About Us
We Started In a Garage!
Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Santa Clarita started its journey as a Gracie Garage. A Gracie Garage is a matted at-home training location that is led by a devoted practitioner who has knowledge in the Gracie University curriculum. Jason Shaughnessy led a Gracie Garage for two years until he became a Certified Instructor. What started in a garage is now moving to our first location!
Click here to see our facility!
Owner, Head Instructor
Jason Shaughnessy
Jason began his martial arts journey studying Muay Thai over 10 years ago. While studying Muay Thai, his training partner educated him about the benefits of serving for the United States Marine Corps. Since Jason’s grandfather served in the Marine Corps as well, he knew that he could continue his passion for martial arts while honoring his country and family; so, he joined in 2012. During his time in the United States Marine Corps., he was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and found an immediate passion for the art. Once Jason returned to Santa Clarita, he began working at a martial arts school where he truly saw the impact that martial arts can make on the community. He continued learning about Jiu-Jitsu and was introduced to the Gracie family and their curriculum in 2019. Jason immediately recognized that the Gracie Family Guidelines on Jiu-Jitsu (street applicability, energy efficiency, and natural body movements), set them apart. He knew that this was the combination of martial arts and self-defense that would make the biggest impact on the community. Jason decided to learn the curriculum and become a Gracie Garage Leader. After years of studying and training, he went through the Instructor Certification Program to become a Certified Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Instructor.
Jason is now able to provide a comfortable space where the unique teaching methods of the Gracie Family are combined with a positive, respectful, safe environment for the community to come and become empowered through Jiu-Jitsu. When Jason is off the mats, he is a husband, dad, dog dad, and cybersecurity engineer. He enjoys golfing, traveling, watching sports, and spending quality time with his friends and family.
Head Instructor
Gilbert Raposa
Gilbert started training Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in the summer of 2011. He began his journey at the former headquarters (HQ), Gracie Academy on Artesia Blvd in Torrance, California. He was introduced to the art, and Gracie Family by his cousin who was already training at the time and still trains with us today.
As a purple belt, Gilbert began teaching after becoming a Certified Instructor in July of 2015, and has traveled all over the world teaching Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. His last residency was at a Certified Training Center (CTC) in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Gilbert received his black belt in December of 2019, and was awarded the rank of first degree in June of 2023.
Instructor
Nelson Ruiz
Nelson began his Jiu-Jitsu journey in 2011 at a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sport school. After a rib injury at this school, he took time out to recover. During his recovery he came upon a YouTube video of Rener Gracie and was intrigued. When he was fully healed, he visited Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy (HQ) at the Artesia location. He was introduced to Gracie Jiu-Jitsu with the 10-minute Intro. He learned how to do the famous Trap-n-Roll escape and was hooked!
He could not train consistently enough at Gracie Academy (HQ), so Nelson continued his Gracie Jiu-Jitsu training at a Gracie Garage in the San Fernando Valley. In 2012, he earned his Blue Belt, and in 2013 he went through the Instructor Certification Program (ICP) and became a head instructor/owner of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Granada Hills. Due to unforeseen environmental and health regulations (COVID-19) he closed his Certified Training Center (CTC).
Nelson was promoted to the rank of Purple Belt by Rener and Ryron Gracie in January 2020. Nelson currently trains at Gracie University (HQ) and is an instructor at Gracie Jiu-Jitsu La Palma and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Santa Clarita. Nelson enjoys street sparring with gloves and utilizing the effective techniques he learned in Gracie Combatives!
WHAT IS GRACIE JIU-JITSU?
The Gracie Guidelines
After nearly a century of testing in a wide variety of settings, Grand Master Helio Gracie’s system of self-defense remains fundamentally sound and intact. To be sure, three generations of Gracie family members and other equally committed practitioners of the art have evolved the original techniques and added to the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu arsenal. All of these changes, however, strictly adhere to the Grand Master’s requirements for street applicability, energy efficiency, and natural body movement. Today, we call these requirements the “Gracie Guidelines.”
On your path towards Gracie Jiu-Jitsu mastery, your knowledge of the Gracie Guidelines will serve you in two important ways. First, it will enable you to solve problems on your own by modifying techniques in accordance with the guidelines, and second, it will enable you to recognize the multitude of impure techniques that are being developed by instructors who do not know, or choose not to adhere to the founding principles of the art.
- Gracie Guideline #1: Street Applicability
Focus only on practicing techniques that are fully street applicable. Practicing techniques that are not “punch proof” will cause you to develop a false sense of security. By practicing techniques that keep you safe from strikes, you will develop the most important reflexes and avoid habits that could lead to injury in a real fight. If you modify a technique, you must verify that the new variation keeps you safe from all potentially dangerous strikes.
- Gracie Guideline #2: Energy Efficiency
Any technique that relies on speed and power rather than leverage and timing is not energy efficient. In a real fight there is no time limit, so you must learn to save your energy. The only reliable way for you to defeat a larger, more athletic opponent is to utilize techniques that cause your opponent to exhaust energy while simultaneously preserving your own. Before adding any technique to your arsenal, you must verify that it is more reliant on leverage and proper timing than on your athletic capabilities. Do not trust techniques based on strength or speed as they are unlikely to work against a larger, stronger attacker.
- Gracie Guideline #3: Natural Body Movements
Any technique that requires you to move your body unnaturally is likely to fail in the heat of battle. Natural body movement is the best foundation on which to build the instinctive reflexes needed in a real fight.
Violations of Guideline # 1
With the demand for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instruction at an all-time high, thousands of self-proclaimed Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructors have opened schools around the world and are creating or modifying techniques at an unprecedented rate. The problem is that most of these techniques violate the first guideline of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu – they are not street applicable. The main reason for the divergence from this foundational principle is that these instructors are creating techniques for sport competition rather than real street fights. Any technique that is designed to work exclusively in a controlled competition with all of their associated rules, weight classes, time limits, safety considerations, and point systems, will give the practitioner a false sense of security since these circumstances are totally non-existent in a real fight.
