The First Thing That Never Bored Him

Steve Ficca came to martial arts the way a lot of kids did — through Kung Fu movies — and then through a boxing gym in a rough part of town. Judo and wrestling followed, but the schools kept shutting down. When he finally found jiu-jitsu, which he calls the most user-friendly martial art there is, something clicked that never had before. It was, he says, the first thing in his life that never bored him — and it is still the only thing.

Jiu-jitsu also became his way of seeing the world. He drove across the country competing and training, visiting more than seventy academies along the way, and he tells the story of Tammy Grego and of hitchhiking home. He won an IBJJF American Nationals title, but he is clear about what competition is for: a tool for growth, not a paycheck. Everybody, he argues, should compete at least once, because it hands you the lessons of a fight without the danger of one. His wish for students says it best: may all your hardest struggles be on the mat.

Knee injuries eventually moved him from competing to coaching, and the heart of the conversation is the kids. He talks about stoppages and learning that life isn't fair, about the hard-headed ten-year-old who became his best student, and about coaches as surrogate parents who give kids moments they carry for the rest of their lives. Looking back, he doesn't really remember the wins — it's the losses that made the changes.

He closes on the difference between tough and strong. You can be born strong, or lift weights and get strong, but toughness is something you have to carry every day. That, and plain hard work and pushing through, is what he hopes people take from the mat.