Unity is defined as oneness of mind amongst a number of persons: concord, harmony, or agreement. Rigan Machado black belt, Nick Curson, held true to this idea when creating his new school, Unity Jiu Jitsu (UJJ), located in Redondo Beach. UJJ is conveniently located right down the street from South Torrance High. The gym is deceptively large with plenty of mat space and a strength training gym in the back. This gym is remarkably clean- easily cleaner than any other gym I’ve trained at. The mats are new and high quality and are mopped before class, so staph and ringworm should be a non-issue.
Instruction is top notch; Rigan Machado Black Belt, Nick Curson, runs the school. Nick started training in 1995. He started off with Rickson Gracie and eventually received his black belt from Rigan Machado, he also spent some time training with BJ Penn. Needless to say, the man knows jiu jitsu, and it shows in his teaching. Nick teaches good fundamental jiu jitsu, which anyone can benefit from learning. Whether you’re a white belt or higher, he will go out of his way to make sure you understand the technique. Aside from Jiu Jitsu, Nick is also a certified personal trainer under Gavin MacMillan, a colleague of Marv Marinovic who trains BJ Penn, and he offers personal training at his school.
I did a full class at Unity this past Saturday, and it was great. Class went for an hour and forty minutes starting with a good warm up of running and various rolls, hip escapes and bridges. It was enough to loosen up the joints without leaving everyone too tired to roll later. After the warm up, the next 30-40 minutes of class were dedicated to fundamentals and drilling. Drills were focused and paced well, I wasn’t bored and sitting around at any point; Nick was walking around the entire time watching and giving people individual pointers. After the drills, it was time to roll. The rolls were intense timed rounds with a short break in between. Everyone was on the mat; no one was sitting on the side watching. All the students are there to train, and even the new white belts are technical… no spazzes here.
Nick wanted to create a Jiu Jitsu school that felt more like a family than a gym, a humble community that loves Jiu Jitsu, and so far he has done an excellent job. If you’re in the South Bay and are looking for a great reasonably priced place to train, or if you’re an athlete looking for sport-specific training, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better place than Unity Jiu Jitsu.
For more information go to: Unitytrainingcenter.com or look them up on Facebook