Boulder BJJ Department Head Flynn Burlew: From Shy Kid Kid to Martial Arts Leader
If you’ve ever walked into Easton Training Center Boulder for an orientation, there’s a good chance the first person who welcomed you onto the mats once couldn’t bring himself to order at a restaurant.
At just 22 years old, Flynn Burlew has held the role of BJJ Department Head at Easton Training Center Boulder for three years – a striking contrast from the aforementioned kid too shy to engage with the outside world. Alongside his responsibility to all of Boulder’s Jiu Jitsu coaches, the purple belt teaches numerous classes a week.
Rather than rapid advancement or talent, journeys like Flynn’s hinge on community: what happens when a kid grows up inside a community that teaches confidence, compassion, and how to take someone’s back.
Flynn started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu the way many kids start soccer. His parents knew he needed an activity, and nothing else seemed to stick. Easton Boulder had just opened its kids program in 2007, and at four years old, Flynn became one of its earliest students. Though it took a little while for Jiu Jitsu to become a constant, taking months off and returning, everything changed around age 13 when he began wanting to go to class.
His earliest memories on the mats became the lessons woven into every kids’ mat chat. One that particularly impacted Flynn had to do with anti-bullying. In third grade, Flynn used the mat chat strategy (stand tall, look them in the eye, say ‘stop’ clearly and confidently, and don’t back down) to stand up to a bully on the playground. It worked!
At this moment, Flynn realized that Jiu Jitsu didn’t just serve as a sport; it could shape how he navigated the world. Years later, the only time he would use physical technique off the mats came when Flynn jumped in to de-escalate an actual fight between two boys in a high school locker room. He brought one of them deadweight to a seat on the ground, in a dragging rear naked choke, an instinctive, controlled response pulled straight from fundamentals class.
Stepping into leadership
The biggest impact Jiu Jitsu has served, however, roots in the very heart of confidence. Physically, this has helped Flynn push himself in class and in competition, and socially as each roll introduces a new interaction and completely new experience. This goes even further as he shares his passion with others through coaching and leadership.
As a kid and teenager, he describes himself as “brutally shy.” Talking to strangers, speaking up, even ordering food felt like an ordeal. Through the teens program, coaches like Mike Tousignant encouraged students to engage, share thoughts and build their voices.
When Professor Alex Huddleston arrived in Boulder in 2019, he saw something in Flynn and pushed him to help on the mats, making Flynn his unofficial uke.
This led to Flynn coaching, starting with orientations and later BJJ Fundamentals and Intermediate. Though his first time leading an orientation happened out of necessity when another coach didn’t show, that single moment forced him to speak, guide and welcome new students. He realized he actually liked talking to people about Jiu Jitsu!
“One of the most rewarding moments to this day,” Flynn says, “is when someone nervous to come in leaves orientation excited and signs up after class. I’m so excited that someone can hopefully fall in love with what I love.”
Navigating imposter syndrome
At nineteen years old and still a blue belt, Flynn became Boulder’s youngest BJJ Department Head. The path came naturally, but the confidence took time. Surrounded by coaches and peers with long professional histories, he often felt the weight of being the youngest leader in the room.
All the people Flynn works with and admires have so much prior experience to lean into, like the people skills Boulder’s GM Matt Bloss honed through years of working as a DJ. While he had two jobs before working in the academy, including three seasons of Boulder County Youth Core and as a busser at the Melting Pot, Easton made up the bulk of Flynn’s professional career.
This can make it easy for imposter syndrome to creep in, especially during tough conversations with students or when giving direction to coaches older than he was, but thanks to support from his fellow coaches (many of whom are close friends – shout out Fernie, Dan and Vi), Flynn has grown into his role and found his footing. He’s learned to trust his own judgment and appreciate the unique perspective that over 18 years on Easton’s mats has given him.
Matt also taught him to approach every difficult conversation with empathy: assume ignorance, not malice. Flynn still rehearses these talks for days, but he now has the tools (and support) to navigate them with clarity.
“Instead of approaching a difficult conversation with anger,” says Flynn, “approach it as an educator. It takes a lot of the load off, taking the emotion out.”
[Community: the Heartbeat of Easton Training Center]
Building a second home for others
Over the years, Easton became his anchor in more ways than one. “All my friends are at Easton now,” Flynn says. “It’s my second home.”
He even has an Easton tattoo on his arm as a symbol of everything the academy has given him. From support during some of the darkest moments in his life to a place where he feels valued, needed and seen, the academy has continued to provide opportunity and new levels of learning and connection.
Now, Flynn can help others grow along their path. Moments with students reinforce this: a competitor asking Flynn to sit in his corner for the Solid Series, or the early moment when a firefighter twice his age pulled him aside to ask for life advice from the perspective of a coach. These instances made Flynn realize what he does truly matters.
Outside of his professional career, on the mats, his style follows the teachings of Professor Huddleston — always hunting the back. Flynn loves the guard, and has grown comfortable using his size as a heavyweight. His technical go-to sequence includes pulling guard, sweeping (he loves De La Riva), knee slicing to north-south, and from there, attacking gift-wrap transitions into an armbar or back take, and finishing with his favorite bow-and-arrow choke.
Flynn’s journey tells the story of how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and the Easton community, can shape someone from the inside out. And for Flynn, it’s only the beginning.
