ABOUT OUR SENSEI

Steel City Martial Arts was opened in the late 1990’s. Sensei Achille was an instructor at the Yamane Karate dojo for the previous 10 years. When the dojo closed Sensei Achilles’ students very much wished to continue their training and maintain the style and quality of instruction that they had come to expect. A program like this was not available anywhere else. Through the encouragement of his students and his love for the martial arts Steel City Martial Arts was born.

His ten years of teaching was only a small part of Sensei Achilles’ Martial Arts history. He had begun his training at the age of 15 Japanese in jiu-jitsu. His fascination with martial arts continued, and leads him to train in Judo. He then made a choice to round out his fighting abilities and become proficient in stand up skills. He trained and black belted in both Karate and Tae-kwon do. At this point he had reached his thirties and through out the years had been a force to be respected in the competition arena in the arts that he had studied. He continued to feel as though he needed an art to combine the strengths of all of his previous training styles into one well-rounded style of self-defense.

This search leads him to Sejiero Yamane and the art of Tai-jitsu karate. Mr. Yamane, a Shihan, was trained by his Father who was a martial arts instructor in the military. Shihan Yamane had been trained in both Japanese Jiu-jitsu and Tai-jitsu Karate. During his ten years at this dojo, Shihan helped him to polish the grappling and karate skills that he had acquired as a younger man. Mr. Yamane taught him the value of technique vs. brute strength. Sensei Achille then realized that all of skills earned through years of training could now be combined to become a single unified force. Sensei Achille receive his black belt from Shihan Yamane faster than any student before him and became an instructor. At the age of 40 with the opening of his own school Sensei Achille realized how much satisfaction he derived from being able to import his years of knowledge into his students. He became aware of the fact that seeing his students excel was more gratifying than any trophy that he had earned.

His focus now was to become the best instructor that he could be. With the popularity of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu on the rise, Sensei Achille realized that this style has something to offer even in addition to his previous Japanese jiu-jitsu and judo training. Sensei decided to add this “new form” of Jiu-jitsu to the skills he already possessed. After much research he decided to seek out the “Best of the Best” instructor, Professor of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Pedro Sauer. Sensei trained with the Professor, who quickly recognized Sensei Achilles’ years of training made him a perfect student of the art and a valuable member of the Gracie, Team Pedro Sauer Association. Sensei and his students have not disappointed Professor Sauer, or the Gracie name, his students have won more team awards than any other Brazilian Jiu-jitsu team in the area. At this point with the love and support of his wife and family Mr. Achille the student has come full circle and become Sensei Achille the instructor with one of the most successful schools in the area.