Ian Sample

Mitsuyo Maeda -> Carlos Gracie Sr -> Carlos Gracie Jr -> Marcio Laudier Vilamor -> Micah Reyes -> Ian Sample

I have been studying jiu jitsu in Ballard for over 18 years. I love the emphasis on learning and community. As a professional teacher, my goal is to help students learn jiu jitsu as effectively as possible.

Exercise, community, mental health, learning and competing all feature into training for me. How can we stay fit without the tedium of typical exercise? How can you feel connected with those around you? How does training build mental resilience? What is the most effective way to learn bjj? How can we push ourselves and each other to do our best? It can be intimidating to start training, but not here. Our school is committed to being safe, friendly and inclusive. Come try a class, and see how it works for you.

Outside of jiu jitsu I am a father, teacher, coach and more.

Mike Strassburger

Mitsuyo Maeda -> Carlos Gracie Sr -> Carlos Gracie Jr -> Marcio Laudier Vilamor -> Micah Reyes -> Mike Strassburger

I began my adult martial arts journey in Aikido with Bruce Bookman, working my way up to Shodan. While training Aikido, Sensei Bookman put me down on the mat and started “wrestling” with me. Shocked, I asked, “What are you doing?!”, he replied, “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu!”. I almost immediately switched my focus and have been training BJJ ever since. I started at NW Fight Club in a storage facility in Burien then trained with Glen Barber in Wallingford, moved to NWJJA with Brian Johnson in North Seattle, then finally settled in here at Ballard Jiu-Jitsu. I’ve now been practicing for about 25 years.

My approach to BJJ is very old school - I like to stick to the basics and work them against all new innovations. I may not always have an answer, but it’s the puzzle and the constant searching that I love about BJJ. Even after more than 20 years I love that I can have times on the mat where I feel like a white belt again!

Outside of BJJ I am very happily married for over 30 years, have 2 grown kids and I have always loved music. Professionally I am a graphic designer.

Zack Paleias

Mitsuyo Maeda -> Carlos Gracie Sr -> Carlos Gracie Jr -> Marcio Laudier Vilamor -> Micah Reyes -> Zack Paleias

I have been studying Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for about 16 years and hope to one day be good at it. I came to this art in my early 30s with over 20 years of prior experience in martial arts and combatives and wish I could have just started with this. My style is heavily based on BJJ fundamentals, takedowns and positioning with with a mma/self-defense striking mindset. My goal as an instructor is to help my students to learn the most important details of every technique more quickly than I did which is...actually a pretty low bar.

When not at BJJ I'm thinking about BJJ, watching videos about BJJ, talking about BJJ or escaping into books containing spaceships and/or sword fights.

Paul Gutierrez

Vong Ly

Casey Malone

After my first BJJ class, I knew I wanted to figure this thing out. I now know that I never will, and I am happy to realize that I can spend my whole life trying.

The key to my development in BJJ has been intentional training where I constantly test and re-test hypotheses. The "tap" is an incredibly powerful tool that grants us a low stakes means to experiment in the pursuit of constant innovation.

Off the mats, I'm a father of 3, a baseball coach, and kombucha brewery owner.