MANALAPAN, NJ — A new grappling and jiu-jitsu studio has come to Monmouth County.
Lucky Cat Grappling Co., located off Park Avenue in Manalapan, officially opened its doors to customers in August. And while the gym is new, jiu-jitsu has been in the lives of co-founders Steve Zigari, Den Pestalozzi and Alex Roberts much longer.
“Jiu-jitsu has been part of our lives for a really long time,” Pestalozzi told Patch. “We all got to know each other in college and Steve [Zigari] got us into training first. He’s definitely the most senior of the group, but we’ve been doing it for a collective 40 years at this point.”
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According to Pestalozzi, the idea to open a grappling and jiu-jitsu academy started as a joke. But the more the three talked about it, the more serious the idea became.
“One day Steve kind of approached everyone and was like ‘let’s do it,’” Pestalozzi said. “And the rest is history.”
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At Lucky Cat, Zigari said the gym encompasses a variety of grappling-focused arts and specializes in curated martial arts training for kids and adults.
Together, the three have blended a collective 40 years of experience into their own specific brand of disciplines they call “American Jiu Jitsu.”
“It’s a little weird because sometimes people will ask us like ‘What is American Jiu Jitsu versus Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?’” Zigari said. “And it really just is that on the East Coast, wrestling and grappling and all of these things kind of blend together.”
Though Lucky Cat is putting its own spin on the arts with American Jiu-Jitsu, the gym still takes plenty of inspiration and influence from the cultures martial arts originated. The name “Lucky Cat,” for instance, is a longstanding talisman representing good fortune and prosperity, according to the gym’s website.
The founders chose the name “Lucky Cat” not only for its representation of luck and prosperity, Zigari said, but also because they want to encourage students to make their own luck.
“We’re in here working hard,” Zigari said. “And when we’re bringing up hardware, we’re not sitting here saying ‘Oh, I got lucky’ or ‘That person got lucky and won that match.’ Like, no, we’re outworking everybody and bringing that vibe and culture in with us.”
Though Lucky Cat offers training for more advanced or competitive martial artists, they also offer classes for beginners and people who haven’t tried martial arts before.
According to the gym’s founders, Lucky Cat is a space for everyone. Whether you’ve been practicing martial arts all your life, or you’re just looking for a new way to work out, the founders encourage people to stop by and give grappling and American Jiu-Jitsu a try.
“We work with people who are realtors and want to feel safe on the job, we work with people who are a couple of months postpartum and trying to get in shape or feel more confident,” Zigari said. “Working with the community has been cooler than we ever expected.”
More than anything, the founders said they want Lucky Cat to help people who come to them for training and classes.
Though martial arts is often seen as a form of self-defense, Pestalozzi said it’s also self-empowering and, more importantly, fun.
“One of the things that people think about martial arts is that it’s for tough guys, right? It’s bravo, it’s macho,” Pestalozzi said. “But once you get on the mat for a little while and get past that sort of initial awkwardness of like ‘Oh, what am I doing?’ it becomes a silly, good time. It’s as serious as you want to make it.”
“It’s been a great experience so far,” Roberts added. “It’s been really fun for people in the community, and it’s been fun for us as well.”
To learn more about Lucky Cat Grappling Co., you can visit their website.
Lucky Cat Grappling Co. is located at 205 Park Avenue, Manalapan.
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