Our Story
Why VIA exists, how it started, and what we're actually building - not a mission statement, the real one.
VIA Jiu Jitsu Academy serves as the home of VIA Foundation, a nonprofit providing high-level BJJ and martial arts training at no cost to law enforcement officers and at-risk youth. That single sentence is the reason VIA exists - everything else on this page explains how we got here and what it actually looks like in practice.
Everybody wants the result. Few commit to the path that leads there. Everybody wants strength. Few are willing to stay under pressure. Everybody wants meaning. Few choose to live with intention.
VIA isn't for everyone. It never had to be. It's for those who choose the path - and choose it again, on the hard days, the uncertain days, the days no one is watching. We move forward with discipline. With purpose. With each other. Not because it's easy - but because it matters.
Choose the Path.
How It Started
VIA was co-founded by Kubi Demirhan and Matthew Franco, and the reason behind it is personal for both of them, not a business plan first.
Kubi's connection to Jiu-Jitsu started with his own transformation - after losing more than 80 pounds and completely changing his life through training, he became committed to giving other people that same opportunity. Before founding VIA, he served as a head kids coach and program director, helping build and lead successful youth programs, and coached through the New Haven Police Activity League (PAL). VIA started with one idea: build the room he wished he had walked into.
Matthew's path ran through service. After graduating high school he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, later became a Connecticut State Trooper, returned to military service with the U.S. Army, and eventually joined the Yale University Police Department, where he was assigned full-time to the New Haven Police Activity League. At PAL, he built youth wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and boxing programs from the ground up - and working directly with young people showed him firsthand how the right environment, combined with martial arts, mentorship, and discipline, can change the trajectory of a kid's life.
Both paths point at the same conclusion, which is why VIA is built the way it is: real training, real standards, and a room built on purpose for the people who need it most - not just the people who can already afford it.
One Academy, Two Missions
VIA Academy is the head brand - the training itself, open to anyone who walks in the door. Two things run underneath it:
VIA Foundation
A registered 501(c)(3) providing high-level BJJ and martial arts training at no cost to law enforcement officers and at-risk youth. A law enforcement officer trained to the equivalent of a BJJ blue belt is significantly better equipped to safely control and de-escalate a confrontation without excessive force - and a child in consistent training shows parallel improvements in emotional regulation, impulse control, confidence, and accountability. VIA Foundation exists to put both groups on the mats for free, and to bring them into the same room.
Team VIA
VIA's competition team - the athletes who take what's built on these mats and test it under real tournament pressure, representing the academy at IBJJF and regional events. This is where training becomes measurable: every scoreboard is a real check on whether the technique taught on these mats actually holds up against a resisting opponent who wants it just as badly.
This isn't casual training dressed up with a mission statement attached. It's purposeful training, built for real-world impact - and VIA is actively working to build a formal referral pipeline with Connecticut's Department of Children and Families (DCF), so at-risk youth with no parental guidance can be connected directly to the program. That partnership is a goal we're building toward, not something we're claiming is finished.
The Real Impact
Real Scholarships
Youth with no prior training have gone on to earn real academic scholarships, both high school and college.
Real Medals
Multiple students have won gold medals in local and regional competition since starting with zero grappling experience.
Growth That Holds
Discipline, emotional regulation, accountability, and leadership - the growth that shows up on and off the mat, in kids and officers alike.
Real space, built for real training - not a converted storefront with a few mats thrown down. If you want to see it before you commit to anything, that's exactly what a trial class is for.
Meet The Team
Beyond Kubi and Matthew, every coach on VIA's staff brings a real background to the mat, not a generic instructor bio. Jessen Ramcharan, Head Coach for No-Gi and the Women's Program, started out training kung fu as a kid in Trinidad and Tobago before picking up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling at 18 - nine years later he's a sponsored professional fighter with three MMA titles. Jay Gerbino leads the Judo program, holding black belts in both Judo and BJJ. Matt Cavallo, a UConn graduate and IBJJF Boston medalist, coaches with a simple philosophy: how you handle getting stuck or getting beat says more about where you'll end up than any single class does.
On the kids side, Nick Sabato, Geovani Caceres, and Akwasi Okyere all came up through real competition before they ever coached it. Geovani started BJJ at 12, brought in by his cousins, and has competed on the CT national wrestling team. Akwasi found the mats through the New Haven Police Activity League and now runs its Kids Jiu-Jitsu Program himself. Nick trains and coaches as an active amateur MMA competitor. And AJ Linet teaches Yoga & Mobility, built on more than ten years of personal training experience and a 500-hour Hatha Yoga certification.
Come see it for yourself.
Book a Free Trial Class