Nemesis Jiu Jitsu

One year ago this month I was sitting on my couch watching reruns of Kung Fu and I thought to myself «Bill, you need to get back into martial arts.» You see back in 1984 I was the Northwest Regionals 2^nd runner up Karate Champion. I still have the trophy proudly displayed on top of my VCR.
So I called my old buddy Rodney. I met Rodney when were roadies on Ozzy Osbourne’s Diary of a Madman Tour in 1981. I told Rodney it was time for me to get back into martial arts and to show everyone what I’m made of. Rodney asked what kind of martial arts. He said Karate was watered down with kids and soccer moms these days. I told him I wanted to be a cage fighter like Tank Abbot. Rodney thought about it for a minute. «I’ve got the perfect person. His name is Eric Hemphill!» Rodney said with excitement. «Who the hell is Eric Hemphill?» I asked. Rodney told me he had met Eric along time ago while surfing on the coast. He said Eric was a Phenom in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and he owned Nemesis down in the Pear District. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Looked easy enough, I mean I did make the junior varsity wrestling team back in high school. I told Rodney thanks and I would give it a try.
So the next day I packed my Cobra Kai replica gi that I bought on eBay in my gym bag, jumped in my 1978 Pontiac Trans Am and headed to Nemesis.
I walked into the gym and was greeted by Eric. I looked at him and said, «I thought you’d be bigger?» I asked him about training at his gym. Eric told me it was going to be around $ 129 a month and no contract to sign for unlimited training. I thought it was a good deal. He asked if I wanted to try it out first for free.
He introduced me to a young man named Josh. Josh reminded me of myself when I was younger, well without the chest hair the lord had blessed me with. Josh said he’d be instructing class that afternoon. He pointed me to the direction of locker room. After changing into my freshly starched Cobra Kai gi and putting on my Japanese rising sun headband I made my way onto the mat. Josh looked at me like he knew what was up, great minds think alike.
My first class consisted of some light wrestling to warm up. Then Josh taught some techniques for thirty minutes followed by drilling. After class we had the option to roll. To be honest I got my butt kicked all over the mat. Funny thing was the other students were so polite while doing it. This type of attitude has brought me back over and over for the past year. At Nemesis I feel like we are one big family.
After class I was invited to the bar next door for beers with the guys. All of you who know me know I can’t turn down a cold beer. If you live in Portland or are moving to Portland and want to train you need to check this place out.

I checked out 3 BJJ gyms before settling on Nemisis. What made me choose Nemisis was it’s really clean, instruction is very personal but most of all were the other people. On day one every single person in the gym from white belt to colored came directly to me and said how glad they were to meet me! This trend has continued with every visit. All the instructors are very interested in your personal growth and spend one on one time with me several times during each class. Eric (owner, Black belt) is incredibly gracious and personable. He told me when I joined «Life is full of stress this place should never be that way, come here, play and have fun» really sums up the laid back attitude of all members. I’m excited for where my journey with Nemisis and BJJ takes me.

I started training at Nemesis about 2 yrs ago. I love it. Love the Instructors and training partners. Every class presents a different challenge, and impressive Jujitsu. The gym is clean and the location is right off the highway so its not hard to find. I highly recommend to anyone looking to train in jujitsu, They also show some other cool things occasionally, and some of the ladies their are major practitioners.

This place was meh… Some of the people there were friendly but others were pretty cold and it seemed very cliqueish. We were doing drills and one of the colored belt guys there said he didn’t like drilling and just came to roll. So during drills he was pretty much a «dead fish» if you know what I mean. Training partners can really make or break your experience and this guy was probably worst I’ve ever had. During rolling I hit a hip bump to triangle on him which caught him off guard then the next round he went absolute berserk trying to prove a point.

No matter if your new to Jiu Jitsu and grappling or if your a lifetime practitioner, Nemesis Jiu Jitsu provides a place everyone can improve their game.
The gym itself if very clean and the location is awesome. They have a good stock of quality items in their pro-​shop and great mats to work out on. However none of that can compare to the top notch coaches and quality instruction you receive.
I have been lucky enough to get to train at many of the Jiu Jitsu clubs in the Portland area and Nemesis is by far my favorite. If your looking for a place to train I recommend you check this place out!

This gym is beautiful! Its the cleanest and most sanitary gym in town. It’s the only jiu jitsu gym downtown all the others are out in the burbs.