About John Frankl
John Frankl is the founder of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Korea. Although John began with and gained high rank in traditional martial arts, he considers his exposure to alive training as beginning in 1989, the year he began training in Muay Thai and Eskrima in Berkeley, CA. By 1993 John was ready to take his martial arts to the next level. He secured a position as an English and Korean language teacher at a private bilingual high school and moved to Los Angeles. John had two goals: to study with Dan Inosanto and Rickson Gracie. He spent a year in Los Angeles, at the end of which he had permission from Dan Inosanto to begin teaching Jun Fan/JKD, Muay Thai, and the Filipino martial arts, and a blue belt from Rickson. John moved from Los Angeles to Boston in order to pursue his doctoral studies at Harvard University. In Boston, John trained another eight years with Roberto Maia, founder of Boston Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, an original Gracie Barra black belt under Carlos Gracie, Jr., and the cousin of Renzo Gracie and the Machado Brothers. Under Roberto, John received his purple, brown, and black belts. John was also fortunate to have the opportunity to train extensively with Claudio Franca whenever he visited his hometown of Santa Cruz, CA. After more than nine years of continuous and dedicated study, John is among the elite group of American black belts. John is the only true and direct representative of both Helio Gracie (through Rickson) and Carlos Gracie (through Gracie Barra) jiu jitsu in Korea.
John represents a rare combination of fighter and teacher. Throughout his stay in Boston, he studied and taught at the Gracie Barra Academy, Boston Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He served not only as a Jiu Jitsu instructor but also as head instructor and coach of the Vale Tudo team. He also competed in and won both Sport Jiu Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts contests. When not on the mat or in the ring, John was studying and teaching at Harvard University, where he received awards for excellence in teaching and, most recently, a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations.
John’s academic and martial arts careers have long overlapped. His travels allowed him to train and fight not only all over the U.S., but also in Brazil, Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan. John also founded Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Korea, where he had often lived for extended periods of study and research. His academy, which began in 1999 as Seoul Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, has now grown into a nationwide organization. John returned to Korea twice a year to teach seminars and assure that training remained true to his exacting standards. In 2004, following a year as a Postdoctoral Fellow at U.C. Berkeley's Center for Korean Studies, John decided to return to Korea as a professor at Yonsei University's Underwood International College. In order to ensure the positive growth of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Korea, he founded the John Frankl Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Competition Team.
John is also certified as a Full Instructor with the Straighblast Gym International and serves as their Regional Director for East Asia. See
http://www.straightblastgym.com
http://www.straightblastgym.com/bjj.htm
http://www.straightblastgym.com/international.htm#Korea
Ratel yellow JJ Academy
class Time
Monday ~Friday
18:20~19:20
19:30~21:00
21:20~22:20
sunday
15:00~16:30
Monthly Fees
7x per week 110,000 won
3x per week 100,000 won
2xper week 90,000 won
1xper week 70,000 won
*Mat Fee per Class 20,000 won
E- mail : bcbjj@hotmail.com
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