Training Jiu-Jitsu in Albuquerque: Our Family’s Drop-In Experience

One of our favorite parts of traveling full-time has been getting to train at jiu-jitsu and wrestling gyms all over the country.

Sometimes we research a gym for weeks because we’re staying somewhere specifically to train.

Other times, we pull into a city, realize we have a free evening, and start looking for somewhere the kids can get on the mats.

Albuquerque was the second kind.

We were in the middle of a roughly 2,500-mile trip from California to South Texas and only staying in Albuquerque for one night. After getting our RV settled at Enchanted Trails RV Park, we realized we had enough time to squeeze in some training.

That one free evening ended up giving us two very different jiu-jitsu experiences.

We dropped into The War Room first, where all three kids were able to train. Then the girls finished the evening at Carlson Gracie Albuquerque/Coyote Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy, where they joined an advanced class taught by 7th-degree coral belt Daniel “Coyote” Souza.

Both gyms welcomed our family and allowed the kids to train for free, but for what our girls currently need from a room, Carlson Gracie Coyote ended up being an especially memorable stop.

Quick Links

What We Look for When Training on the Road

Training while traveling has taught us that finding a “good gym” and finding the right room for your particular kid aren’t necessarily the same thing.

Our three kids aren’t all looking for the same experience.

Forest is still young enough that a welcoming room, good instruction and kids around his age can make a class worthwhile.

Our older girls need something different. They train regularly, so when we’re traveling, we’re usually hoping to find experienced kids, a faster pace and partners who can really push them.

That distinction mattered in Albuquerque.

We only trained one night at each gym, so this isn’t meant to be a comprehensive review of either program. It’s simply what our family experienced as traveling drop-ins on that particular night.

Our First Stop: The War Room

We started at The War Room.

Forest joined one class while the girls trained together in another.

Our first impression was positive.

There were a lot of kids on the mats, both classes had brown-belt coaches, and everyone was kind and welcoming to our family.

That’s something I never take for granted when we’re dropping into a gym.

Walking into an established room where everyone already knows one another can be intimidating for kids, especially when you’re only there for a night. We never felt like we were inconveniencing anyone or weren’t supposed to be there.

The kids were welcomed right into class.

For Forest, it worked well.

For the girls, however, the class felt more beginner-oriented than what we were hoping to find.

That isn’t necessarily a criticism of the program.

Beginner-focused classes are incredibly important, and depending on your child’s experience level, that may be exactly what you’re looking for.

But because our girls already train regularly and we’re specifically looking for tougher partners when we travel, we decided to try another room later that evening.

Carlson Gracie Albuquerque / Coyote BJJ

Our second stop was Carlson Gracie Albuquerque, also known as Coyote Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy.

This was much closer to what we’d been looking for.

The girls were able to join an advanced gray-belt-and-above class, which immediately gave them access to more experienced training partners.

And then there was the instructor.

The class was taught by Master Daniel “Coyote” Souza, a 7th-degree coral belt.

According to the academy, Souza began training judo in 1981 and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1985. He began teaching BJJ in 1993, eventually founded Coyote Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Brazil and later established the academy in Albuquerque as part of Carlson Gracie Team. (Coyote BJJ)

This was the first time our girls had ever taken a class taught by a coral belt.

That alone made the stop pretty special.

The Training

More important than someone’s belt, though, is what actually happens once your kids get on the mat.

The girls had an excellent class.

They found experienced partners who were able to challenge them, and the overall level and pace were much closer to what we’d been hoping to find.

That’s usually one of the hardest parts of traveling with kids who train seriously.

You can find a beautiful academy.

You can find great coaches.

You can find a huge kids program.

But if your child doesn’t have anyone reasonably close to their size and experience level who can push them, it may not accomplish what you were hoping to get from a drop-in.

On this particular night, Carlson Gracie Coyote checked that box for our girls.

The room was tough without feeling unfriendly.

That’s probably my favorite combination.

The Facility

The facility itself also surprised us.

It was huge.

Beyond the jiu-jitsu training space, there was an upstairs workout area filled with seemingly every type of strength and conditioning machine you could ask for.

We’ve trained in everything from tiny local rooms to enormous martial arts facilities while traveling, and this was definitely one of the more impressive setups we’ve walked into.

But the facility wasn’t what made us want to return.

It was the room.

The girls got good rounds, learned from an extremely experienced instructor and felt welcomed despite being complete strangers who were disappearing again the next day.

That’s what matters to us.

A Competition Room, Too

After our visit, I did a little more digging into the program, and the competition results help explain why we were able to find the type of partners we did.

At the 2026 Albuquerque Kids International Open, Carlson Gracie Team finished second overall in the kids competition, including first in the Pee Wee team standings and podium finishes across the other youth age groups.

At the adult/juvenile Albuquerque International Open the same weekend, Carlson Gracie Team finished second overall in gi and first overall in no-gi.

Competition results aren’t everything—we’ve visited excellent rooms that aren’t tournament-focused at all—but if you’re specifically traveling with competitive kids and looking for experienced partners, they’re another useful piece of information.

What About Younger or Beginner Kids?

I wouldn’t take our experience and assume Coyote is only for advanced kids.

The academy currently advertises kids and teen programs and lists youth classes throughout the week, along with gi, no-gi, judo, Muay Thai and adult training.

We simply happened to attend the advanced class that best matched what our girls needed.

Likewise, I wouldn’t dismiss The War Room because its classes felt more beginner-oriented on the night we visited.

If I had a newer child looking for a large, welcoming kids class, our experience there would actually make me comfortable trying it.

This is why I think firsthand gym reviews need context.

The question isn’t only:

“Is this a good gym?”

It’s:

“Is this a good gym for my kid, at their current age, size, experience and goals?”

Those can have completely different answers.

Dropping In While Traveling

Both academies were incredibly generous with us.

We paid nothing for either drop-in.

I wouldn’t assume that means visiting families will always train for free—drop-in policies can change, and gyms have every right to charge visitors.

We always recommend contacting a gym before arriving, explaining that you’re traveling, telling them your children’s ages and experience levels, and asking which class would be the best fit.

For experienced kids in particular, I would ask more than simply, “Do you have a kids class?”

Ask whether they have:

  • Kids around your child’s age and approximate size.
  • Experienced gray/yellow/orange/green belts.
  • A competition or advanced class.
  • Live rounds during the class you’re considering.
  • Gi or no-gi that particular day.

Those questions have helped us tremendously when we’re trying to find worthwhile training during a short stop.

Would We Train in Albuquerque Again?

Absolutely.

We only had one night, which means I wouldn’t pretend we’ve figured out the entire Albuquerque jiu-jitsu scene.

We haven’t.

There are other academies we didn’t visit, different classes can have completely different groups of kids on different nights, and one drop-in is only a snapshot of a program.

But our experience was enough to know that Albuquerque has legitimate options for traveling families who want to keep their kids training.

The War Room gave all three kids a welcoming place to get on the mats.

Carlson Gracie Coyote gave our girls exactly the kind of advanced room we’d been hoping to find.

And getting to learn from a coral belt while randomly passing through New Mexico was one of those opportunities we never could have planned when we first started traveling.

Final Verdict

Our Albuquerque training night was absolutely worth squeezing into an already packed travel day.

The War Room was welcoming, had plenty of kids on the mats and gave all three of our children an opportunity to train. Based solely on the classes we attended, it felt better suited to beginner or developing students than what our older girls were looking for that evening.

Carlson Gracie Albuquerque/Coyote BJJ was the standout for our girls. The advanced gray-belt-and-above class gave them tougher partners, the facility was excellent, and being taught by Daniel Souza—a 7th-degree coral belt—made it a particularly memorable drop-in.

If we returned to Albuquerque tomorrow and were choosing specifically for our older girls at their current level, Coyote would be the room we’d return to based on this experience.

For Forest or a newer student, I’d be perfectly comfortable looking at The War Room again depending on the class and available partners.

Most importantly, both places treated our traveling family kindly.

When you’re walking into gyms all over the country as strangers, that matters.

Read More

This Albuquerque training stop happened during our 10-day RV trip from California to South Texas:

Similar Posts