It’s a Saturday afternoon. The sun is shining on an early spring day, and most UNC Wilmington students are heading to the beach. But for a small group of students, one o’clock is time to train.

 “We train 4 times a week, and people make it when they can,” said Breanna Brandt, vice president of UNCW’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club. “I’d say we have about 15 people training consistently, and then there’s always people who just drop by occasionally.”

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a modern martial art that focuses on submission holds and other ground-fighting techniques that make use of leverage, much like wrestling. However, unlike many martial arts systems in the U.S. today, BJJ has a reputation for its prolonged belt system. It usually takes up to 13 years to reach black belt level.

“People are drawn to BJJ,” quipped Jesus ‘Chico’ Santiago, a professional MMA fighter and owner of Combat Club Martial Arts and Fitness in Jacksonville, NC. “It’s a unique blend of instant gratification for the win and hopeful anticipation for your next belt.”

New BJJ students get instant feedback on whether a submission works by the reaction of their training partner; as they progress, their training partners learn how to escape or reverse submissions. For this reason, Brad Williams, Chico’s business partner and new BJJ student, calls the sport “human chess.”

Some students train in BJJ for self-defense, others for exercise and still some for the chance at glory through tournaments. The UNCW BJJ club has a mix of each. Andrew Pappas, UNCW senior and blue belt member of the club, actively competes in local tournaments.

“I started my freshman year in college,” said Pappas. “I had been interested in BJJ since I heard about it from my uncle, so I had always known what it was.”

The UNCW BJJ club gives Pappas the chance to train for free. He hits the mats three days a week.

“I make it out to the club every Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” Pappas said.

Pappas also uses the club to improve his skills.

“I’m able to drill in live situations, and teaching technique really reinforces the fundamentals of the movements in a profound way,” Pappas said.

Mark Holbrook, a former Olympic wrestler and high school wrestling coach, believes many wrestlers would be wise to take advantage of BJJ’s growing popularity.

“There’s a select number of wrestling scholarships out there,” said Holbrook. “Anything a person can do to get a leg up on the competition is a good thing.”

Talks have begun to add BJJ to the Olympic Games-due in large part to the growth of professional events around the globe.

The United Arab Emirates has named it their national sport, requiring it to be taught in every school. Even females are required to take courses in the self-defense techniques of BJJ. The UAE is also home to the largest and most respectable BJJ tournament in the world, The Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu Jitsu Championship. UNCW graduate and BJJ club member Hope Aiken competed in the event this year.

Each year Abu Dhabi hosts hundreds of qualifiers who compete for cash prizes totaling close to $100,000. Aiken qualified after taking gold in both her weight class and absolutes in Florida, where she competed against a female super heavyweight world champion. She earned an all-expenses paid shot at the Abu Dhabi world female blue belt title in the UAE, and claimed 2nd place in her weight division.

In an interview with WWAY News Channel 3, Aiken stated her love for BJJ.

“Jiu Jitsu is something I can do for the rest of my life, I can make money doing what I love,” Aiken said.

Pappas also plans on pursuing BJJ as a career choice.

“Ultimately, I’d like to go pro in BJJ and eventually open up my own school,” Pappas said.

In response to the claims that she’s a member of the instant gratification generation, Aiken scoffs.

“No one told me! I have always had to work my butt off!” she said. “I think that the draw for this group of people is that yes it’s a long time to work at one sport, but you can see growth every time you train and go to the gym.”

“BJJ is a lifestyle,” said Jonathan Uzcategui, owner of Alliance, North Carolina.

As a member of coach Uzcategui’s school, both Aiken and Pappas are members of the largest BJJ family on the planet – team Alliance. With eleven world champions among their ranks, Aiken and Pappas are in good company.

But Aiken and Pappas aren’t an anomaly. Vice President of UNCW BJJ, Brandt, said they have students from 18-25 years old, “but mostly people around 20.”  The club has been providing a space for students, experienced or not, to learn BJJ free of charge, and the club has experienced growth each term.

“I think the club has just grown in a very organic way over time,” said Pappas. “The mats are available for use, and there is a good enough combination of people who have backgrounds in grappling and people who are just genuinely interested.”

Aiken offers advice for UNCW students hoping to get to her level.

“Train!” she said. “Guys think they can jump right into these tournaments and then they find out it’s not a game. Training to compete on this level of BJJ takes dedication, sacrifice, perseverance and humility. You don’t just wake up one morning and decide to be a world champ.”

 “You have to train every day. Hope, she trains sometimes 6 hours a day,” said Uzcategui. “Most people they don’t train that way.” 

Laughing a little bit, he remarks about Aiken’s training in his gym, “Sometimes people go soft on women. Here Hope, she trains with guys, sometimes bigger guys. And you have to be careful because sometimes they don’t want to let a girl tap them. They don’t like being beat by a girl, but Hope, she does it anyway.”

When asked if he thinks Aiken’s youth and newness on the professional BJJ stage might mean she could come against road blocks like favoritism, Uzcategui smiles.

“If she taps ‘um there’s no politics,” he said. “If she beats them on points there’s no ref decision.”

It’s Sunday afternoon in UNCW’s Village Club House and the BJJ group is meeting to start the week off with training. Casual conversation slowly dies as each person takes their turn on four mats. It’s a serious workout that has people sweating, breathing heavy and drinking lots of water. After a few hours on the mats, and countless submission attempts and successes, they dismiss until their next training session later in the week.