Good News: Moving to the Big City

Posted on March 28, 2008 by jiujitsu365

I was offered and accepted a position at a college in Jacksonville, FL.

Those who were readers of my previous blog know that I am an assistant professor at a small rural college in Georgia. The college where I teach is in a town that has a population of 5000 residents. The college has 3400 students. In order to keep my sanity I live in a city about 33 miles away that has a population of 50,000. I train in another city at an academy that is 28 miles from where I live.

Well, Jacksonville has the largest land mass of any city in the United States and is 12th in population in the country. This means that there are a lot of people that practice BJJ, submission grappling and MMA. So far I have located five academies that offer BJJ with the gi and one that offers no-gi BJJ along with MMA. I also found a judo club that offers 4 sessions a week.

Further, not only does a majority of my family live there, Jacksonville also offers many cultural, social, professional and economic opportunities that I can take advantage of.

Now, I can send my BJJ training in to hyperdrive. I can finally train with the gi, train at a location closer to my home, train at earlier times and more times per week. I can also sneak in some Judo training….

Filed under: BJJ, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Grappling, Jiu-Jitsu

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12 Responses to “Good News: Moving to the Big City”

  1. FightWorks Podcast, on March 28th, 2008 at 10:05 am Said:

    Congrats on the new gig! Let us know which school you settle on!

  2. FuzzyDunlop, on March 28th, 2008 at 10:09 am Said:

    As a fellow academic and jits wannabe, let me say, that totally rocks! Having gone onto the market before, I know how tough it is to get a job, let alone a job in a place you’ll be happy living. Bringing in family connections and extracurriculars is icing on the cake.

    Your hard work paid off–enjoy!

  3. Steve, on March 28th, 2008 at 10:23 am Said:

    Congratulations.

  4. teddy, on March 28th, 2008 at 11:10 am Said:

    Outstanding! That’s great news!

  5. jiujitsu365, on March 28th, 2008 at 10:03 pm Said:

    Thanks Guys…

    and to Fight Works (Caleb): Will do……

  6. jiujitsu365, on March 28th, 2008 at 10:06 pm Said:

    FuzzyDunlop,

    You are absolutely right. It’s rare that the planets align in academic job searches.

    I’m excited about it….

  7. neijia, on March 29th, 2008 at 9:30 am Said:

    Congratulations! I am envious of all the training you will get. Your comment on judo is funny because I have the same sort of feeling but from the other direction. I want to study more judo and sneak in bjj. Lol. Someone should coin a shorthand term for studying them together.

  8. dannicus, on March 29th, 2008 at 3:32 pm Said:

    Very excited to hear about your new experiences. Congrats

  9. jiujitsu365, on March 30th, 2008 at 7:27 am Said:

    Thanks Dannicus and Neija….

    Neija,
    The way things are going I think eventually Judokas will probably begin to focus a lot more on groundfighting anyway. Hopefully BJJ academies will follow suit with allowing more time for the study of takedowns….

  10. Kitwana, on March 30th, 2008 at 12:26 pm Said:

    Bakari,

    Congrats! We haven’t told the kids yet. You guys can tell them when you come in April for the tournament. They are really going to be excited.

  11. forlogos, on April 13th, 2008 at 7:28 am Said:

    Congratulations!!

  12. jiujitsu365, on April 13th, 2008 at 7:17 pm Said:

    Thanks forlogos….

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