Today we’d like to introduce you to JD Speck.
Thanks for sharing your story with us JD. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started training Jiu Jitsu in 2007 under Baret Yoshida shortly after moving to San Diego. I had a long martial arts background and was immediately hooked on the art, training, lifestyle, everything that involved jiu jitsu. I started coaching in 2009 as a blue belt at the late Undisputed gym in East Village. From there I coached at all of the Undisputed gyms: East Village, North Park, El Cajon, and the most recent City Heights location. In 2016 we decided to launch “Baret Submissions” as an affiliation and I started Endless Journey as the second official affiliate gym.
Since we were looking to expand the brand “Baret Submissions”, I looked all over the county for locations to open. San Diego is pretty famous for its wide variety of Jiu Jitsu gyms, so finding a place that wasn’t already established by a world champion or million dollar facility wasn’t easy. Poway is full of martial arts academies but not a lot of Jiu Jitsu, which was surprising to me because of their respected reputation as a wrestling community. Long story short, we opened our doors in September 2016. Today we are a year in and I couldn’t be happier with our team!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being totally new to the area was pretty scary. We opened with zero members, so selling a “class” that didn’t really exist yet was hard to do. Thankfully Jiu Jitsu is gaining in popularity so just the name itself intrigued people enough to come in and it’s also a lot of fun so it’s easy to get hooked.
Endless Journey Jiu Jitsu – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We specialize in all aspects of grappling. We offer traditional Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the Gi (uniform) and also No Gi grappling. We are extremely proud of our No Gi instructor, Jesse Taylor, winning UFC’s ” The Ultimate Fighter” tournament this year. He won majority of his fights with submissions, which really shows his high level of technique. I think what sets us apart is our members. Everyone trains very hard but also really help each other, they’ve created a vibe in our gym that makes you feel not only a part of a team but a family. For me, that is invaluable.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I would have to say having our No Gi instructor, Jesse Taylor, winning “The Ultimate Fighter” tv show and getting back into the UFC. Jesse is a Poway local so having him gain that kind of success and being able to share with his community is a really cool thing for us.
Contact Info:
- Address: 12855 Pomerado Rd.
- Website: EndlessJourneyBJJ.com
- Phone: 858-391-9220
- Email: endlessjourneybjj@gmail.com
- Instagram: @endlessjourneybjj
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/endlessjourneyjj/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/endless-journey-jiu-jitsu-poway
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