Jiu Jitsu for everyone...

My student Ali is profoundly deaf and wears implants so he can hear the outside, yet when he trains he has to take them off and he's on his own and depends on me for communication.  In the short time he's been with us, I've learned to sign the alphabet, some general phases, Jiu Jitsu positions and sign for NMBJJ, but most fun of all is the swear words he's going to show me!

Learning sign language is something I've wanted to do for many years but now I have to learn in order to make Ali feel like part of the team and it's very rewarding when I get the signing correct and my students are picking up sign language too, so it's a win-win for everyone at the club.

Ali's a huge inspiration to young deaf people and shows that Jiu Jitsu is for everyone and I hope that more deaf people take up Jiu Jitsu as a result of me posting this news up on my social media, tagging the deaf community in on Facebook and IG.