Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Lucky's podcast, Sotell me your name and where
(00:03):
you're from and your lineage.
Okay.
So So Marco Cruz from JG AcademyModesto.
I'm under Javier Gomez Blackbelt.
My name's Javier Gomez.
I got my Black Belt from, uh,and I have the pleasure of
training, JG, Modesto withMarcos and Brentwood with, my
son Marco.
That's great.
Okay, so what'd you think aboutthe coffee crew today?
Pretty packed.
Oh, it was amazing.
(00:24):
Yeah, it was super good.
I know.
It was super good.
Super good room.
Yeah.
We're gonna need a bigger spotnext year, right?
Yes, yes.
Yes.
So tell me about your schooland, the service you provide for
your students.
Yeah.
I ran the Brentwood School for,maybe about three to four years.
We have kids classes from fouryears old to seven, and then
(00:44):
seven, teenagers and thenteenagers with adults too.
Right now my son Marco Mendes isthe head instructor out there.
So if you guys are in the area,please go check it out.
Get some good roll over there.
We have a competition classevery Wednesday for anybody
that's interested in that.
What other towns do you have?
We have, schools in Tracy,Modesto, Lodi, Stockton.
We have an affiliate in, southSan Francisco, Manteca, Los
(01:08):
Altos, Idaho.
Yeah.
Idaho.
Oh, wow.
So, yeah, everybody has amazinginstructors, and if anybody's in
those areas, please drop it.
We're big and crosstraining.
Sounds great.
Tell me about your school.
Well, yeah, me and my wife,Cody, Gabby, Domingo, we're
running, JG Modesto.
We have three classes a day.
We have babies and then we haveteenagers, big kids and adult
(01:32):
class.
It's not as any other academy.
They run like lot of classes aday.
We just run three classes a day.
How long have you been openthere?
Two years.
Two years.
Right on.
Let's get to some jiu jitsuquestions.
What's the hardest part aboutcoaching?
jiu jitsu?
For me, they're kids.
They're the hardest kids.
(01:52):
I love it.
I love it.
But it is the hardest.
Kids competing.
Yeah, it's definitely fun, butit is a lot going on at the same
time.
They're just too hyper.
Right?
Yeah.
Hell yeah.
Yeah.
Challenging.
You know, it's part of it.
So that's why, we try to get theblue belts to teach the kids.
We help out.
But, to me that's the hardestpart about teaching.
We wanna make sure they learnand as much as they can, and we
(02:14):
forget the little ones and theygotta play sometimes.
I love teaching them when I geta chance.
How about you?
Yeah, I would say see kidscompeting.
Kids competing and kids losing.
Yeah.
At competition.
Okay.
Don't know.
That's the hardest.
Take a loss and just crying.
And they don't know how tocontrol their emotions.
How do you help'em through it?
It's super hard.
(02:34):
It's super hard.
If it's a boy, I just stopcrying if its a girl we give her
a big hug.
Not, it's not true.
No.
I mean, I think I just, I thinkjust talking to him.
Yeah, just like talking to mehow you feel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What do you think about it?
Do you know what was going on?
Just don't worry about it.
(02:55):
And a few more months we'll beback.
Same place and stuff.
Right.
How about with adults?
Adults stop crying.
To be honest I don't care.
You don't have any challenges,teaching adults?
I don't feel like there's toomany challenges.
I think the main thing is whenthey're barely starting out as
(03:15):
how to control themselves fromnot being too spazz or getting
hurt trying to teach him like,Hey, slow it down a little bit.
So one, you don't get hurt oryou hurt your partner, and it's
not nobody doing it on purpose,it's just you don't know.
It's so different.
Right.
Yeah.
So teach that I would say that'sthe hardest part.
That's true, yeah, I would saythat.
What first drew you to jiujitsu?
Mine?
My little brother that'sphysically bigger than me, we
(03:39):
never fought mad, but we wouldplay wrestle and he would just,
he is quite a bit bigger thanme.
He would throw me around.
So that's literally why Istarted jiu jitsu.
I'm like, I can't let my littlebrother.
Did that to me.
So what town did you start in?
Manteca.
I started with, Jason Cortes.
He still has a school out therein Lathrop.
Okay.
Cortes Martial Arts.
What was your experience thefirst time you went in there?
The first time.
First time I got thrown prettyhard.
(04:02):
Didn't come back for two weeks.
Oh man.
I was not gonna do it.
I was like, you know what?
Dang it, I cannot quit.
So then I went back and stuckwith it ever since.
How about you?
Well, as you guys can see mythick accent.
My thick accent.
I'm from Mexico, right.
I started in, academy.
The name of the academy isrunning by a friend of mine,
(04:22):
Jonathan Chavez.
He's like boxing, jiu jitsu.
It's all mixed together.
It's like MMA.
There's a lot of really goodfighter that came out of that
school.
But we tried jiu jitsu, but wedidn't have a program.
It's nothing like it's running awhole year round program.
Yeah.
And there's just jiu jitsu, Itwas just once in a while and I
liked it and it was cool, but Idon't know I never stick around.
(04:45):
And then, I married my wife andthen I'm moving and I was hella
sad and I'm like, you need to dosomething right.
Yeah.
So then at that same school, Imet this friend of mine, Ralph
Vega he has his academy in YumaArizona.
Yeah.
Hell of a guy.
I trained with him for sixmonths.
Stick to jiu jitsu.
First time in my life, but Istick to anything.
(05:07):
And, um, stick to it six monthsand then we move up here.
I got a job up here in Tracy,California.
So we moved from Arizona,California, and I start training
with Cichinio at Ares.
That's where I met Javi.
Awesome.
So what has jiu jitsu broughtinto your life?
Javier?
Oh man.
The list is pretty much endless.
(05:28):
My wife, closest friends, astress reliever, physical, helps
me keep my family together'causeeverybody does it.
My wife's a black belt.
My son's a black belt, hisgirlfriend's a black belt.
My 6-year-old is training, so.
Right.
Honestly, it just.
It's cool.
Just about everything.
That's cool.
Yeah.
How about you Marcos?
Oh man.
(05:48):
Same thing.
Family community is the gluefor, yeah.
Anything around me?
I think if don't jiu jitsu youso I'll go insane.
I go crazy.
Yeah.
I think we all would have,right?
Oh yeah.
For sure.
But sometimes I just don't wantto train.
Don't wanna go.
Our physical body, like no.
Yes.
Don't, don't do it.
Don't, don't do it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(06:09):
Anything else you'd like toshare on the podcast?
I just wanna say thank you toKoffee Krew for putting these
together and I saw a lot ofpeople that I had not seen for a
long time, so that, that wasreally cool.
So just a big shout out to themand I hope they keep doing it.
Yeah, sounds good.
Thank you.
so much.
It was really good.
Thank you.
koffee krew.
It was awesome.
Huh?
Was cool.
Yeah.
I wish I could have rolled, butnext time.
(06:31):
Okay.
Sure.
Somebody gotta work.
Thank you so much for being onLuckee's podcast and I'll be
putting these short clips out.
Also I'll be putting on Spotifyand all the other, channels.
Nice.
Awesome all guys.
Take care guys.
Bye.
Welcome to Lucky's podcast, Sotell me your name and where
(00:03):
you're from and your lineage.
Okay.
So So Marco Cruz from JG AcademyModesto.
I'm under Javier Gomez Blackbelt.
My name's Javier Gomez.
I got my Black Belt from, uh,and I have the pleasure of
training, JG, Modesto withMarcos and Brentwood with, my
son Marco.
That's great.
Okay, so what'd you think aboutthe coffee crew today?
Pretty packed.
Oh, it was amazing.
(00:24):
Yeah, it was super good.
I know.
It was super good.
Super good room.
Yeah.
We're gonna need a bigger spotnext year, right?
Yes, yes.
Yes.
So tell me about your schooland, the service you provide for
your students.
Yeah.
I ran the Brentwood School for,maybe about three to four years.
We have kids classes from fouryears old to seven, and then
(00:44):
seven, teenagers and thenteenagers with adults too.
Right now my son Marco Mendes isthe head instructor out there.
So if you guys are in the area,please go check it out.
Get some good roll over there.
We have a competition classevery Wednesday for anybody
that's interested in that.
What other towns do you have?
We have, schools in Tracy,Modesto, Lodi, Stockton.
We have an affiliate in, southSan Francisco, Manteca, Los
(01:08):
Altos, Idaho.
Yeah.
Idaho.
Oh, wow.
So, yeah, everybody has amazinginstructors, and if anybody's in
those areas, please drop it.
We're big and crosstraining.
Sounds great.
Tell me about your school.
Well, yeah, me and my wife,Cody, Gabby, Domingo, we're
running, JG Modesto.
We have three classes a day.
We have babies and then we haveteenagers, big kids and adult
(01:32):
class.
It's not as any other academy.
They run like lot of classes aday.
We just run three classes a day.
How long have you been openthere?
Two years.
Two years.
Right on.
Let's get to some jiu jitsuquestions.
What's the hardest part aboutcoaching?
jiu jitsu?
For me, they're kids.
They're the hardest kids.
(01:52):
I love it.
I love it.
But it is the hardest.
Kids competing.
Yeah, it's definitely fun, butit is a lot going on at the same
time.
They're just too hyper.
Right?
Yeah.
Hell yeah.
Yeah.
Challenging.
You know, it's part of it.
So that's why, we try to get theblue belts to teach the kids.
We help out.
But, to me that's the hardestpart about teaching.
We wanna make sure they learnand as much as they can, and we
(02:14):
forget the little ones and theygotta play sometimes.
I love teaching them when I geta chance.
How about you?
Yeah, I would say see kidscompeting.
Kids competing and kids losing.
Yeah.
At competition.
Okay.
Don't know.
That's the hardest.
Take a loss and just crying.
And they don't know how tocontrol their emotions.
How do you help'em through it?
It's super hard.
(02:34):
It's super hard.
If it's a boy, I just stopcrying if its a girl we give her
a big hug.
Not, it's not true.
No.
I mean, I think I just, I thinkjust talking to him.
Yeah, just like talking to mehow you feel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What do you think about it?
Do you know what was going on?
Just don't worry about it.
(02:55):
And a few more months we'll beback.
Same place and stuff.
Right.
How about with adults?
Adults stop crying.
To be honest I don't care.
You don't have any challenges,teaching adults?
I don't feel like there's toomany challenges.
I think the main thing is whenthey're barely starting out as
(03:15):
how to control themselves fromnot being too spazz or getting
hurt trying to teach him like,Hey, slow it down a little bit.
So one, you don't get hurt oryou hurt your partner, and it's
not nobody doing it on purpose,it's just you don't know.
It's so different.
Right.
Yeah.
So teach that I would say that'sthe hardest part.
That's true, yeah, I would saythat.
What first drew you to jiujitsu?
Mine?
My little brother that'sphysically bigger than me, we
(03:39):
never fought mad, but we wouldplay wrestle and he would just,
he is quite a bit bigger thanme.
He would throw me around.
So that's literally why Istarted jiu jitsu.
I'm like, I can't let my littlebrother.
Did that to me.
So what town did you start in?
Manteca.
I started with, Jason Cortes.
He still has a school out therein Lathrop.
Okay.
Cortes Martial Arts.
What was your experience thefirst time you went in there?
The first time.
First time I got thrown prettyhard.
(04:02):
Didn't come back for two weeks.
Oh man.
I was not gonna do it.
I was like, you know what?
Dang it, I cannot quit.
So then I went back and stuckwith it ever since.
How about you?
Well, as you guys can see mythick accent.
My thick accent.
I'm from Mexico, right.
I started in, academy.
The name of the academy isrunning by a friend of mine,
(04:22):
Jonathan Chavez.
He's like boxing, jiu jitsu.
It's all mixed together.
It's like MMA.
There's a lot of really goodfighter that came out of that
school.
But we tried jiu jitsu, but wedidn't have a program.
It's nothing like it's running awhole year round program.
Yeah.
And there's just jiu jitsu, Itwas just once in a while and I
liked it and it was cool, but Idon't know I never stick around.
(04:45):
And then, I married my wife andthen I'm moving and I was hella
sad and I'm like, you need to dosomething right.
Yeah.
So then at that same school, Imet this friend of mine, Ralph
Vega he has his academy in YumaArizona.
Yeah.
Hell of a guy.
I trained with him for sixmonths.
Stick to jiu jitsu.
First time in my life, but Istick to anything.
(05:07):
And, um, stick to it six monthsand then we move up here.
I got a job up here in Tracy,California.
So we moved from Arizona,California, and I start training
with Cichinio at Ares.
That's where I met Javi.
Awesome.
So what has jiu jitsu broughtinto your life?
Javier?
Oh man.
The list is pretty much endless.
(05:28):
My wife, closest friends, astress reliever, physical, helps
me keep my family together'causeeverybody does it.
My wife's a black belt.
My son's a black belt, hisgirlfriend's a black belt.
My 6-year-old is training, so.
Right.
Honestly, it just.
It's cool.
Just about everything.
That's cool.
Yeah.
How about you Marcos?
Oh man.
(05:48):
Same thing.
Family community is the gluefor, yeah.
Anything around me?
I think if don't jiu jitsu youso I'll go insane.
I go crazy.
Yeah.
I think we all would have,right?
Oh yeah.
For sure.
But sometimes I just don't wantto train.
Don't wanna go.
Our physical body, like no.
Yes.
Don't, don't do it.
Don't, don't do it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(06:09):
Anything else you'd like toshare on the podcast?
I just wanna say thank you toKoffee Krew for putting these
together and I saw a lot ofpeople that I had not seen for a
long time, so that, that wasreally cool.
So just a big shout out to themand I hope they keep doing it.
Yeah, sounds good.
Thank you.
so much.
It was really good.
Thank you.
koffee krew.
It was awesome.
Huh?
Was cool.
Yeah.
I wish I could have rolled, butnext time.
(06:31):
Okay.
Sure.
Somebody gotta work.
Thank you so much for being onLuckee's podcast and I'll be
putting these short clips out.
Also I'll be putting on Spotifyand all the other, channels.
Nice.
Awesome all guys.
Take care guys.
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.