Thank you for checking in. My name is Professor Don Whitefield, and I am a 4th-degree BJJ black belt under Ricardo De La Riva. I have coached world championship and UFC-level fighters and promoted more than 30 black belts over the last few decades. I started training in 1997, and after all the years I trained Jiu-Jitsu, after all the schools I started, all the tournaments I ran, and countless fighters I coached, I figure that it is the right thing to do to take a moment and look back.

But first I have to say this: I have been allowed to train with countless students from young children to adults (and sometimes both) and no matter what, I will always think of all of them, with no exception, as one of my students, and I will always feel connected to them even if they don't feel the same. I have always followed my beliefs as a martial artist, never cared much what others thought of me, but I always cared passionately about all my students, if that makes sense.

I want to thank everyone who chose to train with me through all these years, and I appreciate every moment that you have allowed me to teach you and train with you. I also want to thank all the schools and head coaches who remained loyal and are still training and learning with me today from Canada, Curacao, and Barbados to South Africa. So, let's take a look back and see if we can still learn some more.

In 2000, I started working for Nissan Canada as a technical Trainer responsible for all dealerships from British Columbia to Manitoba, which allowed me to travel all across North America. In every city I visited, I walked into the local BJJ School in the evenings and trained instead of sitting in the hotel.

Jiu-Jitsu is a great Martial Art that allows you to walk into almost any school as a stranger, make friends, and learn from many professors. I saw very fancy schools with traditional BJJ lessons and small schools with old mats but where they taught great techniques. I met competitive fighters who made poor coaches, and great coaches who didn't even train, and everything in between. It was a great apprenticeship that, combined with my college instructor diploma, allowed me to learn about all the ingredients that it takes to create a great Jiu-Jitsu school.

In 2004 I moved to the suburbs of Vancouver and when Royce Gracie came to a seminar in Maple Ridge, the participants agreed that I should open a BJJ school on the spot. So I started renting space from the seminar host, Maple Ridge Ju Jitsu, a Japanese Ju Jutsu school run by Mike Caffrey. I called my school West Coast BJJ because I wanted everyone to feel at home and not name it after me as this was the first BJJ school in this city and the entire surrounding area.

Countless students of all ages trained with me over the 20 years we were open, sharing my memories of growing and growing up on these mats. Many of the kids and adults that started with me back then are still training today as black belts, check the pictures.

I never even thought about it for a moment but I knew instinctively that as a Martial Artist, it is wrong to teach Jiu-Jitsu or MMA to active criminals, gang members, and steroid or drug users, so I made sure to screen new members, even if it meant to pass up the money they offered. Instead, we always focused on training the members of the Law Enforcement community, knowing that they would use BJJ for positive purposes.

Everyone living in the area who wanted to train in realistic Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in a safe and ethical training environment came and trained at West Coast BJJ, and we quickly outgrew the Maple Ridge JuJutsu location and moved into the Western Academy of Martial Arts right in downtown Maple Ridge on 22760 Lougheed Highway. This is where my good friend Sensei Brad White had his long-running Okinawan Karate school, and Brad was open-minded and invited us BJJ "muts" to join his academy location. Thank you, Brad!

Although we moved a couple of times over the years we ended up back in the Western Academy in 2015 and remained there until I sold the school in 2024 after twenty years, countless rolls we had and countless friends and memories we made. Thank you to everyone who supported us over the decades, giving Maple Ridge the only realistic Martial Arts school where you could be sure not to train with drug dealers and gang members.

I was once interviewed, and apparently, what I said upset many people at the time. All I did was challenge coaches to keep growing and, and to teach your students more than just how to fight. As coaches, we are asking our new white belt students to follow instructions and learn techniques from us, putting their ego aside and being open to doing things that they may feel are counter-intuitive until they learn the basics. So, why is it so hard to apply this rule to ourselves and everything new we encounter outside of Martial Arts? Why are so many coaches closed off to coaching? They may be athletes, they may be coaches but they are not showing up as Martial Artists when they cannot lead by example and put their own ego aside.

We teach our students sportsmanship and fairness and that it is disrespectful to celebrate, in short, how to be better people, and yet many people in the Martial Arts industry don't follow their own advice. When we go to IBJJF and similar tournaments, I see lots of poor sportsmanship, fighters playing the points game, stalling, and then celebrating like footballers, attributes that do not represent Martial Arts, in my opinion. That is why I turned more and more to promote events that are more inclusive, held in a Round-Robin Submission-Only format where all that counts is to control, submit or survive, attributes that make us better Martial Artists and people the way I see it.

Everyone fighting everyone does not eliminate lesser competitors but offers them a chance to become better and challenges those that dominate to show class and sportsmanship.

Anyway, that's my rant. It is what I observed and experienced over the decades. I am not saying to avoid IBJJF events but to understand that they use Jiu-Jitsu as a sport and you are playing a game that will leave you feeling like you are going to the movies: it's exciting while you are there but it's not real, so don't take your wins and yourself too seriously. I used to coach my students passionately until I came to understand that it's just a game and that you can only offer your advice and it is really up to the competitor to accept your coaching or not.

In the end, I found I had several students who were open to coaching on the mat or in the cage but were not open to any coaching or even feedback when it came to the inside Martial Arts, business, or personal ethics. Sadly, there is not much I can do, I offered to help to improve their lives but they declined. It is just a reminder that if your inside Martial Artist does not keep up with your outside Martial Arts skills, you are left vulnerable and it will hold you back in your life on and off the mats.

In 2020, my wife and I watched how many of my students fell more and more for the false information and racism on social media, and we did not feel at home anymore in Canada as immigrants, so we decided to leave. In case you are still one of those getting your information from social media, please consider this: Since 2020, Facebook has deleted over 15 billion fake accounts. Facebook has also reported removing billions more in subsequent periods, with fluctuations attributed to the adversarial nature of fake account detection and the varying effectiveness of their detection system".

Nash and I moved to Barbados instead, where I was able to introduce this beautiful island to the gentle art of Jiu-Jitsu and have since opened two schools, organized the annual Barbados Nationals BJJ Championships and the Caribbean International BJJ Championships (Round-Robin, Submission Only, of course). We also started the Caribbean BJJ Association to help grow BJJ across all islands and Caribbean countries: https://caribbeanbjj.com/

I have been training the local police, schoolchildren, teachers, and females on how to defend themselves non-violently in my spare time. We are heavily involved in local charities as a company, and all of this brings me closer to being a martial artist. If you want to keep up, you can read about my current journey here: https://premierbjj.org/community/.

I am grateful for every day I am still around and can be of service to others while living my jiu-jitsu life. Sure, you can chase after medals, money, and fame in the martial arts industry while feeding your ego, but maybe as you grow older you will understand what it means to be a complete martial artist.

Most people consider a samurai the ultimate martial artist, but they don't understand that the meaning of "samurai" is not just warrior but also servant because they served their master and his village, and they were willing to protect them and even give their lives for them. So, maybe you will find, too, that serving your "village" rather than just fighting and being selfless rather than only thinking of yourself will bring you closer to becoming a real martial artist, and maybe that will be your ultimate achievement.

I hope you will find true happiness and peace of mind as I did through your own jiu-jitsu life journey, and maybe you come and visit so we can share some more time on and off the mats.

Until then, be well, keep growing, and take care!