Brazilian Jiu Jitsu provides healthy summer outlet

By Eric Smith

Emerald City Knights Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is quaint, nearly cramped. The mats sprawl across most of the floor.

Some nights, Neil Capra, the owner and coach, will have 8 to 10 kids in the 6 pm class.

This night, there are only two small, young girls.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, at its highest and purest form, is a martial art that demands a lifestyle of relentless discipline and consistency. To earn one’s black belt, the highest of the five ranks starting from white, blue, purple and brown, typically takes a decade.  It can take much, much longer.

That type of consistency was necessary, a life-saving medication for a disease that nearly killed Capra.

“When I quit drinking…I was so depressed and I didn’t know what to do,” Capra said. So, the former high school wrestler and coach did what wrestlers know how to do perhaps better than any other type of athlete.

Work out to the point where the body purges itself.

“I remember getting up and running around the block and I just puked,” Capra continued.

“I remember thinking back to training really hard in high school wrestling rooms and feeling the same way. When I’d had my head on the mat and a friend on the team would say, ‘Let’s keep going.’”

Seventeen sober years later, Capra is beginning to spread the lessons ‘The Gentle Art’ has shown him.

In December, Capra finished in third place at the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) No-Gi world championships in Las Vegas in the 215-pound weight class at purple belt.

The impressive showing earned Capra a brown belt promotion, and a question from his coach. It boiled down to: what goals do you have?

Having overcome so much thanks to jiu jitsu, Capra wanted to extend the lessons the art taught him to others.

For now, Capra’s classes are hosted in a small building just behind Beautiful Body Tattoo and Piercing, which he owns in Martin City. Twice per week, Capra works with the kids’ 6 pm class before the adults’ session at 7:30.

It’s the kids’ classes, though, where Capra’s heart lies. Having traveled down that twisting, dark path before, he teaches as a beacon leading from the depths of despair.

“When I coached at Grandview (High School), you had a majority of (kids) without fathers,” he said. “I was an alcoholic; I was a problem. I want kids that have the potential to be problems to come be under my direction to avoid those problems.”

The mats of Capra’s gym are open to all, though. In addition to being a phenomenal and intense workout, jiu jitsu helped reduce Capra’s cholesterol levels by 100 points within the first four years of training, he said. The workout also develops a potentially life-saving defensive skill and discipline necessary to apply it.

None of it can happen, though, unless the mats are filled. Capra mentioned the difficulty with inconsistent class sizes early on. As Emerald City Knights continues to get off the ground, he has a specific goal in mind.

“I just want to get people who want to change their lives,” Capra said. “I’d like to have 20 consistent people. I don’t care about their skill level… that would be the goal for the first year.”

On this Monday night, the girls are rambunctious.

“This would be great for kids during the summer,” he says as he passes through the gym’s doorway.

For more information, visit emeraldcityknightsbjj.com or on Instagram @emeraldcityknightsbjj.