Natick Jiu Jitsu Dojo Fights to Keep Doors Open

Natick, MA — 13 years ago, Paul DiRienzo opened the Metrowest Academy of Jiu Jitsu.

“I did something you’re not supposed to do and I opened a 7,000 square foot location with no students cause I had a lot of faith it would work out okay,” he said. “We grew in a faster period of time than they told us that we could.”

And though, like any small business, the dojo came with its sleepless nights and 100-hour work-weeks, DiRienzo built something unique into the very structure of his business: Community.

“I’m a martial artist. It didn’t really occur to me that the martial family was going to override the martial classes for a lot of people.”

Through this constant, strong sense of community, DiRienzo is able to sculpt children into leaders, give them jobs at the dojo, and see them grow and learn to the point where his students can start teaching classes.

“It’s neat to be able to give people that first foot-in-the-door to the real world,” he said.

On a Thursday in early March, right when the pandemic first began cropping up in the United States, the environment at the dojo grew strained. Classes were held outside and the first instances of Zoom classes were tested. It took only a few more days for DiRienzo to make the call to close down for the time being, and at that point, COVID-19 was in full swing.

“You can only deal with so much down the road,” he said, “so try to deal with the stuff you’re dealing with today.”

Before COVID struck, Metrowest Dojo had a mobile app they would use to organize their curriculum.

“We started building video curriculum in the app,” he said. “Initially we were recording everything and putting videos up for people to follow along with, then we pretty rapidly switched everything over to live videos. Over time, we set up the webcam and got a TV feed.”

And though DiRienzo and his team have been able to set up a wide level of virtual integration, utilizing Zoom, Facebook, and their app, as a Jiu Jitsu school, virtual classes have very real limitations.

“There’s only so much you can do talking to a camera to people in mixed environments,” he said. “Our students that are siblings it was a little easier, but the burnout for students purely on Zoom is very real. That number dwindled steadily month after month.”

The Dojo’s reopening process has so far occurred in several steps, the first of which involved non-contact training. In June, students came in completely non-contact to train at safe distances. The final step for a reopening under the limitations presented by the pandemic involves pods.

“We were able to set up cohort training, so groups of no more than 10,” DiRienzo said. These groups must maintain a safe distance from other groups, and the groups are not allowed to change. “We’re still functioning under that now. I want to make sure I do things the right way.”

And though DiRienzo has not had to let any employees go, because of the limitations presented by COVID, the Dojo is simply doing fewer classes which means less work for the student teachers DiRienzo employs.

Facing the possibility of another shutdown spurred on by the current rise in coronavirus cases, DiRienzo is just not sure what will happen to his Dojo.

“We have the systems,” he said. “I don’t know that we survive another shutdown. We’re trying some new things right now. We’re going to figure something out because I’m too stubborn to quit.”

And while DiRienzo is committed to keeping his dojo alive in ways that are safe and in line with state law regarding COVID, the fear that this virus has instilled in people is the biggest obstacle for him to overcome.

“The fear’s been the biggest thing to deal with,” DiRienzo said. Even though the Dojo has established and enacted safe ways to train, “people are afraid to leave the house and come out. Public perception’s hard to overcome.”