On November 22nd, a group of Haven Jiu Jitsu athletes stepped onto the mats at the IBJJF New Jersey International Open, one of the most competitive regional tournaments on the IBJJF calendar. Competing against schools from across the region, our team represented Haven with grit, composure, and technical excellence.

We’re proud to share that several Haven competitors reached the podium, earning multiple gold medals along with additional podium finishes across their divisions.

More Than Medals

While podium finishes are always worth celebrating, what stood out most was how our athletes competed.

Calm under pressure

Respectful toward opponents and referees

Committed to fundamentals and game plans

Willing to test themselves at a high level

IBJJF tournaments demand a high degree of precision, conditioning, and mental focus. Our athletes rose to that challenge and showed the results of consistent training and disciplined preparation.

Team Effort, Team Culture

Competition is never just about the individual. Every match reflects the hours spent training with teammates, the coaches offering guidance, and the culture built day-to-day on the mats. Whether athletes walked away with gold, silver, bronze, or valuable experience, each competitor contributed to the overall success of the team.

We’re especially proud of the way our athletes supported one another throughout the day—cornering matches, warming each other up, and celebrating wins together.

Looking Ahead

Events like the IBJJF New Jersey International Open remind us why we train the way we do at Haven Jiu Jitsu: with intention, humility, and long-term growth in mind. Competition is just one piece of the journey, and our team continues to take meaningful steps forward with each event.

Congratulations to all of our competitors on a strong showing and well-earned results. We’re excited to keep building, learning, and representing Haven Jiu Jitsu on and off the mats.

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We Had Over 110 Kids Step Onto the Mats!

On Saturday, November 15th, we held our Haven Jiu Jitsu In-House Kids Competition — and it ended up being one of our biggest kids events ever. We had over 110 kids signed up, and the energy in the room from start to finish was awesome.

A Great Day for the Kids

From weigh-ins to the last matches of the afternoon, the kids really showed up. Some were competing for the very first time, some had been here before, but every single one of them put their heart into it. We saw a lot of growth, a lot of good attitudes, and plenty of smiles once the nerves settled.

This is exactly why we run these in-house events — to give kids a chance to compete in a fun, familiar environment without the pressure of a huge tournament.

Big Thanks to Everyone Who Helped

A huge thank-you to our coaches for getting the kids ready and coaching matside all day.

Thank you to the volunteers who helped things run smoothly.

And of course, thank you to all the parents and families who came out, supported, and cheered. Days like this don’t happen without all of you.

What’s Next

Because of the turnout and how well everything went, we’re planning to host two of these in-house kids competitions every year moving forward. The kids get so much out of them, and we want to keep creating opportunities like this.

We also have plans for other styles of competitions and skill events, so stay tuned — we’re excited to roll out more ways for the kids to challenge themselves and have fun.

Proud of All Our Haven Kids

Every kid who stepped on the mat should be proud of themselves. It was a great day for our program, and we’re already looking forward to the next competition.

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Hey everyone! I’ve got some exciting news to share from Haven Jiu Jitsu. This past Saturday, January 6th, was a super special day for us. We held our very first black belt promotions, and it was amazing!

Meet Our New Black Belts!

Four of our top-notch members – Dan Dantuano, Brett Hass, Marty Baranski, and Dickie White – earned their black belts. That’s a huge deal in Jiu Jitsu, and we’re super proud of them. They’ve worked really hard and it’s awesome to see them reach this level.

Learning from the Best

Each of these new black belts shared their skills with us. They each did a short, 20-minute seminar on different Jiu Jitsu techniques. It was cool to see their unique styles and learn something new from each of them.

A Special Moment

The big moment was when Ben Tallini, our amazing instructor, stepped up and awarded the black belts. It was a proud and emotional moment for everyone. Seeing these guys receive their belts after all their hard work was really something special.

A Full House

We had a fantastic turnout for the event. Students from all kinds of different schools came to join in. It was great to see so many people from the Jiu Jitsu community come together to support our members.

More Than Just Promotions

We also did something really great for the community. Alongside the promotions, we ran a fundraiser for The Haven Initiative. It’s our non-profit that helps at-risk youths. And guess what? We raised nearly $1400! That’s almost three times our goal of $500. I’m blown away by everyone’s generosity.

A Day to Remember

This was more than just a ceremony. It was a day filled with learning, celebration, and community spirit. A huge congrats to Dan, Brett, Marty, and Dickie – our new black belts. And a big thank you to everyone who came out and supported the event and the fundraiser. You all made it a day to remember!

Keep rolling, everyone! 

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Hey there, Jiu Jitsu enthusiasts. Guess what? Our Haven Jiu Jitsu crew just pulled off something epic at the Syracuse Grappling Industries competition on November 18th. We’re not just talking wins; we’re talking about climbing the ranks to become the #9 competition school on Smoothcomp in the whole nation!

–> Adult Team Triumph

Our adult team showed up and showed off, giving it their all in every match. From takedowns to slick submissions, our folks were on fire. The team spirit was sky-high, and you could feel the energy as our crew dominated the competition.

–> Kiddos Making Waves

Now, let’s talk about our young guns – the kids’ team. These pint-sized powerhouses hit the mats with determination and heart. It was amazing to see these future Jiu Jitsu champs in action, pulling off moves that left everyone cheering. Our coaches couldn’t have been prouder, and neither could the parents watching their little warriors shine.

–> Smoothcomp #1, We’re Coming for You!

Now, about this Smoothcomp ranking – who would’ve thought that in such a small amount of time we would be rubbing shoulders with the big shots? We’re talking #9 in the nation, baby! Smoothcomp, watch out – Haven Jiu Jitsu is on the rise, and we’re coming for that #1 spot!

–> What’s Next?

So, what’s the plan for Haven Jiu Jitsu now that we’re climbing the ranks? More wins, more high-fives, and maybe a victory dance or two. We’re not just a team; we’re a family, and this journey is just getting started. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or are completely new to Jiu Jitsu, there’s a spot for you at Haven Jiu Jitsu.

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What a fantastic weekend for Jiu Jitsu and helping out people in our community.

We had our benefit for Sam Sears who has stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma on Saturday, February 26. We had an open roll and were able to raise around $1,500 Saturday. They are still taking donations, if you want to help out.

On Sunday, February 27, we went on to have our inter-school open mat hosted at Ultimate Athletics. They also had a benefit for Eli Salazar who had suffered a serious injury. During the inter-school open mat, we raised $1,500 for Eli’s medical bills.

The next interschool open mat will be back at Haven Jiu Jitsu on Sunday, March 27^th at 12pm.

We have some very big things coming up at the gym. March 25^th we will be starting our peer reviewed study and training with the Syracuse Police Department. Training will be open to all Haven Jiu Jitsu members to participate with the cadets. We also have some other great things for later this year with our community in Central New York.

Stay tuned for more details. 

Have You Heard About Our Local Partnerships?

We are all about forming partnerships that support local businesses and organization. Haven Jiu Jitsu is now partnering with Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville, which is also located in River Mall plaza. Powerhouse Gym has the best strength training equipment, cardio equipment, and trainers to support your journey. Haven Members are eligible for $0 enrollment plus 1 month free at Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville. Powerhouse Members are eligible for $50 off fees for a 1 year commitment at Haven!

Don’t miss a chance to save 15% off pizza at Cam’s Pizzeria in Camillus! Check out our flyer here to learn how.

We are very proud of our participation with the Adopt a Cop BJJ program. Learn more about these partnerships and more here.

The post Jiu Jitsu Open Mat Events Help Out Community appeared first on cnyjiujitsu.com.

What a crazy week it was at Haven Jiu Jitsu! We finished up our competition prep and now we focus on staying healthy and waiting for the Grappling Industries tournament (in Syracuse, on December 11th).

To get everyone ready to compete, we hosted a couple of seminars. Our first seminar was with Rich D’Amico, who taught us wrestling set ups. We had a great turnout, and it was nice seeing Rich in his element – on the mats. Next, “Big” Rob White taught a Judo seminar. Because we are so grateful for all of you making Haven the amazing place that it is, both seminars were free to members. Check out our instagram to see some clips from the Judo and Wrestling seminar. https://www.instagram.com/p/CXG0tl4rdyu/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

In last week’s classes, we covered:

• Kids: Knee tap and then the roll under

• Gi and no gi: Closed guard to guillotine. If they defend the guillotine, then the Cow catcher

This week we focus on making weight and making sure we stay healthy for the tournament. I cannot stress this enough. These tournaments are all about the experience. You will be nervous, but you’ll feel better once you’re on the mats. Win or lose – show up, work hard, and have fun. Oh, and listen to your coach!

Ben Tallini

Have You Heard About Our Local Partnerships?

We are all about forming partnerships that support local businesses and organization. Haven Jiu Jitsu is now partnering with Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville, which is also located in River Mall plaza. Powerhouse Gym has the best strength training equipment, cardio equipment, and trainers to support your journey. Haven Members are eligible for $0 enrollment plus 1 month free at Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville. Powerhouse Members are eligible for $50 off fees for a 1 year commitment at Haven!

Don’t miss a chance to save 15% off pizza at Cam’s Pizzeria in Camillus! Check out our flyer here to learn how.

We are very proud of our participation with the Adopt a Cop BJJ program. Learn more about these partnerships and more here.

The post Seminars, Seminars, and More Seminars to Prepare for BJJ Competitions appeared first on cnyjiujitsu.com.

Jiu Jitsu for Real Estate and Military

Between Thanksgiving and our two seminars, we had a busy couple of weeks! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with their loved ones. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for!

November 20^th was our self defense seminar for local real estate agents. Chris Green from C Green Home Inspection Group LLC sponsored the event, and it was a great success.

November 27^th was the Brandon Ashby Ronin Foundation fundraiser seminar. Haven Jiu Jitsu is partnered with the Ronin Foundation, a non-profit organization that is helping active-duty military members combat suicide, depression, alcoholism, PTSD and other mental health concerns by sponsoring their training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Brandon, a BJJ black belt, spent an hour instructing our members, who donated to the cause. Together, we were able to raise over $700 for this amazing foundation.

We have covered a lot of material since our last blog post. Our classes have been working:

• Half guard to the underhook series
• Arm drag to the back
• Guillotines from closed guard

This week, we will continue the underhook series from half guard. We will also chain the guillotine to the cow catcher.

Upcoming:

December 5^th 10am – 11am: Rob White Judo seminar (there will be no open mat). To show my appreciation for taking comp prep seriously, this will be a free seminar for all Haven members.

December 5^th 11am – 12am: Our last comp class before the tournament

December 11^th: Grappling Industries: Syracuse Tournament at the Pine Grove Health Country Club in Camillus (link to event).

Sadly, due to time constraints and prior commitments, we will not be having a holiday party at Haven this year. Plan on a big one next year!

I look forward to seeing everyone on the mats!

Ben Tallini

Have You Heard About Our Local Partnerships?

We are all about forming partnerships that support local businesses and organization. Haven Jiu Jitsu is now partnering with Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville, which is also located in River Mall plaza. Powerhouse Gym has the best strength training equipment, cardio equipment, and trainers to support your journey. Haven Members are eligible for $0 enrollment plus 1 month free at Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville. Powerhouse Members are eligible for $50 off fees for a 1 year commitment at Haven!

Don’t miss a chance to save 15% off pizza at Cam’s Pizzeria in Camillus! Check out our flyer here to learn how.

We are very proud of our participation with the Adopt a Cop BJJ program. Learn more about these partnerships and more here.

The post Haven Hosts Jiu Jitsu Seminars for Military Members and Real Estate Agents appeared first on cnyjiujitsu.com.

Our first Sunday competition class was last weekend. We had over 40 members on the mats from all of our Haven schools. This is the dedication to the support I love to see. Well done, team. Some traveled over an hour, one way, to attend our team training. Remember, this course is free to all Haven members across NY state.

A former student, Dijah Pickle, placed fourth at the North American ADCC trials. This is a huge accomplishment and I am beyond proud of her. A note-worthy mention is her impressive win against Bellator fighter, Cat Zigano. I am always thrilled to see my students, past and present, flourishing in the Jiu Jitsu community. Matt Secor, Pickle’s current coach, has done an excellent job and both should be immensely proud.

Last week we worked:

Adult:

• Uchimata to ankle pick
• Guard Pull to single leg X

Women and Kids:

• Blast double

All classes will covering the Russian takedown position this week.

Don’t forget…

• Bring your returns to Baldwinsville Bottle and Can Returns. You can choose to donate your return money to help sponsor our competitors in their upcoming tournament.
• Our Realtor Self-Defense seminar is on November 20^th at Haven Jiu Jitsu.

Thank you for reading,

Ben

Have You Heard About Our Local Partnerships?

We are all about forming partnerships that support local businesses and organization. Haven Jiu Jitsu is now partnering with Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville, which is also located in River Mall plaza. Powerhouse Gym has the best strength training equipment, cardio equipment, and trainers to support your journey. Haven Members are eligible for $0 enrollment plus 1 month free at Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville. Powerhouse Members are eligible for $50 off fees for a 1 year commitment at Haven!

Don’t miss a chance to save 15% off pizza at Cam’s Pizzeria in Camillus! Check out our flyer here to learn how.

We are very proud of our participation with the Adopt a Cop BJJ program. Learn more about these partnerships and more here.

The post Haven Hosts First Competition Class appeared first on cnyjiujitsu.com.

The five amigos (Brett, Dan, Bryan, Rock and Jason): In preparation for Haven’s opening, these guys have let me bounce ideas off them for 3 years straight. Brett allowed me to use his storage space and drove out to nearly every available piece of property in CNY before finally landing in our current space.

The Yorks: Since I am the opposite of handy, Mike basically built everything that Keith wasn’t involved in, including our beautiful front desk. Mike and Jessica (along with their 3 amazing kids) have spent many long days and late nights helping us to build, clean, prep, etc…

Bill Hoff: Bill has provided me with so many “hookups” with different people in the industry. Bill has helped with so much. Thank you!

There are numerous others who have come in on random days to clean, build, and/or support – there are honestly too many to name. What an amazing feeling it is to know that we have so many amazing people in our corner. Although there are countless individuals who have helped in many ways, there are two more that I need to give a major shout out to.

Frank Parella has been my business mentor for the better part of four years. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to study under. It is no secret that opening a business is a lot of work. Frank sent over webinars, books, news articles, other school programs, and a never-ending amount of other material to look at, in preparation for the big opening. Any time I had a question, he was there for guidance. When I had hip surgery, Frank even took time to drive me to Rochester for appointments. Not all family is blood.

Frank, thank you for being family and the best mentor anyone could ask for.

Last, but certainly not least, my beautiful wife, Danae. How many people would allow their spouse to be a full time stay at home dad and Jiu Jitsu instructor for eight years? She had enough faith in my vision that we endured all things necessary to make this dream come to fruition. For 15 years, she has been by my side and never wavered through this grind. None of this would have been possible without you, Danae. Thank you for being the glue that holds everything together. I love you.

Some people think having a successful business is luck. Actually, it is having great people that you can listen to and trust. Because of these people (and so many more), we are sitting at 150 members after just two months. Haven Jiu Jitsu is here to stay. We will be a rock in the Jiu Jitsu community, bringing a safe place for everyone to hang out and train. There are big things coming and I am so excited to be sharing the journey with all of my members and friends. Thank you for helping to grow The Haven community and I look forward to seeing everyone on the mat!

-Ben

PS…this will be the last sappy post for a while. Honestly, I have never been so happy. I truly appreciate all of you. Thanks again.

Have You Heard About Our Local Partnerships?

We are all about forming partnerships that support local businesses and organization. Haven Jiu Jitsu is now partnering with Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville, which is also located in River Mall plaza. Powerhouse Gym has the best strength training equipment, cardio equipment, and trainers to support your journey. Haven Members are eligible for $0 enrollment plus 1 month free at Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville. Powerhouse Members are eligible for $50 off fees for a 1 year commitment at Haven!

Don’t miss a chance to save 15% off pizza at Cam’s Pizzeria in Camillus! Check out our flyer here to learn how.

We are very proud of our participation with the Adopt a Cop BJJ program. Learn more about these partnerships and more here.

The post The Final Thank You appeared first on cnyjiujitsu.com.

What a crazy, yet amazing, week at Haven Jiu Jitsu! With the help of Ed Gonzalez, we started the week by recording some phenomenal drone footage. Ed is going to be putting together a promo for the gym using this footage. All the way from New Jersey, my good friend Alex Potts (Bellator veteran) came in to visit the gym this week. It was nice to see that he is still on top of his game. With over 100 people, Halloween at Haven was a massive success. We played games, bounced on bounce houses, had our faces painted, and ate delicious food. Thank you to all who came to celebrate with us!

Through our TLMA partnership we were able to raise another $60 towards all our LEO premium memberships. Keep buying the sweet TLMA swag and helping support the LEOs that train at Haven.

Last week, we covered a myriad of takedowns.

Adult gi class: the Uchimata series

Adult No Gi and kids classes: Duck Under to back series

Women’s classes: self-defense against a right hand to body lock.

This week, we will continue the uchimata series in gi. We will move on to the Russian series in no gi. Kids and women will start learning the black double.

Don’t forget that you can donate your bottles and can returns to help sponsor our competitors at the Baldwinsville Bottle and Can Return. We also have our Realtor Self Defense seminar coming up on the 20^th of November. Keep up the grind. See you on the mats.

-Ben

Have You Heard About Our Local Partnerships?

We are all about forming partnerships that support local businesses and organization. Haven Jiu Jitsu is now partnering with Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville, which is also located in River Mall plaza. Powerhouse Gym has the best strength training equipment, cardio equipment, and trainers to support your journey. Haven Members are eligible for $0 enrollment plus 1 month free at Powerhouse Gym Baldwinsville. Powerhouse Members are eligible for $50 off fees for a 1 year commitment at Haven!

Don’t miss a chance to save 15% off pizza at Cam’s Pizzeria in Camillus! Check out our flyer here to learn how.

We are very proud of our participation with the Adopt a Cop BJJ program. Learn more about these partnerships and more here.

The post Halloween Bash at Haven Jiu Jitsu appeared first on cnyjiujitsu.com.