Semper Fi Mixed Martial Arts Academy

May 2019

Semper Fi MMA Academy is impressive. I have nothing but the highest compliments and I am not one to be easily impressed. At Semper Fi, new kids are eagerly welcomed into the fold by the other kids and parents are quickly welcomed by other parents. There are no cliques and everyone is very open. Joining a new sport or new facility and trying to meet new people can be hard. There are those that have been there for years, or that know each other outside, and in some places that means new people sit alone until more new people join. Not here. In some martial arts gyms and dojos I have been a part of in the past, higher belts stuck with higher belts. There was an implied supremacy complex. Not here. You can be a white belt and spar with a yellow belt, and the yellow doesn’t complain or show off. If you are the white belt, what that means is you learn, and you get an incredible sense of accomplishment. If you are the yellow belt, and if you lose, it isn’t held against you as I have seen in other disciplines. You acknowledge your error, adjust, and redo better next time. If you think that sparring with a lower belt is a waste of class time, I firmly disagree. There are few better ways of honing your own skill than to identify mistakes made by others and telling them how to improve, or verbalizing how to do a move better. Sensei Julio is incredible. He establishes a safe environment for students to learn in a way that is technical, rule-based, and effective, but always fun. Even after a class where someone is corrected and doing push-ups or after a class where you just can’t get the move down, every person leaves with a smile and a desire to come back and get back on the mat. Sensei Julio requires you follow the rules, but he earns and maintains the respect of his students. He doesn’t demand hollow shows of respect, what he earns is real. That is infinitely more powerful. The students want to impress him, and when they get compliments on a job well done, it makes their week because he is authentic and honest. You wont get false flattery. He allows the students to also earn his respect as well through their hard work, attention to detail, and enthusiasm. Even more impressive is the feeling of family. Sensei Julio sponsors and provides all the eggs for the Easter Egg Hunt. His depth of caring for his students and the community is apparent, and he does all he can to make Semper Fi a positive community partner. With every class I witness, I see these children becoming a force unto themselves. Each class they walk a little straighter, and approach each new skill with more confidence and fire. They take that belief and confidence into other parts of their lives. If you are looking to enroll your child(ren), want to do kickboxing, yoga, or MMA yourself, I would highly recommend you take a look at Semper Fi.