Valor Jiu-Jitsu

ONE YEAR OF VALOR. 🥋

What started with an empty academy has grown into a community we're incredibly proud of.

September 11–13, we're celebrating our first year together with an entire weekend dedicated to the people who made it possible — our members and their families.

🥋 Friday — Fight Night I
🍗 Saturday — Community Picnic
🤼‍♂️ Sunday — Charity Open Mat benefiting We Defy Foundation

Fight Night and our Community Picnic are for Valor members and their families. Sunday's Charity Open Mat is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, and all academies and affiliations are welcome.

Three Days. Compete. Celebrate. Give Back.



🥋 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 — FIGHT NIGHT I

We're kicking off Anniversary Weekend with our first Valor Fight Night!

Twenty-four members. Twelve exhibition matches. Youth and adults sharing the same card and representing the community we've built together over our first year.

🚪 Doors open: 5:30 PM
🥋 First match: 6:00 PM
📍 Valor Jiu-Jitsu
🍕 Food and drinks provided

Matches will be timed, submission-only exhibitions. Submission wins; if time expires without a submission, the match ends in a draw.

Fight Night is exclusively for Valor members and their families.

⚠️ CLASS SCHEDULE: Friday daytime classes will run as scheduled. The 4:30 PM Little Operators NoGi, 5:30 PM S.W.A.T. NoGi, and 6:30 PM Adult NoGi classes are CANCELLED for Fight Night.

Come support your teammates and help us kick off our anniversary weekend.

Three Days. COMPETE. Celebrate. Give Back.



🍗 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 — COMMUNITY PICNIC

After competing Friday night, Saturday is about celebrating together.

Join the Valor family at Veterans Park for an afternoon of food, fun, and community as we celebrate our first year.

⏰ 2:30 PM
📍 Veterans Park — Orland Park

Valor will provide the main dishes and beverages. Families are welcome to bring an appetizer, side, salad, dessert, or another dish to share—but it is absolutely not required.

We have a pavilion reserved, but seating is limited, so we recommend bringing lawn chairs.

🔵 This event is for Valor members a

Another week of progress on the mats. 🥋

Last week we recognized 16 youth stripe promotions, 1 youth belt promotion, and 1 adult stripe promotion. Each one represents time on the mats, lessons learned, and progress earned.

Keep showing up. Keep putting in the work. The stripes and belts will follow. ⚔️

What they see is a technique.

What we hope they learn is how they learn best.

Every student processes information differently. Some need to hear the explanation. Some need to see it. Some need to jump in and imitate it immediately. Others need to ask questions before it all clicks.

Our job isn't just to teach Jiu-Jitsu—it's to help each student discover the process that works best for them. Hear. See. Imitate. Ask questions. Repeat.

The lessons taught on the mats have a way of carrying far beyond them.

There’s no instant gratification in Jiu-Jitsu. No shortcuts. No skipping the work.

Progress is earned little by little—one class, one round, one lesson at a time. Anything worth accomplishing takes time, effort, and the willingness to keep showing up.

Last week, that work was recognized with 13 youth stripe promotions and 3 new belts. 🥋

Keep building. The journey is the reward. ⚔️