The Short Version

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Dapto Jiu Jitsu started with two people, Alvi and Miranda, searching for a sense of purpose and finding it together on the mats. What began with a few community centre classes and some puzzle mats grew into a home built with the help of friends, a lot of hard work and a community that keeps showing up for each other. Two years on, we have grown, competed, celebrated, supported one another and built something that feels like much more than a academy. It is a place where people come to learn Jiu Jitsu, but stay because of the people they meet along the way.

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The Long Version

 

Dapto Jiu Jitsu began with a question, 'what is my reason for being?'

When Alvaro Estrada Jimenez finished his law degree in Peru, he didn’t keep the job. He took off with his gi and belt. He wanted to find his ikigai, the Japanese idea of having a reason for being, and that search took him to the other side of the world. In 2018, it brought him to Australia where he took on the nickname, Alvi.
 

The story really started to take shape in Wollongong. Alvi had moved there in 2021 for work and was volunteering at a community bookshop when he met Miranda Clark, a Wollongong local. Not long after, she started training Jiu Jitsu. Somewhere between the mats, the training and everything else life throws at you, the two of them started talking about opening an academy of their own. They just had no idea where or when.
 

So in 2023, they decided to go looking for the answer. They hit the road in an old Mazda 3 and travelled across the country. From Perth they flew to Phuket, where they spent two months training at Bangtao Muay Thai and MMA. From there, they went to Lima, where Miranda spent the summer learning Spanish and they both trained Jiu Jitsu.

 

On an ordinary Friday morning, Alvi went to train at Ares BJJ, his Professor's academy. It was there that Professor Italo awarded Alvi his Black Belt after 11 years of training. Just a week later, at Mentesaiko BJJ, Professor Franco and Alvi awarded Miranda her Blue Belt after three years of training.
 

When they came home, with new belts in hand, their Wollongong friends gave them the push they needed: build the place you keep talking about. They wanted somewhere with world class coaching, but more importantly, somewhere that felt safe and welcoming.
 

Alvi and Miranda looked at each other and thought, if not now, then when? So they got to work.
 

It started as a test. They ran a few classes at the local community centre, laying out jigsaw puzzle mats across the floor. A handful of people came along. Then they came back. And they wanted more. Before long, there was a regular booking and a routine that became very familiar. Set up the mats before class. Pack them all away afterwards. Do it again the next day. Thankfully, there was always plenty of help from the team.

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After months of doing things that way, they decided to take the next step. They signed a three year lease on an industrial unit in the heart of Dapto. There was no money for a fancy fit out. What they did have was a lot of determination and a strong belief that Dapto Jiu Jitsu deserved a place it could call home.

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When we first walked into the building, it was a freshly finished industrial shell. We were the very first tenants. The floors were covered in concrete, there was dirt everywhere and it looked a long way from becoming a Jiu Jitsu academy. But from the moment we got the keys, the team was there. People helped hose and scrub the floors. They helped carry the mats in. Everyone wanted the place ready because everyone wanted to get to the important part: training.

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Over the months and years, we slowly made the place ours. The mats got upgraded. We put in new flooring. We added a noticeboard and some chairs. Little things, one at a time. Just like a house slowly becomes a home, the warehouse became our Jiu Jitsu academy. And then the people inside it started doing some pretty remarkable things.

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One of our beginners, Angus, went on to become the top ranked white belt in the country. He has since earned his blue belt and it took him just over a year. But the medals and rankings have never really been the point.

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We go to competitions to cheer each other on. We get together on grading days to celebrate each other’s milestones. We check in on each other. We get to know each other. That is what makes this a community rather than just an academy. And for Miranda, that has always been the whole point.

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Miranda came to the same question, 'What is my reason for being', by a very different path. While Alvi searched the world for his answer, Miranda spent a lot of time searching within herself. She was restless and always exploring. She knew she wanted to be useful to people and make a difference somehow, but she never quite knew what that was supposed to look like.

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She studied creative arts, finished her degree and kept looking. Eventually, the answer started to appear on the mats. Jiu Jitsu had given Miranda a level of confidence and self trust that she had never known before. She realised that this was something she could give to other women and girls too. That feeling of knowing you are stronger and more capable than you might have believed.

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It also fitted with the rest of who Miranda is. She cares deeply about the natural world around her, and Jiu Jitsu is about as simple and low impact as a pursuit can be. Just people, a mat and a willingness to learn. There can be very little to buy and very little to throw away. It is also one of the oldest things humans have ever done. An art that has been refined over thousands of years and works with the body and with human nature rather than fighting against them.

 

In a world full of screens, shortcuts and constant noise, Jiu Jitsu gives you a reason to put all of that down for a while and just be fully, physically human.

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Two years on, things have changed. We have said goodbye to old friends as they have moved on to new things, and we have welcomed plenty of new people through the doors. We have learned together, trained together and celebrated together. And we are still doing it.

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Building all of this with very little money and very few resources has tested Alvi and Miranda in ways they probably never expected. But somewhere along the way, they discovered just how resilient and adaptable they could be. They faced the hard parts together. They learned how to keep going when things were difficult. They learned to laugh when things went wrong. They learned to lean on the people around them.

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And this year Alvi and Miranda got engaged!

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Two people who each set out looking for a reason for being. One searched across the world. The other searched within herself. In the end, they found it in the same place. On the mats, in the community, and in each other.

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This is Dapto Jiu Jitsu.

Two years strong.

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