Franco-Brazilian, Yannick Beven is one of the first to have introduced Brazilian ju-jitsu in France. 25 years ago, he created two Brazilian ju-jitsu clubs in the Basque Country, when the discipline was still unknown.
At the microphone of Bixente Lizarazuhe tells his story and presents the specificities of this martial art.
Brazilian ju-jitsu, a “gentle” martial art
Before learning Brazilian ju-jitsu, Yannick Beven was a very high level surferand also a very good capoeira fighter. Then, thanks to an original training method, based on Brazilian ju-jitsu, capoeira and yoga, he coached several great athletes, such as Jérémy Florès, Kelly Slater and Michel Bourez.
Brazilian ju-jitsu is a very young martial art, derived from Japanese ju-jitsu and which developed in Brazil in the 1920s, thanks to the Japanese judoka Mitsuyo Maeda, then to the Gracie family. It is also through Brazilian ju-jitsu that free fights have developed., these pioneers wanting to challenge other martial arts during this kind of fights. the mmavery popular today, owes a lot to Brazilian ju-jitsu.
Virtually unknown in France 25 years ago, this martial art has developed very widely in recent years. The French Confederation of Brazilian Ju-Jitsu now has 10,000 members, with an increase of 10 to 15% per year, and about twenty competitions are organized each year. A sign of real enthusiasm, but also of legitimacy, the Judo Federation, which has long seen Brazilian ju-jitsu as a competitor, is now a valuable ally for organizing competitions.
It can be defined as ground art. Yannick Beven presents it as follows: “It’s getting to the ground as quickly as possible, breaking the distance and then starting the work of submission or immobilization, and abandonment. » Once his opponent is on the ground, there is a much larger technical panel than in other combat sports, with strangulation techniques and joint lock techniques (arms, ankles and wrists). It is therefore a sport that is both very athletic, but also technical and tactical, where the mind is extremely important.
“I think the major quality is the mind. » -Yannick Beven
You have to think very quickly in complicated situations, you have to know how to make the right decision in relation to the blows to be struck.
These are these qualities, not only physical and technical, but also mental that Yannick Beven teaches as part of the academies he created (YBJJ Academy), the first in Capbreton in 1999, then a second in Biarritz. Very recently, one of his students, Jérémy Ramillien, has just opened a new one in Pau. There, the training sessions link warm-ups, techniques and fights, through which the master of ju-jitsu claims a true philosophy : “We get people to a nice place to live, not just for the fight, but for everything else. »
In Brazil, it is also called Brazilian ju-jitsu sweet artthe “gentle art”. “It seems like a rough sport, it’s not at all, it’s soft, it’s very playful, it’s perfect, it’s complete”, concludes Yannick Beven.