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25 Educators providing Irish courses in Belfast

Gracie Barra Belfast BJJ Academy (Northern Ireland)

gracie barra belfast bjj academy (northern ireland)

5.0(58)

Belfast

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is widely acknowledged as the most effective martial art in the world. The Gracie family, from Rio De Janerio, Brazil, are considered the founding fathers of BJJ, having learnt a hybrid form of judo and traditional Ju Jitsu from a travelling Japanese prizefighter, Mitsuyo Maeda, in the early 1900s. The creator of Judo, Jigoro Kano had tasked Maeda with spreading his new sport around the world, and when Maeda left Brazil, the Gracies started their own academy, teaching their modified ‘Gracie’ (Brazilian) Jiu Jitsu. For the next 80 years the Gracie family modified and refined their art, holding public challenge matches to prove the effectiveness of their blend of jiu jitsu. Despite these very public, and often controversial, matches, the art remained largely unknown outside of Brazil. This changed in the 1990s. In 1993 the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was established. This competition pitted various styles of martial arts against each other. Royce Gracie, son of one of the founder of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, dominated the event, beating each of his much-larger and stronger opponents with ease. Royce’s performance in the UFC changed the martial arts world forever: his performance demonstrated that with the correct application of technique and leverage the weaker and smaller man could defeat any adversary. Since 1993 there has been an explosion in the growth of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, with clubs in Los Angeles to Australia, China to Russia. BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU IN BELFAST Closer to home, in the late 1990s Mauricio Gomes, a representative of Gracie Barra and an extended member of the Gracie family, arrived in the British Isles and set up BJJ clubs in London, Birmingham, and Belfast. Gracie Barra Northern Ireland was constituted, and since then the club has grown from strength to strength. Maintaining close ties with its sister clubs across Britain and Ireland, the club has hosted some of the most highly regarded practitioners in history of the art, including Mauricio’s son Roger Gracie (the most successful BJJ competitor of all time), as well as four-time world champion Braulio Estima (IBJJF Hall of Famer and ADCC champion) and his brother Victor Estima (NoGi world champion). In 2011, and with Maurico’s blessing, Braulio Estima awarded Graham Keys his black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He was the first person in Northern Ireland, and the third in Ireland, to attain this rank. Under Graham’s tutelage, Gracie Barra Belfast has become Northern Ireland’s most successful Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academies, having produced Irish, British, European and World champions. Recently, and in recognition of the Graham’s expertise, Ulster Rugby approached the club to help with their training and preparation for their up-coming 2014 season. Today, Gracie Barra Northern Ireland is the only official Gracie Barra Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club in Northern Ireland, and the largest and most successful BJJ club in Belfast. Everyone is welcome to come and train, at our classes held in a number of locations across Belfast. The club can trace its lineage directly back to the founders of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

East Belfast Yacht Club

east belfast yacht club

London

East Belfast Yacht Club was founded by workers from the Belfast Shipyards in 1904, and has enjoyed both the high and the low years through its existence. From the high points through the 1920s/30s/40s and '50s when the Club hosted many sailing races and entertained the owners and masters of the massive J-Class yachts down to the more plentiful and massively supported Belfast Lough one designs through to the Flying Fifteens and Dragons and others of the various periods. The Club was previously situated at the head of Belfast Lough near the now defunct oil refinery on the South shore but has been based on the present site in Sydenham Embayment between The Belfast City Airport and Victoria Park since 1939. More recent activities have been more towards the Cruising side of Yachting with boats being built and refurbished at our base at Sydenham Embayment and used to cruise the Inland Loughs, the Irish Sea, The Med' and indeed through Europe and across to the America's. We have become established as the main non professional producer and knowledge base for boats built from Ferro-cement in Ireland, and have had visitors from many countries in Europe who wished to avail of our knowledge on the subject. A past Member and his good lady were the first to introduce the method to Sydenham around 1970 and through a system of trial and error and the study of other builders down through the years we have had boats built by our members using just about every method known. Current build numbers are somewhere in the 30s, some of which have been own designs and some modifications of existing designs.

GymFun

gymfun

Newtownabbey

Founded in 2005, GymFun Gymnastics Club began as a Newtownabbey based Gymnastics Club specialising in recreational gymnastics. We work in partnership with Ulster University and are based at the Jordanstown Campus. We provide fun-filled classes, training, participation and performance opportunities for boys, girls, teenagers and young adults of all abilities. The name GymFun reflects our approach to the sport of gymnastics. Our motto is ‘Serious Smiles' which captures the spirit of all of our activities. We focus on developing children's fundamental movement skills and confidence through a positive and FUN environment. We believe that all children can benefit from postitive gymnastics experiences and that this can help them develop the physical literacy needed for an active life. We fully subscribe to the belief that gymnastics is to sport and physical activity as the alphabet is to reading. We therefore emphasise the mastery of gymnastics skills rather than competitive success. It is our belief that all children, regardless of ability, should be provided with an enjoyable, high quality, recreational gymnastics experiences to enable them to achieve their potential. We strive to ensure our classes are run to the highest standards and we are constantly evolving our programme. Our Membership GymFun Jordanstown is one of the largest recreational gymnastics club in the Newtownabbey. In our Jordantown classes we have over 450 GymFunners training with us every week! Our members include primary and post primary boys and girls of all abilities. Most members attend once a week for a one hour class. Some members train up to 2.5 hours per week. Gymnasts progress, at their own pace, through 4 levels (Enjoy - Learn, Perform, Master) of the GymFun programme . As our members get older we work closely with them to plan and structure sessions that will meet their motivations and needs. Many of our teenage gymnasts are also training as GymFun Leaders through membership of our Young Leaders Academy Quality Marks At GymFun Gymnastics Club, in keeping with our 'Serious Smiles' approach, we believe in providing professional recreational gymnastics provision and strive to ensure that our member's gymnastics experiences are as positive and happy as they can be. GymFun is the proud recipient of the British Gymnastics 'GymMark' accreditation. This quality mark is in recognition of the safe, child friendly, effective environment we have worked very hard to develop. We hope that this accreditation helps reassure parents and carers that they are choosing the right club for their little GymFunners! In 2018 GymFun became one of Northern Ireland's first clubs to have been awarded the British Gymnastics Equality Standard accreditation. Affirming our commitment to provision of inclusive, fair and equitable experiences to all our members regardless of their potential or ability. Our Coaching Team GymFun Coaches are amongst some of the most experienced recreational coaches in Northern Ireland. Many of our coaches (Sinead Connolly, Kelly Morrow, Pippa Davis, Molly Davies) are actively working for British Gymnastics (as Development Officers and/or Tutors and/or Assessors) and help to develop the sport across the province through this work. The majority of our coaching team are studying sport Ulster University undergraduate or foundation degree. Education, training and continuous professional development are a focus for all of our team. We hope this commitment to constant learning, improvement and change is reflected in the quality of our GymFun classes. GymFun Student Employability Programme Developing the gymnastics coaching workforce is one of our priorities at GymFun. We work in partnership with Ulster University and British Gymnastics NI, delivering the GymFun Student Employability Programme. This programme is unique in the UK and is the most significant contributor to recruiting, training and deploying new coaches into the sport of gymnastics in Northern Ireland. We are proud to say that many of our graduates have gone on to open their own gymnastics clubs and/or are working in full time gymnastics careers, impacting the development of the sport across the province. Irish Football Association Partnership We are also working with the IFA Young Girls Excellence programme. This work involves providing gymnastics specific strength, conditioning and flexibility training to the IFA junior girls squads. Through this innovative initiative it is hoped that the young aspiring footballers will enhance their fitness, physical strength and body management and in turn lead to improvements on the pitch!