We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Hansler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.

Ashley, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear stories from your time in school/training/etc.

I think what is so special about being a practitioner and now coach of Jiu Jitsu is that the learning aspect never ends! I’m also lucky to train under Josh and Angela Vogel at the Jiu Jitsu Company who exemplify this. Although I had been training under them for years when it came time to become a coach with my own class my training was rigorous and thorough. To both their credit they have such a high standard for teaching at their school, so I had to relearn all of the jiu jitsu I thought I previously knew (believe me there were a lot of details I did not know). Not only that I had to learn to answer potential problems students might encounter. I’m bringing all this up to share that in many ways we hinder our own growth in any work environment by coasting or becoming complacent in our own learning. Even after years of teaching, I still have to learn new and exciting ways to engage kids. This is how the game Kidz Jitzee emerged! It was then just a creative way for kids to learn jiu jitsu! And now its amazing to be able to share that with other coaches and parents alike! To be a good coach is to be a good student, and so I really try to stay open to always learning.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am currently a brown belt and have been training the past 9 years. I instruct kid’s jiu jitsu classes 3 times a week and have been teaching for the last 3 years. I also have private students where I offer one on one instruction. Most recently, I created the first of its kind an interactive jiu jitsu board game called “Kidz Jitzee.” With the help of an amazing team of people including my fellow kids coach instructor who illustrated the game so wonderfully Nicole Franco and my jiu jitsu instructor and leading renaissance woman Angela Vogel, we just released the product last month! So we still have lots of work ahead of us for this upcoming year and lots of exciting projects in the works!

I created the game after becoming a kids instructor to bring some fun to the class. As many parents and teachers know, kids have incredible ways of learning and absorbing advanced material. So while the kids are able to learn moves quite easily, the hardest aspects of coaching kids in jiu jitsu is learning to regulate emotions and work through frustrations. Grappling involves using our bodies to hold people in positions, so you can imagine how hard this is for kids to contend with. Its not any easier for adults, but we have learned a better ability to manage and contain them, for kids its a different story. So while jiu jitsu offers kids a way to work through these problems, it can feel grueling and might hinder their desire to want to train. This is where Kidz Jitzee comes in! It offers kids a break from their normal training, and allows them to have fun while exploring and learning the art of jiu jitsu.

The game itself has warm up and positional rounds so the kids do get a lot if practice, but it takes them out of the gym environment and puts them in one they are familiar with and associate with fun! This project is one based of love for the sport of jiu jitsu but also toward the kids that make coaching so worthwhile. As any proud teacher can tell you the biggest moments on the mat for me are always when things start clicking for my students. I’m lucky to coach in a space that encourages learning over immediate results. We emphasis critical thinking and learning for oneself which equips our students to eventually solve their own problems. But also brings the lightheartedness that is needed to retain students! Kidz Jitzee is the culmination of a lot of people who have taught me and continue to teach me to be a better coach and student! And I’m extremely proud to share this with other coaches and parents in the sport!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I never thought I would find myself in the world of jiu jitsu and its funny to think of how I got here! The reason I started jiu jitsu was because I was attacked in the street, punched in the back of the head and my phone stolen. Although a scary story, it feels like an echo of a memory, because it really shaped my life today. I felt like I needed to empower myself and take self defenses classes after this happened. And lucky for me I fell in the love with the sport and the community of people who do it. Throughout the last 9 years of training, I’ve had so many ups and downs, but with one constant, jiu jitsu. I lost both of my parents. survived the pandemic, and have experienced physical injuries that have kept me off the mat. Through a lot of grief and heartache I always had this sport to keep me grounded, and then later as a kid’s coach to keep me getting out of bed after I lost my mother. I was also smoking cigarettes at the time, which I quit because I felt bad about the kids smelling second hand smoke haha. I’m saying all this to say, that luckily for me the entire sport of jiu jitsu is predicated on being resilient. To keep showing up no matter how hard it gets. While life is like that, its easy to quit and give up when things get tough, but instead I’m proud of the steps I’ve made to become stronger and better as a kids coach instructor and for this new journey in business!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I think this is a lesson a lot of us are taught and that’s to be self reliant. Coming from a working class background, we always put a lot of emphasis on working hard. But the reality is that we don’t get anywhere in this world without help from our friends. I’ve just started to trust in the relationships and community I built and now I’m able to do so much more for myself than I ever could on my my own. Kidz Jitzee would not have been possible if not for the network of people who believed in me and who put their own time and creativity into making this happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jiujitsumerch.com/collections/kids-jiu-jitsu-merch
• Instagram: KidzJitzee
• Other: Coach page at the Jiu Jitsu company:

  https://www.jiujitsuphilly.com/about-1

Image Credits

1st photo Tommy Sim
All the other pics:Nicole Franco