Gabriel Bergami
Head Coach & Owner
I started Jiu Jitsu influenced by one of my best friends, who was a blue belt at the time. We’d always compete against each other on everything from soccer to chess, and Jiu Jitsu always came up as a subject. One day he finally convinced me to go and I was completely hooked after the first class. The first gym there I trained was under professor Diego Latorre in São Paulo Brazil. Since white belt, competing has been something I always loved doing. Number one lesson I learned after competing the first time was how much faster you can improve when you actively fight tournaments. After a year I got my blue belt where I spent a year and half before I got my purple, and that was the moment where I really decided there I wanted to make Jiu Jitsu my full time job. Professor Diego allowed me to teach some classes at his gym and that’s how I started my coaching journey.
Starting Chula Vista
Moving forward I wanted to be training with more people that wanted to make Jiu Jitsu their profession, and I decided to move gyms and start training under master Fabio Gurgel and professor Michael Langhi at alliance hq. There, I had the opportunity to learn Alliance’s methodology from the source and also training and competing alongside multiple World level athletes and instructors. Ended up spending almost six years training under Fabio, competing as much as I could and teaching classes on the side as well as working with alliance associations. After competing at worlds in 2017, I went to visit Professor Johnny Faria gym. I was amazed by how the gym looked and the work Professor Faria was developing. Luckily he liked my teaching and training style and invited me to come and teach at his place. I packed all my bags and moved over to San Diego the following year. Working for Alliance San Diego for 3 years was amazing. I was running mainly the kids program and the beginners. We managed to work together and make the gym even more successful. After a few years with Johnny, I ventured and opened my own school in downtown San Diego, where another great group of people was formed, and we’re all ready for our next chapter in Chula Vista. Come find out more about us.
Accomplishments
- Bronze medal nogi worlds
- Bronze medal pan Ams nogi
- 2x American nationals bronze medal gi and nogi
- Long Beach open champion
- San Diego open champion nogi
