Parents
Confidence without aggression
A parent often wants a child who learns to handle frustration, communicate with coaches and peers, and feel physically capable.
SANDY JOSÉ NÚÑEZ · BLACK BELT COACH · TANNERSVILLE, NY
Before the studio, I taught wherever the mats fit.
A garage in Prattsville. A lawn in Woodstock. A corner of a boot camp gym in Hurley. A storage facility in Hunter, where the mats had to come back up when training was over.
In August 2025, Sensei Sandy BJJ finally got a room of its own on Main Street in Tannersville. The room is new. The teaching is not.
Calm coaching. Clear structure. A welcoming, coach-led first class.
Beginner-first
Patient coaching
Beginner-safe pacing
Sensei Sandy BJJ • 6045 Main St, 2nd Floor, Tannersville, NY 12485 • (917) 736-8649
Teaching Journey & Lineage
I kept finding places to teach.
I started teaching private lessons and kids at Clockwork Jiu Jitsu in Manhattan. Later, I ran the Adult BJJ program at Physical Culture Collective in Brooklyn.
When I moved upstate, I trained at Oneonta Jiu Jitsu and taught classes there. Then I spent months teaching at Firehouse Jiu Jitsu during its early days in Catskill. I taught seminars at Iron Guard Dojo in Pine Bush, and later became the head Jiu Jitsu instructor at Ascended Athletics in Kingston.
I was awarded my black belt by Josh Griffiths at Clockwork Jiu Jitsu.
Different rooms. Different students. Different reasons for walking through the door. That became important to me.
The longer I taught, the less interested I became in making everyone perform Jiu Jitsu the same way. I became interested in the person standing in front of me.
Who This Is For
Most people are not coming here to become fighters.
Different students walk through the door for different reasons. They should not receive a one-size-fits-all lesson.
Teens
Challenge without ego
A teenager wants real standards and serious training without intimidation, macho posturing, or being talked down to.
Adults
Strength and sustainability
An adult beginner wants a sustainable practice to build strength, mobility, and calm problem-solving without fear of reckless injury.
That is why the classes at SSBJJ are small.
I want to know who you are training with, what problem you are working on, what happened the last time you tried it, and whether you need more help or more room to figure it out. That is not an extra feature of the academy. That is the job.
Coaching Doctrine
Beginners should be coached, not tested.
You should not have to prove toughness before someone agrees to coach you.
Learn more about our structured progression on how class works.
You should not have to pretend you understand. Embarrassment is not the price of admission.
When someone is new, I choose the partner carefully. I make the problem clear. We control how much resistance is involved. Then I watch.
If the problem is too easy, I make it harder. If it is too much, I change it. If you find an answer that works for you, we build from there.
We use resistance because Jiu-Jitsu must work against another person. But we do not use confusion or intimidation as teaching tools.
My job is not to make you move like me. My job is to help you understand the problem well enough to make good decisions of your own.
Character Outcomes
What I want students to carry out of the room
Of course I want students to get better at Jiu-Jitsu. But I care about what happens when the first answer does not work.
Questions We Ask on the Mat
- Can you stay with the problem?
- Can you change your approach?
- Can you tell someone when something feels wrong?
- Can you take care of a training partner while trying hard?
- Can you lose a round without falling apart?
- Can you succeed without making someone else feel small?
Real Progress in Daily Life
For a kid: Progress might be returning to the game after getting frustrated.
For a teen: Progress might be staying composed while someone tries hard to stop them.
For an adult: Progress might be trusting their body again and discovering they can learn difficult skills.
Jiu-Jitsu gives us a safe, structured place to practice that composure every week.
Studio Origin & Mission
Why I built Sensei Sandy BJJ
I did not arrive in the Catskills with a finished academy and a perfect business plan. I had mats. I knew how to teach. And I wanted to keep doing it.
So I put the mats down wherever I could. Eventually, enough people kept showing up that the mats needed a home. That became Sensei Sandy BJJ.
I want the Tannersville studio to remain small enough that people do not disappear into it:
- A place where kids can be kids and still do difficult things.
- Where teenagers get real responsibility and genuine standards.
- Where adults can start from zero without an initiation test.
- Where being new is normal.
- Where trying hard does not require acting tough.
- And where I know more than your name.
Come Meet Me
Plan Your Free First Visit
If that sounds like the kind of room you have been looking for, come meet me before you ever have to train.
Sensei Sandy BJJ
6045 Main Street, 2nd Floor · Tannersville, NY 12485
(917) 736-8649 · Serving Tannersville, Hunter, Windham, Haines Falls & the Mountaintop