Our instructors

MEET

Leroy Soesman is the head instructor at BJJ Haarlem, and a black belt in BJJ since 2024. Fifteen years after the founding of the school Leroy took over in 2021.  Leroy has been active as an instructor in BJJ since 2018. As a math teacher he has more than ten years of experience in teaching and he brings his analytical and didactic skills to BJJ to instruct members as effective as possible. Leroy thinks that members should not only learn how to fight, but to also understand why their techniques work. That way they can learn to be effective in unfamiliar situations.

MEET

Nelson started MMA in 2013. After 6 months of training MMA and a couple of BJJ lessons, he decided to dedicate himself solely to BJJ. At the end of 2013 Nelson joined BJJ Haarlem. Here he trained under the guidance of Rickson Gracie Blackbelt Raoul Hiwat. This is also where Nelson met Leroy. In 2021, after Leroy became the owner and head coach of BJJ Haarlem, Nelson became a coach at BJJ Haarlem. Nelson likes both old school and new school BJJ, this can be seen in the old school Gi classes and the more new school oriented no-gi classes he teaches.As a coach, Nelson places an emphasis on humor and fun on the mat.  He thinks it’s important that his students have enjoy learning.