While Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a sport, it is also a business impacted greatly by COVID-19, as businesses have been forced to either restructure or close completely, and martial arts studios were no exception.
CheckMat is an academy and competition team of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The academy was founded in 2008 and now has grown on an international level. CheckMat now has over 30 affiliate academies in the United States and is in 16 countries worldwide.
CheckMat is founded by Master Leo Viera, and is located at the main headquarters in Signal Hill, California.
When the United States originally had its first quarantine shut down one of the first places that was mandated to shut down were gyms, and independent martial art studios were no different.
Many jiu-jitsu studios were forced to close completely because it was too difficult to keep up with the rent with no income coming in, or some studios were unable to work something out with the landlord when they were mandated to shut down.
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Since the original quarantine shutdown that happened in March, there has been a significant decline in interest in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the United States, that the industry has yet to recover from.
On May 8, Vieira sat down with martial arts school Combat Creative to discuss Jiu-Jitsu during COVID-19, and what it means for jiu-jitsu in the future.
Vieira said, “My commitment is to make my school and my team safe, you know. So, I control my mats and I’m responsible to have people who come here to be safe. In a situation like this I support health and I’m not supporting like you know like crazy stuff.”
Vieira also said on his eventual re-opening, “I will never take the free will of our affiliation for our students to choose what to give them. So, when we reopen they’re gonna be able to choose what kind of class they want to enjoy and that’s, I think, why we learn so much of jiu-jitsu, it’s about respect.”
CheckMat is now offering in-person classes with safety measures such as temperature checks at the front door.
To create more accessibility for the kids in the academy, CheckMat is offering online recordings and Zoom classes. They are also letting kids borrow equipment for their zoom classes since many don’t have the proper equipment at home.
Marcelo Santos, who works at CheckMat said, “I think it’s been really good to offer classes for the mental health of people, you know. I also feel like we help people to start exercising, they’re not just at home you know, they’re moving themselves and feeling better even about like anything because right now all we see is negativity.”
Santos also said, “Another thing that I feel is that more people are looking for Jiu-Jitsu because there is no baseball for kids, there is no basketball, there is no soccer they can’t find anything for their kids and they find a place that is offering a safe environment.”
Santos commented on if he thought COVID-19 would make a permanent impact on jiu-jitsu, or if he believed things would go back to normal.
Santos said, “It’s going to make a lasting impact with those who had to close. Those people lost their school and their job, right? I know people from other parts of the country that had two schools and had to close everything and find a job at like a Walmart and stuff because they just had to get a job.”
“I believe it’s going to get back like there’s people who like it. There’s a website called the JJA that’s just selfcare and they have like thermometers and like masks, everything that you can think about this whole thing, like hand sanitizer, so people will get used to these protocols,” said Santos.
CheckMat and jiu-jitsu studios are committed to creating a safe place for people to still be able to stay healthy and active. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu studios like CheckMat have shown they plan to survive during the pandemic.