Welcome to NGMA

Training Conduct — Everyone

• Respect for instructors and partners. When an instructor is speaking, the room is quiet and everyone gives full attention — not because we demand it, but because that’s how you get the most from your time here. Every training partner deserves the same courtesy. With kids, we develop respectful language over time (“yes sir / yes ma’am”). If a conflict comes up, we work through it together, on the spot.
• Tap early, and stop instantly. Tapping — submitting — is a sign of wisdom, not weakness. Tap clearly and early; you’ll learn more from a hundred calm taps than one stubborn injury. And the moment your partner taps, you let go. There is no gray area here. (With kids, we hold off on teaching submissions until a certain age — tapping is a concept they learn first, long before they’re ever in a position that requires it.)
• Control yourself and your partner. Match your partner’s level and train with control — technique over strength, every time. No spazzing, no slamming, no muscling through. Lighter, newer, or smaller partners get a smarter, lighter version of you. You are responsible for your partner’s safety, and the best training partners are the ones everyone wants to work with.
• Come clean and ready. A clean gi (or rashguard and shorts) every session, nails trimmed short, and no jewelry on the mat. Cover any open wound, and if you have a skin infection or anything contagious, stay home until it clears. Good hygiene is part of being a good partner.
• Bowing in and out. At the start and end of every class, the instructor brings everyone to attention to bow in and out together. It’s not a religious gesture — it’s a shared acknowledgment of the space and the people in it. It takes a second, and it matters.

The Little Things — Everyone

• Footwear in the building. Shoes, sandals, or flip-flops from the door until you step on the mat — and back on when you step off, including restroom trips. Bare feet on the lobby floor and in the parking lot carry dirt straight onto our mat. On the mat, bare feet only.
• Come a little early. Doors open 15 minutes before class. Come a few minutes early to change and settle in. Please be on time — but life happens, and we get it. An occasional late arrival is no problem; just don’t let habitually late become your normal.
• Stay home if sick. Fever, open wound, skin rash, or anything contagious — please stay home. We train in close contact, and one sick student can sideline half a class. Minor scrapes and small cuts are fine; bandage them up and come train.
• Clean up after yourself. Water bottles, tape, and trash go with you. Keep water at the edge of the mat, and keep food off and away from the training area.
• Filming & social media. Film your own progress all you like — but this isn’t a place for posting clips of yourself “smashing” a training partner. Celebrate the work and each other, not highlight reels at someone’s expense. We also take photos and video for our pages; if you’d like your child kept out of frame, just tell us — no questions asked.

Starting & Growing in BJJ

• No experience needed. Most adults start as complete beginners, and you learn at your own pace — no pressure to keep up with anyone. You won’t necessarily spar on day one; we bring you into live rounds progressively, after structured drills and positional work.
• What to wear at first. Simple athletic clothing is perfectly fine to start — you don’t need a uniform your first class. We’ll get you into a gi from there. We train both gi and no-gi throughout the week, so you develop well-rounded grappling.
• A real roadmap, not a random class each night. We teach from a written, filmed, step-by-step curriculum — a complete two-year, 96-week roadmap to blue belt. You build strong fundamentals first, and you can review the exact lesson you drilled online between sessions.
• How you rank up. Standard Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu belts — white through black — awarded at the coach’s discretion based on skill, mat time, and character. No shortcuts, and no belt testing fees, ever.
• How often to train. Most adults start with two to three classes a week — enough repetition to build skill while your body adapts. As you get comfortable, train more often.

The Kids’ Program

• The Pledge of Allegiance & our “I Wills.” Before youth and pre-teen classes we say the Pledge of Allegiance. Before pre-k, youth, and pre-teen classes we recite our five “I Wills”: I will work hard. I will focus. I will learn. I will become mentally tough. I will improve every day. These are non-negotiable, and we ask that your child takes part with sincerity.
• Doors open 15 minutes before class. Your child is welcome to come in and play during this window — and we mean that. It lets our instructors watch how kids interact when supervision feels minimal, which helps us coach them better. Please let them be kids; if things get a little wild, we’ll reel them back in.
• Pickup & authorized pickup. Please have your child wait inside until you (or someone you send) can come in for them — waiting outside alone isn’t something we can allow. If you can’t come in, let us know and we’ll walk them out. If someone other than a parent or regular guardian is picking up, tell the front desk ahead of time. We take this seriously.
• Lobby waiting. You’re always welcome to stay and watch from the lobby — just keep noise to a minimum during class. You’re also welcome to drop off and head out; some kids settle in and focus better when a parent isn’t watching. Either way works for us.
• Age groups. We generally group kids 4–5, 6–9, and 10–12 — but age is just one factor. Size, maturity, and capability all play a role, and we make those calls case by case so every child is in the right room.
• Belts & testing for kids. Your child advances by showing up with a good attitude — that’s it. Character first; consistent attendance builds both character and skill over time. Testing is based on attendance, and for most kids the first test is around the six-month mark. There are no belt testing fees at NGMA, and there never will be.
• What to wear the first day. No gi yet? Completely fine — show up in comfortable play clothes you don’t mind getting stretched out on the floor, and we’ll get you sorted on a gi from there.

• Your child is already working hard. Kids put enormous internal pressure on themselves. A voice from the sideline adds weight to a child already carrying plenty. When they’re struggling, what they need most is space to work through it — not more noise.
• A loud room is our tool, not a side effect. Sometimes we want high energy — but the volume and intensity are ours to manage based on what each student needs in that moment, especially during testing. When the room becomes uncontrolled, we lose that ability.
• It creates conflict between families. Your child trains with someone else’s child, and that child has parents watching too. We’ve seen sideline coaching turn into heated exchanges between parents — the last thing we want, and entirely avoidable.
• We’re not correcting them for a reason. When you see us let a mistake go, it’s intentional. We want your child to get reps on the one piece they’re getting right before layering in five corrections that overload them into a shutdown. We build a technique one layer at a time.
• We’re purposely letting them struggle — and that’s good. Struggle is part of the lesson. Kids used to having things done for them give up quickly; we want your child to learn the opposite habit. Working through difficulty builds something technique alone cannot: the will to keep going. We’ll always step in — but we want to see them work for themselves first.

One honest request: try a week of training yourself before coaching your child from the sideline. For years we’ve watched sharp, capable adults struggle with techniques that look simple from the outside. That’s not about intelligence — it’s how many reps it takes to wire a movement into the body. Your child is going through the same process. Give them room to develop, and trust us to guide them.

Class Times & Pricing

Tuition is the same across every program: $140 per month — no contract, cancel anytime — plus a one-time $135 registration that covers your first uniform and all future belt promotions and testing. Your first week is always free.

• Adults · BJJ (gi & no-gi). Lunch: Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri at 12:00 PM. Evening: Monday–Friday at 6:30 PM. Saturday: brunch session at 10:00 AM.
• Pre-K · ages 4–5. Mon & Wed at 4:30 PM — 45-minute classes, limited to 12 students.
• Youth · ages 6–9. Mon & Wed at 5:30 PM.
• Pre-Teen · ages 10–12. Class times are posted at the gym — ask the front desk and we’ll get you the current schedule.

Find us at 401A Talbot Ave, Thibodaux, LA 70301 · 985-860-6201.

We’re Always Happy to Talk

• Billing & cancellation. Tuition is processed monthly. If you need to cancel, please give us 30 days’ notice so we can plan accordingly. We appreciate the heads up.
• General questions. The front desk is your first stop for billing, scheduling, and anything administrative. Please don’t pull an instructor aside mid-class for non-urgent matters — they’re focused on the group.
• Missed a class? We don’t run formal make-up classes — and you don’t need them. We run the same class multiple times a week, so if you miss one, just catch that same class another day that week. And if you’d like to cover something specific you missed, a private lesson is a great way to do it.
• Talking to an instructor. Have a concern about your progress or your child’s? Ask to set up a quick conversation after class — the mat isn’t the place, but the lobby after class is. We genuinely want to hear from you.
• Private & one-on-one sessions. We offer private, one-on-one sessions for students — kids or adults — who want extra attention or focused instruction. Length and pricing vary depending on the student and what they’re working on, so ask an instructor or the front desk and we’ll set something up. Slots are limited, so ask sooner rather than later.
• Letting us know about absences. If you’re going to miss a class, don’t stress about telling us — we’ll just assume life got busy, and we’re never upset about it. A quick call or text is genuinely appreciated (it tells us you care about your training, which we love to see) — but it’s not required or expected. We’re parents too; we know how tight schedules get. Let us know if you can, and if not, no worries at all.
• Staying informed. Our automated text messaging system (Kicksite) is one of our most important lines of communication — it’s how we reach the whole group all at once with time-sensitive news: schedule changes, upcoming events, weather or emergency closures, and anything happening in and out of the gym. Please don’t opt out. We know it’s tempting when the messages add up, but the folks who opt out consistently end up out of the loop — missing a closure or an important update — and that creates problems we’d both rather avoid. Keep the texts on, follow us on Facebook and Instagram for daily updates too, and keep your contact info current at the front desk so nothing slips through the cracks.