Academy Jiu-Jitsu opens second location in Downey

DOWNEY - Academy Jiu-Jitsu held a ribbon cutting for its second Downey location last month.

Owner Hector Beltran described the past year as “difficult,” saying that it taught Academy “a lot about ourselves.”

“The biggest takeaway, it was one of those realizations that I always share with my students that pressure makes diamonds.”

“Throughout the entire pandemic, it felt like we had this massive weight on our shoulders because we were open, closed, we had so many restrictions, and it really forced us to use our imagination to see what we could do better,” said Beltran. “We just kept creating better programming, and better services for our members. Word started spreading, and more people started wanting to train with Academy, so before we knew it, we were at full capacity at our other Academy on Downey Avenue. We really had no choice but to say ‘Hey, we have to look outside’ and see where else could we do this; what’s a good space to take this to the next level?”

Academy takes over the former Avenue clothing store space, located in Lakewood Avenue strip mall adjacent to Ralphs. The new location will now serve as Academy’s Downey headquarters, though the prior Downey Avenue location will still remain open and offer classes.

“The Downey Avenue location will help create new programming that we didn’t ever have space on the schedule to provide before,” said Beltran.

The opening ceremony on Saturday was full circle for Beltran, as it included Master Leo Vieira, founder of Checkmat BJJ.

“[Vieira] came down and helped us to inaugurate the program and kick it all off,” said Beltran. “It was actually a really special moment for me as well because it’s now been three years since I received my blackbelt, and he awarded me my first degree on my black belt, which is the amount of time it takes to go to the next level.”

“It was a really special moment for me, to have all my friends, family, my kids watching myself get to that next level and really solidify where we’re at in the journey.”

Beltran says that Academy’s main goal now is to “solidify the roots that we’ve set in North Downey.”

“Continuing to strive to create a better program every single day for our members,” said Beltran. “We don’t necessarily care to blow up to anything that has 1000 students or anything like that. All we care about is creating the best environment. Even if we just have 100 students, we want to make sure those 100 students have the most amazing experience possible.”

“We’re really trying to genuinely touch these people that we have come in here, whether they’re 5-year-old kids, or 60-year-old adults, we want everybody to get that same level of service to help them gain a sense of confidence in other aspects of their life and just help them grow as individuals.”