Meet Your Coaches
Decades of competition, coaching, and study distilled into every class. Learn from black belts who still compete, still evolve, and still show up.
Built by Black Belts
Our instructors bring real competition pedigree and years of teaching to every session on the mat.
Tyrone Garcia
Head Instructor & Owner
Black belt awarded by JT Torres and Joseph Thompson. IBJJF Pan medalist, AJP Gold medalist, and undefeated across multiple pro rule sets. Founded Lucid Jiu Jitsu to bring technically driven, community-centered training to Long Island.
Professor Everett
Senior Instructor
First American black belt under Professor Alexander "Soca" Freitas. IBJJF World Championship bronze medalist. A lifelong martial artist with deep roots in Judo, Karate, Hung Gar, and Kodokan systems, bringing a uniquely cross-disciplinary perspective to every lesson.
The mat doesn't care about your ego. It rewards consistency, curiosity, and the willingness to be a beginner over and over again. That's what we teach here.
The coaching philosophy at Lucid Jiu Jitsu
Tyrone Garcia
Head Instructor & Owner
Background
Tyrone Garcia is a Long Island based Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, academy owner, and coach with 13 years of training and 8 years of teaching experience.
After moving to Long Island from Queens at 6 years old, Tyrone always stayed active through PAL soccer, skateboarding, and BMX. While he enjoyed the physicality and freedom of those activities, it wasn't until he enrolled in a Tae Kwon Do school that he recognized his deeper affinity for martial arts.
At age 22, Tyrone began training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Gracie Barra Long Island, an experience that marked a decisive turning point. The technical complexity, live sparring format, and long-term skill development inherent in Jiu Jitsu immediately resonated with him. From that point forward, he immersed himself in training while balancing part-time work and pursuing his college degree.
Since then he has trained at multiple prominent academies, and is currently actively training at Essential Jiu-Jitsu in White Plains, New York.
Coaching & Academy Experience
Competitive Achievements
- Multiple-time IBJJF Open and Pan medalist (Adult & Masters divisions)
- Gold Medalist — AJP Bogota, Colombia (2025), Black Belt Division
- Undefeated record in Finishers, Rise Invitational, and SoGi
- Active competitor representing Essential Jiu Jitsu since 2017
Professor Everett
Senior Instructor
Martial Arts Journey
Professor Everett began his martial arts journey at the age of 10, training in Judo and Karate at his local neighborhood community center. Inspired by the martial arts cinema of his youth, his early foundation in Japanese systems cultivated discipline, structure, and respect for traditional budo.
As a teenager, he transitioned his focus from Japanese Karate to Chinese martial arts. He briefly studied Tang Fong Hung Ga at the Chinatown clinic of Chiu Wai under Sifu Frank Yee Chi Wai. He later continued his training at the Harlem YMCA and Tong Dojo with Sifu Carl Albright, immersing himself for many years in Hung Gar, Choy Lee Fut, and Lama Pai — systems known for their depth, structural power, and combative realism.
Professor Everett further expanded his classical training in Kodokan Judo at Kyodai Dojo under the late Altha Williamson, and in Nihon Shorinji Kempo at the Ken Zen Institute with Sensei Yukihiro Miyata.
Philosophy & Cross-Disciplinary Study
A lifelong martial arts enthusiast, Professor Everett is deeply committed to the study and preservation of traditional systems. He takes particular interest in exploring the shared principles that connect diverse disciplines — timing, structure, leverage, and intent — and enjoys engaging in thoughtful discussion on the technical and philosophical commonalities across the collective arts.
Competitive Achievements
- First American black belt under Professor Alexander "Soca" Freitas
- Currently ranked 4th Degree Black Belt
- Champion, 2007 Renzo Gracie Invitational
- Champion, 2002 & 2003 NAGA (Gi & No Gi Divisions)
- Champion, 2002 & 2003 Grapplers Quest (Gi & No Gi Divisions)
- Bronze Medalist, 2015 IBJJF World Championship (Masters Division)