If you have ever had an opportunity to come together with a community in order to work towards a big, common goal, you will understand how impressive and special the new mat installation was at Roma Jiu Jitsu Academy. So many individuals gave up their weekend to take part in the massive undertaking that this was, and it was truly amazing to witness.
Although planning began months before, the installation began on a rainy Saturday morning in March. The academy was already buzzing with activity when I walked in that morning, with the old mats getting rolled up and put aside. Then, an army of drill-wielding individuals stepped into place, unscrewing all of the screws from the top layer of the plywood floor and surrounding frame.
In order to use resources wisely, Jamie marked the boards that were used for the original mat structure so that they could be reused in the most efficient way for the new mat. This required a puzzle-like configuration since the new mat layout would be much larger than the original and pieces had to be put together just right. Once everything was labeled and organized correctly, the top layer of boards was removed and the bottom layer flipped over to pull off the foam blocks.
After the foam was mostly removed, in came the vacuums to clean up all the dust and debris before the new mats were installed. It took a team of vacuums and brooms to get everything cleaned up and people slipped wordlessly into the various jobs without even being asked to make sure momentum was never lost.
Once things were sufficiently cleaned, boards were marked with a template for the placement of the new foam blocks, Velcro was adhered to keep the plywood in place, and everything was laid out on the floor to be sure of the placement and sizing. Cuts to the plywood were able to be made at this point and things were really cruising along.
The pace didn’t slow down at all through Saturday night, despite it being an incredibly long day. A crew stayed until midnight in order to make sure the frame was fully done and ready for the mats the next day! 1,200 blocks of foam had to be glued to the bottom layer of the mat, followed by piecing together all the plywood sheets on both the top and bottom. They had to fit together just right or all the measuring and cutting would have been for nothing. The guys in charge of measuring did an incredible job and allowed room for the side door to open with less than an inch to spare. Talk about maximizing space!
By Sunday morning everything was ready for the new Dollamur mats to be delivered and brought into place. Bringing the mats up to the second floor was quite the endeavor and once again required a small army of people to help. Because of the size of the mat rolls, they had to be partially unrolled and then carefully wound up the stairs and into the academy.
Eventually, all sections were brought up and the process of rolling them out onto the floor began. This ended up being trickier than anticipated, as the length of the mats was difficult to get just right in terms of placement. It also required careful attention as they were rolled out to make sure that the velcro strips along the edges were perfectly aligned with no wrinkles or excessive overlap. Many hands (and feet) were also needed to make sure that the mat section already down was held tightly into place and snug against the edge of the frame.
Eventually, the mats were fully rolled out and it began to look like a finished space again! All that was left to do was cut off the excess to make everything fit perfectly into the frame. It was not an easy or simple task, but it went fairly quickly, and things ended up fitting perfectly!
The relief to be done with the project was palpable, as was the pride of having things turn out so well. The academy looked like a brand new space just with that fresh, larger mat. Thank you to Jamie and Kawika for all of your planning, organization, and attention to detail so that everything could move so smoothly, and thank you to all of those who dedicated their time to help get this massive project done! It was an impressive feat that was special to experience! The excitement didn’t end there, though. Jamie told me that seeing the reaction of students that following week as they came to class and saw the mats for the first time was really special and fun!
“Huge mahalo to everyone who helped with the installation of our new subfloor and mats! We truly can’t thank you enough! Because of our Roma ‘Ohana, we were able to complete the entire build in only 2 days! Special thanks to Lance for handling all the shipping and helping us get everything here on time, Aleks for helping with special cuts on the lumber, Leebert and Kobay for taking the lead on the build of the subfloor and making our vision come to life, Abby and Unko Carl for capturing some amazing pictures of the project, and every single person who contributed their time, energy, skill and muscle to this project! We look forward to enjoying these mats for years to come!” - Professor Kawika & Jamie
