the infamous Santa Cruz Skateboards team. Knox was immediately
successful as a professional skateboarder, winning contests with leg-
ends of the sport like Mike Vallely in the field and filming video parts
with some of the biggest companies out there.
It was not until 1997 when Knox went back to school at Fresno State in
California that he got back into judo through the school’s club. There,
he met a group of jiu jiteros who sparked his interest in the sport. In
1999, Knox started training with Mauricio “Tinguinha” Mariano. Over
the next few years, Knox bounced between gyms in southern Califor-
nia before settling at Cleber Luciano’s gym in Huntington Beach, where
he would go on to receive his purple, brown and black belts. In 2008,
Knox opened his own gym, Elite Team Jiu Jitsu.
Though Knox now competes in jiu jitsu, recently taking a silver medal
in the Masters’ 4 black belt division at the IBJJF European Champion-
ships, he has not hung up his board. Before the Europeans, Knox post-
ed a video from a skate park in Portugal, which he called his “warm up”
for the tournament. “I can go pretty much anywhere in the world now
and put out an Instagram post and say ‘who wants to skate?’ and guys
literally just show up to the hotel and start taking me around,” Knox
said. “I did that in Lisbon recently and they took me to some parks and
to the beach. It’s really cool to have that access.”
Knox isn’t the only skater who’s added jiu jitsu to his life. Skateboard-
ing legend Bob Burnquist has also been spotted on the mats recently.
Knox said that other notable skateboarders such as Chet Thomas and
Brian Sumner have also started training in jiu jitsu. Joel Tudor, who
holds a black belt from Rodrigo Medeiros and is an ADCC veteran and
IBJJF Pan Am champion, was a professional skater and surfer before
turning to jiu jitsu full time.
Balancing skateboarding and jiu jitsu is sometimes difficult, according
to Knox. He recently filmed a video part with Transworld Skateboarding,
one of the longest running skateboarding magazines and who filming
with is considered a major accomplishment amongst skaters. At the
same time however, Knox still finds time to grow his own gym and train
himself. “When I’m skating, I think ‘don’t get hurt so you can’t train,’ and
when I’m training I think ‘don’t get hurt so you can’t skate,” said Knox.
Developing a physical edge
While jiu jitsu is known as “the gentle art,” most people who prac-
tise it will tell you that it can be anything but that sometimes. De-
spite the nickname, jiu jitsu practitioners, and especially competi-
tors, develop a physical toughness that is unmatched, aside from
other combat sport athletes and maybe skateboarders.
“In skating, you fall a lot to get it right,” Satava said. But what makes
skaters so tough? Jiu jiteros hone their art on padded mats, but skaters
practise on concrete, a surface that is significantly less forgiving. Just
like in jiu jitsu, twisted limbs, bruises and broken bones aren’t all that
uncommon in skateboarding and simply come with the territory. Knox
echoed Satava’s thoughts on the topic, but also spoke of how skate-
boarding helps to develop skills such as balance and physical strength,
which translate well to jiu jitsu.“They’re sports that go hand and hand and I think they both benefit
each other. If we’re talking about sports, the core strength and balance
you develop in both is important,” said Knox. “And the toughness, like
c’mon, us skaters take a beating. The balance you develop in skating
carries directly over and makes you hard to sweep and take down.”Watch skateboarders and it’s easy to see what Knox is talking about.
The sense of balance one develops learning to stand on a skate-
board, let alone sliding down a handrail or jumping down a set of
stairs on one, is inherently similar to jiu jitsu and gives one an edge
in grappling. Additionally, skaters develop a certain body awareness
and physical dexterity, especially with their feet, that carries over to
jiu jitsu. Both open guard play in jiu jitsu and flipping a skateboard
take a high degree of dexterity with one’s feet and legs. There are
very few activities that develop this skill, but skateboarding and jiu
jitsu are again similar in this respect.The Learning Curve
Another thing jiu jitsu practitioners will tell the untrained is that it’s hard
to compare how the art is learned with anything else. Anyone who has
made it past white belt knows that jiu jitsu has one of the steepest
learning curves of any pursuit out there, and that learning it isn’t simply
a matter of studying or reading a book. In jiu jitsu, there’s no substitute
for mat time and the blood, sweat and tears that come with it. Skate-
boarding is much the same. Just as it can take weeks or even months
to learn fundamental jiu jitsu skills, getting a handle on even the most