Emerson Souza Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Summary: Emerson Souza Academy is a great place to train. As a long time practitioner of other arts, Emerson is familiar with both the technique and the subtle aspects of jujitsu. He is a living embodiment that you don’t need to be 7 feet tall & have huge muscle to protect yourself. That form, structure, technique, and yielding to resistance provide the formula for success. Bottom line, If I was in NY I would be training here, I would also recommend it to my friends.
Let me start by saying I do not work here. I trained with Emerson 10 years ago prior to moving out of state. I was back in NY for over a month and wanted to train BJJ while in town. I trained a total of 16 nights while in town and this review is based on that.
Emerson, The Sensei: Emerson is building a family at the Academy with excellent jujitsu practitioners. The environment is to learn, to practice, to train hard. By this I mean 7 ten min rounds but NOT where you’re just trying to tap tap tap everyone you roll with BUT you really get to LEARN by getting to position, trying the move and the other guy can escape. Emerson said one night, «you know if you got the move, no point in making them tap, we are family. Keep moving so they learn the escape, let each other learn, this is how you can train for hours. If someone gets hurt that is part of our family we all lose, jujitsu losses.» He is right.
The Students of the Academy: Like most martial arts schools, the new guy is always looked at as a new comer. What makes Emerson’s school unique is that the time I was a new comer, to the time when I feel they accepted me was very short. In my own opinion it’s always a journey to earn the respect of your fellow dojo brothers, but next time I’m back in NY I won’t feel shy about showing up again to train. I feel like part of the family. What was a pleasant surprise was that each belt level truly represented the next level of skill. This says to me Emerson does not just hang out belts, but students are required to meet standards. Which in my opinion is desperately needed in the martial arts community.

When looking for a gym for our children, my wife and I checked out and our son took intro classes at many martial arts gyms in Baldwin, Lynbrook, Oceanside, Merrick, and RVC. Emerson Souza BJJ was the clear winner.
The facilites are clean. The instructors are even-​handed, not overly harsh on the kids, but tough enough to maintain discipline. I especially liked Brian, the kids seem to respond well to him.
What really makes this gym outstanding though is the instruction. I’m an MMA fan, and I train Muay Thai at a top gym in Manhattan. The instruction here is the real deal. If you’re looking for fancy impractical katas and rainbow-​banded belt systems under out-​of-​shape instructors there are plenty of other places happy to trade your money for that.
I don’t personally train here, but when I’m ready to take on BJJ I will be doing so here.
Would be five stars, but the changing facilities could be better and parking is so-​so; not any worse than the other places, but still not ideal.