Instructors

Shane Weinreis (Professor, GJJ Black Belt - Head Instructor Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Billings) has been doing martial arts for 37 years. He was thrilled to train in any art that he could find, starting with Karate and Kung Fu in his early teens. While serving in the US Marine Corps, Shane taught Marine Corps Hand to Hand Combat to Security Forces Marines (not USMC certified), served as a HRST Master (Helicopter Rope Suspension Training), served as an EMT, Rescue Swimmer, and member of a Hostage Rescue / Reconnaissance Team. While living in Japan, Shane took up kickboxing with some very talented Japanese Kickboxing Instructors. Shane had his first introduction to Jiu-jitsu in 1995 from a very talented Marine 'Vince'.  After the Marine Corps, Shane focused on Tae-Kwondo and Judo. After receiving his brown belt in Tae-Kwondo and his 2nd Black Belt in Judo, Shane began his Jiu-Jitsu journey in 2000 under Sylvio Behring. He has competed in numerous martial arts tournaments with many 1st and 2nd place wins. He has taught Judo, Jiu-Jitsu, Tae-Kwondo, and MMA. As a law enforcement officer for 18 years, Shane served as a SWAT Operator, certified Law Enforcement Defense Tactics Instructor, and a state certified Ground Fighting Instructor. In 2013 Shane became a certified Gracie Instructor through the Gracie Academy in Torrance CA, under Ryron and Rener Gracie. Shane’s passion is helping adults and children learn how to defend themselves before they need it! Shane’s real world combat experience combined with his martial arts experience, and phenomenal instructors enable him to teach Real World Self Defense to people of all ages, sizes, and abilities.

Marc Snider has a martial arts background including Taekwondo and Judo but fell in love with Gracie Jiu-Jitsu when he began training with Professor Shane Weinreis several years ago.  Growing up in the small town of Harlem Montana, Marc spent his summers competing with the Federation Swim Team where he finished in the top 5 in the state in his events every year.  When he turned 18, he became the coach of the Harlem Swim Team, leading his 22-member team to a 2nd place finish at State, despite the fact that many of his swimmers began the season not knowing how to swim!  Marc was inspired to pursue a career in Law-Enforcement after a friend lost his life in the line of duty.  Marc has been a police officer with the city of Billings since 2009. In addition to patrol duties, he holds specialized positions as a Fatal Crash Investigator, Field Training Officer, Firearms Instructor, Yellowstone County Multi-Jurisdictional Alcohol Enforcement Officer, and assists with defensive tactics training at both Billings Police Dept. and the Montana Law Enforcement Academy in Helena. Marc has a strong drive to ensure that everyone in class learns the techniques by keeping the atmosphere fun and family friendly.  He is looking forward to the challenging journey that is jiu-jitsu and can't wait to continue to teach the students.  Marc's favorite quote: "don't forget to breathe."

Emarie Skelton (amazing kids Instructor) thought that being a martial arts master would be cool when she was a kid, largely due to 'The Karate Kid' and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She never studied martial arts, though, taking up a passion for soccer instead. After ten years of competitive soccer interspersed with other seasonal sports, like tennis and swimming, Emarie was reintroduced to martial arts by a friend in college who had just started studying jiu-jitsu. Two years and a cross-country move to Montana later, Emarie decided to give it a try and became a student at SK Martial Arts. Jiu-jitsu turned out to be everything she hoped a martial art could be: fun, challenging, encouraging, and competitive, and has the added advantage of being practical. It really is the foundation for every-day self-defense, which is important to Emarie, since she walks to and from work in downtown Billings. Emarie earned her blue belt in June of 2017 and continues to participate in every class SK Martial Arts offers. Years of experience working with kids in summer camps and youth programs have equipped her to be an engaging, high-energy kids' class instructor. She loves her students' enthusiasm and watching them grow in confidence through jiu-jitsu. "Those kids are the highlight of my week, every week." Emarie became a Certified Gracie Combatives Instructor in January of 2018 and looks forward to being a student of jiu-jitsu for the rest of her life.

Clint Gramza
Clint Gramza grew up in rural western Montana where confrontations are uncommon and martial arts schools are few and far between. As a result, the thought of one day learning martial arts remained in the background. In time, Clint realized that while beginning training was easy to postpone, natural athletic ability and strength simply wasn’t enough to guarantee safety. He understood that putting off learning this essential skill would mean he would never attempt it, so with new resolve he set out to find a place to train. Graice Jiu-Jitsu Billings was his choice because of the friendliness and knowledge of the instructors, the fun and safe training environment, and the structured, self-defense focused curriculum. The more Clint trained the more he enjoyed sharing his experience with other students as much as personal advancement. When it was time to test for his Combatives Belt, Clint knew that he wanted to go through the additional training required to become an instructor. Clint became a Gracie Certified Instructor in January of 2022. He enjoys being a committed student of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, instructing kids and adults, and learning from our amazing Gracie Jiu Jitsu Billings instructors and students.


Tanya Weinreis
Tanya Weinreis started doing martial arts when she was 11. She trained Tae Kwon Do for 8 years, competed in tournaments, earned a black belt, and taught a bit during her teenage years. She married her husband Shane in 2005 and started to realize that what she learned was more of a sport than an effective self-defense program. She was part of starting the school with her husband helping with administrative tasks and bringing their son to the Bullyproof program but didn’t step on the mat herself for a while. Her friend Dru Sjodin was tragically raped and murdered in 2003. This was and is still devasting to her and drives her to want to help women ages 13-113 learn the Women Empowered program focusing on the most common ways that women are attacked. Tanya understands with a small stature herself that striking isn’t the best tool that women need to learn, but rather they need reliable techniques that are executed using timing, leverage, and technique not strength and size. Even though her husband is her hero and a Black Belt, she understands that so often she is by herself and needs skills to protect herself and her family. What Jiu-Jitsu has done for her far surpasses just the self-defense aspect, but she has learned how to grow herself as well as learn about trauma and how Jiu-Jitsu can help people get well and feel empowered themselves.

Shawn Mayo
Shawn Mayo has been training Gracie Jiu-Jitsu under Professor Weinreis since 2015. Shawn is one of our most meticulous instructors; guaranteed to make you think outside the box! His previous training and instructing lean heavily toward the firearms discipline. Shawn competed in handgun, 3 gun, and long-range matches, as well as instructed for concealed carry certification.  Shawn (even with his vast firearms knowledge) believes an unarmed skill set is imperative to being well balanced in self-defense. Service to the community, and country are important to Shawn, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and continues to serve in local law enforcement.  During the last 21 years of law enforcement service, Shawn spent 17 years on the SWAT team, filling roles of entry, sniper, Team Leader and Team Commander. Outside of SWAT, Shawn is also a state certified defensive tactics instructor.