In Rouen, there is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu club that belongs to no franchise, answers to no parent academy, and still gathered more than 300 members in five seasons. Akela Jiu Jitsu was founded in 2021 by Sébastien Lecocq, alongside his friends Alexandre Fromangé and Tim Rousel. Five years on, the club runs 15 classes a week with 4 instructors, from the first trial session all the way to the competition mats.
Behind that growth there is a clear project, a founder with a serious record, and an organisation that managed to keep up. Akela is also one of the clubs running its entire day to day operation on OSS Academy.
An independent club that became a Rouen landmark
Starting a club with no affiliation means giving up the comfort of a network: no ready-made curriculum, no inherited reputation, no famous logo on the gi. Akela made that choice back in 2021 and stuck with it.
The bet paid off. Season after season, the club built its name on the quality of its teaching rather than on a label, until it became a club of more than 300 members in Rouen. Today more than 300 practitioners train at Akela over a season, at every level: complete beginners who walk in each September, and competitors who spend their weekends on the tournament circuit.
Fifteen weekly slots, four instructors, an active kids program: the structure of a professional club, one that stayed independent.
Sébastien Lecocq, an international competitor leading the project
Akela’s founder did not come to BJJ by accident. Sébastien Lecocq is a black belt, 3rd degree IBJJF. His BJJ record speaks for itself:
- Multiple-time CFJJB black belt French champion, in both adult and master divisions
- Adult black belt absolute French champion in 2019
- 3rd at the IBJJF European Championship, master black belt
That background feeds straight back into the club. An instructor who still competes passes on more than a catalogue of techniques: a sense of timing, how to manage a match, how to build up to a deadline. At Akela, that standard reaches the recreational classes too, without turning the club into a competition factory.
The kids program, building the next generation
It is often the best measure of a club’s health: the children’s class. At Akela, the kids program has its own slots and its own teaching approach. Children first learn how to fall, how to move, how to respect a partner, long before anyone talks about guard passing.
Season after season, that program grows alongside the club, and its ecosystem does the rest: the older ones show the younger ones, and the younger ones watch the older ones compete.
How the club uses OSS Academy
Running 300 members, 15 weekly classes and 4 instructors means constantly tracking sign-ups, payments, attendance and gym access. Sébastien wanted a tool built by people who know the mats, not a generic management package hastily adapted to martial arts.
With OSS Academy, Akela centralises:
- Members: one club roster, always current, available in seconds
- Attendance: the roll is taken at the start of class and each member’s attendance rate is calculated automatically
- Payments: regular, tracked inside the app, with no endless manual chasing
- Access control: only members in good standing get into the gym
- Communication: club news lands directly on members’ phones
There is one more use, a less obvious one. Sébastien was planning to rebuild the club website from scratch. Since OSS Academy gives every academy a public web page in the club’s colours, always up to date, Akela made it their official site. A page included in the subscription that shows the schedule and practical information, and never has to be updated twice.
The result is a club of more than 300 members run without administrative overload, where the time saved goes back where it belongs: onto the mats.
Do you run a BJJ, grappling or wrestling academy? Create your academy on OSS Academy and focus on your students.
Sébastien Lecocq
Founder and head instructor
BJJ black belt, 3rd degree IBJJF, multiple-time CFJJB black belt French champion
