Adults, kids can learn jiu-jitsu at Victory Martial Arts

Jiu-jitsu training has a plethora of benefits, as it provides participants with a form of physical fitness, self-defense techniques, a mental health boost, and more.

Since October 2021, Victory Martial Arts has taught Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) to various age groups. Part of College Plaza, the school is located at 1900 U.S. 70 Suite F in Valdese, where Derrick Smith serves as head instructor.

Before starting Victory Martial Arts, Smith taught BJJ at a tanning salon in Valdese. Prior to that, he worked at Fenix Jiu Jitsu in Hickory. But he decided to open his own place after others he was training with encouraged him to do so.

“I teach different probably than any other school in North Carolina,” said Smith, who has been practicing jiu-jitsu since 2003. “... Everything that I teach is all systematic. I’ve always felt like the best way of learning something is to totally immerse yourself in it. Sort of like if you were going to learn a foreign language, you could get a Babbel app on your phone or you could do the very best thing and, let’s say you want to learn Japanese, you could go to Japan, spend a year or two in Japan, you’re gonna be pretty fluent in Japanese, right? 

“So when I teach a technique, such as an armbar, the first thing I’m gonna do is I’m gonna show them what an armbar is, I’m gonna show the basic breaking mechanics of an armbar, how to efficiently perform that armbar, but then I’m gonna show them every single position that you can use that armbar in. Then I’m gonna show all the common reactions of defense from the other guy who’s gonna try to defend that armbar and I’m gonna teach what you do as he counters the armbar and every movement on how to continuously attack with that armbar regardless of his defense, from any position … whether you’re on top, on bottom, doesn’t matter.”

Smith pointed out that over time, he’s found that his way of doing things “has really made a big difference on my students.”

“My students are really outperforming everyone else,” he said. “I have a purple belt (intermediate level) that just went to a submission grappling event in Charlotte and beat a black belt (expert level), so that’s saying quite a bit. But I basically opened the school because I wanted to better the sport. I wanted to get better myself, but I also wanted to make other students better and help them better understand the art, help them to defend themselves, and so that’s pretty much been the goal.”

There are two forms of BJJ: gi and no-gi. Gi BJJ refers to grappling with the use of a traditional martial arts uniform, while no-gi BJJ participants wear shorts and a rash guard.

Smith teaches all of the no-gi adult classes at Victory Martial Arts, while fellow instructor Neil “Noy” DeValle handles the gi classes. In addition, Jake Fristoe is the instructor for all of the school’s youth classes.

“I don’t know where we’d be without Jake,” said Smith, who added that Victory Martial Arts’ kids classes “are booming right now.” 

“I love working with the kids,” explained Fristoe. “I’ve seen kids come in super shy, really reserved, timid, they just kind of hide in the corner their first class, and over the course of a few weeks, you can just see their personalities really blossom. Once they gain the confidence that comes from knowing martial arts, as soon as a new kid walks in our doors, he’s instantly got 30 new best friends. … And then they’re young, so they don’t have any bad habits, so it’s actually really easy to teach them jiu-jitsu. If they were all my size, they would be a nightmare to deal with because they’re all just learning so fast and they just pick things up right away.”

Youth all-access classes are offered for ages 4-6 as well as ages 6 and up for $90 a month. Depending on a child’s “size and physical stature, they can be in the adult classes, but that’s normally around (age) 15 or 16.”

Adult (ages 18 and up) all-access classes are offered for $110 per month, while individuals can take part in a single drop-in class for $15 after signing a waiver. There is also a weekend warrior class offered on Saturday mornings from 9-10 a.m. for the discounted rate of $50 a month, although others can attend that class at no extra cost if they have a regular membership. Furthermore, additional family members receive 30% off their membership fee.

The aforementioned all-access classes allow people to participate in all available classes for their age range, watch past in-house training videos, and more. Not only that, but Victory Martial Arts also offers an adopt-a-cop membership for $50 a month, which Smith said “pays for a law enforcement officer to train jiu-jitsu up until blue belt (second adult rank) at no cost to themselves.”

According to Smith, the in-house training videos are posted on a Facebook page that only all-access members can view. Every time a class is taught, the session is recorded and posted on the page, “almost like if you were to buy an instructional training DVD.”

“So they’re able to have all the knowledge from before they began and then they’re able to study also on their past time or review video and watch the technique for the next class,” said Smith. “... It’s all systematic and every technique I teach builds upon another one, and so nobody gets left behind. And it’s also very easy for a brand new person to catch up because they can look back and study, so it’s a really good tool for learning.”

Jiu-jitsu training is helpful to all kinds of people, with Smith stating that children can use it to deal with bullies and females can employ it against male attackers. It can also be used to lose weight or simply to get in a cardio workout that some have called “the best cardio I’ve ever had in my life.”

Some members take part in team competitions alongside fellow students from Victory Martial Arts, while others choose to solely focus on the health aspect or on learning a form of self-defense.

“To me, it’s one of the best sports in the world,” said Smith of jiu-jitsu. “It’s also one of the few fighting sports where you can go 110% like a real fight and not injure your partner or your opponent … that’s one of the biggest positives to it. 

“It’s also really good for smaller-statured people because you’re basically able to control a much larger individual by using leverage and certain body mechanics. It really teaches you the way that our body works, it also teaches you how fragile our body can be, it doesn’t take much at all to break an arm or a knee and it takes a very small amount of pressure if you’re precise. So it teaches you our physical limitations, things like that, and is just an amazing sport.”

Fristoe said he wishes Victory Martial Arts “could have every kid in Valdese here, we just don’t have the space for it yet, but we do have plans in the background and we’re working on ways that we can incorporate more kids.”

“It’s been growing steadily for the past two years and a lot of the kids that are here now, there’s not a lot of churn,” he continued. “They sign up and they stick with it, a lot of our kids have been here since the beginning and it’s just been great. The growth has been great, it’s been steady, and I just wish that we could do more, I wish more people knew about us.”

For more information about Victory Martial Arts, visit victorymartialartsbjj.com – where you can find prices, schedules (including weekly times for youth homeschool and women’s only classes), instructor bios, photos, and more – call 864-380-7946, or send an email through the online form on the school’s website. Victory Martial Arts also has a Facebook page as well as accounts on Instagram and TikTok.