Featured traveller: Charles Harriott – BJJ Globetrotters
Age: 35
Belt: Black Belt 1st Degree
Profession: Jiu Jitsu Instructor
How many years in BJJ: I’ve been saying 15 years for a few years now
Other martial arts: Tae Kwon Do, American Kenpo, Kickboxing, Judo, Submission Wrestling, Kung Fu, Kali
Where do you live: Gainesville, Florida, USA
Where are you from: Palm Beach, Florida, USA
Other fun or curious information you would like to share: I stopped training martial arts for a few years in college and took up breaking (breakdance), and I honestly think it is the thing that helped my Jiu Jitsu more than anything else. I also was a Physics major and definitely see Jiu Jitsu through lense of simple machines (levers, wedges, etc.) and relative motion (lines and circles).
Charles Harriott – BJJ Globetrotters
Tell us what inspired you to become a “full-time traveling coach”?
I honestly kind of fell into it. At first I was just trying to see the world and train for a year as an adventure. I was at a point in my life where I felt if I didn’t do it now I would put it off forever. After a year of traveling, making friends and teaching, I got home and thought “I think I would rather just keep traveling.” I got a little bit more organized… sometimes. I wouldn’t actually say I am full-time traveling anymore since Covid. I am probably travelling more than a lot of people, but I spend most of the year in Gainesville, FL with my partner Natasha Collazos.
How do you find new academies to coach at?
A bit of everything. I meet a lot of people at BJJ Globetrotters camps. Sometimes they tell their coaches back home about me or they themselves own a gym and invite me to teach. Some people have found me via my Instagram (@charlesharriott). After I did an instructional with BJJ Fanatics (Leglocks101), I had a few people that liked it reach out to me and book a seminar or two.
However, my first substitute teacher opportunity came at Octopus Academy in Tel Aviv. One of the students there (Johnny Axelrod) was an American Kenpo student of my friend and first blue belt Alexander Perez. I had been sparring with his elder brothers and him back when he was a teenager. Fast forward almost a decade and he had seen me on social media and he reached out and said I should come visit Israel. I get asked how many classes I can handle by the gym owners Saul and Gidon, and I say all of them. The first visit was for two weeks, and I ended up loving it there so much that in 2019 between the visits I spent more time in Tel Aviv than any other single city including my home in Gainesville.
The second location I got to play substitute teacher was in Mallorca, Spain. My friend Yogi Jack had a job as an instructor at a gym and wanted to take some vacation time to handle some things back home. We were talking about it and I just said hey I can cover for you. I hopped on a plane to Mallorca and got to live almost on the beach for a week and learn about Mallorca and get to know the gym owner Joe and the cool students that trained there or were just passing through.
My most recent and longest stay in New Mexico at Binder BJJ was literally due to a fellow Globetrotter named Rich telling his coach that there was a guy at camp whose personality and teaching style reminded them of him. From there he told me that his coach was going to need shoulder surgery and was looking for blackbelts to fill in. We spoke on the phone and got along and the rest is history.
Charles Harriott – BJJ Globetrotters
What are some challenges of jumping in and covering for another coach for an extended period of time? Do you stick entirely to their curriculum or do you try and add some stuff of your own too?
The main challenge is that the students there are accustomed to the culture and methods of their coach. They love their coach – that’s why they go to their gym. So at first there can be a little “who the hell is this guy?”, but it generally shifts into curiosity and by the end friendship and/or mutual respect.
Another challenge is striking the right balance between technique drilling and rolling. I recently learned that lesson. Some gyms want to roll way more than others. On one hand, students need and want to roll; on the other I am being paid to instruct. If they just wanted to roll, they wouldn’t need me and just have an open mat for that right??? Wrong. Putting myself in the shoes of students and knowing that some people come to BJJ for the stress relief and need those rolls every class has definitely improved my balance and class planning.
I am lucky that no one has ever asked me to teach a curriculum on my travels. I think the reason people hire me is because there is something I do that they like that they want their students to learn. Or at the very minimum they respect what I do and how I do it. I am usually given general guidelines like “Teach the beginners defense” or “Can you show them your approach to single x and leglocks.” Even in the case of those prompts, I don’t think the coaches would have expected Priit-style Defensive Jiu Jitsu postures being taught when they gave me that cue.
I have been so lucky that I have always been supported and embraced by the gyms that host me. At Octopus in Tel Aviv, I taught some of what Chris Paines taught me and they had him come out with me on my next visit. At Binder, they allowed me to teach a special seminar and put on mini-events while I was there.
What are the things you enjoy about traveling?
My favorite thing about travelling is the people I meet and then getting to experience what they deem special about their town and their view of the world. I have traveled alone and with company and every small change adds a little spice to the experience. I love food and locals always know where to take you. In Tel Aviv, all the guys at the gym would take me to their special spots. This is the spot for Sabich, that is the spot for the best hummus, or falafel. I also love nature and museums so if I am lucky to be hosted by people who love that stuff then I get to see that. I learned early on that hotels are lonely, so I always try to stay in a guest room or couch in order to get to know people and learn something while I am there.
Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth traveling and training (and coaching)?
In Berlin, Yogi Jack showed Natasha and I Wartenburg, the launching of a barge, a shipping container party, family breakfast, and a street market all in a few days. In Sioux Falls, we were hosted by Rich, who took us to natural history museums, cooked us amazing keto food, and gave us insight into his time as a police officer. In Enschede, Leah and Marwin took us on a beautiful walk and we sat around talking about hip hop, anime, and BJJ until I fell asleep on the couch, and Natasha and Leah bonded over all kinds of spiritual stuff. In Albuquerque, I was able to enjoy the beautiful nature by day and then really get to enjoy watching the students grow by night. On top of that, each student gave me advice on which nature trails or volcanoes or mountains to see. On top of this a few students (Matthew and Dan) and Natasha set up a camera and made a bunch of funny informative videos together. The icing on the cake was my roommate Gannon, who is a firefighter and cowboy. I got to get to know him and learn from his immense experience for his young age, and he took me to where he works on a Native Reservation and ate some fried bread.
Pre-pandemic in Köln, I got to teach one of Sven’s students a flying armbar at CAGE MMA. I got a video a month later of Sven telling me that he managed to hit it on him, only to get thrown into the cage fence à la Crazy Horse. In Köln this past year, I returned and got to see they now have their own gym, and it is thriving and they still have a good relationship with the owners at CAGE. I got to introduce Nelson and his wife Annelen to Natasha and they immediately asked if this is the one you were on the phone with last time. I laughed and said yes. That is, in a nutshell, what I love. I have this loose extended family all over the world of people I see infrequently, but when I see them we pick right up where we left off.
Charles Harriott – BJJ Globetrotters
Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip?
Yes sir, I just take care of airfare and lodging first. They are the ones that are the most variable in price. I use Skyscanner for international flights and Frontier for inside the USA. I heavily utilize the “to anywhere” feature and just figure out where the cheapest place to go from a given airport is. If I need to get to a particular place, then I will always look to go on an off-day, or leave my departure and return dates flexible. I will often take the cheapest flight into Europe then take a small flight, train, or bus to my final destination. I highly recommend Skyscanner and rome2rio. I also travel light with a backpack as a personal item. I avoid taking a checked bag for both the size and cost, unless I am bringing a large amount of gis for a long stay. In general, I can travel for 6+ weeks with just a backpack.
For lodging, I use the “Members of BJJ Globetrotters” Facebook group and matsurfing. First, it is free or costs me trade like cooking or teaching some Jiu Jitsu or breakdance. If you don’t have anything like that to trade, bring something from home to share your culture or passion with them. Second, as stated before, I love the people and find hotel rooms lonely.
If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be?
Always bring an extra charger – they will break at the worst time. Portable chargers are your best friend. Take some photos and videos that you don’t share on social media. It’s nice to share them in person with friends and loved ones, family photo-style.
“Things will either go well or you will have data material for a great story”
I keep this in mind at all times. Anything that goes wrong in your travel will, in enough time, make for a great story. So don’t get mad, just pay attention and try to remember everything, especially if it is ludicrous.
“Don’t waste time trying to figure out whose fault anything is; just focus on moving forward and solving the problem”
This is something I learned from travelling both alone and with people. I noticed when I was alone I made just as many errors and had just as many setbacks as when I had company, but I never had anyone to complain to, so I just solved the problem. This helped prepare me for traveling with a partner as I currently do. It doesn’t matter who forgot something at home; we can always borrow or buy it when we are there. It doesn’t matter why we are running late; having a scapegoat doesn’t get us there any faster. Once you free yourself from finding someone to blame, you have all of your energy to work together to find a way forward and a much happier trip. I try really hard not to let myself complain. It’s useless and only makes your trip worse.
“You will remember the first, last, and best (most intense) 15 minutes of each experience”
I don’t know if this is true, but I heard it on a podcast and have used it to hack my memories. I don’t need to spend 6 hours on the beach, because I’m not going to remember 6 hours. I’m only going to remember how it started, ended, and what I found most memorable. So because I like to sleep in, I don’t worry that I only have 2 hours or even 45 minutes to do something that people say you need 6 hours for. I just go enjoy what I can and try to leave on a good note. This has allowed me to do more and not be victim to the feeling of “I guess it’s too late.”
“Visiting a gym is about learning and having fun more than establishing dominance”
It’s a fine balance between being nice and just letting everyone wreck you in training. It’s their gym and I always try my best to adopt their culture as long as I find it safe for me and appropriate. I feel comfortable in goofy, serious, intense, and laid back gyms. I can roll super playful, or have an ADCC reenactment. However, if you don’t feel comfortable rolling hard, and this gym has a competition culture, it’s okay to sit out. If you do like to compete with them, enjoy the porrada LMAO.
Conversely, if you roll like a murderer in a super laid-back gym that is trying to “flow”, they probably will not appreciate it. Above all, I try to keep both me and my training partner safe. It is never worth it to get injured or injure your partner when visiting a gym. At a minimum you will be unwelcome, and worse you may put yourself in physical danger from an overzealous mat enforcer. Even if you are so skilled to wreck the whole room, chances are you didn’t make any friends, and for me that’s the best part.
“Make them think you don’t suck at Jiu Jitsu and that you are not an asshole”
…and if you suck at Jiu Jitsu as an underbelt no one actually cares!
