Thanks to Jay Hayes for A Great Seminar by David Zwanetz

On a snowy December 5, 2009, Crazy 88 hosted the third installment of insane technique instruction from Philadelphia affiliate BJJ United’s Jay Hayes. Wilson Reis showed masterful command of the X-Guard in 2007, Jared Weiner gave tools to master the top-game in 2008, and this year, 2009, Jay Hayes dissected the back-take and finish, specifically for the No-Gi practitioner. The instruction was stellar, his techniques were mind blowing, and a good time was had by all.

For those of you who do not already know Jay Hayes, he trains alongside Jared Weiner and Wilson Reis at BJJ United.  Jay is also the head BJJ instructor at LA Boxing in Hoboken, New Jersey.  Jay has only been involved in Jiu Jitsu for a staggeringly short six (6) years. In said time, Jay earned his black belt from Jared and Master Lloyd. Jay has fought almost everyone who is anyone in the BJJ world.

In 2007 Jay took the prestigious Gold at the Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Carson, California (winning all five matches with no points scored against him). This year Jay won the Bronze medal at the 2009 Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Championships. He is also a 2006 and 2008 Grapplers Quest USA Trials Professional No-Gi division semi-finalist, a 7 time Grapplers Quest champion, 6 time North American Grapplers Association (NAGA) champion, and a NJ State Open (under 190 lb) champion. Again, all this is six short years.

Surprisingly, despite training together at BJJ United, Jared, Wilson, and Jay have vastly differing jiu jitsu styles. One thing, however, remains vividly constant – their techniques are simple, straightforward, and extremely effective. Jay began the seminar with smooth transitions from the mount to the back and finished the seminar with his own version of the B.J. Penn-style trapped arm rear naked choke. Statistics show that in the upper-level divisions submissions from the back are of the most common and efficient.

Jay was able to show the students in attendance how and why the position is so important. For Jay, and in theory, the back-position is purely offensive giving his opponent no real way to attack (only to defend). With Jay’s guidance it became clear that with a simple lift of the knee 45°, or an effortless turn of the wrist a “little to the right,” the back position can change from dangerous to virtually unstoppable. A position familiar to all in attendance was taken apart by Jay, and when he put it back together during the seminar we revealed that many of us were missing essential elements. But not any more thanks to Jay Hayes.

The students and staff of Crazy 88 offer our sincere thanks to Jay for making the trek from New Jersey to spend the day with us at Team Lloyd Irvin Baltimore, teaching, rolling, and sharing our respect for the sport of jiu jitsu. Aside from his impeccable instruction and techniques, Jay spend time rolling with each person in attendance offering constructive and valuable criticism. It has been said that one competition can be as valuable to a jiu jitsu practitioner as six months of training. After seminars with Jared Weiner, Wilson Reis, and now Jay Hayes I am convinced that similar strides can be made with attendance at well-crafted seminars.

Again, on behalf of the students and instructors at Crazy 88 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu,  a sincere “thank you” goes out to Jay Hayes, BJJ United, and LA Boxing. With tacticians like Jay Hayes on Team Lloyd Irvin, it is clear why we are dominating worldwide.