Tim Sledd

Tim Sledd - Instructor

Other instructor: Tim Sledd

Instructor: Tim Sledd

tsledd@gentrymartialarts.comPH# (765)342-5600FAX (765)342-5605PO Box 1414Martinsville, IN 46151

Instructor: Tim Sledd
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Mr. Sledd started his martial career with freestyle wrestling while still in elemetary school.He continued wrestling through high school and also added a year of shootfighting/ JKD from 1995-1996.In 1997, while at IU he achieved green belt through the USHF, before switching to Brazilian Jui Jitsu in the spring of 1998.He achieved the rank of blue belt at Gracie Academy Torence in March 2000.In the fall of 2000 he started the Hamline University Jiu Jitsu Club.Trained with Bison Grappling from August 2000-May 2001.Mr. Sledd formally started instructing in the art of Brazilian Jui Jitsu at IU in the fall of 2003 and continues today.He recieved his promotion to Brown Belt in February 2008.
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Mr. Sledd's formal education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Criminal Justice, from Indiana University, a Doctor of Jurisprudence from IU law school in Indianapolis, and is a current Ph.D candidate.

Instructor Tim Sledd is not promoting violence, he's promoting protection.He does it by teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Sledd's club will hold a seminar with world-famous Jiu Jitsu Instructor professor Carlos "Caique" Elias Saturday at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.Caique is a fifth-degree black belt who has been hailed as the best trainer outside the martial arts founders.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a combination of traditional Japanese Jiu Jitsu and Judo that focuses on "the efficiency of movement and the focus on minimizing the damage to both people," Sledd said

After the Japanese introduced Jiu Jitsu to Brazil, local politician Gastao Gracie picked it up and helped it spread.

"They looked at it, tweaked some of the techniques and really made it more adaptable to the street fights that were more common in Brazil at the time," Sledd said.

After Caique moved to Los Angeles in 1997 with one of the Gracie family members, he started a school of his own.IU shaped its own Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program after Caique's school.

Saturday's seminar will be split into four one-hour blocks.The first hour will focus on defense against attackers.

"We will do punch blocks," Sledd said, "techniques for getting the fight to the ground, how to break someone choking you from behind and we also go over positioning drills."

In the second hour, Caique will go over fundamental Jiu Jitsu techniques such as sweeps, arm locks and chokes.During the third and fourth hours, he will go over the same things as he did in the second hour; however, this time he will combine the techniques and build them off each other.The final hour will include a promotion ceremony during which some of the members of the club will get promotions if they are able to impress Caique, Sledd said.

Promotion, Sledd said, "is a subjective criteria, not an objective criteria, which is frustrating because a lot of people ask 'What's it going to take?,' but I can't really tell you except that you have to impress him to a certain level each time."

Caique is the only one in the Caique School of Jiu Jitsu who can do promotions to blue belts and beyond.

The IU club, which has about 30 members this semester, trains in "certain aspects of self defense, mainly if someone gets a hold of you, if they're grabbing you or attacking you, how to survive using some Jiu Jitsu," Sledd said.

He said the club builds up a lot of camaraderie.

"There's really a good relationship between the instructors and the students," Sledd said.

Tim Sledd
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Tim Sledd is a student of the arts of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and submission wrestling.His focus is always on learning the best way to advance his game and build his students to the next level.Tim began training formal Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the fall of 1998 under Greg Lucas and perhaps this is where Tim's mat tenacity was nurtured to its hardened state that is admired by his students and loathed by his opponents.
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In the summer of 2003, Tim began instructing the Indiana University Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Club.The focus of this program is upon the development of core fundamental techniques, solid grappling, sportsmanship, and the principles of Caique Jiu-Jitsu.Through teaching classes, club, and the continued tutelage of Greg Lucas and Professor Caique, Tim has developed a philosophy of training and grappling that can be seen in the competitors that come from IU.
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In the summer of 2005, Tim began teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to a small class of beginners at Gentry Martial Arts Academy.The student base has grown, the skill level has increased, and before long a new crop of competitors will be unleashed.