In the summer of 2026, I spent a month in New York City, where I had the opportunity to photograph around a dozen BJJ academies and train with a lot of interesting people.

I wanted to use this article to give a shoutout to a few of the places I visited, but also to share some of my experiences for anyone thinking about training in New York. Every academy has its own atmosphere, people and approach to Jiu-Jitsu, and I thought it would be worth sharing a few of the ones I got to experience firsthand.

These are by no means comprehensive reviews. I only spent a limited amount of time at each place, and my experience is just one person's perspective. But I met some great people along the way, and I'd like to give them a little recognition.

Paxibellum

During my first week in NYC, I came across Paxibellum on Google and decided to reach out. I was introduced to head coach Chad Vazquez and his students, who immediately made me feel welcome. The whole team had a great energy, and I felt comfortable there from the start.

One evening, I remember learning a few reversals from the turtle position. The techniques were broken down into a handful of straightforward steps, which made them easy to understand and put into practice. Two months later, I only remember one of those reversals, but I guess I kept the one that worked best for my game.

On another day, we worked on takedowns with coach Selvin Cruz, which was a lot of fun. I'd gotten a little too comfortable pulling guard for a while, so it was great to spend some time working on my standing game.

I also remember rolling with Selvin that day. Despite being quite a bit bigger than him physically, I really struggled with his pressure and guard passing. It was a good reminder that size only gets you so far in Jiu-Jitsu. I had a great time rolling with him, and he was an incredibly nice guy.

Overall, my experience at Paxibellum was a great way to start my month of training in New York. Between the coaching, the training partners and the atmosphere, I felt genuinely welcomed by the team.

Masterskya

My first visit to Masterskya was actually just to take photos. I got to capture their diverse team studying techniques and training together, and it was a great opportunity to see the academy from a different perspective.

Coach Alex Ecklin was kind enough to invite me back to train and even offered me a few weeks of free classes. With a pretty tight schedule during my stay, I only managed to make it back for one session, but I really appreciated the gesture.

The training itself was a great experience. I got to roll with people with different styles, and all my interactions were positive. People came up to talk to me, and I felt welcome from the moment I arrived.

Alex also showed a genuine interest in BONSAE and what I was trying to build through the social media project. I really appreciated that. It's always nice when people take an interest in what you're doing, especially when you're still in the early stages of building something.

Even though I only trained there once, Masterskya left me with a very positive impression. I'm grateful to Alex and everyone at the academy for making me feel welcome.