Today we’d like to introduce you to Blair Lane.
Hi Blair, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My kids started Jiu Jitsu at a gym in town in 2017. I sat on the sidelines and watched for over two years. My son wanted to compete and the gym we were at did not have a competitive team. John Rodriguez started his daughter at the same gym in late 2019. John and I stepped on the mat in 2020, just before covid. It was instantly an addiction and an outlet for us and we became fast friends. We have both been on the mat several nights a week since this day. We are both naturally competitive, so testing our abilities in a competition setting was where we both wanted to end up. The Rodriguez family and our family ended up helping a member from our original gym build and open a new gym in which we were looking to get more competitive training, but the environment at the new gym was very toxic. All of our families ended up leaving this gym within 6 months, the Rodriguez family found a gym home at Wise Jiu Jitsu in Waxahachie. My family quit training for a while. As my kids did not want to return to training, I wanted to be back on the mats. I found a gym home with a newly opened gym that was a great environment and amazing training, but it was over an hour from my home. A few weeks into my hour-long commute to train four nights a week, John Rodriguez and I talked about how we did not feel that we had a good option for competitive training in the Johnson county area. If we had helped build and open one gym, why couldn’t we open our own gym. John and I talked about this on and off for a year. Changes in both of our lives made it the right timing to attempt this adventure in January 2024. Location was found, financing was secured, and we had a vision to create a family first, woman friendly, welcoming gym environment in a location that no other gyms had opened. We were just two friends that had a passion for teaching this sport that had impacted our lives in so many ways. We opened our doors on day one with only our two families on the mats. In week one we only signed up two students. But with determination we kept showing up every day and went to community events to tell our story.
John is the head coach, and he received his brown belt on our first anniversary of being open. We know he is quickly on his way to his black belt. His passion and patience for teaching the sport to both kids and adults is seen every time he steps on the mat. I am a purple belt, and my passion is keeping and building the number of women on the mat. Jiu Jitsu can be very intimidating for a woman, and it is a very vulnerable sport. By providing a safe place for a woman to begin her training is crucial to helping her stay on the mat and continue her journey. John’s wife Ashley runs all the invoices, attendance, and front desk operations. John and I focus on the mat and Ashley keeps the gym running smoothly.
Jiu Jitsu is not all about competition. You never have to compete to excel in the sport. It is a different journey for everyone. Self-defense is a key part of Jiu Jitsu. We have committed to teaching and helping anyone that wants to learn, no matter their reason, they are all important. The kids on the mat learn discipline, respect, teamwork, and jiu jitsu. We start at 5 years old, and we have no limit on age, we currently have a 63-year-old who is very close to obtaining her purple belt. You are never too old to start, you just have to show up, and we will help you from there.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Opening a business is never a smooth road. We learned a lot about what we wanted in our gym and what we did not want in our gym from the previous gyms we had been part of. All of the struggles along the way got us to where we are today. And every student that walks in that gym and has a place to learn and grow makes those struggles worth it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Starting a gym was a “passion project”. John and I both kept our “day jobs” and we do those every day and then go to the gym to teach. We have a unique perspective because of our “day jobs.” John is a 4th grade teacher in Mansfield ISD. He has a unique way of making learning fun and he has the patience for a lot of the crazy we get when the kids are in need of an energy release. “Coach John”, which you hear a hundred times a night is the “fun” coach. He roughhouses, plays games, runs after them for hugs, and all around makes their time on the mat educational, but fun. “Coach Blair” is a registered nurse that spent 20 years in the medical intensive care unit taking care of people and their families. Currently she is still working for a hospital but has moved into a quality improvement role. She is a bit more (LOL) structured and strict when it comes to the mat. Blair only teaches when John is out. He is truly the Head Coach and she is his practice dummy. Having more than one coach on the mat allows for us to divide up and make sure all levels of students are learning something. We also have a few adult students that help on the mat for kids class that allows them to get one-on-one training at the very beginning so that they understand what will be happening the first time they step into a “roll”.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Luck…..We have both been through a string of bad luck in our time with the sport. What we have done with that is use it to mold our style of fighting and the way we teach. Those bad experiences, we don’t erase them, but build on them. As far as good luck goes… well, we have had plenty of that. From our competitions, to simply coming across the right building for our gym. We have had personal luck in our lives as well. Both of us maintain our professional jobs as a teacher and a nurse, and there has been plenty of both good and bad luck. We both started jiu jitsu just before Covid-19 shut the world down in spring of 2020. We saw the devastation it caused within our respective jobs and outside of it. We were lucky enough to be able to come out unscathed and proceed with our careers as well as our jiu jitsu.
Pricing:
- Kids $85 per month
- Adults $110 per month
- First responders $85 per month
- Teachers $85 per month
- Police train for free until Blue belt
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mercyjiujitsu.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mercyjiujitsu?igsh=eTU5bnFkdHhnczN6
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1HDpwnzN7K/
