Meet the Team
Get to know our instructors
John Danaher
@kingsway_hq
@danaherjohn
John Danaher
John Danaher was born in the USA, but raised in New Zealand. In 1991, he returned to the U.S. for a Ph.D. in philosophy at Columbia University. As a graduate student, he worked as a bouncer in nightclubs. His martial arts training in New Zealand was entirely standing striking; he was surprised at the great effectiveness of grappling styles such as wrestling and Judo among some of his fellow security staff.
A serendipitous meeting with a friend introduced him to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and he began studying under Renzo Gracie and his students. His career in Jiu-Jitsu had three distinct phases. The first was the value of Jiu-Jitsu in self-defense situations as part of his security work. Learning to modify the skills he learned in the dojo to the realities of street fighting and brawling over a decade of bouncing in NYC, was a fascinating introduction to the art. In time, he became an instructor at Renzo Gracie’s NYC school. The second phase began when he started coaching athletes for MMA, most notably Georges St-Pierre, guiding GSP and others to the top of the sport with a deep technical approach to grappling for fighting. The third phase focused on professional grappling. Danaher mentored relatively unknown athletes Garry Tonon, Gordon Ryan, Eddie Cummings, and Nicky Ryan using an innovative, systemized approach emphasizing leglocks and strangles from seemingly neutral or disadvantageous positions. Their rapid success shocked the grappling world, winning many prestigious events against opponents with far greater credentials and experience.
This culminated in their dominant performance at ADCC 2019 despite being the smallest, least experienced team there. After the team split, Danaher, Gordon Ryan, and Tonon formed New Wave Jiu-Jitsu. Within a year, they led a mostly new and inexperienced team to be the most successful in the next ADCC 2022, again redefining the sport. Danaher’s chief interest is in creating highly effective athletes who can teach and be innovative as well as they can compete. His goal is not just to understand the sport but to change it in ways that improve it and test these changes through the work of his students.
Gordon Ryan
@gordonlovesjiujitsu
@gordonlovesjiujitsu_
@gordonlovesjiujitsu
Gordon Ryan
Gordon is universally recognized as the greatest no gi grappler of all time. He has submitted more ADCC medalists than anyone in history. He has won more gold medals in ADCC world championships than anyone in history. He has the most successful debut performance in the world championships in history. He is world renowned as a true master of submission, of position, and of control and escape. He is the embodiment of the Jiu-Jitsu ideal of control leading to submission. He has taken dominance within the sport to a level unseen in previous generations – to the point where he sometimes predicts the manner in which he will win before matches with world class opponents, lets opponents out of submission holds in order to win by another, preferred means, or handicaps himself by putting himself in a bad position.
Interestingly, he does all this with a style that is based entirely around the control of an opponents movement and which does not require him to be fast or graceful. It does not require any special physical characteristics such as speed, balance, coordination, etc. As such, it is a style that anyone can learn in time. In addition to being the best athlete, he is also a truly superb teacher, with his videos being the best sellers in history. Hailing from New Jersey, he is now based in Texas. His moniker in Jiu-Jitsu is apt – King Ryan – at the top of the grappling world. Now, he wants to share the knowledge that made him the best and extend his legacy beyond himself into a new generation of students so that they can experience the success that he built within himself.
Garry Tonon
@garrytonon
Garry Tonon
Garry is universally recognized as the most exciting grappler in history. He has a very unique and dynamic approach to grappling that he has showcased in many of the most watched bouts in the history of the sport. His primary focus is on the use of dynamic scrambles to create attacking opportunities to set up devastating leg lock attacks. He is a master of creating movement to facilitate attacks both standing and on the ground. He specializes in the interplay between standing and ground positions and often uses the grey area between them to win. Now, he has switched his primary focus from grappling to MMA, and he is a leading title contender in ONECHAMPIONSHIP fight promotion in Asia, where he shows how the squads grappling style crosses over easily to MMA. In addition to being a great athlete, Tonon is an extremely talented teacher – his instructional videos are among the most popular in the world today. When he performs Jiu-Jitsu, Garry Tonon looks to have an intuitive, Mozart like quality of inspired genius that is totally unique; but when he teaches Jiu-Jitsu he breaks it down so thoroughly and systematically that it seems anyone can do it and do what seems impossible. Jiu-Jitsu is half art, half science – Garry Tonon is the embodiment of that merger and can make you the same.
Meet the Instructors
Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu
Nicholas Meregali
Giancarlo Bodoni
@giancarlobodoni
The story of Giancarlo Bodoni’s rise in Jiu-Jitsu is one of the most inspiring things that we know of. Always active in the gi competition scene and traveling extensively to train, Giancarlo established a reputation as a solid gi competitor. He met John Danaher and Gordon Ryan working with them in Boston on instructional videos. Soon after, he won the IBJJF brown belt world championship. At that time, he decided to make a switch to no gi Jiu-Jitsu competition. The transition proved difficult at first, struggling to perform in the no gi space. Giancarlo made the decision to move to Austin, Texas, to train full time with us. In one of the most impressive transformations in the history of the sport, Giancarlo Bodoni rocketed in performance level, immediately dominating the local competition scene, then winning ADCC world championships trials in spectacular fashion. Then he entered the World Championships as a dark horse and stunned the grappling world with one of the most dominant gold medal winning performances in the history of the middleweight division. Then, two years later, he repeated the feat to become the first middleweight in history to win two gold medals at the ADCC World Championships. He did this with a game that emphasizes mastery of fundamentals and a level of error avoidance that makes his matches look like a how-to guide on what good jiu jitsu should look like. He is, in addition, a superb teacher – one of the most successful in the BJJ Fanatics teaching line up – testimony to the clarity and effectiveness of his instruction.
Helena Crevar
@helenajiujitsugirl
Helena is one of the most impressive stars in grappling today. This teenage phenom has been electrifying the grappling world with a devastating array of submission holds and a depth of knowledge far beyond her years. In the last three years, she has defeated more black belt opponents than any other competitor today. Recently, she was awarded her own black belt in recognition of her incredible progress. She is the youngest medal winner in ADCC World Championships history – winning a silver medal at just seventeen years of age. In addition, she is an IBJJF World and Pan American Brown belt champion in the gi, showing her versatility in both domains. She is the current belt holder in so many different organizations that we can’t list them all! In addition to being one of the most outstanding competitors in the world today, she is also an outstanding teacher who regularly sells out seminars and produces some of the most in-demand video instructionals for BJJ Fanatics.
Luke Griffith
@luke_griffithjj
Luke Griffith is one of the most exciting prospects in Jiu-Jitsu today. Hailing from South Africa, he moved to Austin as a young purple belt to train with us. As an unknown, he won ADCC trials in Europe to qualify for his first world championship and begin his emergence on to the world stage. At the next world championships, he won a silver medal at Heavyweight – an incredible feat which he immediately followed by defeating two of the most highly regarded world champion heavyweights in the world today. His game is centered around his incredible propensity to find and attack his opponents back from anywhere. This incredible black belt competitor is also a very fine teacher who regularly sells out seminars around the world, showing how to acquire his superb skills. Very few people attain his level of accomplishment at such a young age, and even fewer have the acumen to teach others how to gain the skills to do it. Now, living full-time in Texas, Luke Griffith is a truly great addition to the Kingsway teaching staff.
Reese LaFever
Reese is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. His pursuit of technical perfection has allowed him to progress quickly to not only one of the best athletes in the room at his weight but also in competition. Reese is both a No -Gi Pan American and No – Gi world champion at purple belt. His attention to detail and never-ending hunt for technical mastery will make him a perfect addition t
Landon Elmore
Landon has been training with the pro team since shortly after our move to Texas. He is a dedicated student who chases progress every day of the week. Landon is a multi – time ADCC open gold medalist and IBJJF adult blue belt No – Gi world champion. He will be a great addition to the Kingsway instructor team.
Silas Dubelaar
Silas is a purple belt under John Danaher and purple belt masters world no gi champion. Silas has been with us since Puerto Rico, making huge strides in his game over the last 4 years. His dedication to excellence and progress will make him a fine instructor at Kingsway.
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Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu welcomes everyone in the Austin and North Austin community, as well as those nearby including Cedar Park. We are located in North Austin off highway 183!