Katie Hooven, a brown belt training with the prestigious New Wave Jiu-Jitsu team, offers a rare glimpse into what life is like training with some of the world’s best grapplers. Her journey from Pennsylvania to becoming part of one of jiu-jitsu’s most elite teams provides fascinating insights into the sport’s upper echelons.
Hooven began her martial arts journey with Muay Thai before transitioning to jiu-jitsu. After training at her first gym for seven years, she eventually found herself training under Gary Tonon. The difference in training quality was immediately apparent.
“When I asked Gary a question, he wouldn’t make me feel r*****ed and he’d actually answer the question,” Hooven explains in appearance on jits and giggles podcast. “He loves to problem-solve, he loves to help give people tools to problem-solve.”
This mentorship under Tonon marked a significant shift in her understanding of the sport.
“It wasn’t until I started training under Gary that I realized, ‘Oh my god, there’s so much more to this jiu-jitsu thing,'” she says.
When the New Wave team relocated to Puerto Rico during the pandemic, Hooven began splitting her time between New Jersey and Puerto Rico, before eventually moving to Austin, Texas when the team relocated there.
“The room is not the Gordon Ryan show,” Hooven clarifies. “He’s a part of it, but everybody there contributes to the room.”
“Everybody in the room is really welcoming and really helpful. Obviously professional athletes have to be selfish, but by the same token these guys are selfless.”
One of the most interesting revelations is how John Danaher, the team’s head coach, structures their training sessions. Unlike traditional jiu-jitsu classes, New Wave’s approach is considerably more intense.
“In Puerto Rico, it was not exaggerating 15 moves and then training,” Hooven explains. “Sometimes it’ll be like, ‘Okay, do this,’ and you and your partner get like two reps in each and then you move on to the next.”
The team also trains without music or timers—everything is in Danaher’s head.
“Sometimes we’ll do long rounds. 15 minutes is very normal for us,” she says.
Sometimes rounds extend to 25 minutes without warning, and when Gordon Ryan was preparing for no-time-limit matches, they did 30-minute rounds.
“Everybody wants that invite until they realize how hard it actually is,” Hooven notes. “It’s a really hard room and it’s not only hard because you’re training with the best athletes in the world, it’s hard to keep up with the technique. You’re getting a lot of information, and it’s hard to show up day after day when you are the worst person in the room.”
This intensity explains why not everyone who gets invited sticks around.
“We have people who have been invited and they show up for a little bit of time and they’re like, ‘It’s too hard, I’m not staying.'”
Danaher’s commitment to teaching is remarkable. He teaches four classes every weekday—two at Renzos and two at Roca—and two more on weekends. Vacations are rare, with Hooven noting that the only time she can recall him taking time off was to visit his mother in Australia.
“When he’s not teaching, he’s probably watching tape and studying,” she says. “He’ll often be like, ‘I was watching this and I found this really interesting, and here’s how we’re gonna adapt it for us.'”
Beyond the mats, the New Wave team functions as a tight-knit community.
“The core team is all pretty friendly,” Hooven says. “Especially when we first moved there because it was a very small group and we didn’t know anybody, so literally for everything it’s like, ‘Oh, Fourth of July at my house, come on over.'”
This sense of community extends to watching competitions together when they’re not competing themselves, creating bonding experiences that strengthen the team.
“It’s not just skill level, it’s way more holistic than that,” Hooven explains. “Culturally, are you a good fit? Are you a good training partner? Are you a good teammate?”
Katie Hooven‘s insights provide a fascinating look into what it takes to train at the highest levels of jiu-jitsu, painting a picture of an environment that’s simultaneously challenging, supportive, and dedicated to pushing the boundaries of the sport.
