The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - Turning Pain Into Purpose, Policing, Trauma, and Jiu Jitsu with Adam at Blue Gorilla BJJ

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

In this episode of People, Process, Progress, I talk with Adam, a police officer, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, gym owner, and MBA graduate, about leadership shaped by real-life experience.Adam shares how growing up with instability and the impact of a compassionate police officer early in life set him on a path into law enforcement. We discuss his journey from the jails to patrol and SWAT, the weight of critical incidents, and responding to the death of a close friend.We also explore how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu became a foundation for discipline, humility, and resilience, ultimately leading Adam to open Blue Gorilla BJJ and build a community rooted in accountability and respect.This episode launches the People, Process, Progress of the New River Valley series, focused on the people doing meaningful work in our region.Watch the full video interview on the People, Process, Progress YouTube channel, or listen on your favorite podcast platform.For more interviews and insights, visit peopleprocessprogress.com.People first, process aligned, progress together.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to the People Process Progress Podcast. I'm Kevin Penel. I'm here with Adam today. We're at Blue Gorilla, BJJ, and we'll get into all that kind of stuff. This is the first in the series of the People Process Progress of the New River Valley. We're in Radford, Virginia. So the New River Valley's in Southwest, Virginia has a bunch of areas. We'll talk to folks from there. So today we're going to talk about, among other things, I'm sure, policing, jujitsu, leadership, going back to schools and an adult, also a shared experience we have. But, Adam, thanks so much for having me for inspiring this new series, frankly, and the setup. I really appreciate you hosting us here. It's a super cool gym. I appreciate it, and I'm definitely glad to. Things will be a fun time. I agree. I agree.

How long have you been open here? So we open our doors January 1st of this year. We got incorporated and everything in November of last year. So almost a year, not quite. So it's been a wild ride, for sure. Nice. I look forward to the year celebrations. I'm sure there's some stuff planned.

We got some stuff planned. I bet. Well, and keep it with the show. People first, process a lot of progress together. That's kind of the mantra, right? So let's keep you first. Let's talk about where you're from, where you grew up, how you got to law enforcement, right, in this region. And, of course, anywhere else, a conversation. Yeah. No, super, super chill. So for me, I grew up in Pulaski County. It's in the Applatch area in the New River Valley. I pretty much grew up through my entire life. I lived in, lived a living. little bit like in with Phil which still kind of in that area and things but grew up in Palasi County my mom's from there my dad is actually a first-generation immigrant oh wow Egypt and I'm into a restaurant in that area came about my mom things happen yeah right come here you are and so yeah I spent most of my my childhood growing up in this area in my grandparents I grew up with my maternal grandparents okay I grandmother's from Mary Mac. I'm sure you have an idea of where I've heard of it, yeah.

Yep, over there near Blacksburg. And my grandpa's from Shalsville. Okay. And so I grew up in a very like old school Southwest Virginia type house. Right. And things. So that's kind of like, you know, for me, it's kind of how it's, you know, my childhood pretty much. Yeah. I went to live with my grandparents when I was eight. Oh wow. And that actually kind of will circle back around to the law enforcement. Sure. So I always thought law enforcement was a really cool feel. growing up in the 90s you see cops and all the stuff and you just think oh this is going to be the greatest job ever these guys are doing all this things and right and stuff and so it's always in my mind but something kind of like shaped me and kind of

shifted me towards that the main reason I went to go with my grandparents is my mom never really had the best taste of men my dad's already good he's good he's good he's good dude got you they split up earlier on we have a good relationship now but Okay. I've never really had the best taste in guys and had her own deemes of stuff that she was going with. And there's a lot of domestic violence in the house and things, which, you know, at a young age, obviously, has a bigger impact. Yeah. And I remember it kind of culminated. I was about seven, eight years old.

We were actually staying in Beaufort, South Carolina, which crazy. I don't even know how they got there, but I remember that's where we were at. there. And so my mom, who grew up here, and Southwesternians can be, speaks, like, perfect Arabic. Like, very fluent in it. I don't speak Arabic. I don't understand hardly anything from it, but my mom did. And so I remember when her and my stepdad would get into arguments, they would always argue in Arabic. And anytime that happened, there was normally something violent coming after that. And so I remember I was in the living room, hearing them. and anybody that's been involved in in that type of situation as a kid or as an adult or even you know even some of the combat stuff there's a very distinct sound that's made when flesh hits flesh right 100% and so I can you know I hear that going and they're like in a laundry room like adjacent to the kitchen side I take off running and I remember I looked over to my right and my mom was on her knees and just had her hands up like this you know crying and he's like standing there with his hand raised and it's coming this part's always part for me kind of go but yeah I really felt kind of like a coward because I took off running out the door out of the house after that and as he as I was leap I was like I was making my way I could

hear him smacker and her yell and all this stuff so I go run door to door you know yelling for help wanting to call my pop-paw because my grandpa was my here and still is and I ended up going to this officer's house just out of a half sentence just a couple doors down yeah and I'm you know banging on the door and he comes in it I'm like can you call my pop-all I guess a number and he's like what's going on he's like I said well my mom and dad are fighting and so he was like hold on a second so he goes and gets his radio and gets his gun and his badge and he said well show me where he lives son so he takes me over and this is I guess in the early

90s and things are different now than they were then right um my mom comes to the door um i'm like super scared and he's like hey you know what's going on over here got your boy over here saying that y'all are fighting right he's terrified and all the stuff and so mom kind of does the traditional old baby you misunderstood that's not what happened yeah we didn't all this stuff right and so you don't have a cooperating victim and you know really kind of tied his hands a whole lot and so he really had much choice

but to kind of send me back in there into the house and so I'm super scared at that point because I was like oh I'm in trouble now I'm getting ready to hit and it didn't happen thankfully

and things in a few you know the next fall in school year I was you know This is in the summertime. A couple months later, I was starting school in Plyssie County. Okay. I didn't find out until years later that that officer had actually remembered that number that I gave him. The number's not even, it's 540, 674, 6958.

It's not my grandpa's their number anymore, but that was the house phone number forever. Right. Right. Cell phones kind of replaced all that, but that was like, it was like my savior number, right? And that officer ended up taking it out on his own called my grandpa. in Tulaski County. Oh, wow. And said, hey, I'm an officer so-and-so.

Your grandson came. This is what happened. You need to get him out of this house. Wow. And the next day my grandpa went and filed custody for me. And so really that officer definitely saved my life. I mean, they definitely had issues from that. You can't have that not go.

But if I'd stay in there a few more years, who knows where I'd have been. I'd probably been on. What would happen? Well, I was pretty close to be on the other side of law anyway. So, you know. So one of your earliest interactions with law enforcement, was positive, right? And that officer went the extra mile to help get you out of bad situation.

For sure. And, you know, I had a couple other times where I remember this one we're living with County where they got into it and he tried to like run over with his car and all and stuff. And he ended up getting arrested that night. And I remember I remember the deputy coming in and, you know, I don't know. Now that I'm in police work, I get it. But, you know, the victims are always like, you got to be careful. He's like, he was just like, I ain't going to do nothing to me.

I'll promise you that. And, you know, it was just kind of like, okay, you know, like, you know, he felt safe. Seems so brave. And so, yeah, for sure. And so fast forward, you know, when I'm 21 years old, and I married my high school sweetheart, and I had no job. And I, the plan that I thought was going to happen didn't happen. And I was like, I'm married now.

I've got to do something. Right. And I always liked the idea of been a police officer. I knew they didn't pay anything. And I was like, well, maybe I'll do that after I make a lot of money. Right. And, you know, fate has things planned out more than we do. Right.

And so one of my friends was actually working, he got hired on working at a jail. And I was like, man, I don't know if I really work to jail. Like, that's a lot. That's not what I see on TV, you know? Right. That's not cops. And so I needed a job. And he seemed to like it.

He's like, it's a good step and stone. Yeah. And so I applied. And this is. 2010, so the world and law enforcement was a completely different place then. Get hired on was very difficult. It's not like it is now. We can definitely touch on that later.

Sure. But it was very difficult. And so fortunately, I had two friends that I knew that were working there had gotten in because they knew people. They were related to people. Networking makes a difference. 100%. And so I otherwise wouldn't have gotten hired, but I didn't get hired because of that. And so once you're in, you know, you're kind of in and you start to build your reputation and things.

and get it from there. But actually, I really enjoy corrections. It wasn't as bad as what I thought it was going to be. It taught me a lot about myself and good things and bad things. And then honestly, I think it prepared me really well from when I ended up going to patrol and getting out here and doing the law enforcement aspect of it. I had a really good thing.

I was kind of naive. I'm still kind of a want to see the best in everybody kind of person, even though I know better from years. But I still want to do that and things. So it kind of helped me be exposed a little bit more to that and just kind of see what some of humanity is capable of. Did that feeling when you were younger of cowardice, right, running from the problem, which you were little,

which clearly, I'm sure you've talked about like it wasn't your fault, right? That inspiration when you were in the academy, then when you're head on a swivel and jail, I imagine, right, where you have to be in that on the street. So really, I mean, I really liked working in the jail. Okay. I didn't hate it. It was a very fast-paced.

If you have a direct intake where you get people directly intoxicated off. It is a fast, oh, it's fast-paced. And then things. And so, and obviously, and I learned this too, is if the officer de-escalates the situation and things, you can have somebody who was very violent out there who comes in and it's not a problem at all. and vice versa right and so and i saw that even inside the jail okay it's because you know people aren't trained in tactical communication at least not then and things and stuff um but i really enjoyed it and i wanted to uh i really wanted to do swat team stuff that was like i was like this is what i

want to do i want to go in and like kick doors cool looking things all this stuff right all the cool guy stuff yeah and so i would have been fine staying working in the jail but at the time because this is a different different time than it is now right if you wanted to if you wanted to if you wanted to be on a swat team you had to go work on patrol. Turn your way there? Yeah, and on that time, you had to, like, live in that jurisdiction. Okay. Now it's a lot, like I said, it's, now it's like, do you have a pulse and can you pass a background check?

Is that just because they're hurting for people? Yeah. Yeah, really bad. And the view, I imagine, between 2010 and now of law enforcement has gone, like. It's completely different. Up and now. Yeah, it's so wild. But, yeah, so anyway, I looked around for the most active SWAT team that I could find,

and that was town of the police department. Oh, I was like, well, that's where I'm from. I know people there. And I ended up applying, getting hired, and it was kind of all she wrote with that. I mean, I went in and didn't look back, and I really enjoyed being out there on scene, being able to really feel like I was trying to make a difference. Right. And so, and it was action-packed and fun stuff, too.

It was a lot more to it mentally. Right. as far as, like, knowing search and seizure stuff, knowing the correct policies, procedures, the criminal law, all these things, making sure you're in tune with all aspects of constitutional law, not just Fourth Amendment. It was a lot to it.

If you want to do the job, right, it's a lot to it. It's simple but not easy, if that makes sense. Yeah. So, but yeah, so I did that, and I was, oh my gosh, over a decade ago. What was the prominent thing that you would respond to or be called out for a SWAT, like a lot of domestic? Is there a lot of like drugs? Drug warrants.

We got, I've been called out on like some hostage type situations and things. Barricaded subjects, that's like your red butter. Like you have somebody that's wanted and they held up in a place or even the hostage situation was a barricaded situation. Right. Right. And so that's kind of your big. thing every now and then you'll get the higher risk warrants where this again it's changed so much yeah but you'll get the higher risk warrants where you're making entry and and going things

and you're doing dynamic entry and things okay that's not really the procedure really anywhere anymore oh times have changed a lot um and tactics always evolve and so you know the ways of you know the 80s where they were just doing all the evolved and yeah it's it's come a long way and especially with advances in like drone technology and right things to that it means it's just it's a different it's a different game did you find a lot of the you know 20 plus years now global war on terror stuff tactics that came back from sure that's where a lot of it came from so prior to that a lot of tactics came from like the LA police department right like across the board wait for SWAT don't go right pre-collabine stuff all that stuff and so that kind of got brought over

I guess into the conflicts but the other part of it is it's a different type of game that you're dealing with right when you're talking about fighting somebody overseas and so hard lessons are learned and we try to make identify the problems the failure points

and then make sure we're not making those again and how can we remedy to that and so then now that shift has come back over to law enforcement so now we're leading more we're learning more from like when I went through advanced

SWAT school that we had a guy that was just got out of the steel teams and he came and did our tactics that would have never a thing that would have happened before right and so as as those things kind of like simmer down and things you'll have more situations where it may it may go back the other way got but yeah no it helped like I remember going through like threshold assessment and really kind of started it seems like over you know you're looking for wires and other situations where door should be you know wire first explosives. Well, that's normally not something we deal with in law force. It happens. Outliers usually. But it's normally not it, right? And so this kind of situation

and how it goes. And, you know, when I started, we ran a shield and we were dynamic and we went in and, you know, you're, you just dumped in. And it was like overwhelming amount of violence of action to try to keep people from, from it being a situation. Yeah. The idea wasn't go in there and rush yourself, rush to your death. It was go in there. Right. and overwhelm people so that they don't want to fight you. Your tactics are good. Right. Now we've switched a little bit more to kind of an officer safety perspective, what is safer.

And doing things from like the threshold and assessing those situations, limited penetration, and thinking and realizing, you know, in the law force side, most of the time is on our side. Right. Like that person's not leaving the house. Yeah, that's it. You know, and we can deploy gas munitions and all those other stuff to make them come down to ground that we owned. And so there's been an involvement that I've seen personally from there that's made things, made us overall safer. Of course, there's also political things that go into the things of, well, we're not doing this now, we're not doing this now.

We're worried about this, so we're not going to use you guys for this. That kind of stuff is, that's just part and parcel. Stuff you've got to deal with. That's what we've got to deal with. But, yeah, it's definitely changed a lot. You know, we talk about de-escalation. So I was fortunate I got to be an EMS captain in the Richmond area. and we did crisis intervention training, right, the four plays, which is awesome.

Like, I used it. One of my, one of the people on my crew, like, said something to somebody and were like, not the place you talk crap. Right. And I was like, sir, I'm Kevin, you know, like, my name, your name, this and that. And you're like, holy crap, like that worked. It chilled them out now. It's not going to work all the time, obviously.

That and we mentioned, you know, lessons learn, technical combat casualty care or now TECC, but doing that, making that be just, because I was, so I was a corpsman in like the 90s in 2000s, like before the GWAT. And so it was like no tourniquet, don't do it. And of course, now it's like right away get it on, do it. And we're filming them now. Yeah. We filled. I remember when I first started, I had a, like

a, it was like the SWAT team turn against like the rubber. Oh yeah. You just went, you know, very small profile, very just rabid as start as you can and whatever, and hope for the best, right? We weren't carrying cats or any of that stuff. So I remember them being like, Minnesota Iraq, put

that stuff away. Put it in your go bag. And now, like, we have them mounted on our vests, or our gun belts or whatever. And it's, and they even have now, a lot of guys are running, um, thigh holsters that already have one integrated. So you just ratchet it down. So you only have to worry about it. It's really neat. That's amazing. I think Alien Gear makes it. Oh, wow. But yeah. And so it's just, it's a completely, I mean, I started when we still wore polyesters, shiny boots. Yeah. Like, everything was dressy and stuff. And I'm still in old school. Like, that's in my heart is where I'm at. to now where people are wearing outer carriers and tennis shoes.

It's a completely different thing. Also, we weren't allowed beards. That was another thing. I was like, I was like, my beard was going to be in my retirement. I was shaving all the time. Yeah, and now they're letting us have beards and things. And so there's a lot of maybe improvements and innovations that have gone there. Maturity.

And there's some, there's some sadness and losing some of the old ways. Yeah. Very official looking, like, wow, they're sharp. We see that in jihitsu and stuff too. like you see it everywhere but right um yeah that some of the old school ways are just they're they're not there anymore so speaking of jiu jitsu so you mentioned and so we're familiar with jihitsu we met training at the flagship right at team annes place which is great um but i also know that some of the stuff we know how to do to the average joe looks horrible yeah but it's actually

not that bad and that's affected law enforcement right like yes chokes so they don't fight holding someone they're like sure don't do that right because of stuff that's happened sure um There's a huge shift. Yeah. And so when, at what point in your law enforcement career did you get into Jutsu? And you've been training over a decade, not quite right? So, and were you prompted by another law enforcement officer that says, hey, you should do this? Sure.

As we both agree, I'm sure you emphasize, like, law enforcement should study grappling, you know, and just at the end, and you know better than me for sure. But what got you to the mats, though? Yeah, so, well, two parts of that. One, when I started, we were still doing, like when I went in the academy, we were doing this five-block cotta thing. Oh, yeah. So we had, in 90s martial arts stuff. But Jiu-Jitsu had started to get integrated. So the people in the Roanoke Valley, because that's where mostly like the local training teams are.

They kind of understood that. And they didn't really, they weren't really great at it, but they knew there was something there, right? They kind of, they went to go to their other stuff. Yeah. But we're going to add this in. And so that part was good. Okay. I got into it after I got on the SWAT team at Pulaski.

So you were in it for a little bit before you got in. Yeah. I'd been involved in an officer of all shooting right before that, like maybe three, four, five months from there, which I figured out later, the timing, Jiu-Jitsu definitely helped me with that kind of stuff. But my thought at the time was, all right, I'm on the SWAT team. team. I want to be the absolute best SWAT operator I can

be. Right. So I spent a lot of time working on proficiency with firearms and things, and I wanted to make sure that, you know, I was up to date on that, but also there's other sides of that. You're not just shooting everybody. And the reality is a lot of people will go their whole careers

and never discharge their firearm other than maybe like shooting a deer down. Right. You know, or something like that's been hit, you know, like it's not in a combat situation. Gotcha. That's the overwhelming majority still. Which is good. It is good. It is good.

That's definitely what you want. Yeah. I think the days of officers never drawing their firearm has gone pretty much away. But actually discharging it has, has, is not, it's still not the most, like you. Right. Very, very small percentage of your departments have officers that have been involved in these things. Yeah. You're more likely to put hands on somebody.

That's like, I, depending on where you want. worry. I thought that's a daily regular thing. Yeah. Right. And so if you're competent with that and proficient with it, then it gives you just so many other benefits, control, time to make decisions, tactical concerns, all this stuff.

Right. But I knew there was a hole in my game. I'd wrestle in school and I really wasn't a good wrestler. Had a lot of mad anxiety and things. And I knew it was something that I needed to get better at. If I was going to be the pinnacle swat guy, there's one of the things I needed to do.

It would be empty hands. And so So if you're in the New River Valley, especially, you know, 10 years ago, team man's one place. I mean, that's where you go. Right. Do you want to get good at Jiu-Jitsu? Right. Like, that's where you went.

Right. And things. And so I was really fortunate, Tim was, Professor Man, was very generous with me and working with, I mean, I was working at the police department as, getting ready, as a supervisor, making $32,000 a year. Wow. I was like. How you're going to afford it?

Yeah. Yeah, and stuff. And so, and, you know, a lot of times, you know, I lived in Alaska, so it was like a 45-minute drive. Yeah. One way to get there. And so he was like, hey, man, if you just need to come in and you're late, I get it, work, it's no big deal. It's not disrespectful if it's work-related. Come in and at least get your rounds in and train.

And that was, being an understanding like that really helped me develop a lot. Right. And then I went in there. I went in my very first class. It was a morning class. And the black brother was teaching was like, all right, here you. waiver pretty about you know here you know you know it's the old the old jump in it's the old ways right yeah and so I go in and give me an idea of

brant was still a blue belt wow yeah Brent's one of our black belts yeah and he he was just as not in physically imposing then as he is now and man he worked me he worked me especially having no idea he worked me yeah and then there was this girl she was maybe 135 pounds maybe she probably was less than that and she was a blue belt and she got on my back. And at the time, I was like really big and to, like, lift power that I want to be the big strong dude and stuff. And I was way bigger and stronger.

At that point, probably than I'd ever been in my entire life. Yeah. And, man, I couldn't do anything. Wow. And she choked me. And I was like, what in the world? Yeah. And I just remember thinking, I said, if this little girl can do this, yeah. If I learned this, it's going to be a different thing. Right. And I was hooked. And I just

want to go back and keep going and things. which is a thing you mentioned being hooked and i i would imagine a large percent of people that stick with it more than a year two years longer for sure yeah have a similar story yeah i have this idea about myself oh my god this idea about myself is shattered yeah because i had similar like you know i started in richmond for maybe a year and then same thing i was like this is in blacksburg yeah holy crap yeah hensoh great what you know right from hensa gracie to there I was like, oh, my God. And then, yeah, there was, I'm a morning class guy.

And there was, you know, this tall, thin guy. Same thing. I lift weights. I'm like, sweet. Worked. I got a calf slice so many times. And I was like, oh, my, how does that keep happening? Because they're like, just try to get around my legs.

And you're like, no problem, dude. Yeah. And it doesn't happen. No, for sure. And, you know, you kind of touched on it, too. I just remember to think, you know, I'm from, I grew up in Pulasia County. I, when I was a young kid with my mom, I grew up in, like, Section 8 housing. And, like, I, you know, wasn't well off and just, you know, when you grow up,

maybe it's the same everywhere, but sometimes you grow up and you're like, man, there's just nothing to do around here. And all this place sucks and all this. Yeah. You know, and then as you grow up, I think you get a better perspective. But, like, with Tim's place, I didn't realize how good the jihitsu. Like, I knew it was better around here, you know? But I was like, well, just because it's super awesome here, does that mean it's, doesn't mean it's going to be awesome anywhere else? Right.

And then I go other places. and I'm like, yeah, it's pretty good. Yeah. You know, and it's just shocking. Because Tim's a Plackey County guy too. Right. And it's just kind of one of those things, man. It's kind of cool to see somebody.

From there, New York. From there. Yeah, to be able to bring something at that level to this area. It's inflate, you know, if you're a black belt in the nearer Valley, even like the Rone Oak Valley. Yeah. True. Tim has touched you at some point. Right.

And some way. Yeah. And that's just something that you just, I just, it's cool. It's cool to see that, you know, somebody came from, you know, the area and place that I came from was able to do all that and stuff and make it such a big impact on people's lives. It's cool you mentioned that because for this series, I know other people in businesses, but like half of the episodes are all going to be in Dojo's like spawning from, right, you know, T-Man and then Blue Gorilla and, you know, down in Galex and up in Roanoke and, you know, out in Plasca. So it is cool to see and have that exposure to all those different people. And you mentioned driving from here to there. People come from running. You know, people drive 45 minutes an hour, like, three times a week, every day. Some, and I'm like, I live like 10 minutes from there.

So I'm like, man, that's so far. You know, it's so spoiled. Yeah. But, yeah, it's amazing to have that. And then to, like, for you to develop it and then stick with it. And you've been training, how long? A little over 10 years. I've set my 10-year mark this year.

And you've been a black belt for how long? Almost two years now. Almost two years. Yeah. And so we talked about, well, I guess one, looking back, do you have memories of because jail time, I would imagine, well, when you worked in the jail, the goal is still probably not to go hands-on all the time, right? Yeah, but you know what? That's where I learned most.

So you'll go hands-on with people more consistently in the jail than you go off the trail. Yeah, gotcha. Which is shocking because they're already called. Right. Right. You'll have more people that actually want to, like, hurt you. Right. Do you look back and go, oh, if I would have known this, this would have been easier or better and different?

I think of a couple situations where it would have made all the difference in the world. Right. Like all the difference in the world. Right. But really, in that situation, that environment is really where I learned how to talk to people. You know, sometimes there's this old mentality that if you're a nice guy, if you're really nice to people, which are weak. Right. And so, you know, the old school ways, you don't do that. Like, the old school ways, you know, you're clean-shaven, you don't smile, everything's direct, you know, all this, you know, serv-man. Very kind of paramilitary looking, yeah. Yeah, instead of just being a person. And so I had once an incident.

in particular, I was so mad because this guy was just giving me up the road and I could not get him like, could not reason with him anything like that. Oh, man. And so I was like, all right, everybody locked down. It's happening. And the next shift lieutenant came on and went in there. I'm prepared, like,

we're snatching this. The heat, gone. Out of the cell. It's happening. It's happening. He already said, you'll go ahead and get every officer in Christenburg up here. You'll take all you to get me out. And I'm like, I'm like, I'm going to take one. And, uh, right. I went in there.

and this guy came in he passed away a couple years ago Larry Acres he was a great guy he came in and he sat down a bed next to the guy which safety wise wasn't the smartest thing however there was eight of us that yeah and he just talked to him and that guy completely changed his demeanor right pissed me off

however you were ready to roll after I left I thought about it I was like man making somebody do something physically is easy working on their mind is a lot harder and he was just naturally good at it. He just naturally, he wasn't, no one seemed to a soft guy or anything like that. Yeah. He just knew how to talk to people.

That's huge. And I was like, I've got to learn how to do that. Yeah. And so I got the verbal judo book by Dr. George Thompson. Oh, cool. And it was, that's worth his way and gold. It should be mandatory reading for every police officer, period. That's a good point.

You mentioned working on your mind, right? And then you touched on being an officer involved shooting. You said, you just to help you with that. Can you share, like, perspective, how? you have found not just the physical because I think for lack of a better word it's kind of obvious if you grapple people a lot people that don't grapple even if they street fight a lot like you're like cool yeah you know some things right but dealing with your own stuff I know I have found is way harder than well

sometimes sometimes getting your ass kicked on the mats also sucks but but I'll say you know using Jiu-Jitsu or how did you find that helpful to deal with whether it was when you were younger whether it was the shooting all that together so I didn't even after I had the shooting, I didn't take much time off. It wasn't like people seen the movies or whatever. Like I took five and a half shifts off. Half of those shifts because the shooting had in the middle of the shift.

Okay. And I was back to work. And I'd have been back to work. Consciously? Like I just want to get back to it? Yeah. Yeah. Also, I didn't want people, I didn't want to take more time.

Stigma. Because they don't want people to think that, you know, whatever. But really, all I really wanted to do is I wanted to come back and I wanted to make sure I can still do the job. Okay. That was my concern because I really loved being a police officer and I didn't want this thing to happen to me and then I just not be safe and have to get out of the business, right? And so I wanted to come back. That was part of it. In hindsight, if, and I'm not dingin the chief or anything. Sure. In hindsight, if it had been, if I was in that position, I was the chief, I would have made them take time off. Right. And then he's it in there.

But he's an old school guy. He'd been in a couple shootings himself. He's like, you're good. Right. And also a different time now than it was when it happened. Again, it was a different thing. This happened like right after the stuff in Ferguson with Michael Brown. Oh, wow. And the officer there, yeah. So I was, that's when things really started to shift for us. But I remember thinking after it happened because I was filling a body camera,

but I was filling it just for T&E. Like I was a proactive officer. They said, go try this out, use it, see what you think of it. going to try to get some body cameras we just need to figure out which one we want to go with just evaluate and it's here and i tried a few of them i broke a few of them like it just you know just cheap cheaply made and i had this one and we taken the pre we disabled to pre record because i was worried i was going to be like in the bathroom taking a piss or something and it was going to go on it you know what i'm saying yeah and now people can say anyway so uh yes i went up to the the whole thing

and then i got it didn't turn it on until after the shots already been and i was i was like man I'm done. They're going to think I murdered this guy. That's all I kept thinking. Oh, like, oh, it was off? Yeah. Why was it off? Yeah. Like, they're going in, and they obviously didn't work out that way. Yeah. You know, people in the community, so it's important to have good buying in the community who stood behind me and things and stuff and stuff. But, um, but yeah, so I went back to work and didn't give me enough time to really process everything. I just kind of put it on the back burner, which I've been good at doing my whole life.

Just put it in the back burner and keep going. And you can only do that until you start running out of eyes to put them on. Right. and there was a there was a change in me for sure that everybody noticed and saw but didn't really know what to say right and the ones that had been in the situations either in overseas or here was like that's normal yeah he's a little more angry yeah that's normal I'm glad he's not such a nice guy anymore you know yeah that kind of stuff it wasn't it wasn't like people just imp some people knew like my wife but she didn't know what to say. Yeah, right. And so just out a happenstance, I started training in Jiu-Jitsu. And looking back at it with hindsight, it absolutely saved my life, my marriage, my career, everything. Yeah. Because it was making me feel better when I went there and giving me some outlet and helping me kind of deal with these things indirectly. I'd still have to go back and face them head on,

but it definitely kept me afloat. Right. And so, I ended up having a captain who, you know, had it been in a very similar situation, some of the situations with his shooting were similar to mine. And those things bothered him, like they bothered me. And him saying that, I remember, I don't know if you were in the squad room, and I had, like, hold back tears. I was like, man, somebody gets me. Like, I'm not crazy.

Like, this is a totally normal thing. And it's okay. He's a cat. He's the second in command. He's telling me this and he's had a career and things. It's not like my career's over if I talk about this. Right. And they got me set up to go talk to a lady.

She was very nice. She was absolutely not equipped to handle what I was telling her. Right. And things. But we worked on some childhood stuff, which helped. Yeah. She was very well equipped with that. And so I kind of started to understand a little bit more about how the trauma can stack on top of things and stuff like that.

And so other, I kind of. kind of kept me into that red line, kind of got me back, and I started like, okay, and then, you know, I'm good till the next incident happens. And then the next incident. And so I realized soon that, you know, if I didn't do something, there was going to be, I was just like, it's just not good.

Right. And so I talked to one of my friends who'd been in a similar situation, somebody I trusted. One of the same guys who had talked to me before and was like, hey, y'all, we need to say something to him before. there's you know he ends good on that person yeah and so he was like all right so he pulls me and i say hey can you meet me we go and have uh have lunch and i tell him i was like man you know i went with this call and it's this dead three-year-old and there's nothing i can do to save them and

yeah i don't know what do and i'm pretty sure the mom something has something to do with it and all this stuff and and you know he'd been a very very similar situation his was way more track of mine and he was like let me get you in touch with somebody and got me in touch with the doctor who was fantastic and she was equipped to deal with trauma informed oh yeah she was great she worked at the VA and then left the VA and did her own private thing um and was like pretty much was like I got to sleep with myself at night I got to make that I want to do my do my own thing and uh and I was like I get that and so she she was great and she also helped me realize she's like you know all this physical activity that you're doing this is how you're dealing with it and she's like I want

you to keep doing it because it's good for you it's way better than you move it's medicine yeah way better than going out here and drinking and womanizing and doing all the you know you're like you're already taking enough risk at work you need to like quit chasing that adrenaline but this is really good for you right especially the jihitsu part because you can get that that that connection that the same feelings and stuff it's really good and so then you know fast forward you know have other stuff other kids and things Then I have, somebody who's really close and he was kind of like my big brother at work. We ran together a lot.

We ran an ultramarathon together. Wow. I ran the Blue Ridge half together and stuff. And he was just a great guy. He was my boss for a while. And he ended up getting hit one night by a drunk driver on his way to the gym. I happened to be the ship supervisor that night. Man.

And I hear the call come out. I was dealing with some domestic out, you know, out of the sticks. With a girl that we're always out there dealing with stuff on. repeat offender yeah and i was just like you know whatever i hear the call come out and i'm like i know that section it's pretty it's pretty rough section and um and i started heading that way and then you know i hear the officer first officer that's there one of my guys so you know i got one that's gone you know another one's you know still here but fading her and so um i holler him was like hey man you don't find just secure everything i'll be there in a minute

On site? Yeah, I'm calling. I'm calling. I'm calling it. Gotcha, gotcha. And so then I start calling supervisor. I'm like, hey, what's called the crash team? You know, we got a fatal crash.

You know, all this stuff. Just supervisor, man. Just leadership. So just on work, do that. And then the dispatcher calls me and she says, hey, that truck, that tag comes back to Perry Hodge. I can't get anyone on his cell phone. And I was like, I just couldn't believe it. I was like, I'll call you back.

I hang up on her and I start calling me. Yeah. Nothing. Call me, calling, calling, calling, calling, call me. Call me, call, call, nothing. Call the supervisor. Hey, this is what's going on. I'm trying to call him.

Whatever. I was like, I'm like, I'm like 30 minutes away if I drive like I got sense. I was like, I'm trying to get there as quick as I can. I don't know what's going on. And so I finally get there. I don't even really remember the drive there. I know it was like, I just can't be real. And I get there and I see the back of his truck and I was like,

You've got to be kidding me. I go up and, you know, I see him there. I see he's not wearing a sea belt, which pissed me off. And I go to the other guy and I see he's there. He's alive. And, you know, there's a pair of things of stuff in the car. You know, testing me probably the most that I could be tested as a police officer to make sure that my integrity was right because, you know,

I didn't put a hand on the guy and I couldn't have. It just wasn't the right thing to do. You got to do the right thing when no one's looking. Called state police, had them come handle it and then had to choke down the tear and said back, I was, hey, man, you're the boss. So go block off this road here.

Go block off this road here. Start getting people, you know, get assignments, trying to make sure my, trying to put my guys, I don't want you near here. I want you somewhere different. I don't want you have to see what I just saw. Right. You know, like, we don't all need to see this.

Right. One's enough. So, yeah, and I knew I knew when that happened. I knew Jiu-Jitsu is what I needed because I don't want to go drinking and all those other stuff So I go in It was like the way you happen

It was kind of weird It was the next day But for me it felt like another day Because I were on night So it happened like It's on a Thursday And then on a Friday It's like the next day

But for me it was like two days away Because I was working on nights anyway And I remember I went in And Professor Mary was there He was there was teaching a morning class And I sat there and he came over And kind of put his hand on my head And shoulder

And he knew He knew and he knew he knew Perry and man I feel bad if I roll with that day I put the I put the screws but you know what I felt better and they didn't take anything from it that's right that was the thing they just thought oh he's just going hard today you know right so that is an interesting jujitsu thing you get used to it's like we were talking about earlier you know you get like a bump on your nose a bloody like twist you're like what happens or you know there are times people do too much you're like all right and then I'm sure you it was mad and force is like let me go calm that person down yeah yeah yeah but But as a therapeutic thing and understanding, you know, for Tim and other folks, it's amazing, horrible that it had to happen and that you did that. And you said something earlier, too, and this is something I learned. Same thing, let it all bottle up my head, came out. I did drink too much.

Then I had a huge panic attack and realized, oh, I should probably deal with all this stuff, which I kind of had and then didn't. And I think a buddy of mine that I was a corner with mentioned he's a career fire guy out in Tucson, was like, hey, man, there's no, like, trauma Olympics. because I heard you say like it wasn't as bad as that person's but yours is different than mine is different than theirs which I'm sure you've learned in talking to the doc and other folks and processing so you're not wow big big engines out there of of not having to go well yours is worse I shouldn't feel this

bad because some people's almost just got an offender bender is could be life changing sure some people's like you know I've seen dead kids it's horrible yeah right and you know most people would go oh that's worse and that's worse but to the person if a person's never been exposed to trauma at all like something small does it right and so it did so it said to say in addition to jiu jitsu and you know because you get all the physical stuff out and mental yeah and i'm a huge movement as medicine guy yeah what are other tools that you learned that help that can help other folks that have or are dealing with similar situations now so man jihitsu really is the best it's just so much better than everything else and in part of you know uh i've lifted weights

and I enjoyed running kind of getting out and things and kind of keeping me alone with my thoughts and kind of process things, all that was fine. One decision I did that with Jiu-Jitsu and actually Perry was kind of in there and I talked to him like, hey man, we'd go running together and like, I keep thinking about this kid

and all the stuff and just being able to kind of bond. But man, it's just when you can take that aggression stuff out on another person, it's just so much different. It sounds horrible. You got to be trained to understand it. It does. It's one of those things that, like,

no one has their films heard about it. We're just here to train and things. And, you know, you can go push the weights a certain amount, but they're not pushing back. Yeah, it's different. You know, and stuff. And everyone's got their own bouts, they're fighting and stuff.

But really, Jiu-Zitsu has been the biggest thing. The other thing, from the law enforcement perspective, is I think we're starting to get there, but we still haven't fully removed the stigma of that And if you talk to somebody, you're weak or you're going to lose your job, that was a concern of mine too. I was like, man, if I tell people what I'm thinking, they're going to be like, this dude's crazy, and they're going to take my badge from me. And I don't know what else I'm going to do besides being a cop. At that time, that was all I had.

Like, I have my wife, obviously, but like, I don't know how to do anything else. I'm going to flip pizzas again. You know, my dad owned a restaurant, I can do that. Right. You know, and flip pizzas and people. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and stuff.

So if people can just take that first, it's always, the first step is the hardest part. In anything, starting the business, the hardest part is just taking the first step. And, you know, if we remove that stigma and just know that, hey, sometimes you just need to reach out and have somebody just listen to you. Yeah. And like you said, and like I found out too, when you actually talked to other people, particularly people that have been in a similar thing, you find out, oh, everybody's got their own shit. Yeah. Like, yeah. everyone yeah but but in particular your your people right or people you didn't even know and you're

like hey i'm really have this problem this and they're like oh did you know this about me and i'm like no and then i go well god i should ask you that before like yeah you ask at least i found i care more and ask more about other people and i'm trying to fix my own stuff uh by helping them yeah for sure or asking them to help me essentially no 100 and i think too is something where and i imagine you probably even saw some of this in the military regard or any anything that you're going. Take it out, take out the trauma stuff of it. If that person's not like a subject matter expert on it, a lot of times you don't want to hear about it. Right. You know what I'm saying? Right. Like the person that comes in here for their first trial class,

I don't want them to tell me how to do an arm bar. I learn that from Tim Mayer. Okay. You know what I mean? You're not qualified as it. Yes. And they could be telling me something that's good. Sure. Right. But they don't have the credentials to back it up. And so human nature, we just try to, I try to get better at that too as time goes on. Yeah. It's just, you know, like Tim told me that Hensu told him, never turn a death fear on someone's knowledge. You know, because it might be bullshit, but it might be good, too. Yeah. And so if you have that mindset, it helps for police officers in particular, it is difficult

because they, we don't, I don't say we don't have a good relationship with mental health. I would say that, it's not inaccurate now. You know, we're used to, like, having to go get people and then they're gone for three days where they're in a mental, you know, like, we automatically assume that if we talk to somebody that they're going to, you know, lock us up in some, you know, mental health facility or something. Yeah. And that's just, that's not the case.

And so sometimes you can get officers that will open up to other officers that have been in those situations. They're like, okay, they're going to understand. Because I remember the first time I told all the thoughts that I was having to this lady, I saw in her face, man. Like, she was like, oh, my God. Let's talk about the domestic stuff, you know. And so, and then when I go and.

and I talk to my captain about it, and he tells him, I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm normal. And then I go talk to this other lady, and she's like, yeah, that's perfectly normal. Yeah. And so there are people that don't understand that aren't in that frame and have been it through that, but it's hard to get people to open up unless you have those credentials already. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

As cool as we want to be, we're like, oh, I appreciate you're helping. You're like, you're not helping. And I'd, yeah, it's similar. Like, I had never, other than, like, we went to marriage counseling like once or whatever, years ago and then finally I was dealing with my stuff went somewhere yeah and I dive into like fix in my own stuff yeah I you know programs and projects so like it's my thing like yeah let's do that triage this yeah so I'd already had an idea and started doing it so what even this person who's got the credentials on the paper yeah I was

like oh like I just did that at home I was like you know that for me one thing that did help which is tough and I don't know if it's one of the tools you got was like trauma journal which is super hard so they're like hey remember everything thing and write it down again and you're like okay and then you start doing it you're like oh shit yeah which is hard but but also but also helpful not that i want people to just jump out there and do that because you need to do it as part of like a thing yeah you know i never i never really did that i did start writing a book i haven't finished yet nice i'm about maybe 60% of the way through just talking about like some stuff that happened to me yeah please just wild stuff that i think

just yeah it was it was therapeutic writing some of that stuff out right um but um one thing she help me was just trying to look like the trauma loops and kind of learning what those triggers were and understanding it yeah and you know once you understand the problem that the solution is halfway solved there yeah and so that helped me out a lot I did some of the EMDR I guess oh yeah EMDR and um I did some of that it was okay yeah I mean some people love it and swear about it it was okay for me it wasn't anything groundbreaking right um being able to talk and like openly has helped and then i started teaching classes at the police academy and like our three gun school and things and talking about officer of all shootings and so i came

into it from a different perspective than a lot of people right where they're you know i don't have a great war story i i wish i did mine was just really this happened uh sure this almost happened to me this is the end result but and people i guess are interested in that but after your story i'd like listen I mean, the reality is this is how many hours I spent training to prepare for this. This was the end result. Small, small window. Everything that happened after that, that is what they don't tell you about. And so, like, they put me in for an award for Valley from the Virginia Association's Chiefs of Police.

Highest award they give. Still don't feel like I deserve it. Great resume builder. Still don't feel like I deserve it. and I had those feelings going into it and then the person that gets the award right before me his widow's up there yeah accepting it

and I'm like I don't even deserve to stare at this stage then I come back back to town I'm working an overtime assignment because we don't make any money and a Yankee game and the Calphi girls were on like the front page of Southwest Times and so they were handed out the newspapers oh wow right yeah well right above the Calphi girls there's little blurb

with my picture on there, talking about getting the award for valor. Right. And so then I have people in the stadium coming in and saying, wait, is this you? Oh, wow. And it was really hard for me to, like, deal with because I was like, man, I almost felt like ashamed to get the awards. Like, I don't know. Yeah.

I was just, you know, like, I just, there's a lot that goes into that. But that kind of stuff is stuff they don't tell you about. They don't tell you about sitting there and like staring at your pistol and thinking, like, you know, am I going to do it? right they don't tell you about that and nobody wants to talk about it right and that's the problem and so then you're in that and you feel like you're all alone because you have no one that's there that says hey man it's all right it's okay we're going to work through this you're not going to do it right we're going to talk about reason you know no one and that has slowly started changing

in law enforcement we still got a leagues to go yeah but that is way better than it was 10 years ago what else is way about our transition is the jiu jihitsu and radford virginia yes right And Blue Gorilla, so talking about challenges. Starting your own business, we talked about coming into this building that wasn't as nice as it is now. So it's a really interesting story. Yeah. So when I got my Blue Belt, I saw how much it had changed me and helped me.

And I always thought that this is something I wish I'd had when I was a kid. You probably got the same thing. I wish I'd started training this when I was a kid. Oh, yeah. I'd be so much better, right? Yeah. And, you know, it just wasn't, you know, Tim was here, but also like, geographically for me just when I was a kid and couldn't drive it wasn't you know

right for me so I remember thinking I was like man I'd love to have a school one day when I retire from police work and my retirement's going to cover everything I was also naive about that yeah and I said I'm going to let women and children train here for free and I'll just charge as much I need to keep the the doors open and that'll just be what I do when I retire and I was like that'll be that'll be great it's what I was thinking I have learned that that's not how business works things and stuff but it was in my mind sure and so this kind of like altruistic idea was there um fast forward to last year and you know my wife was a teacher spent like a decade teaching um and she was like i don't think i want our kid in public school anymore like i think

we have three kids and she's like i think i'd like to you know she was fed up with some things going on at work right and things and um she had some great people that she worked with and things but Just the general direction. Sure. And she was like, I just would rather be home and stuff. And I was like, cool. Let's look at that. Yeah.

And so you start adding it up and you're like, man, we need to make some money because this is going on. I'm trying to figure up overtime. Post school is also not three. Yeah. Yeah. It's not like a free ride. Right. And so especially not if you want to do it the right way.

And so we started figuring up and I was like, man, I've got to make like $1,000 a month somehow. Yeah. If I can do that, I think we're good. And I said they're figuring up overtime. I was like, I don't think. I can realistically count on that. Right. And, you know, she was like, you should, you should consider don't now.

You've got your black belt in your own place, yeah. You know, I taught the kids program at Tim's for, you know, at that point, like, three years. Yeah. And, you know, he was teaching adult classes and stuff. And just kind of, it's like, you know, you already got your feet wet in it. Just, you know, go. And I started also teaching at the Radford CrossFit gym at Guardian. Oh, how to performance.

I'd start teaching there. Okay. Probably about a year and a half, two years before. before I opened this place. Right. I talked to him about it. He was like, yeah, I go ahead. And so I had to help people just, I was teaching just a couple, couple of CrossFit coaches.

Cool. And so I already had like a base. And so I was like, all right. So I was like, all right, we're all in. Yeah. And we go in, Tim, I asked, talk to him about it. He's like, yeah, he's like, you know, I'll support you any way I can. I want you to be successful.

Nice. He was great. He was great. And so I was like, all right. So I went in. And I was like, all right, we're going to get the LLC. Let's do this. We're going to sell our house, and we're going to move, and we're going to rent somewhere.

Oh, yeah. It was a burn the boats moment, and that's exactly how I looked at it. There's no other option. We're burning the boats, and we're going to do this. Yeah. And so we end up selling the house, getting everything from that. And I put a deposit on a place down, like just three or four places down the road. Because really, I was just like, I'll just try to model myself the way that Tim has done here.

I started up, yeah. Yeah. Like, team management is all I know. That's just well, yeah. Yeah. And so I was to be a college town, all this stuff. So we go in and he's, I go and they text me like a couple weeks before we're getting ready to open. They're like, it's not going to be ready in time. And people had already like, you know, I already started social media and the website. I had people prepaid for memberships and stuff. So my reputation is very important to me. It shouldn't be because the reality is, you know, the only thing that really matters with your kids and your family. think of you right yeah but it being you know it does them you know all this time in public service my word means something to me sure if I tell you something I want you to be able to feel comfortable

with it it's very important yeah and I was like I told people January 1st we've got to find it we've got to figure something out and so I ended up reaching out to the people that own this place Taylor Hollow and talked to them about some place there's another place I looked at it it already they already leased it out and all of stuff and I'm sitting there and they're like well hey we've got this place we're getting ready to buy it it would fit but it's not going to be ready for three four months and i was like that doesn't help me yeah and they said but what we do have is we have a building next door it's like 6,000 square feet it's huge wow but the two conference rooms in the front if you want to just put your mats down there until we got stuff

done and whole classes there we'll give you reduction on the rent and everything and that way you can start nice i came in they were super great we started we had uh had these mats and two not i you even all these mats yeah like maybe a third of the two thirds of these mats small space in two different conference rooms yeah and people just started coming in and we would have classes in these little conference rooms wow and we did that from January until may and then may they got everything done here right we moved everything over that you know did the painting the floors uh hung these up all that stuff and things and yeah didn't look back yeah totally yeah so you moved into may um so not quite a year right this year in this location and I know I've seen followed I've seen you know some of the

instructors you have here that's still training team man and then I'm way overdue coming here so again thanks for having me but you are huge you mentioned the community right yeah and it feels like connected to that first officer that helped you now you as an officer helping the community with all these different so in addition to mean good jiu jitsu yeah right descended from Tim and HENzo before him, but all the greats. You also do a lot for the community in addition to teacher great classes. So what are some of those things that you provide? So like, for example, we had our grand opening.

We were fortunate enough to be able to give out a couple of like $500 ships to kids, for high school kids that kind of go in. And we had a whole process for it. Taven was actually one of the recipients of. Oh, cool. I mean, he was kind of like a no brainer. Yeah. But we had him doing an essay and things like that.

And, you know, I feel like there's no point in being successful if you can't share that with other people. right um and so we we've done that we try to do fundraisers for various things for like kousin or when they need to go to fargo and things and it's all really it's nothing i've done it's the community here that i have right kind of came around and kind of brought everything up and so we really try to to keep that as one of our one of our tenants so we took our first year you know from the day we got our LLC now and said all right well what is it that we really stand for what are our core values and so we landed on three of them and loyalty, valor, and community

in no specific order and there's no point to having a quarterback if you don't do stuff to stand up to that. Right. You know, and kind of knowing the direction that you're going and what you're wanting to be. And so, I don't know what this next year's going to have through. I have a couple

of ideas that I think will be really good. Nice. But it's really, I mean, it's a success of the people that I have coming here. It's not me. I've got, I won't mention names, but I've got people that sponsor kids memberships and things and we try to meet them work with them on that and nice for people they don't even know just hey I want to do this to help give it to see and stuff and and that's the community we want we want to have you know we try to stay

invested with our local businesses we try to work and try to push business towards them yeah Rafford's not in the best shape financially right now but we try to do we can I you know we were offering we've offered like free months to any city employees and their kids Wow. We'll probably do that again in the new year. We get some discounted rates for city employees. I appreciate everything that they do.

I know that if something happens here, the police form is going to show up. They're going to handle business. I know if this place gets on fire, the fire marks. They came here. One day we had a CO, or a carbon monoxide alarm going off, and they came and handled everything, I mean, just super quick and things. And those kind of things are definitely appreciated. Right.

And so we try to, anything we do to try to make. the community better be invested with it and things you know whether it's community events or just us trying to cultivate a community here right with you know we do cookouts and thing we have a christmas party coming up uh next saturday oh nice and things for members and so we try to do things to kind of have everybody be part of the till that yeah yeah and so like said 2026 i got some things up in the air and i think they'll be good and we'll just see hopefully they'll work out that's cool what was you know from hearing how you grew up challenges you when you're younger, challenging your face when you're older, right, and policing and then

giving back and you mentioned it's not you, it's other people, but it takes a leader to bring those people together, which I will say you are, right? I know you've taught my classes, I don't know how angry you were, but smash me on the mats before. But I'll say, I mean, as far as helping, you mentioned Radford, like bring Radford up, bring Jiu-Jitsu in this area up, you know, bring other people up. It's clear just in talking to you and, you know, social media, so everybody, Blue Gorilla B-JJ, it's on Facebook, it's everything. It's everything. True, right? Yeah, an X.

YouTube? Do you have a YouTube channel? We've tossed around. Not yet. We have another idea. Oh. It's up in the air. Gotcha.

It might be a little bit more community-based. Right. A little bit more inclusive just for members. Okay. That makes sense. It does. Awesome. Yeah.

So this has been great. We've got folks coming in for Open Matt today, which is cool. So I'll get to roll. Maybe we'll get some rolling footage. Absolutely. That kind of stuff. But Adam, man, it was great to catch up. Absolutely.

while. There's questions I ask everybody in this new series, right? It's local regional questions. Sure. So I'm going to try to do this about putting my glasses on. Okay. See how that challenge is. What is your favorite place in the New River Valley to clear your head? Blue Gorilla Brazini Jiu-Jitsu. Not even a question. I know. I write it down and then when I asked it, I was like, uh, yeah. Team A man is really is really good. I like going over there and seeing the people. It's just timing. You know, we're open. Yeah, sure. Six days a week. We're probably been ready to go to seven days. Yeah.

And things, it's kind of hard. But, yeah, no, any doing Jitsu there, here, you know, if you're in Radford, obviously, I'm going to say it's here. That's right. That's right. If you're in Blacksburg, it's team man. And that's not even a question.

And that's a good thing. And I mentioned the other locations, which will reveal throughout the season. There's more, which is great. But yeah, if you're in Radford, come here. What's your favorite local food place after training? Like, you've got to get that meal, get the protein, and whatever.

I really like sharkies. Yeah. I spend a lot of money over there. It's a classic. Um, really everything here on Main Street is really good. That's good. I go in there, that's where I got this coffee from. I go in there and get dessert and stuff.

My kids love it. Um, local family owned business and stuff. Right. I mean, everywhere's great. The Mexican restaurant, everything is great in Radford. Right. Like we, we, we, we, the rest of the food here is, it's pretty good. Good.

Yeah. Yeah, Sharkey sticks out because we're going to go there. Um, what is something that people should know about this area that outsiders miss, right? It's not on all the billboards. It's not. You know, so what I'll say is my sister, my oldest sister grew up in Greensboro. It's a completely different environment than here, right? And I think it's nothing, it's not a ding on her at all.

Sure. It just prompted me when you said that. People here, people outside may think, oh, they're backwoods or they're closed-minded or you feel in whatever stereotype is there, right? but man the people here are so warm they're friendly yeah some people are rough I'm sure right you go to anywhere you're going to find that right but really here the people make the community yeah and you're going to find a lot of really good heart of people here and there's really anything that you want is either here or within a really short driving distance right

I mean yeah it's just a great place I agree great people nice well thanks for answering the being the first on the people process progress that's right huh being first your last that's right that's right i really appreciate it man it's good to see you hope the all the days not bad but yeah see you all next time