LOLAKANA MARTIAL ARTS IS A HOBBYIST GYM
IRL BJJ, no-gi jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, MMA and after-class hangouts in Victoria BC
We opened in August 2025 at 1855 Blanshard Street in downtown Victoria. Indigenous-owned, SafeSport BC certified, 20+ classes a week for adults and kids.
That's the short version. Here's the rest.
Not A Fight Team
Lolakana is a hobbyist gym.
The people here have day jobs, kids and families. Real lives outside of jiu-jitsu. We show up through the week because we love playing, not because we're building an identity around it.
No rank politics. No one hunting your neck. No pressure to compete, no side-eye if you don't.
Our kids classes run the same way. Game-based, no sparring pressure. They're there to have fun and learn something, same as the adults. Zach runs that program, and the parents here will tell you he's why their kids keep asking to come back.
Everybody on our staff is SafeSport BC certified. Our jiu-jitsu coaches are black belts.
The vibe is not.
Why This Gym Exists
In 2005 Jessica and I moved to South Korea, and I spent months trying to find a gym.
I couldn't read the language. Every club in the phone book claimed to teach jiu-jitsu and MMA and almost none of them did. After a 90-minute leglock class by a sambo competitor (a dentist by day) one of the students pointed me towards a basement in Bucheon.
That's the club I still call home.
The autumn before we moved back to Canada I'd been sick and off the mats for weeks. When I finally stopped in to say hello, 관장님 (the head of the gym) came over and asked me where I'd been. Then he went to his bag, pulled out some kind of bitter root, and told me to eat it.
That wasn't part of the transaction. He didn't owe me a remedy.
He offered because he noticed I was missing.
I've judged every gym I've walked into since by that one thing. Not the facility. Not the instruction.
Whether anybody notices you're gone.
That's what we're building here.
Who We Are
Hi, I'm Nolan, and this is Jessica.
I'm a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation
and I've been playing combat sports as a hobby since 1999. Not as a professional and not as a competitor. A purple belt who makes the 6:30am class three days a week around a full-time job in pest control.
Jessica is a lifelong dancer who got hooked on the movement side of jiu-jitsu after 2020 locked everything down.
We're both hobbyists. Show up, learn something, play, go home. That's what most people here are doing.
Neither of us teaches. Our coaches do that, and they're the reason the place works.
The Playlists
The name came first.
Lolakana Brand started in 2020, making playlists for BJJ players who were tired of algorithm-curated music. The right music should hit like a clean sweep (it should power you up without breaking your flow). Swiping through a playlist with sweaty, taped-up fingers while your brain is somewhere else?
Annoying.
No silent intros. No skits. Not the same artist eleven times.
Every one still gets built by us, cover art and all. Same with everything written here, typos included.
Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, YouTube.
Fast Facts
1
Jessica and I have been together since 2003, married since 2008. Sometimes that feels like a really long time. Most days we're each other's favourite people to be be around
2
We lived in South Korea in the late 2000s. Jessica ran a preschool, I taught English to everyone from preschoolers to adults and dabbled in corporate consulting.
3
Home to Canada in 2008, and on the West Coast (best coast) ever since.
4
I'm a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation; Jessica is of German ancestry
5
The two of us are Formula 1 and MotoGP nuts. Sundays and Saturdays our phones are off and the races are on
Questions People Ask
Jessica and I do. I'm a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation, so Lolakana is Indigenous-owned. I'm a purple belt and I don't teach (our coaches run the classes)
Our coaches do. They're black belts in jiu-jitsu and SafeSport BC certified across the board. Zach runs our kids program
August 2025. The name is older than the gym: Lolakana started in 2020 as a music playlist project, and the academy came later.
1855 Blanshard Street in downtown Victoria, BC, right next to Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. Free parking on site, and the side door near the food trucks is our front door
Brazilian jiu-jitsu, no-gi jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, MMA and boxing, for adults and kids, across 20+ classes a week
No. Most people who start here have never done martial arts before, and the first week is free so you can try it without committing to anything
Come Try A Class
The first week is free, adults and kids. Every regular class on the schedule, open mats included. No gear to buy and nothing to commit to.
Email hello@lolakana.com and we'll get you on the schedule.
Lolakana Martial Arts
1855 Blanshard Street, Victoria BC V8T4H9
Free parking on site. The side door near the food trucks is our front door.
