Michael Hillebrand Teaches Jiu Jitsu Seminar in Vietnam Ahead of 10th Planet Saigon

Before the opening of 10th Planet Saigon, 10th Planet Oakland founder and head coach Michael Hillebrand traveled to Vietnam to teach a Jiu Jitsu seminar alongside his longtime student and future business partner Damon Nguyen.

The seminar brought together grapplers from the local community for a day of no-gi training and technical instruction while Hillebrand and Nguyen continued laying the groundwork for a new 10th Planet academy in Vietnam.

That academy would become 10th Planet Saigon, another school within the 10th Planet Savages team founded by Hillebrand.

For Hillebrand, the project represented more than opening another location. Nguyen had been his student for years before becoming a coach and business partner, continuing the progression from student to academy leader.

The expansion also marked a new chapter for the Savages team, taking a coaching lineage and training culture developed over years at 10th Planet Oakland and establishing it internationally in Vietnam.

What began as a coach-and-student relationship ultimately grew into a partnership and another home for the 10th Planet Savages community.