And your opinion on them. I bet everyone has had some really good and bad experiences so lets hear them.
For myself it wasn't until 2003 that I finally have the balance of time and money to be able to join an actual MMA gym and try to make it a priority. Seeing as it was my first time I was really looking to find a place where they had people of all size and levels and I really wanted to feel like I was apart of a team once I got into it. Obviously the priory is training but I was hoping to be able to also find some people who followed combat sports as it seemed there were so few. I found a gym in Surrey BC called Suitella and they were at a good location for me with decent prices so I signed up. Not going to get into a long story but after about 8 weeks or so it just didn't feel like a good fit. There was no team feeling whatsoever, during warm up some guys would be participating while another small group would be lightly rolling/stretching in the ring and another few guys on the bike or treadmill or something. Once the warm up was complete the other guys would come and join the group for the lesson part and then off to rolling or sparring depending on the day. I was surprised how many guys seemed to get an attitude like I didn't belong there when Id get submitted or just gas out early on. TBH there was some serious douche bags there who had no intention of spreading any sort of knowledge to the guys they trained with. It seemed they'd rather just inflate their ego by tapping the green guy or if I could get a smaller guy in trouble he was quick to tell me if he was my size it would be different, very strange culture IMO. I think the guy who lead the BJJ class was named Len and I thought he was pretty good, maybe it was just because I had nothing to compare to to but he was pretty much the only reason I stayed for a while. Having said that some of the guys there would beak him once and a while for reasons I didn't know, maybe there was some sort of history. Regardless as a whole I was extremely underwhelmed and dropped the classes after 6 months or so as I decided to move to Kelowna.
The next gym I went to was Toshidos in Kelowna, what a difference. I don't know if it was due to it being in a smaller but the way things worked there was a night and day compared to Surrey. I found it to have a good group of guys who were more than willing to help out and everyone was on the same page when it was warm ups, drills, rolling or sparring. It had the feeling that the majority of the people there checked their ego at the door and showed some respect to all that came in and tried it out. Dave Lea is the head trainer there and at the time his striking coach was Vince Ross who would just crank AC/DC every session. This was probably in 2004 and guys like Rory Mcdonald, Gary Wright and Tim Jenson were kicking ass at KOTC and it was cool to go see them fight in Vernon, pretty sure that the Toshidos team was undefeated there at the time. I really cant say enough good things about that place and I really wish I stayed with it much much more than I have up to this point. Between working out of town all the time and having two kids it seemed like Id go for 4-6 months then stop, a year later do the same and repeat that cycle. As of late last year my work schedule has changed so I'm home much more and have started to make time to get back into it. Actually it was on the UG that I got inspired by Rick Storm. The thread was something like favorite moments and I posted Randy knocking Tim down in a gif. Rick posted that it was that moment which inspired him to get back into the gym which in turn inspired me to do the same, I sent him a pm letting him know. Just today I've contacted Dave again looking to book some private lessons for striking as my time at home doesn't line up too well. I've been trying to get back to a routine for the afternoon BJJ classes since late summer but fell off over the holidays so in a weeks time I'm going to get back at it.
For myself it wasn't until 2003 that I finally have the balance of time and money to be able to join an actual MMA gym and try to make it a priority. Seeing as it was my first time I was really looking to find a place where they had people of all size and levels and I really wanted to feel like I was apart of a team once I got into it. Obviously the priory is training but I was hoping to be able to also find some people who followed combat sports as it seemed there were so few. I found a gym in Surrey BC called Suitella and they were at a good location for me with decent prices so I signed up. Not going to get into a long story but after about 8 weeks or so it just didn't feel like a good fit. There was no team feeling whatsoever, during warm up some guys would be participating while another small group would be lightly rolling/stretching in the ring and another few guys on the bike or treadmill or something. Once the warm up was complete the other guys would come and join the group for the lesson part and then off to rolling or sparring depending on the day. I was surprised how many guys seemed to get an attitude like I didn't belong there when Id get submitted or just gas out early on. TBH there was some serious douche bags there who had no intention of spreading any sort of knowledge to the guys they trained with. It seemed they'd rather just inflate their ego by tapping the green guy or if I could get a smaller guy in trouble he was quick to tell me if he was my size it would be different, very strange culture IMO. I think the guy who lead the BJJ class was named Len and I thought he was pretty good, maybe it was just because I had nothing to compare to to but he was pretty much the only reason I stayed for a while. Having said that some of the guys there would beak him once and a while for reasons I didn't know, maybe there was some sort of history. Regardless as a whole I was extremely underwhelmed and dropped the classes after 6 months or so as I decided to move to Kelowna.
The next gym I went to was Toshidos in Kelowna, what a difference. I don't know if it was due to it being in a smaller but the way things worked there was a night and day compared to Surrey. I found it to have a good group of guys who were more than willing to help out and everyone was on the same page when it was warm ups, drills, rolling or sparring. It had the feeling that the majority of the people there checked their ego at the door and showed some respect to all that came in and tried it out. Dave Lea is the head trainer there and at the time his striking coach was Vince Ross who would just crank AC/DC every session. This was probably in 2004 and guys like Rory Mcdonald, Gary Wright and Tim Jenson were kicking ass at KOTC and it was cool to go see them fight in Vernon, pretty sure that the Toshidos team was undefeated there at the time. I really cant say enough good things about that place and I really wish I stayed with it much much more than I have up to this point. Between working out of town all the time and having two kids it seemed like Id go for 4-6 months then stop, a year later do the same and repeat that cycle. As of late last year my work schedule has changed so I'm home much more and have started to make time to get back into it. Actually it was on the UG that I got inspired by Rick Storm. The thread was something like favorite moments and I posted Randy knocking Tim down in a gif. Rick posted that it was that moment which inspired him to get back into the gym which in turn inspired me to do the same, I sent him a pm letting him know. Just today I've contacted Dave again looking to book some private lessons for striking as my time at home doesn't line up too well. I've been trying to get back to a routine for the afternoon BJJ classes since late summer but fell off over the holidays so in a weeks time I'm going to get back at it.
