GREENFIELD — Greenfield resident James Moore always had a dream to bring the sport of jiu-jitsu to Hancock County.
After 20-plus years working a corporate job, he — along with his family — made that dream a reality earlier this year when they opened Roadhouse Jiu-Jitsu and Boxing in Greenfield.
“I worked in the corporate world for a while,” Moore said. “When I decided to leave my comfortable job, my wife told me, ‘You worked hard. Your job is stressful, and you drive to Carmel every day. Why don’t you quit that and chase your dreams?’”
Fifteen years of training in Beech Grove with fifth-degree black belt Marcello Monteiro had its benefits for Moore, but he also saw its downsides.
The training helped him improve and master the art of jiu-jitsu, but the hour drive to Beech Grove every evening was taking a toll and limiting Moore’s time seeing his family.
Moore, who taught at Kingdom Martial Arts Academy in Greenfield back in 2014, saw this as the perfect opportunity to bring jiu-jitsu back to the county and erase his hour-long drive at the same time.
“I knew ever since Kingdom closed down that there was a void in this community for a quality jiu-jitsu and boxing facility,” Moore said. “I wanted to bring that to Hancock County because I knew that there were a lot of people doing what I was doing and driving an hour away. This is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, so we needed a quality place to train.”
Opened on May 1st, Roadhouse has since grown to nearly 70 students ranging from all ages starting at four years old.
The gym’s first student was Diego Aquilar, and after picking up the sport with no experience, he has since gone on to fill an entire garage door at the gym with his own competition medals. His first gold medal came at the Terre Haute Summer Championship earlier this year where he won the age 12-13 beginner division. Along with the gold medal, Aquilar has won four silver medals over his time competing with the gym.
“His mom called me one night and said I really want to get my son involved. He wants to get in shape, really learn how to defend himself, and get involved in a sport,” Moore said. “He was our first person to sign up. His first tournament didn’t really go well, but the next tournament he went to he won his division. We’re super proud of him.”
Along with Aquilar, siblings Hunter and Hailey Evans have won medals as members of the Roadhouse competition team.
At the Terre Haute Summer Championship, Hunter took home both a gold and silver medal, while Hailey brought home three silver medals. At the Indianapolis Summer Championship in Noblesville, both Hailey and Hunter won gold medals, and at the Indianapolis Grappling Industries competition, Hunter won two more gold medals.
Bella Turner, this year’s 4-H Fair and Riley Festival princess has recently given up cheerleading and joined the gym with the plans of joining the competition team in the future, and even wore her jiu-jitsu gi in the Riley Festival pageant.
“She was the cheerleading queen and now she’s the jiu-jitsu princess,” Moore said. “She traded one mat for the other.”
Along with the kids competition team, the gym has won two state championships in the adult division.
At the Indianapolis Summer Championship in Noblesville, both Zack Marcum and Joe Newland were crowned state champs.
Along with jiu-jitsu, the gym is growing its boxing training and hopes to have a competition team next year.
Helping coach alongside Moore is amateur kickboxer Ellis Perkins, and Micah Ballenger.
The gym has also recently added yoga classes taught by Tiffany Akins, and is planning to add self-defense courses in the future.
While the gym has had success since its opening, and is continuing to grow, getting to this point wasn’t easy for Moore, and took a lot of help after he tore his bicep the day after signing the building’s lease.
Family and coaches helped get the gym ready to go, and until just recently, Moore had been teaching with the use of just one of his arms.
“It’s a way of life. The pressure that we face on the mat prepares us for life’s everyday challenges,” Moore said. “It teaches us to be calm, and how to use technique, not just pure power and strength.”
Kids classes begin every night at 5:30, while adult classes begin at 6:30. Moore credits both Ronnie Aquilar and Gavin Thompson as key people in making those times possible, and the gym run smoothly.
“Without Ronnie and Gavin, I would be in a world of hurt. They do everything for us around the gym,” Moore said. “They’re kind of the gym managers, and worth their weight in gold.”
