Alexey Pickerell

Alexey Pickerell is the main instructor at Alexey Pickerell Jiu Jitsu in Westbrook, Maine. Born in Belém, Brazil, he began training under Master Ricardo De La Riva in 1990 and became the first of De La Riva's students to go from white belt to black belt. In 1996 he won a bronze medal in his division at the first World Jiu Jitsu Championship, and in 1998 he returned from Rio de Janeiro to Belém, where he opened his first academy and is credited with reintroducing modern jiu-jitsu to the region. Pickerell moved to the United States in 2007 and has taught in Maine since. He holds the rank of sixth-degree black belt, and the academy remains affiliated with the De La Riva team. He teaches each year at the Origin immersion camp in Maine, and his first Maine student to reach black belt, Bryan Leclerc, is now his business partner.