Integrity, courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honor and loyalty. These are the seven virtues of the samurai, and the inspiration for a gym called V7 Martial Arts.
Located in Moscow, Idaho, V7 was opened in 2016 by owner Nicolae Cury.
Cury was born in Brazil and his father was a judo teacher, so he grew up with immediate exposure to martial arts. He trained in Brazil, received his third-degree black belt in judo and Brazilian jiujitsu and was an alternate for the Brazilian jiujitsu Olympic Team. He then went on to train all around the world – from Japan to Hawaii. When he came to the U.S., he began his career as an Mixed Martial Arts fighter.
Now Cury has landed in Moscow and decided to open up his own martial arts gym. He’s been teaching the craft since.
“We offer Brazilian jiujitsu, boxing, karate, judo, mixed martial arts and functional fitness classes,” Gloria Grachanin, manager and instructor at V7, said.
Grachanin began as a student under Cury before taking the position of assistant manager, then later becoming the general manager at V7.
“When I first came to the gym, I was 213 pounds,” Grachanin said. “I had gained a lot of weight, and training here with the various martial arts – mainly judo and jiujitsu – it did foster that sense of discipline. I started cleaning up my diet, doing more exercising outside of the gym, and sleeping better.”
One of the main focuses at V7 is community. Several of the members have a strong sense of respect for their peers and themselves. They look forward to competition among other martial arts athletes.
“We take you as you are,” Grachanin said. “When I first started, I remember I was absolutely terrible at it. I was so bad. I would come to Nicolae after class and I’d ask him, ‘Will I ever get this?’ And he would say ‘Just be patient Gloria, give it time.’ And that’s what I did. After about a year, it all started clicking, and then it became really fun.”
Jiujitsu student Ben McDunn, who works as a professor at the University of Idaho, has been coming to V7 for nearly three years now.
“It’s been great,” McDunn said. “I was really surprised that they have a (martial arts) gym in Moscow. I have had nothing but great experiences here.”
Another jiujitsu student, Scott Landis, has been training at the gym for a little over a year. After moving from Tennessee to Pullman, Landis said he has found a very close-knit community at V7 which has allowed him to build friendships.
“Coming from a very competitive program in Tennessee where we competed and trained, I feel like our instructors here are at that same level,” Landis said. “I do jiujitsu for a couple of reasons. The first reason is for exercise. Jiujitsu is high-level intensity training, with a practical side where if I ever needed the skills to protect myself, I would be ready to.”
Landis also competes in tournaments to test his skills against other martial artists. He has competed in Spokane, Washington most recently, as well as several other cities before moving to the Pacific Northwest. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, competitions have been put on hold. Landis said he looks forward to competing again once things open again.
Throughout the pandemic, V7 has made the member’s health and safety a top priority.
Grachanin said the classes have all been moved into small groups and students get assigned to a certain group. There is only one instructor per group, creating a little pandemic pod.
There are a couple of classes, according to Grachanin, that do not enforce the mask rule. This is due to the nature of the sport, where the students are in a higher level and therefore sparring a lot more, causing masks to slide around or fall off. If they were wearing them and they would be exposed anyway.
Having smaller groups to train in has offered many benefits, Grachanin said. One of them being the instructors are able to give more one-on-one feedback, which has been very helpful for students’ growth.
When students from one of the advanced Brazilian jiujitsu classes entered the gym, the room came to life with buzzing energy. There was a very apparent sense of respect, acceptance and community in the air.
“I would say the lifestyle of Brazilian jiujitsu has really changed me,” Grachanin said.
Ava Manning can be reached at [email protected]