Get to know your Professor

Spotlight on Professor Steve Moellering.

My name is Stephen Gerard Moellering Jr. and I was born December 28th 1985 at
St. Joseph Hospital in St. Charles, Mo. I graduated from Lindbergh HS in 2004 and
lived in South City St. Louis for a short time. I attended an apprenticeship school to
learn a trade and ultimately ended up welding and piledriving at the end. I did about 60
or so credit hours of Jr. College while attending a gym that’s no longer around. By 2011
I had fought a couple times in MMA and won. 

Looking forward I met my wife Jill and never looked back. We moved back out to St. Charles 
and started a life together. JiuJitsu with GB and Professor Mike Buckels started approx 2012. 
Since I’ve competed and podiumed 6 times between Pan and Worlds and podiumed/ won many times in
International championships. 

My main goal for the past few years has been spending time with my family, Jill and my daughter 
Alina, teaching, and working on a regular basis with law enforcement in and around eastern 
Missouri in defensive tactics; new and improved. I love what I do, I’ve met amazing people 
over the years and I have fun doing it.

1. Pet Memories! “I’ve always liked animals. We had horses and dogs when I was a little
kid growing up. I got my own first dog when I was 18. His name was Dodger and he was
a white and brown spotted American Bulldog mix. A buddy of mine got him from a
bulldog rescue as a puppy. Shortly after he was deployed to Iraq; I kept Dodger and
shared a good life with him until he passed at 12 years old.”

2. Favorite Hobbies/Activities! “Jiu Jitsu has been my primary lifestyle activity. I get so
much from the whole process. Diet, camaraderie, the humility of losing or failing, not
giving up and consistently problem solving. Everyday is a challenge and satisfying. Most
of my hobbies occur outdoors. I appreciate Mother Nature and what it does for me. Very
few things can lower my stress like getting deep into the woods or far out on the lake or
even the river can. A little running, swimming, fishing and hunting goes a long way.”

3. Favorite Food! “Favorite food? That’s tough, I’d say smoked ribs, corn bread and baked
beans or bone in rib-eye, asparagus and a fat piece of cheesecake.”

4. Quotes to Live By! “It’s a great life if you don’t weaken.” 
To me that means I cannot let things keep me down. Nothing, no one, no object can stop me from pushing for myself to
be where I want to be. Mentally, physically, and spiritually.

5. The Journey to Black Belt! “Staying on the black belt path for me has been about
consistency. I think it’s ok to take breaks for family, ourselves, life, but not quitting. The
thing is, for me at least, I need/ want this. I need people to shake me up and push me. I
need to be taken to my limits, my cliffs edge; Jiu Jitsu and some ultra distance running
are the only two things that can do that for me. Jiu Jitsu is by far the healthier and more
practical of the two, but nevertheless I need to be ground down and that is fun to me. So
I keep doing it.”