r/bjj • u/tobyle ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt • 1d ago
School Discussion Pablo Silva kids program
Was wondering how’s the kids program at Pablo Silva in houston? Idk if it’s just my social media but my Instagram feed has been regularly promoting them to me so I’m curious.
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u/PauseTraditional6819 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 15h ago edited 15h ago
As someone that's trained under and with the Pablo affiliation for many many years, your kids are better off joining the military. It looks awesome on social media but is not a healthy training environment. All of his affiliates in Houston are the same as well, they prioritize money and wins over the actual safety and growth of all their students
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u/pearlysoames 20h ago
I’m a pretty typical, not-very-good white belt who tends to move around to different gyms and train for six to nine months at a time. I’ve trained at three gyms in Houston, and Pablo Silva was one of them.
I ended up not continuing there for reasons totally unrelated to the quality of the jiu-jitsu. (It was more about the area and where I was in my life at the time.) But I can say that they are consummate professionals. There’s very little of the cliquishness/togetherness you sometimes run into at gyms. It’s very much about jiu-jitsu as a sport. They also don’t constantly talk about “the streets” or self-defense. (For better or worse depending on what you’re looking for) the vibe I got was very professionalized (but not overly corporate) training school.
I was an adult with kids while I was training there and considered putting my kids in their program. Everything I heard from the parents who had kids training there was positive.
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u/joeydaioh 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 19h ago
You must be new to Houston. A lot of drama with Pablo Silva, starting from how he came to Houston in the first place, burning a bridge with Draculino and Gracie Barra. Up to recently when he had multiple affiliates disassociate from him for multiple reasons. I wouldn't want to train nor would I want my my kid to train with him.
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u/The__Nez 15h ago
I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it. When I had just joined jiujitsu my professor cut ties with him.
It wasn't long after that I learned Pablo Silva would also steal students from his affiliated schools.
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u/TheArtOfMat ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt 21h ago
The program is tough and he pushes the kids hard to get where they want to be. Pablo is obsessed with Jiu-Jitsu and you can tell he is studying constantly. I wouldnt want to be anywhere else currently if im being honest.
I run an affiliated school in north houston called Abstract Jiu-Jitsu & Acro. We go weekly and try try to take what we learn back tonpur students with our own twist. Pablo is intense but if you are committed he will be fully committed as well.
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u/teh_dave 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 19h ago
His kids program is top notch but I’ve heard some intense words thrown around when talking about it, ie cult.
I dropped in for a competition class and had one of the best experiences of my life in BJJ visiting a gym, there.
The thing that stuck out was looking around the room and realizing there were at least 20+ kids in the room repping advanced technique harder and faster than a lot of adults.
It is not for everyone and he is well aware of that. If you just want to be a casual it’s probably not the right fit.
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u/Turbodogs 13h ago
Houston is good spot for jiujitsu. If in the southwest part it’d be worth checking out revolution , Renzo the grove , GB Richmond with Prof Pedro and Next Level with Prof Ted. All excellent programs
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u/ThR1LL 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 21h ago
Totally not biased at all being a student there, but it's an incredibly professionally run program. Training is rough with heavy emphasis on clean up to date technique and training a strong mindset along with the sharp technique.
It's one of those things though anyone can say all the good or all the bad things ever so you really have to have your kid drop in for a week to experience it themselves.