Serge Morel
Serge Morel built Auckland BJJ’s teaching around recurring positions, individual styles and a place for both competitors and hobbyists.
Biography
Sources for this profile
About Auckland BJJ — Our Story, Instructors & Locations(opens in a new tab)
Serge Morel and Stuart Mitchell founded Auckland BJJ in2011, initially teaching in a corner of David Tua’s boxing gym in Onehunga.
Where in the source: Whole History plus entire separate Serge and Stuart instructor profiles.
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The club moved to Rick Littlewood’s Epsom dojo in2012 and opened a second site in Sandringham in2018.
Where in the source: WholeHistory and allthree location descriptions.
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In August2020 the two locations were brought together in Onehunga.
Where in the source: WholeHistory and complete Locations section.
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Auckland BJJ identifies Morel as its head professor and one of its principal instructors.
Where in the source: CompleteSergeMorelsection with History.
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The academy lists him as a third-degree IBJJF black belt.
Where in the source: CompleteSergeheading and surrounding currentbio.
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The academy specifies third degree for Morel.
Where in the source: CompleteSergeheading, compared full Lineage currentrankentry.
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The club says he has been an IBJJF member since2013 and that its registration is through him.
Where in the source: EntireSergefirstparagraph.
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He takes responsibility for beginners’ classes, curriculum planning each trimester and gradings.
Where in the source: EntireSerge teachingparagraph.
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The academy describes his life outside BJJ as including logistics work, fishing, surfing, surf-skating, cooking for his family and video games.
Where in the source: FullSerge finalparagraph.
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The club credits Morel and Mitchell with promoting Luiz Machado to black belt in2020.
Where in the source: WholeLuizMachadobio within allinstructorsbody.
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BJJ Teaching philosophy(opens in a new tab)
Morel dates the start of their teaching to November2011.
Where in the source: Whole24February2014 firstperson teaching-philosophy essay, opening paragraph.
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Both founders had other jobs and taught BJJ as a hobby, facing the problem of fitting a coherent programme into two weekly classes.
Where in the source: Wholeopening5paragraphs and full conclusion of2014essay.
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They moved their classes from Monday and Wednesday to Tuesday and Thursday after six months because Monday attendance was weak.
Where in the source: Complete early scheduling paragraphs.
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Morel organised lessons around positions so two instructors could teach a continuous programme.
Where in the source: Entiremiddleposition/location discussion, read in context of two-instructor scheduling problem.
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The early programme worked through mount, the back, side control and related positions, rather than a disconnected technique list.
Where in the source: Fullpositionsequence and wholecomparative discussion of other teaching systems.
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He wanted recurring positional topics to let beginners revisit material missed in earlier classes.
Where in the source: Wholefinal programme/repetition andQ&A paragraphs.
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The programme included regular question-and-answer sessions.
Where in the source: Wholefinal2014paragraphs, with Q&Aevery6weeks.
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How to find your game plan?(opens in a new tab)
In2015 he asked competitors to choose a takedown or guard pull and build a small reliable plan around a pass and a sweep.
Where in the source: Whole15February2015gameplanpost, from openingthrough finalSeeYouOnTheMats.
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His competition advice emphasised repeated practice and scoring points rather than relying only on submissions.
Where in the source: Entire secondhalf of2015post, including coachfeedback andpointscoring paragraphs.
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Graduation and what it means at Auckland BJJ(opens in a new tab)
In2016 he described promotion as an ongoing coaching decision, with students demonstrating favourite techniques rather than sitting a new exam at graduation.
Where in the source: Whole21May2016essay, WhatToExpect andWhatWeAreLookingFor subsections.
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He and Mitchell differed on how quickly to award blue belts, with Morel describing himself as the more conservative of the pair.
Where in the source: Entireblue-belt discussion beforeTrainingProgram.
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He encouraged students to develop individual styles rather than imitate their instructors.
Where in the source: WholeTrainingProgram subsection.
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He said competition was optional for promotion and recognised BJJ as a hobby, friendship network and source of enjoyment as well as a sport.
Where in the source: WholeCompetition conclusion throughSeeYouOnTheMats.
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Our BJJ Lineage — Auckland BJJ(opens in a new tab)
The academy presents its modern teaching line through Rickson Gracie, Antonio Claudio Collares and Douglas Santos to Mitchell and Morel.
Where in the source: WholeLineage all10entries and allblackbeltlist, especially5–8.
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Lineage
No teaching connections are shown on this page.
Open lineage