year.
he was tearing up the mat at barra, and he only had good things to say about eduardo
I think Lucas is a brown belt now. He's a bad, bad
dude. We started jiujitsu a the same time and were
about even for a while, then he learned how to put
all that muscle to use and he pretty much beats my ass
now when I roll with him (only about once a year though).