Gracie Jiu-Jitsu blue belt, Houston Cottrell, 16 years old, is the youngest certified instructor with the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy, and now head instructor and owner of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Madison.

His academy is Mississippi’s only Gracie Academy-certified training center.

Having completed an extensive instructor certification program in July 2014 he became the youngest certified Gracie Jiu-jitsu Instructor.

Cottrell teaches both adults and children, with the Gracie bullyproof program.

The Gracie Academy has just made a statement in response to BJJEE’s article regarding Houston:

In 1929, the director of the Bank of Brazil, Mario Brandt, arrived for a private class at the original Gracie Academy in Rio de Janeiro, as scheduled. The instructor, Carlos Gracie, was running late and was not present. Helio, who up until that point only learned by watching his brothers, offered to begin the class with the man. When the tardy Carlos arrived offering his apologies, the student assured him it was no problem, and actually requested that he be allowed to continue learning with Helio Gracie instead. Carlos agreed to this and Helio Gracie became an instructor at 16 years of age. The rest is history.
At 16 years old, Houston Cottrell became the youngest person to ever complete the Gracie Academy Instructor Certification Program. At 17 years old, he turned an empty warehouse into a state-of-the-art Level 1 Certified Training Center and began working full time to teach Gracie Bullyproof and Gracie Combatives to a growing group of dedicated students in Madison, MS.
When you meet Houston, you realize that maturity has no age requirement, and when you see him teach, you realize that precise passionate instruction has no belt requirement.
Keep up the good work champ! We’re proud to have you as part of the family and Madison is lucky to have you leading the way!
www.graciejiujitsumadison.com