Dan “TrumpetDan” Lukehart is the owner and head instructor at Brea Jiu-Jitsu. Dan has been training Jiu-Jitsu since January of 2006 and is a black belt under Beneil Dariush since 2013
Many in the Jiu-Jitsu community are aware of Coach Dan through an instructional series he released on YouTube in 2010 that incorporated a then novel approach of reverse engineering a competitor and teaching it in a systematic lesson based format. Through the videos, he developed a niche early for having an analytic based approach to learning.
As this niche was developing and evolving he received an invitation to be the commentator for the IBJJF World Championships, IBJJF No-Gi World Championships, IBJJF Pan Championships and IBJJF Masters Worlds during the BudoVideos era. Coach Dan can be heard in all the biggest matches of this time period. He pushed the boundaries by making a conscious decision to include more rules based and strategic commentary in an era where this was very controversial.
In 2014, he partnered with BudoVideos to produce a top selling instructional on the closed guard – The Science of The Closed Guard. In 2015 he launched JiuJitsu.net, an innovative website incorporating the latest learning theories from which to learn Jiu-Jitsu online. This website graphed all of Jiu-Jitsu via nodes and edges and innovated in a number of different areas. With Jiu-Jitsu properly graphed in this manner, different learning algorithms could be used to present the information in customizable curricula with different visualizations of the options present at each phase.
Through the JiuJitsu.net banner, Coach Dan ran a series of then uncommon prize money tournaments with high quality live streams. These tournaments broke new ground and were designed to showcase to the world what young talented competitors were capable of in mixed belt, mixed aged tournaments. In the worlds first true open tournament (any weight, any belt, any age), it was the 13-15 year old teens who dominated, not the seasoned brown and black belts which sent ripples through the community and changed the perception of the talent contained in the juvenile divisions.
Kaynan Duarte and Diego “Pato” – both now black belt adult world champions – rolling together at Brea Jiu-Jitsu as purple belts.
When Brea Jiu-Jitsu opened in 2012, Coach Dan was committed to doing things differently. One aspect of that was to open the doors to athletes from any school/affiliation regardless of BJJ politics. Over the course of the past decade, this reputation has grown, particularly in Brazil, Europe and Australia. Many regularly stay at Brea Jiu-Jitsu for both brief and extended periods and become regular faces at the gym. Many have gone on to become the biggest names in BJJ and visit often. This environment benefits all.
Nolan Stuart wins 5 matches to win the adult Pan Championship.
Coach Dan has produced from scratch those that have medaled in the adult division of IBJJF Pans, IBJJF Worlds, IBJJF Masters Worlds and IBJJF No Gi Worlds. While his online reputation is of that of an analytic based approach, only through a combination of analysis and tough training can you achieve success at this level. Coach Dan’s students also regularly test themselves and local tournaments such as NABJJF, JJWL, Dream and others.
Dan has a rich background with the city of Brea having grown up in Country Hills Estates and attended Olinda Elementary, Brea Jr. High and Brea High School. He has worked developing, teaching and supervising after school band and enrichment programs under Creative Brain Learning and served as Brea Olinda Unified School District’s elementary school band director.
