Oregon’s wrestling program, which produced All-Americans and past national champions, saw its final season conclude in 2008. As a result, many would-be wrestlers have taken up an alternative — Brazilian jiu jitsu.
However, dozens of wrestlers have stepped onto the well-worn flooring of mat room one in the Student Recreation Center only to find themselves overwhelmed as skilled jiu jitsu practitioners impose their wills on the stronger newcomers.
“Wrestling is checkers while jiu jitsu is chess,” freshman Forrest Wells said.
Jiu jitsu is unique in that opponents start on their knees and often never stand up over the course of a match. To win, one practitioner must submit his or her opponent. Chokes and joint locks make up the majority of submissions, but Brazilian jiu jitsu employs hundreds of techniques, each designed to set up a different submission move.
“It’s like robbing a bank,” Wells joked. “It takes speed, finesse and careful planning. Plus if you’re a beginner like me, most of the time you get caught and submitted.”
Four days a week, jiu jitsu club holds court on the mat. Practice begins with a series of stretching activities, and each exercise targets a separate muscle area. This routine exemplifies the very goal of the sport.
“Jiu jitsu utilizes the whole body; it’s vital to stretch all the muscles out,” club member Lizz Hampton said.
Aside from Hampton’s stretching routine, which the team has adopted, her jiu jitsu style embodies the rhythms of top-level Brazilian jiu jitsu elites. Like many others in the club, Hampton relies on feel and muscle memory to submit her opponent.
Although the club is mostly composed of first-year jiu jitsu students, its Saturday competition netted all three UO participants first place honors in their respective weight classes.
“We continue to push our technique and our accomplishments speak for themselves,” club member Daniel Shelby said.
Under head coach Gerald Strebendt’s tutelage, jiu jitsu practitioners experiment constantly with intricate submissions and complex set-ups. Strebendt is a professional mixed martial artist and coach at Northwest Training Center in Springfield, but he still volunteers his time to the school club.
Newcomers rarely find success in the first few weeks of jiu jitsu practice. The sport’s complex nature lengthens the feeling out process for novices. However, risk of injury is surprisingly slim in the fighting form that birthed the Ultimate Fighting Championship and is widely considered the most “practical” martial art in existence.
“Although choking an opponent sounds climactic, we’ve never had any serious injuries because our coaches are good and we stay safe,” club member Andrew Hard said.
Brazilian jiu jitsu does not allow striking with any body part. But while this rule may suggest that jiu jitsu is gentle, the sport is just the opposite. The threat of joint locks and chokes keeps competitors on their toes, while never literally on their toes. From the knees, pairs compete in an effort to mount their opponent, escape from underneath, and in many cases, escape from above. Through use of the entire body, skilled jiu jitsu combatants can create an advantage even from below their opponent and submit from the most unlikely positions.
Passersby see a dozen pairs of bodies intertwined like pretzels, and few drop into the mat room bold enough to try jiu jitsu. After taking the emotional beating of getting submitted 20 to 40 times over a two-hour period, these curious individuals almost always return for the next practice.
“We have a common goal which is to get better,” Hard said.
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