Gary Casey
Gary Casey began his grappling career at the age of 8 with Judo. Later, he followed the path of his older brother into wrestling and was a high school state champion. Gary then attended Cal Poly and was a Division 1 wrestler during his time there. During his wrestling career he trained with many notable athletes including Tito Ortiz. Gary continued with wrestling well beyond college and now has over thirty years of wrestling experience to offer his students. He has been training hard at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Claudio Franca for over ten years and received his black belt in the Gentle Art last year. His unique ability to combine his wealth of wrestling knowlege with BJJ in an incredibly effective way is something only a few people in the world can do. You could travel to Brazil, Los Angeles, Las Vegas or other places in the world to find what you now have right here in Watsonville. Gary was southern section CIF champ, 6x Pan Am champ and several time US Open champ and podiums.
Matt Slatter
Matt Slatter began BJJ at the age of thirty three. After signing his kids up for classes and hanging around the Dojo for six months he decided to give it a try and has never looked back. Matt and his son have been training in BJJ for over twelve years. He was awarded his Black Belt in December of 2011. Matt has won gold, silver and bronze medals in the US Open and Silver and Bronze medals in the Pan Ams. “Jiu Jitsu is not just about self defense, fitness and competition though those are important aspects for me. Jiu Jitsu is about family. It’s about life. It is a great environment to raise my family in and I want to share that with others. There are many lessons I have learned in training that I apply everyday to life and to business.” Matt also owns a successful local construction company in Santa Cruz.