Vince Caggiano

Greetings, everyone! 
     My name is Vince Caggiano, (pronounced, 'Smith') and I'm the lead instructor for the kids program under Gabe Shupe and Derek Cleary here at Dalton Combatives.  My jiu-jitsu journey began in early 2013, and let me tell you...I had THE most complete, well-laid plans you could ask for to wind up on a world stage, in front of thousands of screaming, adoring, fans, and be a famous cage fighter! .....Except in my planning, I'd left out a few things, which turned out to be key points in my journey.  I'd had martial arts training prior to meeting coach Jason Finnell at Veritas BJJ, but it was during my youth years, and through high school and college, and I made the mistake of trying several without seriously sticking to any one, and the result was that i didn't become especially proficient at any of them. Between Shotokan, Kung Fu, and some rudimentary combatives training at North Georgia College, I learned some different, although equally important, things.  I met Jason in 2012, hopelessly out of shape and in need of a minor surgery. He pitched the idea of jiu-jitsu to me, and I promised him I'd try it out after I got back to reasonable health and privately hatched this plan we've discussed. So I smugly attended a first class, expecting to do it for 6mos or so, get a decent skill set of ground fighting to my credit, and use my aforementioned striking skills to press my luck in MMA. Well.... it didn't take but a week, and I was hooked. Also, I remembered all the key points I'd left out of my earlier plan; I was too old, way too slow, and didn't possess anywhere near the skills I needed to survive in a cage, and the reality of all that stung....What I DID discover was that, from class no.1, I WAS COMPLETELY in love with Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and I never looked back.  Jason Finnell, Pac Lewis, Derek Cleary, Gabe Shupe, Shawn Hammonds, and Renato Tavares all played critical and significant roles in my jiu-jitsu journey, and Bob Byrd is responsible for the lions' share of my judo. I'm not leaving out anyone important on purpose, we'll just be here all day if I name all the names, (you know who you are, Black Mat crew,) and Gabe told me to keep this bio short.  Add all those skills together, and you get a worn out old jiu-jitsu black belt who loves grumbling and growling his way through the development and education of a new generation of grapplers, is warmly tolerated by their parents, and is graced with incredible training partners.  It's the best group of people with whom I've ever associated, bar none, and that's something I've said since day 1.  I would love for you to come see why.